Some of my favorite quilts are still low volume simple patchwork quilts. When I saw Allison of Woodberry Way post her new Chamomile pattern, I had a hard time resisting buying it immediately. Her version is much more low volume than mine, and it’s quite beautiful.
I waited and waited to buy her pattern since I had so many other projects in the works, but when she announced a sale back around Father’s Day (I think), I caved and purchased her pattern. I remember my mother-in-law was in town one week last August. I decided to start this quilt thinking it’d be a weekend project.
My first pictures of this quilt’s progress are dated August 16, 2017. I finished it yesterday, December 31, 2017. It wasn’t a weekend project. The quilt took longer than expected…like usual. I always start a project thinking I’ll have plenty of time to finish it quickly and efficiently. Then I am usually reminded I have many other tasks that involve things other than my sewing machine.
I started this quilt after finishing this pillow. This has been one of my favorite patchwork pillows to date. I made two almost identical and one sold in my Etsy Shop. One is still waiting for a home. I liked the combination so much that I decided to make an entire quilt with the fabrics.
I have no complaints or qualms with this pattern. It’s beautiful and well written. It was a great pattern for me. I’m definitely not your most accurate quilter around so something with a bit of simplicity is good for me.
There is lots of basic patchwork. It didn’t take much brain power.
These cornerstones, though…they’re super tiny for me. I had a bit of trouble with accuracy. My one regret of this quilt? I wish I had fussy cut more of the strawberries or used a different fabric for them altogether. I wanted this strawberry fabric to be the focal fabric point. They definitely are, but I kind of wish I’d chosen a much less bold fabric for these little nine patches.
After looking through every swatch from every fabric manufacturer at my local quilt shop, I landed on the same sashing color that Allison used in her original Chamomile quilt…Ruby Ice by Bella Fabrics. It’s a perfect low volume aqua.
The construction of the quilt went together pretty well for me. I learned, as usual, that I really REALLY need to perfect my quarter inch seam allowance…more on that later. But overall, this was a fun quilt to sew. Nothing complex but a beautiful pattern.
For the backing, I used a fabric called Penmanship by Lori Holt. It’s from her Bee Backgrounds line. I love it and have lots of it left over for future quilts. It’s a bit of a hard fabric to photograph well because of it’s low volume nature, but it’s a great stash fabric.
(I linked to it above from Fabric.com. They are one of the few fabrics stores I can find that still have some in stock.)
The nearer I was to finishing this quilt, the closer Christmas was drawing nearer. I had finished a farmhouse inspired quilt for my mom a couple months ago. I had talked with my younger sister about making her a quilt for Christmas. In a somewhat humorous and months long scavenger hunt for the perfect fabric for her quilt (she’s a bit indecisive), my time was running short to pick out a quilt for my older sister, and I decided to finish this one for her.
I figured it is always good to gift something that you love. My husband has also reminded me a few times this year that we have an ample number of blankets in our home. I ended up gifting this one to my sister on Christmas morning with a partially finished binding.
I tried to get it finished for Christmas, but once I decided to bind it by hand, I knew I wouldn’t make it in time! I ended up binding it with a bit of inspiration from Red Pepper Quilts. She uses stripes on so many of her bindings, and I love it! I think she uses black stripes from a Timeless Treasures line, but these are from the Sevenberry Line.
Almost all of these other fabrics I bought at one time or another from Sew Stitching Happy. It’s my favorite place to buy fabrics with great customer service.
Feel free to ask in the comments about any of the fabrics you see in this quilt. Otherwise, you can check back to this post and see many of the names listed.
Last but not least, here is a full shot of the quilt.
I love the simplicity of this quilt. Did you have it professionally quilted or did you machine quilt it yourself?
Hi Kathy, I machine quilted it myself. I almost always straight line quilt using the seams as my guides.