Last Friday I gave you a glimpse of a quilt that my two youngest daughters (ages 9 and 11) are working on.

I recently realized just what a huge pile of fleece scraps I have and decided the best way to reduce the pile was by making a quilt. Making a fleece quilt would also be a good way to introduce my girls to quilting. As I’ve said before fleece is such a forgiving fabric for beginners.

The first step was to cut all of the scraps into squares. We settled on four-inch squares as a good not-too-small-not-too-big size.

Then we decided on what kind of quilt squares we would do with a nine-patch square winning.

I let the girls pick their own combinations. To be honest, I found some of combinations a bit jarring, but overall I think they came up with some really pretty squares.

After we had fifteen squares I cut some solid fleece that I bought just for this quilt into fifteen squares. Then the girls had the fun of laying it all out on the floor to decide on the best look.

I showed them how I label and pick up quilt squares to keep everything in order. First, I pin a number to the first square in each row. Then starting at that square I pick up all the squares in the row in order. Now I know exactly what order they need to be sewed.

After the squares are sewed in rows, the rows are sewed together, and voilá, you have a quilt top.

They did such a great job. I’m super proud of them.

Next week I hope to show you what we’re doing for the back. I’m also going to put a binding on it so they can practice hand sewing. We also have plenty of felt squares left so look for more posts on fleece quilts.

Have you ever made a quilt? How old were you when you made your first quilt?