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ohio star picnic quilt

i do believe a homemade quilt is the perfect wedding gift. quilts are so personal, made with love and care, and can last many many years. plus they’re practical – a handmade picnic quilt will be there to help keep a couple warm on camping trips, to be there for them as they have family picnics and create memories. they can even be a reminder of their wedding day!

ohio star picnic quilt

one of my early sewing projects was a blanket for baby Em, and the first time i covered my little daughter in a simple blanket i made, it nearly brought me to tears. it was a turning point for me, where i fully understood the specialness of handmade things and the love that goes into them. my family wasn’t really full of quilters – i have friends that have beautiful ancient handmade quilts made by their great-grandmothers, but my family seems to prefer to sew garments, embroider, knit, and crochet – still wonderful crafts and i know some quilts were likely made along the way, but they just weren’t part of our family culture like others. as i’ve dabbled in quilting, i’ve learned how much time and effort goes into each one and how much they mean to the maker. quilts are super powerful, you guys.

so i made this picnic quilt for my husband’s cousin Amy and her new husband Ben as their wedding gift and I hope they have many happy memories with it. it’s made with a vintage sheet, a sturdy navy cotton i bought during Anna’s Instagram destash (thanks Anna!), DS for Joann gold, and the chambray from Em’s big bow dress. i tried to give a nod to the colors and tone of their wedding in my choices (here are a few shots from the reception…soooooooo Portlandy!).

the back is a huge piece of dark blue (stretch?) corduroy that i thrifted. you can sort of see my quilting pattern here (i tried to make the star pop, so i followed the outer lines of it 1/4″ away from the seam). the corduroy was really heavy, too, which is perfect for a picnic blanket. sorry about the weirdly lit photos, it was starting to rain and O was going to wake up from his nap at any minute.

i appliqued a little linen heart for the couple onto joel dewberry woodgrain, adding their initials and wedding date.

the design is a modified giant ohio star. i love how many different designs you can make with half square triangles! i first had the idea to make a quilt like this when i saw the ohio supernova quilt by Heather Jones floating around pinterest, and i referenced Jeni’s tutorial as i sketched my plan out on graph paper. it’s constructed of HSTs with vintage sheet squares in the corners. the solid blocks i cut at 9.5″ squares, the HST squares i cut at 10″ each. by that math the quilt ended up about 54″ x 54″, plenty big for a few people to sit on for a picnic, though smaller than the picnic blanket i made for us (and we use often).

there’s no batting. to finish the quilt i put the top and the backing right sides together, pinned the heck out of it, and sewed around the outside leaving an opening for turning. i turned, topstitched around the edge, then did my quilting with a walking foot to make sure the layers didn’t shift. it went pretty fast! i actually jumped back and forth between working on this and the flower girl dress. when the organza got annoying, i shifted over to straight lines and cotton for relief.

i got an enthusiastic text from Amy and Ben the day after the wedding thanking me and saying they loved it, which is great – the thing about quilts is they ARE a lot of work so knowing they’re going to an appreciative home is solid gold.

now i want to make more quilts!

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Comments 20 Comments
Categories quilts, sewing, vintage

i’m swooning and i need advice

22 Aug

probably breaking some major sewing blogger rule here by posting two projects in a row made from the same fabric, but i need your help!

we recently painted Em’s room the pink she has been asking for FOREVER. in doing so, i decided she needs a new quilt for her bed, because her old one (my first quilt ever that i was so proud of) was rejected. she said it wasn’t “cozy” and threw it to the ground even if i just folded it at the foot of the bed!

boo, Em! booooo.

i gave it to my sister, and i think my niece is much more appreciative of it. harrumph!

so anyway, i decided to make her a new quilt, which will be all pink solids and backed with flannel so it’s cozy to the touch. i decided it’d be neat to do just one star block on a field of pink. i purchased the ever-popular swoon pattern and then decided that since i’ve never done a complicated pieced block before, i should make one for practice. that’s where this one comes in. i made it from washi two scraps of dear stella, kona snow, and some peach shot cotton (note: mixing shot cotton in with quilting cotton is rough!).

here is my practice swoon block. it’s big – 24″ square!

since i’m not much of a quilter, i kind of hated cutting all the pieces and grumbled at how long it was taking to make the HSTs and my first flying geese ever. but once i started putting the components together, i got super addicted to making it! it was so fun to see the block take shape like a puzzle. however, i see now why quilting bloggers often post just a block at a time rather than only showing finished quilts; they’re a lot of work!

as i hung this block up to take photos, i really liked how it looked against the charcoal wall in our bedroom (my husband painted it one day when i was out at my parents’ house with the kids – it was something i’d wanted to try for a while and he did it for me as a mother’s day surprise – i LOVE surprises and i love my wall!). so anyway, i think i want to turn this block into a mini quilt and hang it as art in our room. he’s in favor of the idea too (good man).

questions for you (especially the quilters out there):

how do i quilt it? i have a free motion foot but i’m not too great at it, so straight line ideas are preferred.
should i add a border, or just bind it?
what color binding?

i’ll definitely show you once i’m done with it…but i need to get to work on some school sewing first! Em starts pre-K right after Labor Day!!

