posted by Laura on 2012 Quilts

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Good grief!  It’s been 12 years since I’ve made a quilt and it took me two years to make this one.  Not really.

For the life of me I cannot remember how I got there but one day about two years ago I stumbled upon Jacquie Gering’s Tallgrass Prairie Studio.  I read every page of her blog and I was so inspired to give quilting another try.

The first fabric I fell for was Sweetwater’s Authentic line for Moda.  I never would have put those colors together.  I used a nifty invention called a charm pack.  Whoever came up with the idea of pre-cuts is a real genius.  I bought a matching jelly roll, too.

The design is based on the pattern for Kate Spain’s Verna quilt kit that was available at the Fat Quarter Shop.  I did not pre-wash anything (how would you pre-wash pre-cuts anyway?) and I used spray starch while piecing. The batting is Warm and White.  The quilting thread is YLI.  Since it was my first foray into machine quilting, I used simple straight line stitching.  I had purchased a walking foot ten years earlier but this was the first time I had used it successfully.  That made all the difference in the world.  The finished size is about 44 x 44.  The binding was a bit narrower than I think would prefer.  It made the corners a bit difficult to work on.

Why two years?  I took a break between piecing and quilting so I could redecorate the den and turn it into a “quilting studio”, complete with a DIY 4 x 8 table.  That did take almost two years.  Except for the table, I work solo.  There was a lot of wallpaper to take down, two coats of primer to put up and two coats of paint, ceiling included, for a 19 x 20 room.  So I guess I am committed to quilting regularly from now on.