Skeeter Bug Quilts - New Pattern Coming Soon!
Picnic Quilt
The Picnic Quilt is my interpretation of a quilt along offered by Sew.be. You can see my inspiration here. The Sew.be version uses different colour palettes of the Liberty of London Betsy pattern, but I used a variety of Liberty patterns and colours. I also increased the size of my Nine Patch blocks to 12".
While researching the Sew.be pattern, I found this blog from Debbie Thompson of Sweet Little Quilts. Debbie completed her quilt as a participant in the Sew.be quilt along. I really fell in love with her quilt, and I love to use quilt facing instead of a quilt binding. It’s a fantastic alternative for your modern quilt designs. I also used the facing on Skeeterbug Quilt.
The finished size of the Picnic Quilt is 60” x 72”. I used eight different Liberty of London patterns for the quilt top, repeating one of them for the facing on the back of the quilt. Finding a chambray locally was a bit tricky, but I was able to find it online from GJ’s Discount Fabrics. I used the Mid Blue Chambray, and it was perfect, though darker than it appears on the website. A coral-coloured gingham print for the backing ties the fabrics together and resonates with the casual intentions of the quilt.
The quilt top came together quickly. I decided to machine quilt with simple straight stitches at a 45° angle, spaced ½” apart. My Bernina Walking Foot was up to the task, and I love how it turned out. Of course, the quilting took a little while. I’m not great with repetitive activities, but I found some interesting podcasts to binge and just went for it! In the end, I actually enjoyed the process. Having the quilting stitches close together across the whole quilt gives the quilt a stiffer, mat-like structure – perfect for picnics.
The first three or four rows of stitches looked a little wonky, but the quilt doesn’t usually lie perfectly flat, so even the straightest lines can look skewed. As you progress through the rest of the quilt, they all come together nicely. Having said that, it is important to check your lines periodically, and reset when needed. I did this with each line of stitches that intersected with the corners of the squares, making sure I targeted the corner of each square as I quilted that row of stitches. If you studied the quilt closely, you would see that the gaps between the stitched rows aren’t perfect, but we’re not machines! Embrace the uniqueness of handmade crafts – yours and others.
The Sweet Little Quilts website provides a good tutorial on facing quilts. However, I was a little uneasy using adhesive or glue to secure the facing. Instead, I pressed the facing toward the back of the quilt, pinned it into place, and hand stitched. It worked like a dream. If you find that the pin method does not work well for you, try the glue method on a scrap of fabric, including ironing, before you apply it to your quilt sandwich.
