Remember the Fair Isle quilt? It began in January, as a collaborative quilt with Comfort circle of do. Good Stitches. I received all the blocks in February, quilted it before moving and just put the binding on it just this week.

As always, I finished it with machine-attached zig-zag binding. I do love hand sewing, but not for this step of the quilt-making process. At the end, I just want to finish and start some new patchwork, haha! It doesn’t take much skill to make zigzag binding look good, so I highly recommend it to new quilters.

Tada! Fair Isle quilt is a happy little quilt to be donated to a child in need. I started with the Fair Isle quilt layout, which is one of the bonus quilt layouts that I designed for Penny Sampler Club 2020. With a few modifications, the quilt is child-sized and super cute. Thanks to my bee-mates for sending bright, cheery blocks! The Dala Horse block is still one of my favorites.

By the way, if you want to learn to machine paper piece, the Penny Sampler is all about that. The club starts off with simple paper piecing and step-by-step instructions, including video. As you make the main Penny Sampler quilt, the blocks get harder so that your skill grows gradually. The club includes 35 foundation paper pieced patterns, including those that you see in Fair Isle.

I asked members of Comfort Circle for blocks with a gradient of gray backgrounds, in order to give the quilt a bit of extra interest. I would say that a couple of the dark gray backgrounds ended up too dark (my block included!), which is a risk you take when working long distance and collaboratively. But that’s ok. Taking risks is part of the fun, right? In the end there’s no wrong way, just a different outcome than one might have originally envisioned.

I’m still happy with how it came out! I think that the Triple Arch quilting adds a whimsical touch that feels so in tune.

Sponsor of the Week

Quilt Sandwich

Let your imagination take wing with the latest fabric collection by Gingiber. Dwell in Possibility was inspired by quotes from the artist’s favorite authors brought to vibrant life with whimsical illustrations.

On the quilt front and back I used a bunch of playful fat quarters from the Ruby Star Society Pop collection. These pretty hearts weren’t quite right for the quilt front, but they make the quilt back extra sweet. Love!

These quilt photos brought to you from the square in the front of our new home! The daffodils are just starting to bloom, and I can’t get enough of them.

And thanks to Liam for holding up the quilt for me, between online lessons. These days older kids go to in-person lessons every other day. That means someone is always home for a little quilt-holding, right? Lucky for us.

It’s always a pleasure to sew for others with the members of do. Good Stitches. Interested in joining? You can sign up at that link. We almost have enough prospective members on the wait list to launch another EU-based circle. If you’re willing to take a turn leading and finishing a collaborative quilt 2 times a year (just like I did here), please sign up to serve as a quilter!