Blogger's Quilt Festival Entry

Lots of my friends are participating in this neat online quilt show where we can post about a quilt that we've made on our blog...  So I'm going to join in, too!

I participated a year or two ago in a batik charm square exchange at my local quilt guild.  I'm a big fan of batiks and this is a great way to add variety to your stash, so I signed up for two or three sets of charm squares.  Turns out that was a BUNCH...

I wasn't sure at the time what I would do with them, but shortly after receiving them, I decided I'd make a picnic quilt.  My sons are 2 and 3 and I thought it'd be nice to spread out a big quilt in the yard or at the park to relax on.  I wanted it to be big enough for the whole family to use at once...

There was little planning, really.  I just started sewing charm squares together into long strips, then placing them on the floor.. Rather than worrying about making all of my points match, I offset the squares.  I tried to make sure to not repeat any fabric on each row and to not let like fabrics touch.  I added some from my stash of batiks to make it a little larger, but the vast majority of the squares in this quilt came from the charm square exchange.

This quilt was made with the intention that it'd be well-used and laundered often.

Truthfully, it's not QUITE complete yet...  I've still got to finish tying it and I need to bind it, but I've stitched around the edges already.

I am toying with the notion of making another quilt like this so that each of my boys will be able to have one to call their own...

*** Update:  Tonight, I signed up for FOUR sets of charm squares in an exchange my guild is doing in July.  Not just any charm squares... but BATIK charm squares!  So I'll be able to make a second quilt by the end of the summer.  One for each of my boys. :)  Am positively giddy.