Picnic Anyone?

Spring Quilt Market is officially over.  The whirlwind has come and gone.  And now I can share some of those secret projects.  The first one is a picnic quilt in Summersault by Erin McMorris for Free Spirit.  I chose to work with the blues and greens.

Initially, I was going to do a simple rail fence/basket weave.  But once I got started, I decided it needed something more.  Something to make those prints really pop.  So I added sashings--in not one color but two.  And then I thought it needed a bit more.  So I turned those individual blocks into snowball blocks before adding the sashing.  And then I thought it would be great to fussy cut the cornerstone squares.  And then....well, then I decided to finish it and not make any more changes.  As it was, I found it challenging to keep the pattern all together in my head.  (This is what it's like when you are an intuitive quilter and you try to stick with a simple pattern.  Just so you know.)

You may remember this aptly titled post.  It came on the heels of several episodes of ripping out.  First, a misplaced sashing.  Then a block turned the wrong direction.  And just when I was breathing a sigh of relief, getting ready to do the initial quilting, I realized that one quarter of the entire quilt top was cattywampus!  Eventually though, it all came together.

The quilt has laminate on the backside with edges that wrap around to the front creating the binding. The water resistant quality of the laminate makes this great for picnics. The blue roll with the handle is the quilt carrier.  Just roll up the quilt, lay it on the open carrier, zip up the separating zipper and you're off!

The basket was a Big Lots find made of coated chicken wire.  I wove fabric strips through the holes to create the look you see here.  Any open weave basket could be treated in this way.

I'm very pleased with the end results.  Even though there were moments when I felt like the Quilt Gremlins were having a heyday when my back was turned.  And even though this was my first laminate sewing adventure.  Free patterns for both the quilt and the carrier will be available on Free Spirit's website in the coming weeks.  I hope this fun set inspires you to create something for your summer events with friends and family.