Happy Dance: My Summer Picnic Quilt Is Finished!

I’m happy to share my Summer Picnic quilt that I pieced and finished this summer! The pattern is found in the Summer Memories book by Susan Ache. Fabrics are from my Vault of Happiness stash of Lella Boutique prints and a mix of Moda low-volume prints.

There are a variety of basket block designs, and each basket measures 6″ finished. I used the 8-at-a-time triangle method and trimmed the squares with a Bloc-Loc ruler. I get more accurate results with the latter method because I tend to distort the blocks a little bit when I press the seams. With a lot of tiny pieces, accuracy is important!

The beautiful quilting is Random Clams by Urban Elementz and was stitched by Nancy Groeschner.

Lella Boutique Fabrics by Vanessa Goertzen

Most of the fabric is from the Bloomington fabric line by Lella Boutique. However, I tend to buy at least a few fat quarters from every collection Vanessa Goerten designs, so there are pieces from Lollipop Garden, Farmer’s Daughter, Nest, Little Tree, and Country Rose.

The sashing, border, and binding fabrics are from the Bloomington collection.

I pieced the backing from Nest and Bloomington fabrics (excess border and sashing fabrics from the front of the quilt). It seems like my stash of Lella Boutique fabrics is multiplying! Once I trim around a finished quilt, I save the large strips for backings. I thought I used up a lot of yardage. However, once I trimmed this quilt, I still had large pieces to return to my Vault of Happiness.

Goldilocks and My Summer Picnic Quilt

Originally, I planned to place this quilt on our vintage mahogany bed in our guest room. It seemed like it would brighten up the dark room. However, after swapping out the Farmer’s Daughter quilt, I decided that the original quilt looked better with the artwork on the walls. What do you think? In fact, I will probably paint these walls a light sage green to blend with the art and original quilt.

Here’s the original Farmer’s Daughter quilt on the bed.

And here’s a view from the foot of the bed with the first tiny basket quilt that I made many years ago.

Here are a few photos of the Summer Picnic quilt on the same bed.

I draped a mini quilt from my mom over the bench to pick up the happy blue colors of the large quilt.

This is when Goldilocks enters the scene. Maybe the quilt should try a new bed … so I laid it out on the daybed in the smaller guest room. Yes, this feels just right!

The blues, pinks, and reds look perfect with the Stars and Stripes quilt and photograph on the wall picturing the Round Island lighthouse near Mackinac Island, Michigan.

Seasonal Quilt Shuffle

Do you change the quilts on each bed in your home as the seasons change? I’d love to have quilts for each of our beds and make that happen. I have two more quilts ready to bind: one reads as a spring quilt with Easter egg colors, and the other quilt is a classic blue and white. Perhaps the blue and white quilt will end up on one of these two guest beds. In the meantime, I’m going to celebrate another finished quilt for 2023!

Joyfully,

Tracie