Down on the Farm Fabrics and FUN!! (Plus a Fun Give Away)

Fabrics featured in this post were provided by Michael Miller Fabrics as part of my being a Michael Miller Brand Ambassador

Time for some Down on the Farm fun this month's combo project making a memory match game and coordinating kids quilt featuring Michael Miller's Garden Pindot and their new Down on the Farm fabric collection. This fabric collection features a wonderful array of farm scenes including barns, apple orchards, tractors, wagons, and lots of farm animals!! Follow along to see how I created the memory match cards and coordinating quilt that is sure to generate hours of fun for the little farmers in your life. Read all the way to the end for a Down on the Farm fun giveaway! (GIVE AWAY is now closed)

Down on the Farm Fabrics plus Red Garden Pindot

Making the Memory Match Cards:

Cutting and Prepwork:

Two matching motifs measuring 4" or smaller were carefully cut from the following prints (read below on how you can win a set of prefused and cut motifs!):

• 1/3 yard Farmer in Training (white background): 2 each of the different color tractors (red, orange, green, light blue, and dark blue)--total of 5 pairs
• 1/2 yard Out to Pasture stripe: barn, apple tree, pigs, sheep, hen house & chicken, medium sized red tractor, hay wagon with dog, yellow wagon with veggies, green wagon with veggies, 2 horses (blue and yellow saddles), 2 cows (side profile and front facing)--total of 13 pairs
• An optional 4 sets of cards were sourced from the edges of the Around the Farm print: duck pond, vegetable farm & hen house, large barn, and large red tractor (with the remaining yardage used on the quilt back) 

All motifs were fused with Pellon 805 Wonder Under prior to being carefully cut out.

Memory Match Cards Prepwork

• Cut 4.5" squares from both white craft felt and Red Garden Pindots. Cut 36-44 squares depending on how many pairs of motifs you cut in the previous step. 
• Peel away paper backing from each motif, center, and fuse onto a felt square following Pellon's instructions.
• Top stitch along outside of fused square in 50wt white thread.

Assembly:

• Layer 4.5" Garden Pindot square and 4.5" topstitched felt square right sides together and stitch 1/4" from edges along all 4 sides, leaving a 1.5" unstitched opening. I opted to pivot 90 degrees to start and end off the edge of the square, making it easier to close later.
• Clip all four corners, taking care to not cut through stitching.

Construction Step #1

• Turn cards inside out and use a chopstick to carefully turn out all four corners (be careful to avoid poking the chopstick through the stitching)

• Turn unstitched section under and hold in place with a pin.
• Increase stitch length and topstitch 1/8" from edge along all 4 sides to close gap.

Assembled Memory Match Cards

Making a Coordinating Kids Quilt:

A quick and easy lap sized (52" x 52") quilt was made using:

• 2.5 yards of the Funny Farm border print (for border and checkerboard center)
• 1/2 yard of Apple Orchard in Navy (for checkerboard center)
• 2/3 yards of Red Garden Pindot (border and binding)

Cutting Border Print for Borders and Checkerboard Centers

• The Funny Farm border print was used for both the borders and checkerboard center. Measure and cut 11" from each selvedge of the printed border. Pro tip: Use blue tape along the 11" mark on the underside of your rotary ruler to align with the printed edge of the border strips. You will have two long border strips measuring 90" x 11" that can be cut in half lengthwise (for four strips each measuring 45" x 11"). Set aside.
• Use the remaining solid blue center (you may need to trim away any partial clouds) to cut six 5.5" strips and subcut into eighteen 5.5" squares for the checkerboard center.
• Cut three 5.5" WOF strips from the Apple Orchard print and subcut into eighteen 5.5" squares.
• Assemble into a checkerboard pattern with 6 rows of 6 alternating squares for a total of 36 squares.  
• Cut four 2" WOF strips from Red Garden Pindots
• Sew one 2" Garden Pindot strip along the cloud side of the Border prints and repeat for all four sides.
• Use partial seams to attach all four pieced borders around the checkerboard center.

The backing was pieced using the remaining Around the Farm yardage and Evergreen Krystal.

Inspired by the blue wagon with the hay bale and cloud formations, an all-over bearclaw with a small center spiral motif was free-hand stitched on my Gammill Longarm machine. 

5.5 WOF strips were needed for the binding (I was running a bit short on the Red Garden Pindot so I used some leftover Apple Orchard print for the remaining binding needed!) 

Here is the finished quilt (on left) with the memory cards in place for a game of Memory Match. Players can sit along the borders to play and keep track of their winning card matches! More educational fun can be had identifying the various colors of tractors and saddles, animal sounds, and exploring farm life.

Down on the Farm Quilt (and Memory Match Cards), Finishes 52" x 52"

Enter to Win Pre Fused and Cut Motifs to Make Your Own Memory Match Cards

Give Away!--GIVE AWAY IS NOW CLOSED

As I was cutting out all the prints I needed for my sample, I cut out a bonus set of all 22 prefused pairs for a fun give away! To be entered to win all the cut motifs (plus some bonus goodies), leave a comment below by December 9th sharing your favorite farm memory (growing up on a farm, visiting a farm, farm songs, favorite farm animals--anything farm related!). You can enter to win on my Instagram post and/or Facebook post for this project.

Check back on December 10th to see if you are the winner! ** Open to US residents only. 

**Congrats to Sandie E for her winning comment via Instagram! I'll be sending the prefused scraps to her later this week!!**

I'll kickstart the conversation by sharing photos and memories from my childhood. Growing up, our town had lots of blackdirt farms (one of which contained a mastadon skeleton that was escavated and is on display at the local community college), several dairy farms, and a lovely apple orchard (which was my first field trip in Kindergarten).

Childhood Fun Down on the Farm!