Road Home Snuggler for Happy Chemo

Each year, Emily from Em's Scrapbag collects quilts to donate to the Happy Chemo project.  These quilts are given to individuals going through the throws of cancer.  I knew I would see Emily at Quilt Walk, where we are both teaching, and I wanted to have something special to give to her for this amazing cause.  And so I created the Road Home Snuggler.

I wanted to make something warm and cozy that had a feel of home.  So I whipped out my super soft, super snuggly, Wool and Needle Flannels Layer Cake sent to me by the lovely ladies at Moda.  This line will be available in July so it was a treat to get to work with it early,  thanks Moda!!  These beautiful rich colors just make me want to curl up in front of a fire :)    I took some pictures along the way  so that if you wanted to whip one up as well you could!!

 Here's What You Will Need:

(42) 10"x 10" squares.   I loved using the flannels!!  The finish feel is just fantastic!!

You will also need a 60 x 70 inch batting and backing.

Separate your 42 squares into 2 even piles.  I separated mine into lights and darks.

On the wrong side of the darker fabric using your ruler, draw a pen line diagonally from the top left corner to the bottom right corner.  Repeat for all of the squares in the dark fabric pile.

Lay a dark square on a light square with rights sides together.  Pin both sides of each square adjacent to that drawn line.  Make sure to put them out far enough that your presser foot won't hit them as you sew on by :)  Repeat until you have pinned 21 sets.

Now stitch a 1/4" seam along both sides of the drawn line (the black lines represent your stitching lines :)

Chain stitching will save you lots of time here.  So go ahead and stitch a 1/4" seam on on the right hand side of the line on each of the 21 sets, clip your threads between blocks, and then go back and stitch a 1/4" seam on the left hand side of the line for all 21 blocks.  Clip your threads between blocks.

 Cut your pieces apart by aligning your ruler along the drawn line and cutting along the edge of your ruler.  Cut all 21 sets creating 42 blocks.

Press your seams.  I normally press to the darker fabric, but if you are using flannels, I highly recommend pressing the seams open to reduce the extra bulk.

And now you are ready to trim up your Half Square Triangle blocks.  Simply lay a 9 1/2" square ruler onto your block aligning the seam with the diagonal degree line.  Trim around the block on all 4 sides.  There won't be a lot to trim :)  If you don't have a 9 1/2" ruler you can see this tutorial on how to trim HST's with other rulers :)

And your blocks are ready to lay your blocks out.  This is s much fun.  Without worrying about a pattern, simply lay the blocks in a 6 x 7 layout.  The more random the better.  Play around with the color's patterns, and such until you have a look that is pleasing to the eye.  

Once you have a layout you are ready to sew the top together.  Start with sewing the blocks into rows.  I find the easiest way to do this is to stack each row and place some sort of marker on the first block indicating what row it is.  This way you don't lose the layout you just created.

Then just start sewing the blocks together, one block adding to the next, and the next until you have sewn all 6 in the row.   Most of the time I just align as I go, but the flannels tended to want to shift so I recommend pinning if you are using flannels.    Repeat for all 6 rows.

Press your seams.  Normally, I press all my odd rows to the right and my even rows to the left.  But once again, I wanted the extra bulk of flannel to lay flat so I pressed my seams open.

 Sewing the rows together is just like creating them.  Lay the first row onto the second with right sides together.  Nest the seams and pin them and then along the rest of the edge.  Sew a 1/4" seam along the pinned edge.  Press open.  Then repeat adding the third row to the now sewn together first and second row and so on.

And before you know it, you have a beautiful super soft, super snuggly quilt top!!

And all that is left is to Baste it, Quilt it, and Bind It.  I know, I make it sound so easy.  If you are new to finishing your quilt, I have created a video tutorial series that goes over the basics of each of these three steps.  You can find it here :)   I quilted mine with a large loopy stitch as I didn't want to stitch it to much and take away from the soft top. You will need 7 WOF strips for the binding.  

And you are done, one beautiful  57" x 63 1/2" Road Home Snuggler.  Enjoy it for yourself of give it to someone special!!

One final note . . . I wanted to share my inspiration for this quilts name and design.

At the start of this quilt, I was staring at squares trying to decide how I wanted to turn it into a quilt.   I was pondering on Chemo, on family members I have seen go through it, and thinking about how many people struggle through it daily.  I kept coming back to the idea, that in the end, everyone wants to find a road home.  No path would lie straight ahead, it would likely require a lot of twisting and turning, maybe some backtracking here and there, but there would always be that journey to find the road home.  I love that each time I look at this quilt my eyes follow a different path.  They twist and turn, and sometimes backtrack, reminding me of those fighters journey.  I hope that whomever receives this quilt, can find peace and comfort as they struggle to move forward to find that Road Home.

Linking up to Amanda and Sarah :)