My son has a back to nature sort of room. His bed and night stand were made by his dad from reclaimed wood. He has plants under his windowsill, and collections of shells and rocks displayed from places we have visited. He asked me to make him a landscape quilt to add some color and continue his nature theme.
I expected him to want a small raw edge applique wall hanging, only because that is what I think of first when I think about landscape quilts. Our go to resource for design ideas is Pinterest, and that is where he found this pattern. The pattern is Welcome to Colorful Colorado by Katie Larson. I purchased it when it was available on Craftsy and see that she now has it available in her Etsy shop, The Crafting Shell. I love the design, colors, quilting, and really, everything about the quilt. So I made one as close to hers as I could.
I'm normally a use what you have kind of quilt maker but in this case I invested in the solid fabrics required for the quilt. It is great to add the leftovers to my stash, too. The quilting was a bit challenging in the middle section since I used a close to matching thread for each triangle. I didn't think I would ever finish burying all those threads once the quilting was finished! It was worth it.
The back is made from two yards of text fabric surrounded by solid scraps.
Here's a closer look at the text print.
Rather than bind the quilt, it is faced. This is the first time I have made a facing for a quilt, and I like both the process and the result. I need to work on my mitered corners a little more but other than that, it worked well.
I knew this was going to hang on a wall so I had a little fun with the facing fabric. This is a Charley Harper print. Those owls are so cute. I also tried out a new hand stitch to finish off the facing. I had always used a slip stitch when hand stitching binding but because the facing is so much thinner and flatter than binding, I tried out the ladder stitch. I will definitely use it again. It makes those stitches practically invisible.
Here it is hanging in its new home. It adds so much color to his room. He is happy to have it and I am happy it is finished!
