What fun I’ve been having sewing with these cute 1930’s reproductions fabrics from Windham called “Sugar Sack II”.  I love these old fashioned fabrics so much and I think they make cute children’s items.  I sewed up a 16-patch checkerboard quilt with them and loved it so much I sewed a matching Cuddle Blankie and a Reading Pillow.  (Patterns for all these items are going to be released after the holidays!)

What’s a Cuddle Blankie?  It’s a much smaller version of the quilt that a baby/toddler can clutch and cuddle with – which is what they love to do.  This one is 16″ x 16″.   And it’s so easy to whip one up to match the baby blanket.

The Reading Pillow is a fun thing to give as a gift for a child – it can hold a couple of books or small toys and is nice for children to curl up with, along with their quilt.  I have gotten so many requests for a pattern for this item, that I am excited about putting it in the shop after Christmas!

I actually doubled the batting on this quilt. I used Warm and White 100% cotton batting.  The double thickness makes the quilt especially warm and snuggly.  I love the weight of it. Because the background fabric I used for the checkerboard design is white, it is important to use a white batting so it doesn’t dull the white fabric.

I machine quilted using a 4 inch stitch length – kind of long, but I love how distinctive it looks.  I used 50mm thread for both the piecing and the quilting.  I switched to a #14 quilting needle to the actual quilting.

The backing fabric is a cute dot fabric from Riley Blake called “Blush Puffs Pink”.

For the binding, I used one of the Sugar Sack fabrics, Pretty Petals in Red.  I thought it gave it a great pop!  I cut 2.5″ strips to make the binding and used this method to machine stitch it.

The quilt measures 31″ x 48″.  The Cuddle Blankie is 16″ x 16″ and the pillow is 18″ x 18″.

This quilt, cuddle blankie and matching pillow are listed in the Shop and are for sale.  Stay tuned for the patterns in January!

Happy Holidays and thanks for stopping by!
Elaine