A Pinterest Finish! {Farm Play Mat Tutorial}

My good friend from 1000 years ago (high school days) saw this on Pinterest and I was immediately inspired.  I was thrilled to take on this little project.  I love quilting but change can be very refreshing!

I used a bunch of pieces of batting from previous quilts.  Butted up together, large zigzag, and viola!  Frankenbatting!

I thought the best way to go about this was a Quilt as You Go style.  In a nutshell, sewing directly onto the batting.

I used all scraps - go me!  (And BTW, I'm happy to report I have not spent one penny on fabric for 29 days.)  Trying to make it as interesting with various textures, colors, etc but still farmy.  My three-year-old was so tickled to help with this.  She loved picking out things and asking me to use them.  That creative spontaneity is so wonderful, especially when shared with a little one.

Suede, burlap, work shirts, ribbons, corduroy, upholstery, and lots of fun machine stitches made it so exciting to see what could be coming next from those little eager hands.  I tried to imagine landscape images (ponds, fields, tractor paths, grasslands, tree lines) but still wanted it to be open for the kiddos to use their imaginations.

I also created some hills by stuffing teeny tiny fabric scraps under the fabric before sewing it down. 

Some edges were left raw for extra texture, grassy effects, you know...

By the way, if your work room doesn't look like this, you're not doing it right! 

So once I had two large-ish pieces "quilted" I joined them together.  Just one seam down the middle.

My blue minky backing ready for basting.  Taped to the floor upside down.

Farm mat laid on top.  Remember this was Quilt as You Go so the batting is already there.

A few pins around the perimeter since I only intend on minimal quilting here.  It's pretty small.

If this were my farm I'd plant zucchini, snap peas, romaine, and have 35 chickens.

 I sewed thru the layers (backing, front/batting) where I sewed that seam to join the two sides.  So yep, only one seam down the middle.  From my stash I had that (previously regarded as hideous) grass binding.  It looked perfect here, but like Vietnam on the previous quilt I tried it on.

The kids liked it and were looking for their plots, mermaids in the pond, different crops, and a stray peacock.  If "the boys" have half as much fun, I'll call it success!