now in stock: maze and vale

Though I posted about it on Instagram, I realized that I never shared the news here on the blog: I am now stocking a selection of five unique prints by Maze and Vale in the shop!

Leslie is the powerhouse behind Maze and Vale, designing and printing all of the fabrics that are sold by this Australia-based company. She is also the organizer of the yearly Handprinted: a fabric swap, which I've had the pleasure of participating in twice (blogged here and here).

I worked with Leslie to select the designs and colorways you see in the shop, each of which are printed on an organic quilting-weight basecloth. These design-and-color combinations are completely unique to Salty Oat; you can't purchase them anywhere else! Additionally, Leslie recently announced that she'll be retiring two of the designs I stock---Gathering and Love Hearts---so now is definitely the time to grab them if you love them as much as I do.

Happy sewing!

scattered squares quilt

Do you have projects that begin in one place and wind up in another? When I started this quilt a few years ago, my idea was to create a colorful, scrappy checkerboard quilt, inspired by those by Red Pepper Quilts. At the time, I pieced five blocks and set them aside, assuming I would continue to add to my pile as I collected more 2.5" scraps.

Fast forward to earlier last year, when I came across these blocks again while cleaning my studio. Rather than doing any more checkerboard piecing, I decided to make a quilt by mixing the blocks I had with large white and cream squares.

The resulting random and scattered layout, with its wide open spaces, is perfect, and I think better than what I'd originally envisioned.

I backed the top with a Marimekko large lime green dot, and quilted it with intersecting straight lines in a matching bright green thread. The binding is a navy-and-white stripe from Sew Modern.

This quilt is now listed for sale in the Salty Oat Etsy shop, and I can attest to its crinkly fluffiness, which makes it perfect for snuggling.

All quilt photos by Caroline Okun.