Somehow I have never made a quilt for my sister. Mostly because she wanted an all-white quilt or something that was one color… and unfortunately that’s more of a blanket than a quilt. But I found a pattern that would work, and that’s the Meadowlark by Penelope Handmade.
I decided to go with the 2-color option, and I used a JCrew x Liberty London table cloth for the contrasting fabric. Here are the stats:
- Pattern: Meadowlark in Throw Size (72×72… which tbh makes buying batting a bit challenging. I need to buy a roll)
- White: Essex Linen in White
- Contrasting: Liberty London tablecloth from JCrew Home
- Backing: Pink Minky from a new-to-me shop (since no more Joann’s 😞 ), Fabric Wholesale Direct
- Batting is Quilter’s Dream Select in Double from Sew Jersey.
OK Let’s get into it!
In Process
I tried to post daily updates on Instagram to hold myself accountable… but no one was seeing them/ liking them. So maybe they were boring? Maybe the video quality is too bad because it’s dark from quilting after bedtime lol. But I’m switching to TikTok because I see better results over there (and apparently it’s not banned yet).
First thing first: I started looking at the wrong cutting chart, even though I had everything highlighted. So at one point, I had only cut out half the pieces I needed and I was like… hmmm how is this going to work? Why did I order so much fabric?
But I got there eventually, and sometimes I really hate all the cutting. But I know it’s for a good cause, so I try to get through it.
yes my son is trying to wrap a phone cord around me…
I also decided to make the quilt somewhat directional… The flowers definitely are directional, but I could have randomized it and made life easier for myself. INSTEAD I WAS ALWAYS SEAM RIPPING. Again, did this to myself, and because my sister notices things like that. The problem is that some strips by the end are attached in a different direction, so they were never going to be the same direction… I keep telling myself no one will care 🫠
As things go, I had other projects come up… I needed to finish the quilted jacket before the spring season ended ha. And people keep having babies, so I’m always interrupted from this one.
And at some point the squares got to me, and I DREADED ironing the back 🫣 so anyway. I put it off. But was determined to finish before I got the fabric for my next quilt that would have to be a turbo make (tracking says Monday, and the shower is Saturday. And I’m pretty sure it will take more than a day).
Finishing the Quilt
Of course… I had the right size batting probably for a different quilt, but it was natural, and this was white… and I’ve heard that it can really discolor the quilt (although, not sure it applies to a linen white because it’s thicker). I didn’t want to take the risk after all that work, so I ran to my Local-ish Quilt Shop (35 minutes away), and picked up the batting I needed. Which ended up being natural – they assured me it would not make a difference.
When you’re doing the basting it feels like the white is discolored, becuase you see the natural sticking out the edges, but once it’s bound, it looks perfectly white again.
I did the Elmer’s Glue Method again, and then got to work with the wavy stitch as one does. I think so much of my quilting regrets would have been solved if I had been using the wavy stitch earlier. Instead of trying to make straight lines all the time.
Although, I kind of wanted to do diagonals on this because of the diamond shapes.
OK TO BE HONEST I’M WRITING THIS BLOG POST BEFORE I FINISH THE BLOG, AND NOW I’M RECONSIDERING THE QUILTING PLAN.
I should do diagonals, but maybe I can still do wavy, and along the white part so the diamonds pop a little more?
ok not the full sketch (and done very badly on goodnotes)… I will have to see if there’s too much space between some of the squares, and might need add more. This is going to be a struggle to feed through my machine 🫠 Anyway, you get the idea. We’ll see how much time I have to work on it.
Ok now that you saw me working through that in real time…
As usual I did the binding in my B&W stripe, and added my new Sarah Heart tags!! My machine wasn’t cooperating with “embroidering” years onto such thick quilts, so I bought a bunch of tags. And maybe I’ll need even more? So many plans!
The End!
Here are the last few photos! Maybe I’ll update when Stefanie has it in an apartment, but she’s at my parents’ house for the summer. This is her “Congrats for quitting your dream job that turned out to be the worst job on the planet” quilt.
