The majority of quilts I make are not traditional “quilted” quilts. I like to refer to them as quankets (pronounced ‘kwang-kits’). Quilted quilts are when the patch-worked top is then “quilted” onto a backing piece of fabric, with a layer of batting in between. This can be done using a long arm sewing machine (which I don’t have) or by hand (which I don’t have the patience for). It can also be done on a regular sewing machine, however, the level of difficulty is directly proportionate to the size of the quilt. The bigger the quilt, the bigger the challenge! The quilt as you go (QAYG) method is also an option that is more manageable for quilting on a regular sewing machine.

It has never been my intention for my quilts to be works of art or heritage quilts: they’re pretty, and that works for me. More so, I want them to be used. When I began quilting years ago, I chose to use a blanket to back the patchwork tops I make, mainly because of the aforementioned items regarding how to make a traditional quilt, but also because blankets are soft and cuddly. The first blanket-backed quankets I made were in the early 1990’s, before fleece was even available in the local fabric store! I would purchase the fuzzy-style blankets to use for my backing. But now, with fleece being so accessible, it is much more affordable than buying and cutting up blankets, and it is much easier to color-match the blanket backing to the top.

If you’d like to learn more about the process for making a quanket, check out these posts:

• Part 1: Making a Quanket
• Part 2: Making a Quanket
• Part 3: Making a Quanket

If you see a quanket in my Photo Gallery that you’d like more information about, hover over the image and the name and date for when I made the quilt will pop up. You can then navigate to the archives to find the post about that particular quanket.