"Sunday Stroll" Lap Coin Quilt

I machine pieced this quilt on my Bernina 240.

I quilted this quilt on my Janome QMP-18 long arm.


Finished size: 62" x 69"

(click on photos to enlarge)

🌷FINISHED QUILT:🌷

Front piecing: Inspired by Missouri Star's "Coin Quilt with a Little Pizzazz", I pieced together 42 blocks arranged in a 6x7 grid. I didn't use the exact same measurements as the pattern instructed, but still achieved a great end result. I used Moda's "Sunday Stroll" fabrics to make the coin blocks, and white flannel for the block's outer borders/sashing.

Borders: First inner border is a scrappy combination of more of Moda's "Sunday Stroll" 2.5" wide strips, followed by a 5½" wide border of Contempo's "Sparkle" collection by Amanda Murphy for Benartex.

Backing: The back is pieced from my yardage stash:

part Contempo's "Sparkle" collection by Amanda Murphy for Benartex,

and part "Garden Pindot" by Michael Miller fabrics.

Quilt Stitching, Pattern: I quilted using edge-to-edge "Garden Bees 2" from Intelligent Quilting.

Quilt Stitching, Thread: I used "Silver" (So Fine 50 #408) thread for the front of the quilt, and "Snow Cone" (So Fine 50 #401) thread on the back.

Label: I embroidered the recipient's name, my initials, and the year right onto the binding, one of my favorite ways to label a quilt.

Binding: I made a flange binding for this quilt, attached by sewing machine.

🌷INSPIRATION:🌷

This quilt is a gift for a young college student I learned about from a good friend. She was diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis a few years ago, and as a result, she and her family are facing many big life changes as they adjust to her healthcare needs. I wanted to gift her a quilt that is filled with blooms and leaves and cheerful colors, to let her know even strangers are thinking of her and sending positive thoughts out into the universe for her. Her mom told my friend she likes bumblebees and plants, so I made sure to incorporate that into her quilt's stiching.

🌷PROGRESS PHOTOS:🌷

Construction-Blocks:

I was recently gifted a Jelly Roll, Moda's "Sunday Stroll". I normally pull from my scraps, stash, and others' leftovers to create most of my quilts, so to have an entire set of coordinated fabric strips seems almost extravagant to me! I knew I wanted to create something that would show off the sweet summery patterns and colors.

I adapted Missouri Star Quilt Company's tutorial on making a "Coin Quilt with a Little Pizzazz".

I created strip sets, then added white flannel pieces to make the 42 blocks.

Before joining all 42 blocks together, I sliver-trimmed each one to make sure they would all measure exactly the same and lay flat once sewn together.

I spent a bit of time re-arranging the blocks on my design wall.

Construction-Borders:

I first took the remaining strips from "Sunday Stroll" jelly roll, cut them into 11" long pieces, and joined them together to make a scrappy 2.5" wide inner border.

For the wide outer border, I auditioned two different fabrics from my stash, and decided I liked the "Sparkle" (vines) fabric better.

Attaching the outer border to the blocks, pinning before sewing.

Quilting:

Before loading onto my longarm, I first joined leftover yardage pieces from my stash to make the backing. I used more Contempo's "Sparkle" collection by Amanda Murphy for Benartex (also used for the wide borders) as well as some "Garden Pindot" by Michael Miller fabrics (also used previously in my Red & Pink Crazy-6 lap quilt).

The backing and batting are loaded, and the top is floated to be sure everything is squared and ready.

I baste each quilt sandwich completely, down one side, across the belly bar, and back up the other side, advancing and repeating, before I actually quilt it.

First time using edge-to-edge "Garden Bees 2" from Intelligent Quilting. Such a sweet design! It stitched out great and was very easy to modify (resize, join, repeat, etc) in my ProStitcher software.

Beginning the first of 5 rows.

The bumblebees are so sweet!

Patterns with swirly leaves are some of my favorite stitches to use.

This is the 88th quilt that I've stitched on my longarm.

Stitching out the 5th and final row.

Freshly unrolled from the longarm, and even before washing, I already love the movement and swirliness of the bumblebees and leaves. Stitching is not too dense, and the "Silver" thread doesn't distract at all from the fabrics.

Trimming:

I lined up my ruler to cut exactly 5½" from the outer side of the narrower inner border. That way the quilt's outer edge will be straight, and the two borders will be parallel.

Binding:

Referring to a few of my preferred flange-binding tutorials, I took 2 white-on-white fat quarters and some of the leftover pin-dot backing fabric and cut them into strips, joined them together, then pressed in half lengthwise. I ended up with almost 300" of flange binding.

Then I embroidered the recipient's name, my initials, and the year onto the prepared binding fabric. 

First I attached the binding fabric to the back of the quilt, using my sewing machine and a scant 1/4" seam...

...then I wrapped the wider part of the binding around to the front and stitched-in-the-ditch between the flange color and the binding color.

Washing:

I machine washed the finished quilt twice (cold water, no bleach) using dye trapping sheets (I like either Color Catchers or Color Grabbers). The catchers definitely removed a lot of the red fabric dye - so none of the white fabrics turned pink. 😉

After washing, the quilt is very soft, with just enough stitching to give it movement, but not too much that it is stiff or takes away from the sweet fabrics.

And it has a lovely drape, too.

Ready to be delivered. 

So happy this sweet young lady likes it! Hoping it will bring smiles and comfort to her for a very long time.

🌷QUILT SUMMARY:🌷

I machine pieced this quilt on my Bernina 240.

I quilted this quilt on my Janome QMP-18 long arm.

Finished size: 62" x 69"

Front piecing: 42 blocks arranged in a 6x7 grid, made using Moda's "Sunday Stroll" fabrics, inspired by Missouri Star's "Coin Quilt with a Little Pizzazz".

Borders: 2 borders - 2.5" wide scrappy Moda's "Sunday Stroll" inner border, and a final 5½" wide outer border from Contempo's "Sparkle" collection by Amanda Murphy.

Back: Part Contempo's "Sparkle" collection by Amanda Murphy for Benartex, and part "Garden Pindot" by Michael Miller fabrics.

Binding: Machine attached flange binding.

Quilting: Edge-to-edge "Garden Bees 2" from Intelligent Quilting. "Silver" (So Fine 50 #408) thread on the front, and "Snow Cone" (So Fine 50 #401) thread on the back.

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