Make It More Personal With Custom Blankets

If you can't find a pattern you like already on embroidery file, ask a digitizer to help you create one. A digitizer takes art images like drawings, clip art images and fonts and alters them via computer to become a stitch pattern. So if you'd like for your family tree wall hanging to be quilted with a tree pattern, a digitizer can create one for you.

It is pretty to learn to sew quilt squares, you can do it by hand or with a machine. You can find an entire kit at the craft store that will provide you with the instructions, and all the material you need to make a square. Most of these kits you buy one square at a time, then put them all together. This makes quilting a little less overwhelming, since you only have to focus on getting one square at a time done. When it comes to the actual quilting of the blanket you can do it yourself or you can also pay someone else to do it for you. There are machines that make quilting very easy, but unless you are going to do a lot of quilting it might be more economical to have someone else do the quilting or do it by hand.

Cut the number of 12 and a half inch muslin squares you will need for your finished project. You could cut one if you just wanted to make a single block for learning purposes.

Blanket Quilt I decided on using 35 pictures for Peggy's memory quilt. I chose pictures that showed her children at different stages of their lives. As well as pictures showing her and her husbands age regression. Her favorite color is blue, so I chose a dark blue with a light blue design, and a light blue with a dark blue design for the blocks. One thing to keep in mind when doing one for a person with Alzheimer's' is to try and keep the material fairly plain or quiet. When using a material that is very busy or loud, it just adds to their overall confusion. Something you definitely do not want.

Never use the normal wash and spin cycle on your washing machine. Use the gentle wash and spin cycle and let the machine spin only long enough so the quilt is not dripping wet. Remove your quilt from the washer and roll it up in an old blanket or two or three large towels laid side-by-side.

Now use a steam iron to turn and press the rectangle over the seam allowance, pressing away from the center piece. Trim the seam allowance close to the stitching line to remove the bulk in your design.

Here is a basic Crazy Quilt pattern you can use to try your hand at crazy quilting. Just remember that you can do this many different ways, and that this is only meant as a suggestion.