Paving Stones Quilt

Another exciting day on the Stitch Savvy blog tour! Today, Katy from Monkey Do (you might know her by her Twitter/Instagram handle I’m A Ginger Monkey) is sharing her fave projects from the new book. Hers might also be my favorite reaction on seeing the book for the first time–she said, “It’s beautiful! And HUGE!” Which made me laugh, but also feel puffed up with pride that a book with my name on it could get that kind of reaction from someone who has for sure seen her share of sewing books. Whee!

And in my on-going series of sharing with you photos of alternate versions of the book’s projects that we couldn’t fit into the book because it was already so huge, today I’m sharing another look at the Paving Stones Quilt!

When I wrote the quilting section of Stitch Savvy–which has five projects of increasing challenge, all patchwork and quilted–I originally had a full-size quilt as the Level 5 project.  Obviously.  Because it’s a FULL quilt, right?  But then I realized that maybe it was kinda dumb to ask readers to make four other patchwork-and-quilted projects and keep referring them to the quilting instructions for THIS project but make them wait to actually MAKE this project. Duh.  So I made this the Level 1 project–the first quilted project in the quilting section is a complete quilt!  Woot!

The version showcased in the book is in a really cool citron-and-grey version, which I hope will weather the test of time and be just as cool-looking ten years from now.  This version, though, was always and forever made to be used in my den at our new house, which we had only just bought when I was finishing up designing this quilt.

The quilt is made with 12″ blocks, four pieces of fabric per block, and then each of the blocks can be rotated to create a seemingly-random pattern of rectangles and squares.  Then, to make it even funner, I used only four fabrics in this version, two of them very close in color, and allowed like fabrics to touch each other without editing–resulting in a bunch of shapes I couldn’t have put together easily any other way.  I think it makes for a very clean and modern look here in this all-Kona-solids version.

The quilting is done with a walking foot in straight lines, all spaced about 1.25″ apart.  I love that really tight, straight, parallel, Japanese-inspired quilting, don’t you?

This has become one of our very favorite quilts to snuggle under while watching TV or looking out rainy windows from the playroom.  Or, if you’re a four-year-old boy, to wipe your ketchup-stained chubby cheeks upon, thereby leaving stains on your mother’s brand-new quilt.  Which is fine by me, actually, although I won’t be telling him that: quilts are meant to be lived with and loved, and a stain here or there just reminds me that my family love to be at home and together.  (Although I might be reading too much into a ketchup stain.)

Speaking of quilting, spend some quality time catching up with Katy’s blog, I’m A Ginger Monkey, while you’re there reading her blog tour post.  She’s one of the ladies to blame for suckering me into the #scrappytripalong, and does some of the most amazing things with scrap fabric that any human has ever seen.  I really love her eye and her sense of style–and, quite frankly, her sheer audacity when it comes to combining colors and fabrics.  Her sewing is downright inspired, and I’m delighted she’s part of the Stitch Savvy blog tour!

Stick around for more Stitch Savvy blog tour and to win one of TWO samples from the book next week!