Boho Chic Baby Quilt

Wednesday, June 12, 2019

As part of the Aurifil Artisan program, I received three fat quarters from Anna Maria Horner's Passion Flower collection and a spool of coordinating Aurifil thread. I could make anything I wanted - so of course I made a quilt!

Boho Chic baby quilt with Anna Maria Horner fabrics and vintage lace


When I first received the fabrics, I was a bit lot stumped. The main colors in the fabrics were browns, and the scale of each fabric was so different! I had a fat quarter each of Keys in Toffee, Cartwheels in Flip, and Belonging in Navy. (See the whole collection here.)

I spent a couple weeks staring at the fabrics and scouring Pinterest for inspiration. Then one day while at my mom's, I came across this pin. It was the inspiration I needed!

Anna Maria Horner Passion Flower fabrics

My mom got out her stash of eyelet lace, yarn, and other trimmings and let me delve in. I found some great vintage treasures!

Vintage lace

Once back home, I added some coordinating fat quarters from my stash, focusing on the pinks, teals/aquas, and navy from the Anna Maria Horner fabrics.

Anna Maria Horner Passion Flower fabrics and coordinating solids

I cut each fabric into squares and rectangles with increments of 3". I cut 3 1/2" squares, 6 1/2" squares, and 9 1/2" squares. And I also cut 3 1/2" x 6 1/2" and 3 1/2" x 9 1/2" rectangles. I made sure to get one of each size from the fat quarters, then just kept cutting to make two of each when possible. And I cut the largest pieces I could from the solid fabrics. I did not do any additional math or figuring at this stage.

Anna Maria Horner Passion Flower fabrics and coordinating solids

Then I laid all the pieces out and played with them until I was happy with the arrangement. I only needed to cut three more pieces from the solids to fill in a couple holes! And I didn't have a size in mind before hand - just whatever I laid out would be it. I was so pleased with  how well it worked out since I didn't do any planning!

Boho Chic baby quilt with Anna Maria Horner fabrics and vintage lace

Next I decided to add lace to several of the squares to add interest and texture. I used several different styles of lace and trimmings, but decided to stick with all off-white instead of color. I used some eyelet lace, some vintage lace, and some that were thicker and more like a doily.

Boho Chic baby quilt with Anna Maria Horner fabrics and vintage lace

I used scraps to do a test before sewing the lace to each block - and it worked!

Sewing eyelet lace to the solid fabrics

I continued on using Aurifil 50wt in Light Sand #2000. It was a great cream/champagne color that blended in perfectly with all the vintage lace. I just straight stitched on the sides of the lace and along just the top edge of the eyelet lace so the texture would remain.

Sewing vintage lace to quilt blocks

I assembled the quilt top in "blocks." Just two blocks required a partial seam, but those were no trouble at all!

Boho Chic baby quilt with Anna Maria Horner fabrics and vintage lace

I have never sewn with Anna Maria Horner fabric and don't have any in my stash! I messaged a few local friends to see if they had any I could use for the back (nope), so my hunt led me to a local-ish fabric shop. The Fabric Chic in Parkville, MO had an amazing selection of AMH fabric!!

Anna Maria Horner fabrics at The Fabric Chic in Parkville, MO

I hemmed and hawed for far longer than any normal person should, but found this great pink and teal print for the backing! It is the Leaning print in Jade from Anna Maria Horner's English Summer collection. And they had lots of Freespirit solids to choose from too, so I picked the Bubblegum pink solid for the binding.

 Anna Maria Horner fabrics

I quickly loaded it on the longarm with Warm & Natural batting. Aurifil had sent me some coordinating Forty3 thread for me to try, but...brown. I just couldn't get excited about it! But the 40wt in Bright Pink #2425 was definitely the right choice!

Aurifil thread

I free-motion quilted a medium sized meander all over. This allowed me to lift up the eyelet lace and quilt under it right up to where I had stitched it down.

Medium meander quilting with Aurifil 40wt thread

Kramer (my 1989 Gammill longarm) really does like the 40wt Aurifil thread. I mostly use 50wt because I have lots of that in my stash, but he requires a gentle touch to use it. The 40wt allows me to play and experiment more, and sew a bit faster too. I'm nervous to try any of the other weights on the longarm, but I might get adventurous on my domestic! I'll add that to my list of things to try!

Meander quilting with Aurifil 40wt thread

Next up was machine sewing on the binding (tutorial here).

Machine sewing binding

I knew before I finished the victory lap that the pink was the perfect choice!

Machine sewing binding

After finishing, I took the quilt to a local winery for some pictures with the grapes!

Boho Chic baby quilt with Anna Maria Horner fabrics and vintage lace

I really enjoy finding fun spots to photograph my quilts, and I had never been to the winery before! It was a great excuse!

Boho Chic baby quilt with Anna Maria Horner fabrics and vintage lace

This project challenged me more than most. But! I love that it pushed me out of my comfort zone and allowed me to try something new!

Boho Chic baby quilt with Anna Maria Horner fabrics and vintage lace

I can definitely see myself using lace and lace trimmings again in future quilts!

Boho Chic baby quilt with Anna Maria Horner fabrics and vintage lace

The finished quilt measures about 30" x 38", making it a great baby quilt!


Boho Chic baby quilt with Anna Maria Horner fabrics and vintage lace

Wouldn't it be perfect for a boho chic nursery??


Boho Chic baby quilt with Anna Maria Horner fabrics and vintage lace

All it needs is a baby girl!


Boho Chic baby quilt with Anna Maria Horner fabrics and vintage lace

Nervously, I've listed this quilt for sale in my Etsy shop! (It's my first time ever listing one of my quilts!) Be sure to check out the listing if you might be the loving home it's looking for!

I sure hope I don't regret selling it!


Linking up with Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter and Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication.
This post contains affiliate links. Clicking a link will NOT affect the purchase price.

12 comments:

  1. You come up with the best ideas, Laura. This quilt is just charming!

    ReplyDelete
  2. You are always so good with challenges and this quilt is so darling. I also love your location shot, just perfect as always.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Such a sweet quilt! I love the extra touches with the lace.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The longer I look at the above progress pix the more details pop out at me! Fabulous quilt!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. That quilt is the perfect baby quilt. Lots of color and having the lace to add texture. You did a great job.
    Patty
    paweis at yahoo dot com

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great quilt Laura. I love the way you mixed fabrics and drew them altogether with some solids. The back is gorgeous and some little baby girl could have a quilt that is unique. Congrats on a great finish.

    ReplyDelete
  7. The brown would've stumped me too, but I like your solution. I never would have thought to add bits of lace - it makes the quilt feel a bit vintage, which I love. Great job! I'm sure it will find a forever home quickly!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow, I love the lace!!!! What a great idea!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Adding the lace was a creative idea...well done. It's beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  10. You met this challenge well! The lace was a great addition for some fun texture and vintage charm :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love Anna Maria and you've captured her spirit well with this I think. I also love your photos and enjoy seeing where you'll go next! Thanks for sharing on Wednesday Wait Loss.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I very much enjoyed reading the thought process and creativity that went into making this quilt! Thank you for sharing the beautiful quilt that emerged!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting and for your comments! I try to reply to comments via email, so if you're expecting a response and don't hear from me, check if you're a no-reply blogger. Happy sewing!