It's finally done!! I feel free, haha
Project Began: March 18, 2021 Finished: April 14, 2022
This is the longest I've ever worked on a project- I started last March and I've been working on it pretty consistently since then. The hand quilting alone took me 5 months! I'm honestly pretty proud of myself for sticking with it for this long until it's done.
I can't say I'll never do another quilt but it won't be anytime soon. I do think puff quilts are really cute and I'd like to do a fall quilt maybe, (and I think patchwork/quilt skirts are super cute!) but I need a break from projects of this scale for a bit, that's for sure. I have some dress/fashion projects I'd like to do, so that's next.
Honestly I've never been a huge quilting fan and never really wanted to make a quilt, and I was following a quilter nonasuch on tumblr for a while, but the urge didn't strike me until I ran across this Beatrix Potter fabric on ebay and then I was just compelled to make a pastel floral quilt out of it.
Fabric companies used to put out lots of these 'easy no pattern' projects, where all the pieces and directions are printed on a sheet of fabric, and you just cut and sew them together. These were originally intended to be made into quilted children's books, such as an alphabet book, but I wanted to make a full quilt!
Most of the rest of the fabrics are from various sellers on Etsy. A couple patches on the backing are from my stash at home when I ran out of the Etsy fabric. Oops!
Honestly I made a lot of mistakes with this, I've never made a quilt before so there's a lot of things I'd do differently or at least wish I could do better- I pieced the front and backing together on my mom's sewing machine, but either it's breaking down or I'm just terrible at using it, because it wasn't exactly a smooth process lol. I kept getting the tension wrong, I think. I didn't use a pattern for the quilt, and honestly my cutting wasn't super neat/exact but it turned out okay in the end!
I spent a lot of time arranging everything on my parents' living room floor, and ironing and pinning on the guest bed before sewing. Eventually finished, but by then I was about to move to my new apartment in Chicago. When I think that I'd planned to finish this by my college graduation... lol
I got my batting here and basted it all together on my living room floor. The quilt takes up the whole thing lol, but that's not really saying much since my apartment is tiny haha. I definitely would do a better job on this part if I could re-do; I think I'd try a basting spray, or at least weigh down the backing so it wouldn't slide around while I'm pinning. I definitely ended up with wrinkles/etc. due to this, but I think it still looks cute.
The quilting was all done by hand; pretty much just stitch-in-the-ditch and outlining the ovals and square patterns already in the fabric. This took a really long time but it was really relaxing; I could cover myself with the quilt and be cozy as I sewed! Doing this over the grey Midwestern winter, while under a warm quilt and looking at all the spring floral patterns definitely helped beat the winter blues.
The binding has definitely been the quickest part, though sometimes the most annoying- the satin fabric frays like CRAZY but it's just so cute. I think I'd go for a different binding next time, and make it wider- I had to re-do a few sections because of that, but luckily I had plenty of satin fabric. Fray check was an absolute lifesaver. Honestly I can't recommend fray check enough for any fabric you suspect might fray, it just makes your whole life so much easier. I've seen some scalloped bindings on quilts that I think look so cute, but I've never done scallops before so that would be a learning curve.
I'm so excited to use this quilt for picnics and as a summer blanket! I grew up on Beatrix Potter stories and the animated series, I watched that over and over as a child and rewatch it every now and then for the nostalgia and the beautiful art. I also have a small collection of Beatrix Potter tea things; a creamer and spoon rest from the British Museum when I visited London, and a mug and a few plates from the local antique store. I'm always on the lookout for more, they're so cute!
I also really want the Innocent World Peter Rabbit collab pieces- honestly I love all of them, but every time I've seen them pop up it was either too expensive or I wasn't quick enough to buy. I'll get them at some point though! :)
Here's the blanket on its first picnic outing this spring! In a cemetary in southern Illinois with one of my good friends, Rosie.
