Matching Boys' Quilts

Hey. I am not obsessed with these quilts. I did not spend over an hour of precious boys'-naptime staging a photoshoot for blankets. Come on. Give me a break.

(Admission: I totally am obsessed and I spent a really, really long time taking these pictures. And I LOVE them. The quilts weren't running away, they weren't wiggling or screaming, they didn't try to push their brother down the stairs. On an unrelated note: The last time that I got a good picture of my boys together was like 6 months ago.)

I think the real question is, Why aren't you obsessed with these quilts? They're the most impressive thing I've ever made (besides my kids.)

So let's talk about these quilts, since over the last few months, I've been posting pictures of them in various stages of completion on my instagram (@rebeccahlouise) and gotten lots of questions.
I don't know how much fabric I used, since I bought a lot over the last year in a half-yard here, a half-yard there increments. But I used all the same fabrics for the quilts, so that they match in color, if not in design. I would guess that I used about 6 yards per quilt top, but I totally made that number up.

Micah's Herringbone Quilt:

When making the top of this quilt, I was inspired by {this gorgeous quilt} and I used {this herringbone tutorial} but I made up my own measurements and didn't use a pattern, and added white stripes in between the rows. You can buy a similar pattern {HERE} though. 

There are 7 rows of slanted-stripes (about 7inches wide), with a 2inch stripe of white in between. It was shorter than I wanted, so it also has a 3inch top and bottom edge.  As you can maybe tell, I mostly made it up as I went. 

Grey's Chevron Quilt:

I am so delighted by the way that this quilt turned out. I love it. I LOVE IT. It was very tedious, and I was very good about ironing everything, which I've never done with a quilt before. (Can you believe what a lazy quilter I am?!) I loved the idea of both Grey and Micah's quilts being different forms of zigzags. This quilt was designed and created entirely in my own brain, but it's a basic half-square zigzag quilt. You can see a bigger clearer version of what the squares look like {HERE}. For those wondering, I started with 5inch squares (of white/cream and blue/grey) and then... you know. Did this. I'll look up a tutorial for you right now.
Okay, {here's a good one} and you can buy a similar pattern {HERE}. (Don't you wish this was a tutorial?)

I did the binding on the quilts 100% on the machine (much to my grandmother's horror, I'm sure) using a tutorial, like {this one.} They aren't as clean-looking, but they were fast, and they're very sturdy. And I HATE handsewing! (You'd never guess, based on that octopus, right?)

The Quilting:

I did the quilting myself, as you can see in the righthand picture. (To "quilt" a quilt is to sew over all the layers).

On Micah's quilt (Herringbone):  I used a walking foot on a normal sewing machine, and sewed up the middle of all the stripes, and then zig-zagged across every 6inches or so. 

On Grey's quilt (Chevron): I used a walking foot on a normal machine and did straight lines across, boxing in every four-square block. You can see on the back how sloppy and uneven it is. Did I mention that these quilts are for toddlers?

To quilt, I duct-taped the backing of the quilt to the kitchen floor (I used pieced together flannel), then lay the batting on that, topped by the quilt top. Then starting in the middle, I used safety pins and pinned all the layers together. Then I took up the whole kitchen table, sloppily sewing it together.
I kind of wish that I'd sent the quilts away to my grandma (a profesional quilter), but I also love that I was able to finish each one during a single naptime and I love that I did EVERYTHING on these quilts by myself.
I feel like Ma Ingalls. 

Thoughts? Questions? Which quilt is your favorite? I can't choose because I'm in love with them both.