This quarter, the Maywood Makers had a precut party! We were asked to make a project (or two!) using precuts from Maywood Studio's new fabric collection called All Our Hearts. This line has 20 prints that feature a variety of florals and decorative designs in red, blue, and cream.
What I love about this line is that the prints work great for a USA patriotic theme, but they don't have to be go that direction. These have a more classic, subtle look that can easily be made into a quilt that can be left out all year round.
Pretty quickly after learning about this assignment, I remembered that I had the Lily Quilt pattern stashed in my sewing desk. This pattern by Alderwood Studio was so striking to me when it first released that I bought it even though I didn't have time to make it at the time. The soft curves and elegant look of the pattern seemed a perfect fit for the graceful feel of All Our Hearts.
The Lily Quilt comes with instructions for using yardage and fat quarters. Of course, because we were asked to use precuts, I made the fat quarter version. This quilt was a slow and steady project. It took extra time to figure out print pairings, not to mention how long it took to pin and sew the zillion curves.
Luckily, I worked on this during the summer. My kids had activities several days a week, so I brought a box with all my pieces and pins, and would pin as many curves as I could during the whatever class was happening. I'd sew them later at home, then refill the box with more curves to be pinned the next day. It actually was super relaxing and enjoyable.
The pattern was very well written, so once all my pieces were trimmed and ready, the block construction was a breeze. The blocks all fit together nicely and soon I had a quilt top!
Because I wanted to use all 20 prints from the fabric line, I opted to make the twin size. The fat quarter version of the pattern doesn't include side borders, but the yardage version does. I decided to add the side borders to my FQ version anyway. There is a narrow blue inner border and a wider outer border. The thing that is neat about this is that they only go on the right and left sides of the quilt. I wasn't sure how I would like it, thinking it might look imbalanced, but no! It ended up adding a touch of unique flair to the quilt, while making the proportions a little more to my liking.
I quilted it with a wavy stitch crosshatch. This quilt is HUGE, so I needed to go with a design that I knew I could maneuver through my domestic machine. I used the same wavy stitch for the binding.
I have this quilt in my living room now and it makes me happy every time I see it!
Because I'm not happy unless I'm overly busy, I also chose to make a Patchwork Duffle Mini bag from Knot & Thread with the same fabrics! I've made Kaitlin Howard's full size duffle before and I love it. I use it all the time. This is the smaller version of that, so I knew it would be good!
I used 10" squares, which I subcut to be the size for the patchwork. I used a striped zipper from Sallie Tomato. The striped zippers by the yard are my absolute favorite! Plus, you can choose your own zipper pulls in fun shapes. I went with heart pulls for this bag to match the name of the showcased fabric line!
Two additions I made to the pattern were the mesh pockets on the inside end panels and the crossbody strap. Kaitlyn has a tutorial for the strap here.
This bag took me a weekend to make. Two of my kids have already said they want it, so I'll likely be making another one or three of these in the future.
It's been such a pleasure working with this beautiful collection and I can't wait to see what the next Maywood Maker project will be! The other makers have created some really beautiful pieces with this line and I highly recommend taking a browse through the #maywoodmaker on Instagram!