Today I’m excited to share a quilt that I started about a year ago. I’ve made a few quilts before but this is the first quilt that I’ve made using a pattern. The pattern is the Stars Hollow Quilt by Suzy Quilts. I love the fun and graphic nature of her designs. For this quilt, I was able to use fabric from my stash. Woohoo! I believe most of the solid colors actually came from my grandma. My color selections were very influenced by the colors that Suzy used in the pattern.
If you’ve been following me for a while then you know that I mostly sew clothing but occasionally dabble in other crafts. I’ve always been interested in quilt making and I took a beginning quilting class about 12 years ago where I learned the basics. Since then, I’ve done just a bit of quilting here and there. The quilts that I’ve enjoyed making the most are actually improvisational quilts using fabric scraps (check them out here and here). When I saw this design, I really loved the twist on a classic design and I was curious to try out a quilt pattern and see how they work. The pattern was very easy to follow and I think I managed to piece the quilt top over just a few weeks.
For this quilt, I hired someone to do the actually quilting for me (you can check out her website here). I find the quilting tedious and my back gets sore so I thought I’d try outsourcing that part of the job. I had her to do an allover circle pattern which I thought would be a nice contrast to the angles in the design. I’m really pleased with the quilting. It’s much more professional looking and clean than what I would have been able to do myself.
I haven't washed this quilt yet and I am nervous about the colors running. I plan to use a color catcher when I do wash it which will hopefully catch any color that does run. I like to use my quilts and love seeing how they wear over time.
If you are a fan of the tv show Gilmore Girls then I’m sure you recognize that the name of this pattern is that of the town in the show. This pattern was released when the new episodes of the show were released. I’ve been a huge fan of GG since it was first on tv so I was SUPER excited for the new episodes. It’s one of those shows that I watch over and over because it’s familiar and comforting. Do you have a show like that?
UPDATE 2021: If you are looking to learn how to sew a quilt, my e-course Improvisational Quilting for Garment Sewists is now live and available for purchase in the shop. This is a self paced and comprehensive course that teaches you everything you need to know to learn how to turn your fabric scraps into useful and unique improvisational quilts. You can learn more about it here.
