Minnesota Quilt by Vacilando Quilting Co.

In February 2020 I dedicated my monthly quilt project to my husband’s second quilt. Besides the Rustic quilt from the Southwest Modern book by Initial K Studio, he had also hinted at the Minnesota quilt from the second book he gave me. It is designed by Laura Preston from Vacilando Quilting Co. 

This throw-size quilt was most probably my first squared quilt. And I have felt in love with squared quilts ever since. I think I have made three more squared quilts since then. Even Sara’s baby quilt turned out to be a squared quilt. I agree that they might not be so practical in use, but they simply look very balanced and beautiful.

Most probably it is the symmetry that makes me love them. It is the same symmetry that intrigues me about Islamic geometry, I think. This is where I see one of the links between my two passions – patchwork & Islamic geometrical patterns.

Choosing Colors for Your Quilt Project

I had ordered the fabrics for this second 2020 quilt project already when I had ordered the one for the Rustic quilt. Laura Preston suggests terracotta in an orange tone.

When checking the different colors on my Kona cotton solid chart, I decided to go for a brighter orange instead. A decision that I did not regret. I love how the orange stands out against the dark charcoal and light natural beige tone. 

By the way, I can only recommend getting on of these color charts to check how well solid fabrics go with the prints you want to use or also with other solids. I got mine a few years ago and have used it for almost every quilt since then. Especially if you have to order your solids as I have to do most of the time, these come in very handy. 

Making a Quilt Top on a Weekend

What was really great about this quilt was how quickly I could assemble the quilt top. I literally finished the whole top over one weekend. And I don’t mean that I worked on it non-stop. I did other things on the same weekend as well, of course. I started on Thursday afternoon and on Saturday afternoon I was done. In case you wonder, our weekend in Doha starts on Thursday already, but our week also starts a day earlier.

But it is really a very simple patchwork pattern. All you need to know is how to make Half Square Triangles. And I had made quite a few projects based on Half Square Triangles already. I had actually wanted to move away a bit from Half Square Triangles and practice other blocks instead.

Funnily several of my 2020 quilts were based on Half Square Triangles. 🙂

But for my February quilt project, such a quick quilt was actually perfect. Because as you most probably remember Covid-19 became ‘a thing’ in February 2020 and there were so many things going on at the same time. We were watching a lot of news and there was a lot of distraction about what was going on in the world in general. The Minnesota quilt was exactly the right amount of time and effort I could invest into my monthly quilt at this given moment.

Linen Backing for the February Quilt Project

For the backing, Laura Preston uses a linen fabric from Robert Kaufman’s Homespun collection. She actually does not show the back side in the book and only mentions it as ‘indigo linen’. 

I had never used linen as backing before but had ordered two different prints with my other fabrics with the idea to decide later which one to use. But by this time the idea was actually already taken. Because I had used the bigger print as backing for the Rustic quilt already. You can see it in the blog post on the Rustic quilt in a few photos.

This collection of linen prints is really ideal for quilt backing. Since this first order, I have ordered another greyish print for the backing of my September quilt which will most probably become a December quilt. While I started it in September 2020, we are now already end of October and I am far from being done with it. 

Too many unexpected things happened along the way during the last month. But this is a topic for another blog post. 😉

Quilting the Minnesota Quilt

Also for the quilting, I followed Laura Preston’s example from the book very much. As I mentioned before, my husband can be very picky. When he chooses that he wants something, he wants exactly that thing. He would not compromise for something that is only similar. 🙂

So, I quilted the Minnesota quilt with straight lines that are forming arrows toward its middle. This quilting nicely accentuates the pattern of the quilt and it became my new favorite quilting option for squared quilts. Also, my August quilt project, Sara’s baby quilt, would be quilted later on in the same style.

The only thing I changed from the book was the color of the thread. I wanted the repeat the orange in the quilting. But the husband approved this artistic decision of mine… 😉 

And my favorite little cat boy, Wotan, approved the decision to use orange for the binding from his end. So, we were all set and I actually even managed to finish my February quilt project in the month of February. 

How about you? Do you get your creative projects approved by your pets as well? 🙂