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Seven Tips to Make Your Quilts Last Longer

Here are seven tips plus a bonus tip to help your treasured handmade quilts last longer:

  1. Only wash your quilts when needed. If they have pet fur on them or something that you can just remove with a lint roller then try to do that before putting the quilt in the washing machine. This will minimize wear and tear on the quilt.
  2. Wash in a front loading machine with no agitator. The agitator in older machines can often get quilts tangled up in it and rip them. Do not wash the quilts on hot water and do not use any bleach. Wash on a cold or medium water setting and use baby detergent or Tide Free because there are no dyes in the detergent.
  3. Tumble dry on medium heat. Do not use a hot dryer setting.
  4. Don’t leave the quilt in the sun or in a hot car. If your quilt sits in the back seat of your car for weeks the sun can bleach the fabric and also weaken the fibres in the fabric which can lead to the quilt tearing more easily. Keep the quilt rolled up in the trunk away from the hot sun and the heat.
  5. Keep the quilts away from pets. Pets have sharp teeth and claws and sometimes pets will even chew on a quilt.
  6. Don’t eat or drink over the quilt. This can result in spills that cause stains. If this does happen then use a stain treater like “Shout” and get the quilt into the wash right away before the stain has time to set.
  7. When your quilts are in storage pull them out at least every six months to fluff them up and re-fold them so they are not always folded on the same fold lines. The fold lines can eventually weaken the fibres in the fabric and the quilts can wear out faster.

Bonus Tip:

Mountains Pixel Heart Quilt, Hidden Zig Zag Quilt and Featured in the Stars Quilt patterns by Daydreams of Quilts.

For an antique quilt try to soak it in something like Soak Wash or Zero or cleaner for soaking knits that doesn’t need to be rinsed. Then very gently squeeze the water out of the quilt and lay it flat to dry on a clean sheet on a clean patch of lawn. Keep the quilt out of direct sun by using the shade of a tree or a house. Hanging the quilt to dry could cause the quilt seams to weaken and rip due to the weight of the wet quilt. Therefore, lay the quilt flat out of the sun.

Log Cabin Hearts Quilt made by Daydreams of Quilts.

I hope these tips help you to keep your handmade quilts in great shape and lasting for many years so they can be handed down for generations to come.

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Rainbow Featured in the Stars Quilt

This is the rainbow version of my “Featured in the Stars” quilt pattern. The pattern also comes with monochromatic instructions.

Featured in the Stars quilt by Daydreams of Quilts using fabrics designed by Guicy Guice.

I used all Guicy Guice fabrics for this quilt and Kona snow for the background. The centre squares were from two panels.

This digital pattern can be found on our website and in our Etsy shop.

Rainbow Featured in the Stars Quilt by Daydreams of Quilts.

I used striped Essex yarn dyed linen for the binding. I do love stripes on the binding!

Essex yarn dyed linen stripes on the binding.

This quilt was given to my co-worker and friend for his high school graduation.

Fabrics by Guiseppe Ribaudo. Quilt by Anita LaHay.

The backing is a Moda polka dot wideback called ombré dots by Vanessa Christenson.

The back of the quilt with ombré dots wideback.

Thank you for visiting my blog today! 🙂

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Two Log Cabin Heart Quilts for Identical Twins’ Graduation from High School

I am in the Canadian Modern Quilt Bee on Instagram this year (#canadianmodernquiltbee) and for my bee block in January I chose the log cabin heart block by Just Jude. You can read more in her blog post. She has a free tutorial/pattern with a YouTube video.

Originally I wanted my blocks to have a Kona snow background and I was going to make a large rainbow quilt. Some of my bee mates didn’t have Kona snow though so half my blocks came with a white background and I decided to make two quilts.

One quilt is for my son’s girlfriend and one is for her twin sister. Both girls are graduating from high school this week.

The Kona Snow background quilt for my son’s girlfriend for graduation.
The white background quilt for the twin sister for graduation.

I am so appreciative to my bee mates for helping me make the blocks for these quilts and I know the girls will love them as they have grown up with quilts from their Mom and their Grandma too.

I put a cute Anne Kelle print from Robert Kaufman on the borders of Matryoshka dolls and used striped Essex linen for the binding.

The Matryoshka doll borders and striped binding.

The back is an ombré dots wideback by Vanessa Christenson for Moda.

The back of the quilts is moda wideback ombré dots by Vanessa Christenson.

I am so pleased to have finished these two quilts in time for the graduation and can’t wait for the girls to receive them!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

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Jack O Heart Halloween Quilt

This Halloween throw quilt is finished and listed in our Etsy shop. It was made with the Jack O Heart quilt pattern also available in our Etsy shop.

The finished Jack O Heart Halloween throw quilt by Daydreams of Quilts.

I got extremely motivated and pieced, basted, quilted and bound this quilt all in one day! (Yes, I was very tired afterwards.) I have a system down pat for these pixel heart quilts now and I use the knee lift lever on my sewing machines to help speed things up. It actually does save time.

