Lattice style quilt featuring Folktale

Even with the restrictions caused by the pandemic, our small family managed to have a lovely and festive Christmas celebration. Although we truly missed gathering together with extended family, we seemed to treasure our simple holiday even more because of it. Now that the gifts have been given, I have another quilt to share with you which I made for our son’s girlfriend, Emilee.

We weren’t able to celebrate with Emilee in person. As a young nurse at a large hospital, she was scheduled to work both Christmas Eve day and Christmas Day. But our son celebrated with Emilee and her family and texted me this picture of her, along with the note, “She loves her quilt, Mom!”  Emilee is a lovely person with a very kind and caring demeanor. I’m sure she is a wonderful nurse, and I hope this quilt brings her comfort after a long, stressful day of work.

Now, you probably noticed that I used the fabulous new Folktale collection by Lella Boutique. The eclectic combination of floral and geometric prints, as well as the terrific range of colors, lends a romantic, Bohemian feel. In fact, several of the prints made me pause and think, “I wish I had a shirt made out of this fabric.” Images sprang to my mind of pretty Folktale shirts and blouses, paired with faded blue jeans, leather sandals and gold bangle bracelets. Since I couldn’t sew a garment to save my life, I did the next best thing and made a quilt using Folktale and Moda’s Indigo Chambray (#12051 13).

It was during the process of laying out the Folktale fat quarters with the Chambray fabric, that I decided I wanted to make a lattice-type quilt.  I found several patterns online, but none of them was quite what I had in mind.  So, I came up with this design on the fly.  I took lots of notes and pictures during construction, and I plan to write this up and offer it as a free tutorial. In case this is something that interests you, I will let you know ahead of time that my squares on point are 6 1/2” (6” finished) and that it is fat quarter friendly and includes a scrappy binding from the fat quarters. Emilee’s quilt finished at 70 3/4” x 81 3/4”.

The wonderful machine quilting that you see was done by Woods Edge Quilting. Katy used a pattern called Cottonwood, which is whimsical and natural . . . perfect for a romantic folktale! I especially love how the motif adds dimension in the chambray areas. Thank you so much, Katy!

Here are a few more photos that show the scrappy binding. For the backing, I used some left over Folktale pieces, along with a taupe gingham print I had saved from an earlier Lella Boutique collection, Farmer's Daughter. This was such a fun quilt to make. I’ll do my best to get the tutorial completed soon. 

Thank you, as always, for visiting my blog. I wish you much happiness and good health in the new year.

Taunja