Bowtie Flower Quilt – Pattern by Quilter’s Candy Box

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As much work as it is to sew a quilt, it is always quite rewarding to finish one. I compare it to running. Sometimes going out for a run is a lot of work, but when I finish, it feels so good. (Disclaimer: I haven’t gone out for a jog in over three years. My running days went by the wayside about the time I had my second child.)

Elizabeth from Quilter’s Candy Box designed this quilt pattern, and I was more than happy to try it out.

The above picture shows my original fabric choices for this quilt. I combined a few different lines in the above picture, but as I sewed, my quilt morphed to mostly reflect Sedef Imer’s fabrics from her precious Sweet Prairie line. The blue denim type fabric you see is actually some vintage fabric I’ve been holding onto for a while.

One of the greatest parts of this quilt pattern are the large blocks. If I remember correctly, the blocks finish around sixteen inches. The large blocks made it feel like the quilt went together quickly.

The pattern calls for four blocks across and four blocks down for a square throw sized quilt, but I stopped at one less column and made an oversized baby quilt finishing around 48 inches by 64 inches.

If you’ve read any of my recent posts about my journey of learning to quilt, you may have picked up that I’ve sewn many quilts where my corners didn’t line up well. I would work so hard and everything was always just a bit off. I’d made small improvements over the years. I learned to cut my blocks accurately (even quickly). I learned the importance of nesting seams. But I had not perfected my quarter inch seam allowance. I had never measured and until the day I measured my seam allowance, my quilts were always a bit off.

This quilt, my friends, is the FIRST quilt I have sewn (aside from simple squares) where my corners aligned almost perfectly. Call me silly for persisting through so many years, but I love the handiwork of patchwork. I love the fabrics. And I feel like I can finally sew more complex patterns.

Now that I’ve told you how well this quilt went together, let me assure you that my quilts are still not perfect. Ahem, see the below picture.

Can you believe that? I had finished my quilt top, and I had spray basted everything. In the process of quilting, though, I saw that my fabric had shifted enough to move off the batting and top. I couldn’t believe it. I always attempt to be generous cutting my batting and backing quite a few inches larger than my quilt top.

Alas, I had to do just a tiny bit of surgery on the corner.

Many months ago, Debbie from Canfield House said something along the lines to me that we aren’t machines. Our hands are imperfect hands, and we can’t expect perfection from our hands. Such wisdom! Those words have calmed many a fret over my quilting imperfections.

If you’ve followed my website for any length of time, you may have noticed that I lean toward scrappy combinations of fabric. I like using fabrics of varying designers in my quilts. Rarely do I ever sew a quilt or pillow cover made from fabrics from the same line…like this Bowtie Flower Quilt.

I’m not sure what the different was about this quilt, but to satisfy my curiosity and desire to sew a scrappy version of this pattern, I went ahead and sewed a pillow cover.

Yes, part of me wishes I had sewn the entire quilt like this. I think I restricted myself a bit wanting to ensure the quilt was a good representation of such a beautifully designed pattern by Elizabeth. I’m not sure why I didn’t sew with my typical tendencies on the baby quilt…which I still think turned out overly precious. But, I love this pillow version too.

To size this pillow correctly, I had to add a border around the pillow. Each side of the border is a bit different and therefore the pillow is a tad non-symmetrical. For me as the maker, I am so very satisfied with the lack of symmetry.

One of my goals for 2018 was to create one product each month for my small Etsy Shop. Both of these creations have been listed. Two products down. Ten to go!

Enjoy your week, friends!