Little Women quilt

If you've seen very many of my quilts, you'll know I definitely don't stick to a single fabric line when selecting fabric. It's not my style. I like quilts to be unique, to be me. Sometimes, it doesn't work out. This time, I think it did.

Last fall, I went to Garden of Quilts at Thanksgiving Point with a friend. It was great, I had a great day. There was a small vendor area, and a local shop had a booth. They had a sample quilt with a kit for sale and even though it's not my usual style, and I really don't tend to go for kits, I just couldn't help myself! It was an economy block quilt with Little Women fabric by Jill Howarth. 

I very quickly determined it make it larger and drove to the local shop, about 25 minutes from my house. I was delayed about a week because I got really sick, and by the time I got there, they didn't have much fabric from the collection left. I intended to purchase a bit more of the focal prints to help make it larger. I ended up ordering some from Hawthorne Supply Co, one my go-to online shops. And of course pulled a bunch of fabric from my stash. 

When it came time to cut, I decided to make the economy blocks a bit bigger than the kit pattern, and I used a tutorial by Diary of a Quilter for the math.

I think I didn't get the layout perfect, I have clumps of darker ones, and sometimes the blocks aren't spaced as evenly as I'd like. Overall, though, I'm pleased with it. I backed it with coral minky and I think it will become a fast favorite of my girls. I ended up with another wavy binding, even though I was careful and I'm beginning to think that maybe it happens mostly with minky backed quilts...if that's the case, I'll just have to suffer through wavy bindings because I love minky just too much. Consequently, I have four little girls myself and relate to the Little Women story, so this quilt feels special. 

Economic Women

Last September, I went to the Garden of Quilts at Thanksgiving Point with a friend. It was so great. I loved seeing so many quilts, and doing just a bit of shopping. I was a bit surprised and disappointed there weren't more vendors, but it's probably for the best. I spent enough as it was! One thing I bought was really out of character for me: a kit. I don't typically buy or make kits because I have an extensive stash and because I like to put together my own fabric bundles. This one was for a baby quilt, I believe, or possibly a large wall hanging? Pretty sure it was a baby quilt. It was a simple quilt, using economy blocks, and it featured Jill Howarth's Little Women fabric. 

Now, I'm not a huge Little Women fan. But, I do have four daughters, and my husband, surprisingly, really likes the movies. The fabric was just so cute, too, even though, again, it's not really my style. I just couldn't say no, and so an impulse purchase was made and I came home with a kit. 

I determined very early on that I would make it larger. So, I bought some additional yardage of the focal prints so I could make more squares, and I pulled coordinating fabric from my stash. I settled on making slightly larger blocks, using a tutorial by Amy Smart of Diary of a Quilter for 8" finished blocks, and determined to make it a nice lap size at 64x80 using 80 blocks. But, it had to wait...Halloween, Christmas, birthday gift...so many projects with deadlines ahead of it. 

However, after I finished binding the Swoon quilt, I decided to make it my next quilt. To be honest, I dreaded the cutting and the trimming, but it really wasn't as bad as I expected. And the blocks themselves went together fairly quickly. I finished up the top just a few days ago and it's awaiting the trip to the quilter's.