I can’t help but be happy when I see this cheerful quilt! Most definitely because I used Happy Day fabric by Lori Whitlock for Riley Blake Designs, and it really is the happiest fabric out there right now. So when I grabbed myself some charm packs at my LQS (I had to have every print!) I knew I needed an equally happy quilt pattern to use with it.
Recently, I got the book Charm School by Vanessa Goertzen of Lella Boutique. It has been GREAT and this quilt, Love Letter, is the second I’ve made from it. I thought it was perfect for pairing up these cheerful prints, and I have to say, I am delighted how it all turned out!
Maybe one of the best parts for me was using a non-white, white borders and sashing- I used the Riley Blake Swiss Dot in yellow, and it makes this quilt even more happy. I also used a Riley Blake wide back fabric for the backing… let me tell you, I don’t know if I’ll do it again. I’ve heard all sorts of stories on how these wide back fabrics bleed like crazy, especially blue and red (and not just the RBD ones, also Moda and others) and I didn’t prewash it before giving it to the quilter. I panicked, got the backing back, washed it several times with color catchers, and while the strange stiffness left, so did a lot of the color saturation. I was bummed about that! Then after the quilt was done one of my kids drew on the back with my lettering pens, so my scrubbing those marks away (almost, some is still left) it is even more washed out in some spots. *sigh* Good thing this quilt is headed to a home full of children, and the parents will totally understand the struggle. 😉
Kelli of Simply MackBeth did the quilting (again, she lives a few streets over and now I don’t know if I can actually quilt on my own ever again ha ha!) in a really simple pattern called Wiggle Worm. This quilt is going to a baby girl in a house full of boys and one older sister, so I wanted to tone down the cute a little bit ha ha! But then I added the striped binding and the attempt was void- this just begs to be the most cute, happy, love-filled quilt ever. Now it is packaged up and ready to travel all the way to France to its new home! Which is a little silly because the words on some of the prints are English- but the Dad speaks English so I figure he’ll let the kids know what it says 😉 My husband and I stayed with these friends when we traveled to France 2 years ago, and had a great time, we are hoping to send some love back their way!
I hope you have a Happy Day!