Michelle Bartholomew

Quilt. Design. Photo

  • Home
  • Gallery
  • Shop
    • All
    • Quilt Patterns
    • English Paper Piecing
    • Kits
  • Workshops
  • Contact
  • For Quilters
    • Tutorials
    • Quilt Alongs
    • Blog
    • Free Quilt Pattern
  • My Account
  • Cart
  • Shop
  • Cart
  • My Account

WIP Wednesday: Return of the Picnic Quilt

May 14, 2014 by Michelle

I had to search WAY back in the archives to find a post about this Picnic Quilt. It has long been in my head and I’ve been intimidated by it. Well after 6 months of doing other sewing and not worrying about this one, it doesn’t seem so tough anymore. I love it when that happens!

For those following this project, I still have two swoon blocks, 2 flying geese panels, and 1 game board to make before piecing everything together… and before piecing the recycled jeans backing. First thing to get done were the swoon blocks. I had cut all of the pieces for them and pieced the HSTs last summer so they were pretty much ready to go.

swoon blocks

What I found however is my cutting, piecing, and trimming skills were not so hot back in the day so there was a lot of wrangling and trying to make things fit.

swoon pieces

The flying geese I wanted were bigger than my special ruler allows. It forced me to do math. eek.

flying geese pieces

These bad boys came out at 4.5 x 9.

pq-photo 6

But they still weren’t quite big enough, so I decided to add some borders.

flying geese border

I was SO excited to start piecing this part of the top together. It has been such a long time coming!

picnic quilt piecing

I’m going to lay everything out next and see where I’m at. Then I need to still decide on a third game board. Hopefully I’ll have all of that to share with you next week!

**Also, if you haven’t already entered to win my Giveaway Day loot (5 Bonnie & Camille FQs!), you probably should check it out!

Linking up with Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday.

Michelle

Filed Under: Work-In-Progress Tagged With: game quilt, picnic quilt

Comments

  1. Barbara Konkle says

    May 14, 2014 at 9:46 am

    Oh this is too funny! You were right behind me when I linked up! I was so excited it was someone I actually knew! I love this picnic quilt and I love the fabrics you chose! I cannot wait to see how it all comes together! It really does help to put something aside and come back to it. Sometimes we just need that break!

    • Michelle says

      May 15, 2014 at 9:01 am

      Haha, that is awesome! I never feel like I know anyone in the linkup. But I guess that is changing. Wahoo! 🙂 Thanks for checking out my picnic quilt! I’m really glad I set it aside. I definitely feel refreshed and excited about it again.

  2. Willit says

    May 14, 2014 at 5:01 pm

    I’m so glad your coming back to this one, it’s such a great quilt. It doesn’t feel like it’s been 6 months though! By the way, I highly recommend backgammon.

    • Michelle says

      May 15, 2014 at 9:10 am

      Haha, I know! Time has been seriously flying by! I’m excited to get back to this one as well. Backgammon would look awesome. But then, would I actually have to learn how to play it?! 🙂

  3. Rachel says

    May 14, 2014 at 7:17 pm

    Awesome projects!

    • Michelle says

      May 15, 2014 at 9:12 am

      Thanks so much for checking out my projects! Hope you are having a great week!

  4. Serena @ Sewgiving says

    May 14, 2014 at 9:44 pm

    Ah yes I remember you starting this one! Love the use of the denim. How are you finding it to sew?

    • Michelle says

      May 15, 2014 at 9:17 am

      Haha, it’s like a quilt time machine! The denim is… interesting. I absolutely LOVE how it looks. Like I just sit and stare at it. It has such a depth and texture that I can’t compare anything else to.

      However, I have found it to be a pain to sew. I think it has some stretch to it and especially with the smaller piecing, I feel like it just randomly shrinks or warps when I’m not looking. I’m guessing I didn’t cut it exactly on the grain either so that doesn’t help.

