Growing up sewing was a hobby and a necessity. Mom taught all five of us girls to sew and we made most of our clothes. I remember one summer we had three sewing machines set up in our home. When my husband was in dental school I worked for Harper’s Fabrics and stitched up everything from prom dresses to tailored suits. When our kids were growing up the sewing machine was mainly used for costumes and to sew on scout patches. In the past year I have started to sew again, just for fun. I have made several baby quilts and worked up to a throw. This is the Sparrows Quilt pattern from Pen and Paper Patterns.
I remember we used to spend hours in Stephenson’s Fabrics in Maryville picking out fabrics, patterns and notions. I still love walking through fabric stores and it was fun working with Penny Linley at BoLin’s Fabrics to pick out the fabric for the Sparrows Quilt. I really liked the color combination on the pattern, so I used that as a guide.
The pattern does require a lot of cutting – but what quilt doesn’t? This pattern provided labels to pin to each set, which made it so much easier when assembling.
This pattern has been used for a Sewalong, so on the Pen and Paper Pattern blog, you can read six newsletters that give you tips and tricks for each stage of making this quilt. The blog also has a Scandi Collection Testers Quilts section that has photos of many different Sparrows quilts created from a variety of fabric colors and collections.
Stitching together a quilt is similar to putting a puzzle together – it is so exciting when all the pieces come together!
Have you noticed that so many of the new quilts have bright floral backings and borders? I found this at Missouri Star Quilt Company. They have so many beautiful quilts displayed in all their stores.
Mary Kay Lambert did a wonderful job of quilting my project.
All done – decided to take a few photos of the little Sparrows outside in the flowers.
I love seeing all the creative quilts in stores and online. So many traditional and contemporary quilts to inspire you to dust off your sewing machine and begin planning your winter projects. I have found that they are many sewalongs and quiltalongs – which provides inspiration and motivation. Have fun being creative!
