Today I'm sharing my Arkansas Travelers quilt. I seriously LOVED how this one finished!
For the quilt I used Arkansas Travelers block tutorial from Lee Heinrich blog Freshly Pieced. You can find the tutorial following the link (HERE).
It is a block that is constructed using a combination of traditional and foundation paper piecing techniques.
I first featured the block as part of my PHXMQG 2015 block of the month. As part of my demonstration I created a few extra blocks in a different colorway. I'm so grateful I did!
I have a small (or, ahem, rather large) tradition of making quilts for each of my nieces and nephews. So far I've made 18 quilts! I love creating these baby quilts and the joy of having something tangible to show my love for them individually.
When I heard this little girl would be joining my extended family soon, I just knew this would be the best use of those extra blocks! I fussy cut some dogs into the quilts from some OOP fabric I hoarded (designer Heather Ross). My sister in law loves dogs and I hope to help pass that love onto her daughter, my niece.
For the borders I grabbed a large floral print I picked up while vacationing in England. Isn't it wonderful? I wish I had bought at least two more yards! Isn't that the way it always goes?
Julie Hirt quilted it for me using some lovely loops (see her website HERE). I'll post a picture of the finished quilt, once I can find the photo!
And some extra pictures in case you were interested!
First of all, some news:
It's been rather slow over here on the blog for one rather big reason:
A baby boy will be joining our family end of June!
So in preparation for our little one's arrival I pulled out some fabric from my stash and picked out the Hello March pattern from Cluck Cluck Sew.
I love the cheery, bright colors! The combination of the warm yellows and reds mixed with the cool blue remind me of summertime.
Hello March was the perfect pattern for a woman with "pregnancy brain." The directions were straight forward and the quilt come together quickly. Although, I did make a mistake still and had to re-do roughly 10 blocks... live and learn!
To make it look a bit scrappier, I went with 9 different prints rather than the 6 recommended for the crib size. This provided me with some extra blocks for a future project.
The top finished at 42" x 56" which will be perfect for dragging all around the house by a little boy.
Now I need to piece a backing and then it's off to be quilted!
"Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me" - Styx
The past few summers I've had the privilege of volunteering for my church's annual camping trip where we take teenage girls out camping for five days. It's a wonderful, rewarding and tiring experience. Many people put their heart and sweat into this experience, including our two camp directors. Last year I made the red cross quilt for one of them and this year I decided to make a quilt for the other leader.
Our theme this year (because we have to have a fun theme!) was traveling and each group had their own mode of transportation. The main leadership group was assigned boats and the color blue.
With inspiration from Cotton Way's Smooth Sailing pattern, I used a Mini Swoon to create a sailboat. I kept the colors to red, aqua, and navy and am so pleased with the results. Why don't I use this combination more often?
Now this happy little quilt just needs to be quilted... I'm leaning towards clamshell quilting. What do you think?
