Now that we bought a house, I painted a garden mural in my daughter’s bedroom.
For that I was inspired by French Country wall murals, simplified with the Donna Dewberry paint techniques.
Part of the garden theme plan included sewing a new quilt!
Quilts from The Quiltmaker’s Gift
Since moving into the house, I discovered HGTV’s Simply Quilts television show with Alex Anderson.
On the the show Alex interviewed the author of Quilts from the Quilt Maker’s Gift, which comes with an instruction book of many types of quilt blocks for the quilter, as a companion to the children’s book.
I happily bought both, thinking the children’s book would inspire my daughter to love and appreciate quilts, herself.
The quilting book explains the many types of quilt patterns featured in the charmingly illustrated children’s book.
Ranging each quilt block from simple to difficult, the table of contents lists that range under categories of geometric shapes.
Layout of this great quilting guide
That makes sense, since triangles are more difficult than squares, etc.
Turning the pages to the first featured block, Puss in the Corner, reveals a modern completed quilt using the pattern, with an overlay of the entire quilt superimposed upon a close up of the details.
The text on that page shares all the details that might go on a quilt label: name of quilt, size, number of blocks, types of borders, name of quilter, etc.
The next page features quilt history, artist secrets, design challenges, and the coordinating illustration from the children’s book.
Turn the page to reveal details for completing any size quilt (crib, twin, queen): size, number of blocks, fabric requirements, cutting instructions, and orientation variations. This is my favorite page. No more flipping from front to back and in between, everything is right here for the planning process.
The next page contains all the piecing, assembly, and finishing instructions.
Then the next two pages showcase various versions with pictures of their creators.
That repeats the pattern for 20 different quilt blocks, each of which are featured in the children’s book.
At the end of the book, stylistic pages describe general such as tips on fabric, color, and setting options.
Beyond that are pages full of technique: rotary cutting basics, machine piecing techniques, and finishing.
Then there are pages detailing resource lists, glossary, index.
Finally, ending the book, are two helpful charts: anatomy of a quilt (all the terminology labeled on a diagram) and a chart of standard bed and quilt sizes.
I love this handy reference of inspiration packed into 145 pages!
Double Irish Chain Quilt Block
After pouring through all the options on the many pages of the book, we settled on a Double Irish Chain Quilt.
Ready for a challenge beyond my previous Rail Fence and Impressionist quilts, I also thought this pattern easily lent itself to the garden theme.
Listed in the first category of easy quilts (only squares and rectangles) in Quilts from the Quilt Maker’s Gift, the block was described as easy enough for beginners.
Stylistically I imagined the Irish Chain (small blocks) cross hatched throughout the quilt as the decorative borders to the larger center blocks of a flower garden.
In fact, this reminded me of the 18th century gardens seen at the Governor’s Palace in Colonial Williamsburg.
Choosing Fabrics
Then we chose floral fabrics for the quilt to coordinate with the wall mural.
Since purple is my daughter’s favorite color, the fabrics needed to coordinate with that.
Because the feature fabric predominates the quilt, we chose a light pink with light sage floral with hints of purple that would harmonize with the walls of her newly painted room.
Then I found some tone-on-tone florals in both pink and purple, perfect for accents of pop in the smaller blocks for the chain, bringing life to the quilt.
Rotary Cut, Machine Stitched
I rotary cut the squares and rectangles, then machine stitched them as described in the book.
Hand Quilting on the Road
After assembling the quilt layers I put them in a big round hoop to hand quilt, which I actually find more relaxing than machine sewing.
While handquilting I can enjoy a tv show or even stitch while traveling to a vacation spot.
During our four hour drive to Houston, I knocked out tons of hand stitching. While sitting in the hotel room between sightseeing, I knocked out even more of the quilt.
Using 1/8″ inch masking tape to line up all the corners of all the blocks, I easily hand stitched a cross along the tape.
A close up of the hand stitched cross hatch pattern on the front:
Again a close up of the hand stitched cross hatch pattern, this time on the back.
At the store the various neon-like bright colors, which were so popular for pre-teen girls at the time, beckoned us.
With difficulty deciding between soft pastels and bright neons, we incorporated both.
Thought the neon would be a fun pop of surprise for the back.
