Playing with Panels

Last year for Christmas, I made DD#1 a quilt with a minky backing. It was a surprise, she didn't know it was coming. I had never made anyone in her family a quilt with minky, and now that they know the wonders of minky, they all want one. 

 There are SIX people in her family, SIX! Can I make six quilts for Christmas that aren't even started yet? The one I made her last year was actually a Christmas quilt, so I do plan on making her a year round quilt, and that's already started, she wants a Civil War Sampler quilt, I've got the sashing and cornerstones done, and about half the blocks done. For the other five quilts, I'm starting with panels.

These are to be quilts to be used on the couch, while curled up with a book, or maybe watching a movie. I'm thinking 48" x 72" or so. I don't want to have to piece the minky, but I could go a little wider, and for the men of the family, I could go a little taller. I've bought extra wide minky before, but for a couch quilt I see no reason to, I bought standard width minky. Most minky says it's 60" wide, but you don't get 60" of usable fabric, and some of it isn't that wide even with selvages intact. I can go wider than 48" though, maybe 54" or so wide. 

To give myself a head start, I'm going to be using some panels for at least part of the quilts. One of my grandsons, I was really stuck on, but when we visited, I got a chance to talk to him, and he's really into fantasy books. I can work with that. I read a lot of fantasy books myself. 

The fabric on the left of my design wall is actually two panels from the Wizards and Warriors collection by Quilting Treasures. I have a third one of those panels as well. On the top right is a panel from the Legendary Journeys collection by In the Beginning. In the Beginning has a LOT of fantasy panels, and I've got several of their dragon panels. The bottom right is the castle panel from the Wizards and Warriors collection.

I also got this digitally printed library panel, that looks like it could be in one of those castles. I have a little bit of a couple of the companion fabrics to the Wizards and Warriors collection, and I just ordered the border fabric that goes with that collection, but it hasn't arrived yet. Obviously, this is way more fabric than I need for one quilt, and once I start making some blocks, it will really be too much. That's just fine with me, I had always planned to make multiple quilts with the Wizards and Warriors panels. I donate a lot of quilts, and I know they get more girl quilts than boy quilts, and charities tend to be lowest on teen boy quilts. Fantasy books can easily be gender neutral, but these panels definitely read teen or adult to me. I'll be making my grandson's quilt first, but I am sure I'll have at least two, if not three, fantasy quilts for donation when I'm finished. 

I don't have the whole quilt planned out yet, but I know how I'll be starting. My grandson's quilt will be a medallion style quilt, with a tall rectangular center. I don't have the center figured out yet, but I do have a pieced 12" border planned, and I might use the border fabric around that. I haven't decided which pieces will make the cut yet, but I see some fun quilts on the way. Since I have more quilts to make that aren't started, I may just set the extra pieces aside once I get his quilt top made, so I can start the other panel quilts. I haven't decided how this is all going to work, and every panel I'm using in these many quilts is a different size, so each one will be an adventure for me. 

Sometimes I dread working with panels, because they are so often printed off grain, but at this point, I've done it often enough that I have some coping strategies to deal with that. Overall, I'm really looking forward to this challenge.