DIY Project: Huge Beach Picnic Quilt

The inspiration for this absolutely enormous, ocean-themed quilt was this gorgeous fabric line, 'Saltwater' from Tula Pink.

These prints makes me think of summer days by the ocean of my childhood, sun bathing, swimming, and hanging out with friends to the sound of lapping waves. I thought it would be perfect for a beach quilt, a massive upgrade from the sun bleached batch towels my friends & I used to lie on while working on our summer tans, during countless sunny days spent by the sea.

10 feet by 10 feet (that's 3x3 meters to my metric using friends) picnic/beach quilt

For the quilt top, I used a large simple block arranged in a descending repeat to showcase the different prints. Although I had a bit of shift sneak in here and there in the quilt top, I still really love how it turned out.

Quilt top

All the prints in the line are some combination of gorgeous coral, but still dynamic enough not to be boring. I love the colors, and the maritime theme as well!

Quilt top pattern, closeup

For the backing, I went with a wide pieced vertical stripe, alternating each of the four main coral prints that I used for the quilt top. Since this quilt is so large, 10 feet by 10 feet, I knew I wouldn't be able to use continuous yardage to cover it anyways. I was debating using a waterproof backing fabric, which I think is brilliant for a picnic blanket, both to keep moisture and stains at bay. However, I remember making my waterproof bikini bags, how the oil cloth lining made them really heavy to work though my machine, and those bags were tiny. Magnify that by the massive size of this quilt, and I was worried it would get too bulky for my little sewing machine to handle. It is really hard to work a large size quilt though my little machine, as it is not a long arm machine. With the heavy batting I'm using, I'm really pushing the limits of my equipment, so I had to decide against it. Bummer.

Quilt backing

Quilt backing, closeup

For the quilting pattern, I did this narrow horizontal line pattern, purposefully keeping my lines a bit wavy and uneven. I was thinking of the ripple pattern of sand stroked by lapping waves or wind. I like how it turned out, and the tight quilting gives that puckered, vintage quilt look, which I just adore.

Quilting pattern, pre-wash

The binding is homemade from solid, white cotton, and I used a new technique to attach it. Usually, I first fold over a "fake binding" made from the overhanging backing fabric, and then I attach a double folded binding on top of it. Initially I did this just for the added durability on baby quilts, as I know they get washed a lot. I actually really like the look of the two bindings, the bottom one peeking out under the top, so I stuck with it. This technique makes it easier to apply the top binding as well, compared to cutting off the backing fabric and attaching the binding directly on the raw edge. I don't even use pins when I do the binding this way!

Quilt label and binding, via my Instagram

However, as I mentioned, this time I used a new method that I saw on Pinterest. For this method I used a single folded homemade binding, and attached it on the backside first, and then folded it over the raw edge and topstitch it to the front (although I think most people hand stitch it to the front). Honestly, I hate this method. It looks ok, but it was A LOT harder than my own technique. The corners, in particular, were a real bitch, and it made me realize why a lot of quilters hand stitch their binding even on machine quilted projects. This method seemed better made for hand stitching. I will not be doing it this way again. No, thankyouverymuch. I'll stick to my own method in the future, but I'm glad I tried it.

As this quilt is meant for picnics and trips to the beach, I used a very heavy cotton batting, not the light, airy bamboo batting I normally use. Hopefully it's thick enough to be comfortable on uneven ground, and help prevent moisture from lawns, beaches and docks from seeping through the quilt. Since this quilt is so huge, it is also HEAVY, I made one of my custom Quilt Carry Strap for it. The quilt strap is of my own design, and makes this quilt easily portable, in spite of its size and weight, without permanently attaching any straps, handles, or hardware to the actual quilt. Of course, I also matched the padded handle to the quilt, using leftover scraps from the top.

Making this quilt has been a long process that begun back in January. Twice I had to put it on hold while piecing the top, until more supplies arrived. Although I went in to this knowing it was the biggest quilt I'd ever attempted, I underestimated the huge amount of materials necessary, not to mention the work. The quilting, even with this very simple horizontal line, alone took several weeks! The quilt was so heavy to wrangle through my machine, I couldn't do it in one stretch, as I usually do. The entire quilt, from start to finish, took 3 months to complete, although, I did not work on it every day. Condensed into a continuos stretch of 12-hour days, it would be closer to 3 weeks.

