2023 Summer Sewalong

Started back in 2021 during the #100daysummersewalong, I'm finally circling back to my hand-pieced bow-tie quilt for this year's Summer Sewalong with Jenn @sewfinethreadgloss.

With the 53" square quilt top fully pieced, next up is hand-piecing the quilt back, then basting. I found the perfect Aurifil 12wt 4093 [Jade] for hand-quilting, and I'm really looking forward to that. It's been a while!

If you want to follow along, I'm planning on periodic weekend updates on Instagram, which I'll always tag with #aqtbowtiequilt. Also, to see what others are working on, check out #2023summersewalong. I'm really, really hoping I can make good momentum on this project, as it's been a long time in the works!

100 Day Summer Sewalong :: Day 50

Seriously. How can we be half-way through the 100 Day Summer Sewalong!?! It's been casual and so doable to keep up with my  bow tie blocks. Truth is, it's often hard to stop at just one block when I sit down to stitch, so sometimes I do several, meaning I'm usually a few days ahead. 

I've been itching to put them all on the design wall, though I think it's a little early for that, since I'm also working on other projects. But I AM anxious to see them all together. One.Day.Soon.

Bowtie

Bowtie quilts just draw me in lately, basically since I learned that my maternal grandma, Vesta, used to make them years ago. So when Cheryl/Meadow Mist Designs asked if I'd like to participate in the blog hop for her new book, "Just One Charm Pack Quilts," I chose to make the bowtie variation.

When Cheryl first told me about her book, I thought it was a novel idea, as most of us have those random charm packs stashed away. But I didn't even think of the fact that using a charm pack, besides adding some real nice fabric variety to the quilt, would make it quick and easy to sew up.

As I rummaged around in my stash seeing what my charm pack options were, I came across one made of solids, which isn't the norm, at least from my experience. All the ones I had ever used were prints, and I thought using the solid one might be a nice option, showing off the versatility of Cheryl's quilt designs. The charm pack I ended up using was "Blues" by American Made Brand (SQ0118), with a really fun blue/green ombre among its squares.

For background, I started with Kona White, but in alternating sections also used Moon and Stars in white from Andover Fabrics. That was just a fun design choice since it went so well with the Kona Lighthouse I chose for the "Irish units," plus it also was a good fit for the quilt's eventual recipient. Then it was an obvious choice to use Moon and Stars in gray for both the quilt's backing and binding.

It's quilted with a simple diagonal grid which I think accents the design nicely, while keeping the quilt  comfy cozy.

"Bowtie" finished at 40.5" x 48", a generously-sized baby quilt. And I can honestly say that it was a really enjoyable one to sew. In addition to the bowtie-like blocks, I really liked that they were combined with Irish chain diagonal rows. The ombre added a really fun touch, but I'm confident the design would be equally charming no matter what charm pack was used. 

So I'm fortunate to be one of the first stops on Cheryl's book hop for her new book. Follow Cheryl on Instagram, and her blog, Meadow Mist Designs, to see more designs from the book. She'll be featuring them throughout the hop, which goes through July 29.