Airplanes for My Grandson

Airplane quilt for my expected grandson

Flying airplanes and jets runs in my family.  My father's career included both airline and corporate aviation and one of my sons has also made flying his profession.  

Years ago I came across this pattern for an airplane quilt and tucked it away, promising myself I would sew it up sometime.  Grandson #5 is due to be born this spring, so he was the perfect excuse I needed to get into aviation.  

The pattern is called "Flying High" from Marsha McCloskey's book, Fat 8ths and Friends.  Copyright 2006 by In The Beginning, Seattle, Washington.

book cover

I had a lot of fun making this quilt, although I had trouble with the assembling of the fuselages. Once I figured out how I was putting them together wrong, my seam ripper and I renewed our friendship and they turned out pretty well.

It was also a little tricky to get the nose and tail of the planes lined up and I finally just gave up on the lime green one in the lower left corner of the quilt.  My comforting philosophy about that is if a project has some imperfections, people will know it was truly homemade and not a product of an overseas factory! 

The borders were a lot of fun, too.  They are made up of leftover fabric from the construction of the airplanes and corner squares.  I don't plan to make any more quilts with this pattern (once was enough), but I may repeat the border idea.

FYI: if the quilt you are creating isn't as big as you want it to be, keep adding borders either at the top and bottom or on the sides, or all around.  That can be a simple solution.

The backing fabric is fun, too, featuring several modes of transportation that all little boys like to play with.  I look forward to sitting with my new grandson and playing a game of I Spy with the back of the quilt, "Can you find the truck?  Can you find the fire engine?"  

Little boy isn't due to be born until a couple of months from now, but since we are planning to move into our new house around that time, I got busy with this quilt and put it into the mail a few days ago. I don't want it to get lost among all of our the moving boxes.  

The backing fabric has no airplanes,
but the colors compliment the front side.

Post Script: Here is what my daughter-in-law said in an email when she received the quilt:

Dear Mom:

The quilt arrived today in the mail.  I opened the box and saw your note that said open immediately, so I did.  I LOVE it. The airplanes are fabulous and the fabric on the back is adorable.  I absolutely adore the design and the colors are perfect.  I know that [our baby] will cherish the quilt. You did a wonderful job on it. Thank you very much.

Now THAT was a satisfying experience!!!