Fabric:

Quilt top:
1 1/2 yards Tula Pink, Saltwater, Bubble Shells, Coral
1 1/2 yards Tula Pink, Saltwater, Submarines and Seaweed, Coral
1 1/2 yards Tula Pink, Saltwater, Tortoise Shell, Coral
1 1/2 yards Tula Pink, Saltwater, Octo Garden, Coral
1 1/2 yards Tula Pink, Saltwater, Floaters and Sinkers, Coral
1 1/2 yards Tula Pink, Saltwater, Sea Debris, Coral
1 1/2 yards Tula Pink, Saltwater, Ocean Ponies, Coral
1 1/2 yards Tula Pink, Saltwater, Sea Stripes, Coral

Backing:
3 yards Tula Pink, Saltwater, Coral
3 yards Tula Pink, Bubble Shells, Coral
3 yards Tula Pink, Octo Garden, Coral
3 yard Floaters and Sinkers, Coral

Binding:
solid cotton, white

DIY Project: Friendiversary Quilt

Meet Jo, the lovely lady who has been by my sidekick for most of my life. This year, Jo & I are celebrating 23 years of friendship! Twenty three years of travels and jokes, hugs, tears, and a multitude of hilarious shenanigans.

Jo & I, from my Instagram

Nowadays, we live half a world apart, we have for the past decade, but she's still my bestie. To celebrate our anniversary, I made her this Friendiversary quilt:

Queen size improve style Friendiversary quilt

This is the first Improv Style quilt that I've ever attempted, and I'll definitely make more quilts in this style! I really loved the improv process, especially the fact that the creative part of the quilting process continues throughout, as opposed to a more traditional style quilt, where you pick a pattern and which prints to use at the beginning, and then follow through. This time I continued to design the quilt, block by block, from start to finish. As the design process is my favorite part (besides pulling the finished quilt out of the dryer, all washed, warm and crinkly), stretching it throughout the piecing and sewing really suited me better. I also really love the resulting look of this quilt.

In fact, this is my favorite quilt I've ever made! Truly, if it was intended for anyone other than Jo, I would not actually give it away. I am currently in the process of making another quilt using the same prints, similar but not identical to this one, to make a matching Friendiversary quilt set.

The above Instagram pic, from a trip to Sweden in August of last year, turned into this photo fabric print:

I hand picked and printed almost all the fabric used in the quilt top using Spoonflower, and its many talented print designers. I also custom made two text prints and one photo panel of my own. I ended up adding a few prints from my scraps stash as well, and the combination of fabrics turned out absolutely perfect!

I quilted each print with a different quilting pattern throughout the quilt, and while I did end up having one or two favorites, I really, REALLY love the variety of textures created by the mix most of all.

The white blocks, with the tight straight lines of quilting were my favorite. The texture of this tight quilting is absolutely amazing. On some of the prints, I quilted according to the print design. A few blocks had very minimal quilting, and other had none besides the perimeter.

For the backing, I used IKEA's Britten Nummer print, with a few scraps from the quilt top mixed in. I had not planned on piecing the backing, other than joining two lengths of yardage to cover the entire back. However, when I got home from IKEA I realized they had falsely sold me 10 yard of  "continuous yardage", with several HUGE and extremely UGLY seams running straight through, leaving me no pieces large enough, so I had to rethink my plan. Eventually, I ended up adding a few bits and pieces, and I am happy with the result. While I didn't get a great photo of the completed backing, you can get an idea of what it looks like here;

I made the binding using left over BRITTEN NUMMER print, and after covering the raw edge with overhang from the backing, I added it on top.

The one downside I found with this improv style quilting, is that it was a lot more time consuming than traditional quilting. Of course, I added extra work time the sheer size of this quilt, and by quilting each block differently, but even without that, this quilt took the longest to complete compared to all of my previous work of comparable size. Just cutting and arranging the quilt top took 4 days, assembly took 2, and quilting took a full week. Binding was about the same as a traditional quilt of the same size, but then I had to cut threads, front and back, for a few days. Lastly, I added one of my labels, and after 2.5 weeks of 10 hours/day at my sewing machine, this gorgeous quilt was finally completed!

Fabric Used:

Quilt top, organized by source:


Spoonflower, $18/yard:
watercolor mustache in aqua, by Katarina
Arrows & feathers, by Katarina
arrows by, katarina
watercolor dots purple, by katarina
arrows pink, by katarina
arrows_in_black_and_white_pattern, by katarina
long tiny striped feathers, by katarina
doilies on linen, by katarina
watercolor chevron aqua white, by katarina
love letter, by katarina
crazy dots gray, by katarina
chevron_arrows, by katarina
Letters, by Ankepanke
hearts and dots in a wavy stripe, by tb0969
I LOVE YOUR TYPE, by bzbdesigner
small_type-2, by bxbdesigner
Say What? (Quirky idioms typed text), by happysewlucky
Madame Fancypantaloons' Instant LIbrary Bindings ~ Blue, by peacoquettedesigns
Fancy Lattice Pink with White Outline, by karmie
Woodtype Alphabet (chalk), by penny candy

Other, approx. $10/yard:
white solid cotton
offwhite solid cotton
Michael Miller Cotton Couture, various solids
various prints from my scrap bin

Backing:
Britten Nummer print, IKEA, $4.99/yard
various leftovers from quilt top

Binding:
Britten Nummer print, IKEA, $4.99/yard