From Fabric Stack to Finished Quilt

If you follow along with me on Instagram (i’m rossiecrafts), you’ll notice that I love stacking up fabric combinations. This is just something that happens when I’m in my studio…fabrics find their way into pretty combinations, and I take out a camera to record them.

This fabric play is something I enjoy immensely and would do even if nothing ever came of it. But of course, QUILTS come from these stacks. In particular, I find my fabric stacks tremendously useful when requests come in for commissions. Recently, a friend that has bought several of my quilts in the past asked if I had anything suitable for her friend’s soon-to-arrive baby. Not having any finished quilts that fit the bill, but having enough time in my studio schedule for a small project, I offered to make an improv quilt just for the baby. I sent my friend a few photos of fabric stacks: Hmmm….I’m not sure where the photo of stack “three” ended up!” From these stacks, she selected the stack labeled “one.” Needing more fabric to make a quilt, I added to the pile.  I used the initial stack to establish the basic palette and themes. Not knowing the sex of the baby, I kept things fairly gender neutral, but allowed some corals and florals, as those had been in the original stack.

Next, I started making patchwork. I was sort of following the first score from The Improv Handbook by Sherri Lynn Wood (affiliate link).

Once I got this far, I decided to alter course in order to get more fabric and fabulousness into the quilt. I stopped using the score from the book and built smaller pieces of patchwork to add detail and interest. I especially had fun fussy-cutting some woodland creatures from Teagan Wood’s fabric (she has two lines out from Birch fabrics). As I worked, I notices that the dark blue creatures on one of the prints were a bit jarring; I decided that they needed something else dark to talk to, and I felt like the quilt lacked an overall composition, so I pulled a bunch of dark blues out of my stash, patchworked them, and added an improv plus-shape that extended to the edges of the quilt.

Yes….!
I free-motion quilted a squared stipple in the big blue plus, and then did a radiating/overlapping rainbow in the paler areas.

The backing is a beautiful pig print from Birch’s Homestead line.

And the binding is the cutest part…these little guys from Tokyo Train Ride by Sarah Watts.

I’m told the expectant mother loved her quilt, which makes me immensely happy!