a custom flying geese wall quilt

 

One of the benefits of making Salty Oat my full-time gig, is that I now have the time to take on commissioned quilts for customers. I was recently asked to make a wall quilt which would be hung above a bed, and needed to work with the room's color palette, which included orange, teal, beige, and gray.

After learning more about the customer's style---including their preference for triangles and diamonds, and a love of animals---I sketched an idea and pulled fabrics from my stash. The design was quickly approved, and I got to work on this 30" x 30" wall hanging, which features two sizes of flying geese, flying both clockwise and counterclockwise.

I loved working with a new-to-me palette, as well as some of my favorite fabrics (like those Japanese elephants!). I also really enjoyed working on something while being able to visualize the space in which it would eventually hang.

I used my go-to Marimekko dots for the backing (I stocked up on so many colors of this print the last time I was at the Crate and Barrel outlet!), and included a hand-stitched hanging sleeve so that it can go right up on the wall in its new home.

I'm currently accepting custom orders for the holidays, so if you've been thinking about commissioning a quilt for holiday gifting, now is the perfect time to get started! Simple send me an email at saltyoat at gmail dot com and we can discuss details, pricing, and turnaround times. Happy Wednesday!

wonky triangles baby quilt

A little over four years ago, I made a chevron quilt for my friends' new baby daughter. It's a quilt that I'm happy to say has been well loved and is still in rotation, so when my friends recently commissioned me to make a baby quilt for their second daughter, who was born in April, I was super excited.

I knew I wanted to do something fun, and slightly different, for the quilt design. I remembered that I had a copy of the Wonky Triangles paper-piecing pattern by Owen's Olivia, and thought this could be the perfect opportunity to finally use it.

My friends sent me a few pieces of fabric to include in the quilt: an aqua-and-brown polka dot and a gray, lime green, brown and aqua print. I used those fabrics as my starting point, and pulled coordinating lime and aqua scraps from my stash.

I paper pieced each of the triangles, using various shades of white and cream, and a low-volume print, for the background. I included one solid magenta triangle for fun, which added an unexpected pop of color.

I backed the quilt with a teal and cream polka dot, quilted it with a simple cross-hatch, and made a scrappy binding from the leftover pieces of fabric. I also added a custom cross-stitch label to the back, with the baby's name and birth date.

It was so fun to make a quilt for a baby that I hope to meet soon, and I love knowing that the quilt has gone to home where it will be used and well loved.

a custom half-square triangle quilt

Prior to our departure from North Carolina, a dear Spoonflower coworker commissioned me to make a quilt for her and her husband. She provided me with a few fabrics from her travels to Japan and San Francisco---a navy floral, a mustard polka dot twill, and a blue-and-white ditsy floral---and expressed a love of triangles. My friend is a computer engineer, so when it came to the quilt's design, it was no surprise that she included the code-generated quilts of Libs Elliott (such amazing work!) in her list of inspiration quilts.

Inspired by Libs' designs, I created half-square triangles in two different finished sizes---5" and 10"---and stuck them up on my design wall, constantly rearranging as I went along, until I had a composition I was happy with. In addition to the fabrics my friend provided, I added in a few pink prints, a Leah Duncan print that happened to coordinate beautifully with the palette, and a large navy cross-hatch which I used for the binding.

For the backing, I used large, leftover pieces of the original fabric, along with a few extra half-square triangles. You can spot a few in-progress shots of the quilt over on Instagram, as I worked on the cross-hatch quilting and then added a leather Salty Oat label.

The quilt is now back in North Carolina, at home with its new owners, to whom I am so grateful for the commission and the fun design challenge!

Quilt Stats
Finished dimensions: 60" x 60"
Fabrics used include: Mojave Illuminated by Leah Duncan; Glimma Crosshatch by Lotta Jansdotter; Pink Paint and Pink Dot from Picnic Pals by Penguin and Fish
Quilt pattern: original by Salty Oat (me!)

improv slab quilt

I was recently commissioned to make a quilt for a family member, with the only parameters being that it needed to fit on a twin bed and should feature light blue fabrics.

Using the slab technique from Sunday Morning Quilts, I constructed blocks from light blue and aqua fabrics, including vintage prints and men's dress shirts. To keep the quilt from becoming too busy, I alternated the improv blocks with solid white to create a simple layout.

I sent the top off to Lindsay, of Eileen Quilts, for quilting. I selected a hydrangea quilting pattern, which I thought nicely complemented the light-blue color scheme and the vintage floral sheet I used for the backing. Lindsay did a beautiful job, and I've already sent another quilt to her to be quilted.

Interested in commissioning your own quilt? Shoot me a message!