Ryan's Lion Quilt

Ryan with his quilt top at Christmas

This is Ryan's lion quilt.  All my kids have animals.  It started with Christopher.  His animal is a frog, because that's what he felt like, hopping around inside, before he was even born.  Ryan is a lion, because when Christopher and I were looking for a stuffed animal for Christopher to give the new baby when he was born, a lion is what Christopher picked out, and it rhymed so well.  Elizabeth is a cat.  Before she was born, it felt like she was in there kneading her claws like a cat does when it is happy and getting ready to curl up and sleep somewhere.  Archer is a bear.  He really felt more like a kangaroo, but you just don't find a lot of kangaroo themed stuff for little kids.  So we made him a bear because he's so cuddly, like a little teddy bear.  Now we call him Archie-bear.  He'll probably want to grow out of that as he gets older.

Ryan's finished quilt

So this is the quilt I made Ryan for Christmas this year.  I had made Christopher and Elizabeth clothes, but Ryan, being two years behind Christopher, never needs clothes.  And his pajama drawer (I made Christopher pajama pants) was stuffed to the point of being hard to close.  But I didn't want Ryan to feel left out; he likes homemade stuff more than Christopher anyway.  So I decided to make him this quilt.  I had seen a bear one in a magazine (Quiltmaker) and thought, hey, I can do that!  I put it together in about the two weeks before Christmas, mostly at night and other times he wouldn't see it.  It wasn't completely finished when I wrapped it up.  It was just a quilt top.  But I finished it soon after Christmas, and now he sleeps under it nearly every night! 

I haven't made animal quilts for the other kids yet, but I rather intend to!