Cute fabrics in the background.

I was wanting to sew a Halloween quilt but couldn’t afford to buy fabric. I started looking through my “holiday fabrics” basket and was surprised to discover that I had enough Halloween prints for a whole quilt!

Spider webs on purple for the binding.

I was very pleased that I was able to bust quite a bit of my stash. 🙂

We had a beautiful fall day for photos and I ran out with the quilt as soon as the binding was sewn down.
Jack O Heart quilt with fall foliage.
A quick little video of the quilt.

Thank you for visiting my blog today. I hope your Halloween preparations are going well.

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Star in a Pixelated Heart Quilt

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I did a major four-day clean of my sewing room at the end of December and in doing so I found several bundles of fabrics that I had tucked away for various project. As often happens, the original passion for the idea had faded but these fabrics needed their time to shine. Originally I had planned a quilt of all eight point stars so I had two star blocks. One of those blocks is shining front and centre on this recently finished pixel heart quilt.

Star in a Pixelated Heart Quilt by Daydreams of Quilts available in our Etsy shop.

The front of this heart quilt is made entirely out of the fabrics from the first Uppercase fabric line by Janine Vangool for Windham Fabrics.

To make this quilt I used my Canadian Flag Pixelated Heart pattern and put the star block where the maple leaf block was. Then I changed the red bars on either side of the maple leaf back to regular pixel squares. I added two inch borders of black fabrics from the fabric line.

Canadian Flag Pixelated Heart Quilt by Daydreams of Quilts.
The centre star block. Fabrics are the Uppercase line by Janine Vangool for Windham Fabrics.

The centre star block is made up of 16 three inch squares. Four regular squares in the corners and half square triangles make up the star.

Free motion quilted with wavy lines in the heart and stipple quilting on the background.

This bright beautiful throw quilt is available here in our Etsy shop.

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Angular Rectangular Layer Cake Quilt Pattern

This pattern uses two layer cakes! And you don’t have to buy additional background fabric. That’s my kinda pattern! The Angular Rectangular pattern is the newest PDF quilt pattern from Daydreams of Quilts and it’s currently 20% off!

Angular Rectangular layer cake quilt pattern uses two layer cakes.
“Angular Rectangular” designed and Pieced by Daydreams of Quilts.

I used a layer cake of “Honeymoon” and a layer cake of “Paper Bandana” from the original group of Cotton + Steel designers for my quilt. This shows that your layer cakes don’t have to be the same but can be coordinating.

Angular Rectangular quilt pattern cover.
The pattern includes computer diagrams, written instructions, photographs and a colouring page. Find it here.
Buy the Pattern

The cover quilt is also available for sale and is part of our current 20% off sale! This is a nice throw size at 59″ x 64″.

Angular Rectangular layer cake quilt pattern by Daydreams of Quilts.
There are sloths on this quilt and this is not the environment you would find them in but one can dream. This quilt is also available for sale 20% off.
Shop This Quilt

This quilt was a fun one to make and it’s very satisfying to use up layer cakes from my stash! Thank you for visiting my blog today!

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Holiday Lodge Christmas Throw Quilt Dark Version

Holiday Lodge Christmas throw quilt by Daydreams of Quilts

This is second Holiday Lodge throw quilt that I finished last week. You can see the first one (the light version) in this post.

This quilt uses a Holiday Lodge panel as well as some of the fabrics from the “Holiday Lodge” line by Deb Strain for Moda Fabrics. I have added in fabrics from Tula Pink’s “Holiday Homies”, Basic Grey’s “Evergreen”, Kate and Birdie’s “True North” and other fabrics from my stash. There are also Kona snow and Kona black solids. The Holiday Lodge fabrics were purchased from Funky Monkey Fabrics and Thread Count Fabrics.

Holiday Lodge Christmas Throw Quilt Dark Version.
Holiday Lodge Christmas Throw Quilt pieced and quilted by Daydreams of Quilts.

The Holiday Lodge quilt is available here in the Daydreams of Quilts Etsy shop.

Vertical image of the Holiday Lodge Christmas Throw Quilt by Daydreams of Quilts.
Holiday Lodge Christmas Throw Quilt

We did actually get some snow here the day before this photo was taken which would have been nice for photos but I’m not sad that it melted quickly.

Close-up of Christmas stag.

These fabrics fit in perfectly with the farmhouse decor trend. They make me wish I could spend Christmas in a cozy cabin in the mountains.

Close-up of quilting.
Close-up of some of the quilting motifs.

I quilted this quilt with various custom quilting motifs including stippling, wishbones, straight lines and loop-de-loops around the plaid bears, trees and stags. The border is quilted with feathers.

The black shooting star fabric as the background for the trees is a Figo Fabrics print from Studio 39 Fabrics.

