To Infinity and Beyond!

Both of my older boys (ages 4 and 6) have been asking to make quilts for quite awhile. I decided I would start with the oldest, and see how it went. Back in March, I submitted Jeremiah's name to Quilt Expo as a potential entry for their kids' quilt challenge division. They only accept the first 50 entries, and Jeremiah was chosen! The quilts had to be sent to them by August 16th. Now we had a deadline, so it had to happen!

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

If you're new here, hello! I'm Laura! I design quilt patterns, and I'm a self-proclaimed deal hunter! Be sure to join the popular Quilting & Sewing Deals Facebook group where I post sales, deals, and coupon codes from all around the web!

We began the process in early July. We sat down to brainstorm possible subjects for the quilt. I wrote, and he and his younger brother both shouted out as many ideas as they possibly could think of. "Grasshoppers, dinosaurs, trains, Paw Patrol, space, soccer..." We ended the session by saying we would think about it for a couple days. So then two days later, I took out the list, read each thing, and began to cross off the ones that they weren't too thrilled about. We narrowed it down to a few and talked through how we might make each of them, and ultimately, Jeremiah chose space. (Micah chose T-Rex right from the beginning and never changed his mind. So it seems he and I will be making a T-Rex quilt soon!)

A couple days later, we sat down and discussed lots of possible "space quilt" ideas. Our solar system or the universe? Planets or rockets or something else? One planet or all the planets? Sun in the middle or off-centered? Cartoonish or realistic? Square or rectangle (or circle!) quilt? Once he had decided all of these things, he drew up his design.

The next day, he headed to the local library to check out some space books so he would know what the planets looked like. Using the books as a reference, we dug through my fabric stash hunting for the perfect fabrics for each planet. I was truly surprised that he found fabric for every planet - and the background!

A few days later (I purposely spaced it out so he wouldn't get burnt out and it would keep him looking forward to the next thing) we headed to our local Jo-Ann's store to pick out backing fabric and asteroids. He chose a flannel fabric for the back, and a handful of gray and black beads.

We lowered the ironing board height, and he pressed Lite Steam-A-Seam 2 to the back of all the planet fabrics.

With a little help from mom, he used the Olfa Rotary Circle Cutter and scissors to cut out the sun and all the planets, then he pressed them into place.

Next, we taped the backing to the floor, laid Hobbs wool batting on top, and pin basted the layers together.

He chose every thread color for every planet - even though that was a lot of thread changes! (They are all Aurifil 50wt.)

Sun - Canary #2120
Mercury and the moon - Stainless Steel #2620
Venus - Orange #2235
Earth - Light Wedgewood #2725
Mars and the red spot - Dark Carmine Red #2460
Jupiter - Salmon #2225
Saturn - Light Sand #2000
Uranus - Light Jade #1148
Neptune - Medium Blue #2735
Pluto and ring of Uranus - Dove Grey #2600
Rings of Saturn - Light Sand #2000, Linen #2325, Asphalt #5013

And he sewed on every planet! (These are all raw-edge applique with coordinating thread and straight stitched about 1/8" inside the raw edge. And they are sewn through all the layers, so it's quilted at the same time as they are appliqued on.)

He used three colors of thread to create the rings of Saturn.

I tried with all my persuasive powers to convince him to do straight line quilting with the walking foot on my Juki for quilting the outer space part. But, I lost. He was adamant that he needed to quilt loops and designs. I knew the only way he would be successful at that was to put it on the longarm.

So even though the planets were already sewn on through all the layers, I was able to load the quilt onto the longarm and remove the basting pins. That was a first!

I have a platform that painter's and drywall installers use that I got when my 4-H girls were quilting. My longarm can not be adjusted for height, so this is a great way to help kids be tall enough to quilt. It was the perfect height for Jeremiah to stand on!

He quilted all of the space area with Aurifil 40wt #2730 Delft Blue. The 40wt is just a tad stronger than the 50wt, and I have found it works fantastic for longarming - and especially when kids are doing it!

He was beaming once he finished! He was so proud of his work! (As was I! He never sewed over a planet or anything! I was really impressed!)

After trimming off the excess backing and batting, he machine sewed on the binding.

This step also included sewing in a hanging sleeve and a label.

He used fabric markers to draw a rocket ship on the label.

Then he used a Pigma Micron pen #01 to write the quilt title, his name, and his age.

Next was what turned out to be his favorite part - adding the asteroids!

He used a single strand of Aurifil 12wt #2784 Dark Navy. He added 56 asteroids to make the asteroid belt!

The final addition was a comet.

This was created with white acrylic paint. He painted a small circle, then swiped the brush back to create the comet's tail. It worked great!

His excitement for the process never waned.

He was even eager to take quilt photos!

He even wore a space shirt for the occasion!

He named the quilt "To Infinity and Beyond."

We mailed the quilt to Quilt Expo today so they can get it by Friday's deadline!

He has already asked if we can take a vacation to Wisconsin to see it at the show. We're not planning on it, but I'm sure hoping someone that does go will send us some pictures of it!

Since Jeremiah is also in 4-H, he's already planning on entering it in our county fair next summer too! (Plus it has counted towards our homeschool hours too! I love "two-fer" projects!)

  

I am so proud of how he stuck with the project from beginning to end! It has also been a fantastic memory-making experience for both of us. To infinity and beyond, Jeremiah!

UPDATE 9/7/19: Jeremiah got 2nd place at the Wisconsin Quilt Show!! 

Amy from Purple Pineapple Studio sent me these pictures of the quilt hanging in the show on Saturday morning, 9/7.

Then Rob of quilt_whisperer on Instagram sent me this one Saturday afternoon! There was something new hanging by the quilt!

Then Saturday night, Rosemary Miles posted these photos in a quilting Facebook group. Confirmed! Jeremiah won 2nd place in the kids' division!! 

This post contains affiliate links. Clicking a link will NOT affect the purchase price.

__________

If you liked this post, you may also like these:

An ALL PINK Exploding Heart Quilt!

I See You! + TGIFF

3 - 2 - 1 - Blast Off!