Quilt repair complete! My Mom (@the_quiltshop_at_essenhaus) gifted us this quilt she bought at an auction many years ago, and we’ve used it so much that the binding had worn out. After many texts with Mom for advice, I just completed the repair job! I cut new strips of binding, joined them together, attached over the old binding on the front (single fold method), and then spent several hours hand-tacking it down on the back. (I know; I should have mitered the hex angles, but I was lazy and treated them as curves.) Very satisfying, and I’m glad I’ve extended the life of this lovely quilt. ❤️

My dear friends Josh and Jamie welcomed their new baby son Taos this year, and I decided that I wanted to make him a little quilt. I’ve had this Moda Fabrics “Mixed Bag” Brushed Cotton charm pack in my stash for a long time, and I realised it would be perfect for a little one. (A charm pack is a set of precut 5”x5” fabric squares, all from the same fabric line so they coordinate.) I started googling to get inspiration and spotted this Building Blocks pattern. I realised that I didn’t even need the pattern; I could just design my own using the same idea.

I settled on a design of 4 columns of 10 blocks each against a white background. I played with a few different layouts on my dining room table and got Rodd to give his opinion. I decided to go with the one on the left here, which was organised vertically by colour.

Piecing the quilt top was very quick! I used a plain white cotton for the background, which contrasted nicely with the brushed texture of the blocks. I sewed it together in horizontal rows, making sure each alternating row was offset by using a half block at the beginning or end.

Once I had all the rows done, I simply joined them all together. Charm packs certainly made the process go faster. I had the whole thing put together in less than a day!

The back side of the quilt was more challenging. I thought it would be fun to use another fabric from the line, but it’s so old that I could find very little of it available online. I finally found one of the zigzag prints at the Remnant Warehouse; it’s not brushed but it’s fine. I still had 2 squares left over from the charm pack so I decided to break it up. I inserted a row of white along with the two squares and a plain one with some embroidery. This meant I got to do some playing around with the fancy computerised features of my machine…

It was a lot of fun, even if the final version still came out a little crooked. I figure that gives it charm. 🙂

For the quilting, I sandwiched the front and back with a thin cotton wadding. (It’s too warm in Sydney for anything else.) I decided on long vertical lines but I deliberately made them a bit wonky and wandering. I thought that tied in nicely to the “wobbly blocks” theme I had going on. Then I used more of the backing fabric for the binding around the edge. I had fun doing the final slip-stitching by hand up at the Snook homestead in front of the fire.

Here’s the final quilt front:

And the back (I put a little “handmade” label on as well):

We met up with Josh and Taos in November and I got to give them the quilt. I told Josh my Mom’s standard Quilt Gift Rule: it comes with lifetime repairs, but only if you actually use it! Josh later sent me a photo showing baby Taos having a play on his new blanket. ❤️

“Make Do and Mend.” Eighteen years ago I moved to Australia, and since I couldn’t yet get a job, I hand sewed a quilt. It was made from old shirts and bedsheets, and I was really proud. Over time some of the fabric started to wear through, so tonight I added the first patches. And why not make it visible? So there are now three red squares, and I’m sure there’ll be more in the future. There’s another one moved from the mending pile…