The dark wood grain fabrics are what really make this quilt! The wood grain background on the bows is a Northcott fabric.
The back of the quilt is red and black buffalo plaid.
The back of the quilt is the red and black buffalo plaid check from the “Holiday Lodge” line.

The present block is from Thimble Blossoms “Handmade with Love” pattern. The ornament block is from Thimble Blossoms “Vintage Holiday” pattern.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

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Holiday Lodge Christmas Throw Quilt Light Version

Holiday Lodge Throw Quilt

Here is the first of two quilts I have finished in the last week. This quilt uses a “Holiday Lodge” quilt panel designed by Deb Strain for Moda Fabrics. I used some Holiday Lodge fabrics and mixed in other fabrics from my stash including: Basic Grey’s “Evergreen” line, Tula Pink’s “Holiday Homies” line and some Kate and Birdie “True North” fabrics. The “Holiday Lodge” fabrics were purchased from Birdie and Dot Fabrics. There is also Kona Snow and Kona Black fabric in this quilt.

Holiday Lodge Christmas Throw Quilt.
Holiday Lodge Christmas Throw pieced and quilted by Daydreams of Quilts.

This quilt is available here in the Daydreams of Quilts Etsy shop.

Holiday Lodge Christmas Throw quilt pieced and quilted by Daydreams of Quilts.
Holiday Lodge Christmas Throw Quilt pieced and quilted by Daydreams of Quilts.
The back of the quilt is red and black buffalo plaid.
The back of the quilt is the red and black Buffalo Plaid from the Holiday Lodge fabric line.

I added ornament blocks, tree blocks and present blocks to the panel pieces to expand the quilt to a throw size. The quilt measures 54.5″ x 65″.

Close-up showing quilting.
The quilt is quilted with various custom quilting motifs throughout.

Quilting motifs include wishbones, straight line, loop-de-loops and stippling. The outer border is quilted with feathers.

Close-up of quilting in the border.
Close-up of the feather quilting in the border.

The present block is from Thimble Blossoms “Handmade with Love” pattern. The ornament block is from Thimble Blossoms “Vintage Holiday” pattern.

Thank you for coming to see my quilt today.

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Black and White Animals with Rainbows Child’s Quilt

Black and white animals with rainbows child's quilt.

I bought these adorable animal panels and the white border from Funky Monkey Fabrics in the summer when they had a sale on Dear Stella fabrics. I didn’t have a real plan for them other than I thought I might make pillow covers with them.

Black and White Animals with Rainbows Quilt made by Daydreams of Quilts.

Then I thought I would like to make a kid’s quilt with them but needed to add to the panels to make it bigger. I collected fabrics in rainbow colours from my scrap bins and cut the panel in half. Then I added the strips of rainbows. I then added the coordinating white border. I felt the quilt should still be a bit bigger as I was thinking it could be for a toddler bed so I ordered the black border and the binding from Thread Count Fabrics. This quilt is 45″ x 51.5″.

Close up of the borders and binding.
Close-up of borders and binding.

The black fabric has a white print of mountains on it and the binding has sticks. So cute! This quilt would be lovely for a family who loves camping or spending time in nature. It’s perfect for my own family actually. 🙂

The bear panels says "Be Brave"
The bear panel says “Be Brave”. All of the animals have virtues to go along with them.

The animal panels are adorable and they all have virtues. I quilted around them in stipple quilting with variegated rainbow thread in 80 weight from Aurifil.

The llama panel says "Be Silly"
The ever popular llama.

This was a fun quilt to make and a great one for using up scraps. This quilt is available in my Etsy shop.

Black and White animals with rainbows child's quilt.
It’s a beautiful fall day today to go out and take quilt photos.
Animal panels quilt with rainbow scrappy borders.
Such a cute quilt for a child or even a lap quilt for an adult. Available here.
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Rainbow Hot Air Balloon Panel Quilt

My Rainbow Hot Air Balloon panel that I designed for the Cheater Quilt Panel challenge on Spoonflower has arrived. I have it all quilted and bound now.

This baby quilt is available in my Etsy shop and the panel is available in my Spoonflower shop if you want to make your own.

Rainbow hot air balloon baby quilt designed and quilted by Daydreams of Quilts.
Rainbow hot air balloon baby quilt designed and quilted by Daydreams of Quilts.

Having the grid lines printed on the panel makes it so easy to quilt this modern quilt in an equally modern grid. The only spot that’s a bit tricky is the white part of the heart. I wobbled a bit but you can’t tell right? 🙂

It’s a lovely September fall day for quilt photos. The rainbow really pops in the shade of the trees.
This is the backing and binding. I used a gradient chartreuse from Cotton and Steel for the binding that worked out very well. The backing is a Flourish print from Windham Fabrics.
A closer look at the quilting. It’s so easy to quilt this quilt with a walking foot.

Thank you for checking out my fun modern quilt today! I hope your day is going great!