I’m at it again, a second (larger, for our queen bed) quilt with material for matching shams and a throw pillow cover.. So I’m asking myself why am I digging this and still saying I am not a quilter? I think I know why now. When I paint I am ALL about the details. I want it to be a super clean, “perfect” piece. I have a hard time loosening up. Quilting for me is the opposite and lets me be creative still. It’s a hobby I don’t take myself seriously in (hence not calling myself a quilter- I mean really, have you SEEN HOW COMPLICATED THEY CAN GET?!?) and I let my details come through by picking fabrics I love and want collected together in my house. I also enjoy hand quilting with colorful thread to add texture and character with my imperfect stitches. I love the complex quilt designs I scroll through on Instagram, but I really love making the simple, colorful, imprecise quilted works that let me play with color and pattern without hyper focusing or thinking too hard on the details. I already have fabric for a quilted Halloween throw!
To start this one, much like how I did my first I placed my fabric on the floor to arrange it. These 10 inch squares were all together in what’s called a layer cake- a pack of 42 squares that come together from a fabric designer all in the same coordinated design series. I liked so much of the Tula Pink collection “Moon Garden” that I bought the layer cake and the charm pack (charm pack is same as a layer cake but with 5 inch squares). I just had to have these designs on my bed. The charm pack will be used for the pillows!
Sketching out the squares in my sketchbook I have designated as a sewing project book I knew I wanted to keep it simple like I stated above. I wanted something where the fabric was the focus and where I could sort of zone out and sew. I talked to my sister to get a plan on size for my queen bed and how I would want to do my sashing (the fabric between squares), border and binding. At the fabric stores I picked fabrics to compliment the patterns of Tula Pink’s collection with a determination to stay away from neutrals. In my recent Grand Teton painting I used a lot of purples and greens and it had me really wanting to do something more with these colors. I also looked up 108 fabric- fabric made to 108” instead of the usual 44” for purposes like quilt backs so you don’t have to piece together to get a continuous pattern (like I did last time). Tula Pink makes 108 fabrics to coordinate with her collections that come out so I found some of the “Kabloom” fabric to match the peonies on the front so this blanket can be pretty on both sides. 108 is a lot more expensive than getting some solid quilter’s cotton and piecing together, but I really wanted something that would stand out from the work being put into it. Totally worth it in my book!
Here you can see the 108 backing fabric and how the pattern is large scale.
Making my shams I wanted to make a version of the quilt in miniature. I decided to go for a larger border with a smaller number of squares as I wanted the border to visually separate the pillows from the quilt when on the bed, and I wanted the border to be more seen than it is on the quilt when it’s on the bed(as it drapes over the edge).
I used the same backing material as I did on the quilt for the pillows. So fun! I am holding off on the throw pillow while I decide what I want it to look like. I think I would like to do some sort of more traditional quilt block, but while I decide I have a slew of other projects to work on!