Comments 47 Comments
Categories quilts, sewing

whole cloth starfish quilt

26 Mar

i love my inlaws. they’re great. and when they decided to build a new beach house up at their spot of land on the puget sound (in the family since the ’60s), i knew i wanted to make a coordinating lap quilt for movie watching and stormy afternoon book reading. however, my mother-in-law has very definite ideas about her decorating style, so i waited until the house was done and i could see what colors she was using before i secretly started a quilt for her. the house was finished last month and her palette turned out to be a soothing natural-and-white scheme, so i whipped up this quilt for her birthday.

i had spotted a pottery barn pillow with starfish appliqué on one of their living room chairs, and took my inspiration from that. the quilt is whole cloth natural linen with white kona starfish appliqués that i hand-drew. i used basting spray to temporarily hold the starfish in place and stitched around the edge of each through all layers during the quilting process, so you can see them on the back too. i really like the texture and rough edges – the whole quilt has a kind of rumpled, worn, beachy look.

the back is a bella solid (spring, i think?) that i picked up in the remnant bin at bolt. my MIL’s favorite color is this shade of green, so i figured it was a safe bet and a nice complement to the natural tones on the front.

i was pretty excited when i had the idea for the quilting design (and thanks to my buddy jessica for helping talk me through it!). i wanted it to stand out since the quilt itself was pretty simple. i drew arches starting at each corner, increasing the distance between them at each layer, and letting the lines intersect at various points. the idea was to mimic ripples in the water when you skip stones, which we often do on the rocky beach. i started with a dinner plate, then used a ruler to measure out and mark the next layer, making a bunch of dashes at, say, 4″ from the prior arch, then connecting them to create the next arch. i drew them on with water soluble marker before quilting with my walking foot, starting in the center.

the binding fabric is a perfect little imperfect polka dot from timeless treasures (Geo-C7741) that reminds me of bubbles. i get scared that i’ll mess up while machine stitching the binding, so i always finish my quilt bindings by hand. am i weird for really loving that part?

the quilt is 41″ x 47″ finished, but my mother-in-law is only 4’11″ so i think it’ll cover her lap just fine. :)

it’s pretty cozy, so hopefully i can grab a little time with the quilt when i’m up there, too. can’t wait to get up to the sound to see it in its intended habitat!

Comments 25 Comments
Categories applique, quilts

whole cloth floral vintage sheet quilt

9 Mar

i’d been jonesing to make a quilt and was seeing some really cool whole cloth quilts pop up lately (like this and this and this), which made it seem even more attainable in the short term! then our friends had a new baby girl, H, causing my “i wanna make a quilt” feeling to quickly bubble over. also, i just really, really wanted to sew with this lovely vintage sheet i thrifted months ago. it’s so soft.

the backing is denyse schmidt scallop stripe in rose.

i did the ol’ machine stitch the front side, handstitch the back side method for the binding, which is a mustard-y kona cotton but i’m not sure which. the finished size is 36″ x 45″ (i just used a package of craft size batting). perfect size to wrap a small person in.

i actually thought up, started, and finished this quilt the same day, working during naptimes and finishing the binding after bedtime. it’s that quick! this is only my fourth quilt and only my second with batting, so i’d say whole cloth is the way to go for a beginner. so easy, but you learn all the steps. i loved the scallop shape of the back, so i mimicked it in my quilting. i used a dinner plate to create the shape, and laid a big measuring stick across the quilt to keep them straight. (PHONE PHOTO ALERT!)

i made little marks on each side of the plate with my water soluble pen once i knew how big i wanted the scallops, then traced around the plate, repeating until i had my quilting pattern. the scallop rows are about 6″ apart.

i quilted it with a walking foot, pivoting at the corners. i also added a pink appliqued H, so she knows it’s hers.

once the quilt photo sesh was done, Em wanted to take some pictures with my camera, too. she was very interested in capturing the flowers and grass and our shadows. i think she did a pretty great job, wanna see? the shadow is me holding onto the camera strap for dear life in case she dropped it…

not too shabby for a 3.5 year old, in this humble mother’s opinion! have a wonderful weekend!

Comments 30 Comments
Categories applique, quilts, sewing, vintage

how do people blog in december?

5 Dec

seriously you guys, december is HERE! sheesh! i didn’t sit down to a TV or computer all weekend – too busy! good news is, we got a lot done to usher in the christmas season. first, we got our tree from a lot just a few blocks from our house. our tradition is to carry it home (or the husband carries it while i lug both kids because Em was done walking and O was in the backpack). we went to the same lot last year, so it was fun to reminisce about how giant my belly was then and how O’s birth was just a little over a week away…

then we rearranged our little living room to accomodate it, since we like a nice fat tree that goes all the way to the ceiling. so the tree is trimmed, the chex mix is made, the house is decorated inside and out, Em’s christmas (and dance recital) dress is finished, and i knocked out a few decorations for O’s first birthday party coming up this weekend. i would have gotten photos of the dress, but both kids have a cold and she hasn’t been in a modeling mood.

funny how just a weekend can get you fully in the christmas spirit. after attending my husband’s company holiday party (he works for a small family-owned business, so his co-workers are a great group of folks that we’ve known for years) and seeing the singing christmas tree downtown with my mom and sisters (a giant choir of people standing on risers in the shape of a christmas tree), i’m there!

i got slightly too ambitious for a bit, starting to cut fabric for this mini quilt after being inspired by this one. i got one block sewn…

…but then realized a hanging mini quilt is not a necessity when i have a couple christmas presents to sew. i also got word that something VERY EXCITING is coming down the pike for ol’ skirt as top. check back on wednesday to find out what (it’s not a baby – just gotta put that out there, since this sewing blogger bunch is an incredibly fertile one…). ;)

be back soon!