Genevieve's Busy Blanket

It's hard to believe but Genevieve is turning 2!  I've been wanting to make her something with pictures of all our pets.  Whenever I visit, she wants to look at my phone to see the pics of our pets.  We go through them all and she says their names.  Plus she loves the fact that Jack comes with me when I visit.  Because she's getting old enough to try to dress herself,  I thought it would be neat to make her something where she could practice the rudimentary skills of buttoning, snapping, buckling and zipping.  A small quilt seemed like the way to go with one block for each animal with a door that gets closed with a button, snap, buckle or zipper.  I found a print with birds that I loved and decided to use it for the backing, borders and center block then I set about finding coordinating prints that picked up the colors in the bird fabric.  I already had the cat and dog checkerboard fabric so I also picked up the black paw print and dog bone fabric to go with that.
The first task was to figure out the size I wanted the finished blocks.  I played around a bit and decided that 6 X 7 1/2 would work.  Before cutting, I fused woven cotton fusible interfacing to the fabric for the squares as they needed to be a little stiffer.  I cut one rectangle for each block in that size. The doors for each block would need to be smaller so they don't get caught in the seams where they open so I cut 2 pieces 6 1/4 X 7 1/2 for each door out of the interfaced fabric.  

Next I cut strips to separate the blocks.  The strips were 2 inches wide.

I used photoshop to size my photos to fit behind the doors.  I was still not sure how I wanted to do the zippers.  I decided that it would be easiest for a child to zip/unzip the zipper if it was fixed at the top and bottom like a zipper pocket so I decided that the animal would be a little stuffed animal that fits into the pocket.   I chose Gloria (parrot) and Jack (creamsickle kitty) for those pockets.  I printed their photos as is and as mirror images.  I also printed a little label.  I used the fusible muslin from Joann's.

I decided since the blocks had doors, The top left and top right blocks would just say "knock, knock" and "Who's there?"   I used a narrow satin stitch with rayon embroidery thread and just freehanded the letters.

I cut the animals out leaving a little border.

Using the same narrow satin stitch I used for the lettering, I satin stitched the edges of the animals after fusing them in place.

Now all I had to do was figure out the zipper pockets.

I cut remaining animals out and fused them to some cotton scraps I had.  The fusible agent on them made them somewhat stiff so I knew I wouldn't be able to sew them wrong side together and turn them.  I just put them wrong sides together and satin stitched around them leaving a small opening.  I stuffed them firmly but kept them fairly flat then I inserted a ribbon in each before satin stitching them closed.

I decided to off set the zippers.  I cut a slit and folded back the allowance then used a zipper foot to stitch the zipper in place on the wrong side of the fabric.  The top part of the pocket with the zipper was cut about 1/4 inch wider than the backing block as I wanted it to puff a little to accommodate the animal inside.

Here are the completed blocks.  I put the animals inside and caught the free end of the ribbon in the bottom center of the block.

I decided on the shapes for the flaps that would be used for large snaps.  Cut two, for each flap, seamed them together then turned and top stitched them.  Then they were stitched in place on the right edge of the block.

For the blocks that would button, I decided to use triangles,  using the buttons I bought to help determine the size.  Two triangles were cut for each, seamed together, turned and topstitched then a buttonhole was centered in each.  They were also stitched to the right side of the block.

The center  block had a buckle so the size of the buckled determined the size of the strip that I needed.  The buckle was secured to the door flap and the strap that threads through the buckle was stitched to the right side of the block.

Here are the (almost) finished blocks.

Then I added the separating strips.

I made the outer strips out of the cat/dog checkerboard fabric.  As luck would have it, the fit evenly across the top/bottom and up the sides!

Then I decided on a width for the outermost strips.  I cut them to 3 1/2 inches wide.

The finished top was placed on top of 2 thicknesses of thin craft batting with a plain backing of the yellow bird print.  The label was placed at the bottom of the back then I used a walking foot to stitch in the ditch of all the seams.  

I like double thick binding so I cut bias strips 3 3/4 inches wide, seamed the strips together then folded the whole long strip in half.  Lining up the raw edges with the raw edges of the quilt on the right side, I sewed a 1/2 inch seam, mitering the corners.  The binding was then turned to the back and secured with clips.

I used some of the binding to make hanging loops that were placed under the binding in the back.

Four loops were placed across the back so that the quilt could be hung on a dowel if desired.  The binding was stitched down by hand.

Here's the label:

Finished back

The final touches were added to the front: snaps, buttons, and paw print charms as zipper pulls.

Knock Knock!                                               Who's there?

Jack:

Luna:

Dahlia:

Cleo:

Ranger:

Gloria:

Duncan:

And here's the birthday girl!

She loved opening the doors and naming her furry and feathered friends!

And later when I visited:

I was pleased with the way this experiment turned out.  The overall size was 30 X 36 inches.  It's a nice size for a little floor or wall quilt and a good size for her to carry around!