I’m a happy quiltmaker — delighted with the beautiful quilting that Karlee of SewInspired2Day did on my Picnic Quilt and ever so pleased with the quilt motif I chose, a contemporary design by Urban Elementz called Ginger Snap. I was looking for something with circles and loops to soften all of the diagonal and horizontal seams in the quilt top. Not only does Ginger Snap fit that bill, it is also somewhat reminiscent of the whorls in the background fabric:

To top it off, Ginger Snap is a playful, happy design perfectly in keeping with the cheerful fabrics in the quilt. I had Karlee use the same design on Going Places, the car quilt I made for my twin last year. Here’s a close-up of the quilting on that one:

But back to the Picnic Quilt. Here’s a look at the entire top:

And here you can see the simple pieced back:

While it was under construction my plan was to bind the quilt in the red and white gingham check used in the top horizontal ribbon. The fabric design is printed on the diagonal so I wouldn’t need to cut my strips on the bias. Once I saw the completed top, though, I knew the quilt needed to be framed with the bolder red print:

For those of you who have seen my posts about the Ribbon Box quilt and have downloaded the free pattern* from Cloud 9 Fabrics, let me remind you that I am working on a post with some specific recommendations regarding quilt construction — but I am adding recommendations about fabric amounts because I think that the 1/3 yard noted for the ribbon fabrics may not be enough. It really depends on the designs on the fabrics. All will be revealed. Thank you for your patience!

*the link for the free pattern is not working at the moment. I will revisit this issue and see if I can add a working link.