When I saw the new red, white, and blue Land of the Brave fabrics from Riley Blake Designs, I immediately thought they would be perfect for a picnic quilt!
I chose eight fabrics from the collection. I chose four fabrics in blues and four fabrics in reds. There were florals, stars, plaids, and text prints. Then I added solid white to use for the background.
To make the blocks, I started with 18" squares of each fabric and made jumbo half-square triangles. Then I laid out each half-square triangle opposite from it's match to make the jumbo star. The four corners are squares of solid white fabric. (Get the full tutorial at the bottom of the post!)
After sewing the blocks together, I loaded the quilt on my longarm. I used a 108" wide white and light gray fabric that I keep on hand for the back, but I think denim or fleece would have been great for a picnic quilt back too!
I loaded white thread into my longarm and quilted a large meander design all over the quilt.
I started with half-yard cuts, so I had enough left over to make a scrappy binding!
As soon as the quilt was finished, I knew it would be perfect for keeping in the car this summer for impromptu picnics and park visits!
I used Warm & White batting inside to keep the solid white fabric a bright white. The large meander quilting kept the quilt really soft.
I made sure to add one of my labels when sewing my binding on too.
The fake grass at the playground has me dreaming of summer even though it's still pretty cold out. There weren't any kids at the playground when I went to take these photos! You know it's cold then!
If you'd like to make a jumbo star quilt too, then download the pattern tutorial! Since the blocks are jumbo, it goes together quite quickly!
Happy quilting!
