Camping Maypole Quilt

I realize one of my latest posts was saying that quilting isn't really my thing - but I do enjoy it!  I bought this fabric a while ago, not really sure what I was going to make with it.  I thought I might even make a dress out of the canoe-print!  I've been following more quilters on instagram, and one of my favourites is Suzy Quilts.  She posted a great pattern - The Maypole Quilt (albeit meant more for solids) and I knew it would be a great fit for my camping-themed fabrics.  Best part - I had the right amount of fabric for the throw size!


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This quilt was really quick to piece together, and with minimal quilting it came together in just about a week - definitely a quilting record for me!!

For the back I just pieced together the leftover fabric and I'm quite happy with the result.



The dark colours of this quilt are perfect for hiding any little stains it might pick up, so I really don't mind bringing it outside for a picnic or a music festival.  I finished the quilt just in time for our annual trip to Wolfe Island for the Wolfe Island Music Festival, and I brought it along with me when I went to Camp Roller Derby (yes you ready that correctly... it's a summer camp for people in the roller derby community!  so fun!) last weekend.  It was perfect for snuggling under with some teammates at the campfire, and it kept me warm in my bunk at night.







I have also finally taught myself how to hand-stitch the binding... something I had been dreading and avoiding for the longest time with all my quilts.  Why on earth had I not tried it earlier?!?  It's so meditative!  Big thanks to Tess for getting me to finally give it a try!

Since I had more of it than the other prints, I used the canoe fabric for the binding.  I love the little canoes peaking around the borders!





Since I wasn't thinking ahead about making a quilt with this fabric, I went ahead and pre-washed it. Oh man was that a mistake.  Unwashed quilting cotton is SO much easier to work with than this was. Not to mention the shrinking, which made cutting larger pieces (especially the long middle ones) a bit tricky in some cases.  I also really like the super-wrinkly effect you get from not pre-washing your fabric. While I'm still happy with how this quilt turned out, it would be so much better with more wrinkles!  This would have been the one time some laziness would have payed off... oh well - always next time!




I can definitely see making this quilt in some solid colours or maybe smaller prints, especially as a gift since it sews up relatively quickly!  I'm not quite feeling up to making the queen size... but we are kind of in need of a new quilt for the bed, so we'll see ;)