Willows Wall Quilt


Here's a quilt I made forever ago. Ok, it was just last spring...but it feels like forever ago. I started it right before my sweet baby girl was born. I had just finished the Watermelon Wedge Quilt but still had about 3 weeks of pregnancy left, and I was bored. Or stir-crazy. Or...I just felt like starting another quilt! So I did.



This was fun to make because it was small and somewhat of an experiment. Originally the design for this was on some fabric I made on Spoonflower a few years ago to decorate the family room in my Minnesota house.


(Story time!) I had been trying to figure out what to do with that basement room since we moved in. It had yucky green walls and these horrible cornice boxes above the windows that had a maroon, green and gold wallpaper border running down the center. I needed a new color scheme for the room that would look good with the brick. I was also on the lookout for a different border to replace the ugly one, but no luck. Then my mother-in-law (HS interior design teacher) told me about liquid starch and how it can stick fabric to walls. So I started thinking about using fabric instead of wallpaper. Then my little sister Kaeli came to visit and we decided it was definitely time to redo the basement. So Kaeli, being the brilliant design genius that she is, suggested orange and aqua for the color scheme. We hunted for a week for the perfect fabric, but of course, did not find it. So I decided to make my own. I had been wanting to make something on Spoonflower since I discovered its existence, but hadn't gotten around to it. It was so exciting. Kaeli told me I should make fabric with some of those "willow things" on it. I had no idea what "willow things" were, so she drew me a little sketch and I loved the idea! I looked for the sketch but couldn't find it...luckily, at one point it was up on my bulletin board...


It's tiny...but there it is! So anyway, I made the fabric design using inkscape (of course!!). Then I had the fabric printed, used it in the cornice boxes and for a couple pillows. It worked out well, and I really love the design. So long story short (too late) last spring I decided it would make a fun wall hanging.


The background is mostly paper pieced. It was the only way I could think to make the design precise with all the different angles and overlaps. And I had never paper pieced anything, but it worked out perfectly. The little ovals are appliqued on using fusible web and a blanket stitch. Fun fun!


I quilted it on my regular sewing machine...I figured it would be easy to do the straight lines that way and it was. I used painters tape as a guide and it turned out alright. At first I just did the vertical lines, but decided to add the horizontal ones just for fun. I was planning to bind it in the same color, but I ran out of fabric! So I used a slightly darker green instead. It works. 


And I gave this one to my cute friend Laura in New Hampshire. She loves green...so this had to be hers. She lived across the yard from me and we hung out all the time. And she was nice enough to watch my older girls while I had a baby! I even conned her into making her first quilt even though she said she could never do it...and let's talk about it...it was super cute! She had never used a sewing machine, but she did it all herself and even machine quilted it and did a great job! The best part is that she loved it, so there's a good chance her first quilt won't be her last! Her husband just bought her a sewing machine...so I'd say mission accomplished! Quilting bug...planted! :) Miss you Laura!