The Camp Quilt

As I am still finishing up my second Kids Clothing Week project, I thought I’d share with you today the finished Camp Quilt.

If you follow me on Instagram, you know I’ve been working on this quilt since early November as a Christmas present for my mom. This was my first time paper piecing and I got the adorable block patterns from BubbleStitch on Etsy. Since I was new to paper piecing, I made sure to hop on over to Cyrille’s blog to watch her how-to videos, which were a huge help in getting me started.

All the block patterns are offered individually, but The Camper, Campfire, Fish, Canoe, Lantern, Moose and Tent Scene were part of a 7-pattern set called the Let’s Go Camping Set. The Robin, the Squirrel, the Deer and the Bear I purchased separately and I found the free tree block pattern online…somewhere…(If I happen to re-find it, I’ll update this post with the link).

When it came to quilting, I wanted to give it a try myself since this is a gift. I usually rely on the expertise of my friend Lynn over at The Creamsicle Cat when it comes to quilting, since manipulating a giant quilt under at tiny machine is intimidating to me. But after finding this AMAZING quilt-as-you-go method outlined by Maureen Cracknell, I was encouraged at the idea of being able to work in smaller portions, quilting the rows just to the batting before joining the whole quilt together and doing some minor quilting to the backing to keep it all together.

So the detailed quilting you see on the front doesn’t show on the back, which is minky by request. After quilting and piecing together the center, I cut the batting and borders together and sewed them on simultaneously, unquilted. Then I sandwiched the top/batting with the backing and stitched in the ditch around each block and then in the red lines on the plaid in the border fabric. The binding in red really frames up the quilt and makes the red in the blocks pop.

I am so thrilled with how this quilt turned out – I told my mom last night that out of all the projects I’ve completed, it’s probably one of my top favorite. I really enjoyed paper piecing and the intricacies of design it allows – I will definitely be using that method in the future. I was elated to quilt it myself and achieve the detail I had imagined in my mind. I love how the colors came together and most of all, I love that my mom loves it!

So what do you think? Have you tried paper piecing or are you inspired to attempt it? I’d love to hear your responses!