fernweh quilt

A few months ago, I began teaching quilting and embroidery classes at Pintuck & Purl, an adorable fabric and yarn shop in Exeter, NH. For most of the classes, I've created class samples for potential students to see what we will be making. This month, I taught students how to piece the Fernweh Quilt top, from the gorgeous quilt pattern by Domestic Strata, and I recently finished my sample.

I used fabrics from the shop for my quilt---including Cloud9 Fabrics' Cirrus Solids---basing the color palette off of a beautiful black, peach, and apricot floral print by Carina Gardner, which I used for the backing.

I did simple straight-line quilting in light pink, and chose Cotton + Steel's Sprinkle print in black for the binding, since it complemented the front and back so nicely.

I love the graphic nature of this pattern, and would love to one day make a queen-size version for a bed.

I will next be teaching the two-part class on April 9 and 16, and you can call or email the shop to sign up.

quilting with stripes (and working from a kit)

After spotting a Kaffe Fassett quilt and its accompanying kit during a visit to the Waterwheel House Quilt Shop this past fall, my mom and I struck up a deal that she would buy the kit and I would make the quilt for her for Christmas.

I finished the quilt just in time to gift it to her for the holidays (I shared a process shot on Instagram back in November), and it's been a staple in the living room ever since.

This was the first time I'd made a quilt from a kit, and while the colors and fabrics were outside of what I typically work with, I really enjoyed learning a few new piecing techniques, and having the chance to work with the soft, yarn-dyed, woven stripes.

For the backing, I used a deep solid turquoise from my mom's stash, and added a strip of leftover stripes to the middle. I quilted it with a turquoise thread in a large grid, keeping the quilting somewhat minimal, so as to leave the quilt puffy and soft.

Have you ever made a quilt from a kit? If so, would you do it again? I'd love to hear about your experiences!

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.

quilting project: big stripe pillow

I fell in love with Sparkle Power's quilted stripe pillow the second I saw it, and immediately used the tutorial to make a lilac and maroon pillow as a Christmas gift. It was such a quick and easy project (particularly since I did it after having just finished this one), that I'd love to do it again and make one for myself.