I took my time, and over the course of several days, finished up the now infamous yellow quilt, and with that completed the whole series. Four oversized lap quilts with matching pillows in Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow – one set for each of us.
Now that they’re finished, I thought you might like to know some of the details about how these all came together.
The Basic Quilt Instructions: These are mostly based on the Easy Lap Quilt from Bend the Rules Sewing. It was the first set of quilt instructions I ever read, which left me feeling like it was something I could actually do! There was no fancy piecing to make the top, no special equipment (i.e. walking foot) required, and it was a nice, manageable size. If you’ve always wanted to try making a quilt, but find the idea intimidating, I wholeheartedly recommend this book. I did have a little trouble understanding the binding instructions, but I was able to fill in some of the gaps with online instructional video clips.
The Quilt Tops: Rather than use the method described in the book, I decided to use fat quarters, which were already cut to size for me. In each quilt I used four full FQs in the corners, quartered FQs in the center section, and halved FQs to fill in the blanks. I completely avoided measuring anything by doing it this way. (Although it ended up making the finished quilt about 10 inches wider and 20 inches longer than the original design, and almost twin bed size.) I also kept consistent from quilt to quilt by using the same patterns on each one, in exactly the same arrangement, but in different color schemes. All of these fabrics came from Amy Butler’s Lotus collection.
The Pillows: I used the main polka dot fabric from each quilt and made a matching pillow case for a throw pillow. They were made envelope-style, using a square of dot fabric for the front, and two overlapping rectangles of the backing fabric. All backing fabrics for the pillowcases and quilts were former bedsheets.
Now that I’ve finished these, I think I’m done quilting for a while. Although I have to admit the idea of gifting several people on my Christmas list with (slightly less ambitious) lap quilts of their own keeps crossing my mind. I could make them without a binding, and instead of quilting them, I could tie them together at intervals – even maybe put a few clay buttons on them. Oh, my head hurts from having too many ideas!!
I love how you took something that some people find so terrifying and simplified it and made these beautiful quilts! I love the use of fat quarters to make these. I think I’m going to try that. These turned out great.
See what Christin has been blogging about: Fresh mayters and basil!!
Thank you – I hope you do try it! The fat quarter method made it so much less intimidating for me.
they are just lovely! i bought a couple fat quater bundles of AB’s daisy chain collection today and it made me think of your quilts 🙂 i am inspired!
xo,
erika
See what erika~ inspired mama musings has been blogging about: oh my!
I just love Amy Butler. Lotus was the first collection I fell in love with when I started to sew last year. I have to check out Daisy Chain (although, if I value my bank account, I probably shouldn’t, LOL!)
yep, your bank account will most certainly suffer! 😉 it is so pretty!
i love the lotus collection too!
See what erika~ inspired mama musings has been blogging about: green inspired GiVeAwAy!!!
Wow it’s beautiful and so much work too. I am going to have a go at making a patchwork quilt using my daughters old lovely clothes that I can’t part with!
See what Kylee has been blogging about: L’art créatif de Lunes Bijoux
That sounds challenging. I imagine it would be tricky to deal with the various different textures and materials.
So very cool! I am in awe, as always, of your craftiness. So glad you are feeling better too!
See what Michele has been blogging about: What fun that was this morning!!!
Aw thanks. I’m so glad I finally gave myself a push to finish them after letting them languish for a year!
I love them… can I be on your Christmas list? heeheee
See what zoe has been blogging about: Is this Normal?
Heh. Wanting to make nice things for people on my list and actually managing to do it are two different things. A spot on my list doesn’t come with any guarantees 😉
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They are absolutely stunning!
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wow, these are so beautiful and I love the binding you used on the quilt!
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