I was so excited to pick up my sister Diane’s car quilt today from my longarm quilter that I took this photo in my car with the quilt on my lap!
Here’s a look at the whole quilt after I got it home and trimmed it:
I made this 42″-square quilt top as a class sample back in 2017 when I was teaching a beginning quiltmaking class (“Quiltmaking 101”) at the Pine Needle Quilt Shop. The top hung in the closet of my sewing room until I pulled it out recently after realizing it would make a lovely car quilt for my twin, matching her blue Subaru Forester. (A couple of years ago I made a car quilt for my own Subaru Forester that I wrote about here.)
In choosing an edge-to-edge quilt motif for Diane’s quilt, I was looking for something with curves to soften all those straight lines. I also wanted a rather simple design so as not to compete with the gorgeous French provincial print in the border. Karlee of SewInspired2Day suggested a whimsical loopy design called Ginger Snap by Urban Elementz that fills the bill perfectly.
Here are a couple of close-ups:
I am really enjoying the texture the quilting adds to the quilt and the way the pale yellow thread stands out on the navy fabric and blends with all the other fabrics.
In the photo below you can see the two fabrics I pulled from my stash to make a simple pieced back:
The plan is to bind the quilt with the same navy used in the interior and to make it finish at 1/2″-wide rather than the 1/4″ finished width I normally use. I think it will frame the quilt very nicely.
I really like the quilt and the quilting is perfect! What a great idea for a car quilt!
Love the quilt! Such beautiful crisp colors. Would love to make this if the pattern is available.
Your skills are so remarkable, Dawn, and I am a very lucky twin!
As always, Dawn, this is lovely! When you trim a quilt do you typically leave 1/4″ of the batting/backing beyond the top, or is it because you will be binding this quilt with a 1/2″ finished edge?
Such a good question, Ruthann! You spotted the 1/4″ of batting/backing around the top. I do not typically leave extra batting/backing beyond the top but I did this time. The quilt is a bit on the small size for a lap quilt so I wanted to maximize the size. When I sent the top to Karlee, it measured 42″ x 42-1/2″. Quilting always draws it up a bit so after quilting the top measured 41″ square. By adding a quarter inch all around, I was able to add an inch to the finished size of the quilted top; it will finish at 42″ square. When I attach the binding to the quilt with a 1/2″ seam, I’m only losing 1/4″ of the outer border because of that extra 1/4″ of batting/backing.
By the way, I usually ask my quilter to quilt an edge-to-edge design a bit beyond the raw edges of the quilt top in case I want to do something like this. It also makes attaching the binding easier because the quilting extends beyond the raw edges and holds them in place better.
Lovely quilt! What is the pattern? I’d enjoy making a quilt of it.
You picked a great quilt pattern to go with your piecing. Lovely idea to have a quilt for the car.
Dawn, I’ve been missing your blog. I have not been getting a notice. Cute car quilt!