      That being said, I’ll definitely use it again 🙂

  5. Cornelia says

    May 14, 2014 at 9:59 pm

    totally love your picnic quilt idea, and you are soon done, love your swoon blocks, what will be the third board game?

    • Michelle says

      May 15, 2014 at 9:19 am

      Thanks so much Cornelia! I’m still trying to decide on the third game. My husband and I have a list of games to play this week to see which one makes the cut 🙂

  6. Janet M. says

    May 15, 2014 at 8:16 am

    I really love how this is coming together. It’s amazing how much we improve our skills with time. I had to revisit a quilt last fall that I had started 2 years prior. It was torture working with pieces and blocks that I started 2 years back. It also makes me appreciate the skill quilting takes.

    • Michelle says

      May 15, 2014 at 9:25 am

      Thanks Janet! It is pretty amazing to see improvement like that. Makes me excited to think about how I”ll be in a year! Total pro heehee 🙂

  7. Chelsea Huckins says

    May 15, 2014 at 8:08 pm

    Oh two of my favorite thing … well I just cut my first swoon block tonight, so soon to be favorite thing. You did a great job wrangling that block together 🙂 Second flying geese, also love them! This quilt is going to be great!

    • Michelle says

      May 19, 2014 at 10:07 am

      Oh yay! So excited to see your swoon block(s) come together! They are such a cool and big block! It feels like it takes forever, but then you get a giant thing and then you feel good, heehee 🙂 I first made flying geese for the swoon block and I fell in love with them. Can’t wait to make more at some point!

  8. Kelsey says

    May 16, 2014 at 8:01 am

    Eek, the flying geese are so cute! And so are the swoon blocks. This is going to be a lovely quilt, and I look forward to seeing it come to fruition.

    • Michelle says

      May 19, 2014 at 10:19 am

      Thanks for catching up on all my posts. After being gone so long, I feel like I just put out a ton of stuff at once! 🙂 I’m just finishing up the quilt top on this one. I wish I had put even more flying geese in it, but at this point I can’t wait to be done! 🙂

  9. Amanda says

    May 17, 2014 at 5:14 pm

    I just finished a picnic blanket. Love what you are doing with yours! Mine is MUCH more simple. Can’t wait to see the finished product.

    • Michelle says

      May 19, 2014 at 10:31 am

      Congrats on your finish! I would love to see it! I kind of wish I had made mine simpler because I want it to be used and not be afraid of messing up all that work. But I’m just going to try and not care about spilling picnic food on it and such 🙂 I can always make another one right 🙂

  10. Nat @ Made in Home says

    May 19, 2014 at 5:08 am

    Oh it is going to look awesome – love the flying geese addition!

    • Michelle says

      May 19, 2014 at 10:51 am

      Thanks Nat! I’m a bit obsessed with flying geese right now. They are so fun! 🙂

  11. Vera says

    May 20, 2014 at 12:39 am

    That sounds like interesting project. I mean, it’ll be epic once finished! Keep going!

    • Michelle says

      May 21, 2014 at 9:22 am

      Thanks Vera! It’s definitely feeling epic at the moment. Must… keep…. going…. 🙂

  12. Jess @One English Teacher says

    May 20, 2014 at 11:57 am

    I love the colors in your swoon blocks, especially that teal with a geometric feel to it. Glad you’re making progress on that quilt!

    • Michelle says

      May 21, 2014 at 9:28 am

      These are my absolute favorite colors at the moment. I feel like I could make a thousand quilts with them 🙂 But I guess my blog would get pretty boring at that point!

  13. christina says

    June 5, 2014 at 9:14 am

    ooooo i love that floral print! it looks like watercolors. and i like the colors you chose for the swoon blocks too! i think we have very similar taste 😉

    • Michelle says

      June 5, 2014 at 11:18 am

      Thanks Christina, I have been saving that fabric for so long. I’m so glad I waited to use it here. I think we have similar taste as well! Great minds think alike 🙂

  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Mail
RSSFacebookPinterestLinkedInTwitter