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Summer Picnic Quilt

A blanket on the grass with clown faces and checkered pattern.


Summer Picnic Quilt tutorial

A red and yellow cape with lightning bolt on it.

When summer arrives, I always get the itch to make a quilt.  Nevermind the fact that I live in Texas and it is sweltering, to say the least.  Also, disregard the fact that I have quilts coming out of my ears…what is that saying…you can’t swing a cat without hitting a quilt?  (Surely that isn’t the saying, but I think you catch my drift!)  So when I am thinking about making a new quilt…I need to have a reason for it, aside from just being functional to keep you warm.  I also love to sew with materials that are a little unexpected.  So I teamed up with Janome and American Quilter’s Society to bring you a free tutorial for a great summer picnic quilt.

This pattern is great for many reasons.  It’s layer cake friendly, which makes it a super quick sew.  The blocks are large enough to feature those great prints you’ve been holding on to for a special quilt.  The quilt is large enough to accommodate a family picnic at the park.  The backing can be made from laminated cotton (or regular quilting cotton, if you choose), so it won’t pick up dirt as easily as standard quilting cotton.  You can just as easily throw it in the wash as you can a regular quilt (line dry to be on the safe side).  So grab two layer cake packs and your favorite sewing and quilting notions and get ready to sew your socks off!  Follow the link to the American Quilter’s Society blog to get started on your picnic quilt.  

This is a great quilt to fold up and keep in the back of the car for unexpected outings (and if you have a little one in diapers, you can always use the laminated cotton side as a quick changing station on the go!).  

I quilted this with some large meandering loops on my Janome MC9400, and was done with the quilting in under two hours.  

A red and yellow cape with lightning bolt on it.


Since the back of my quilt uses laminated cotton, I slipped a Supreme Slider onto the bed of the sewing machine and it really helped glide the fabric easily under the needle.  This isn’t something you have to do, but it certainly makes the task a little easier.  I tend to use one anytime I’m quilting something larger than a mini quilt.  Put on your favorite podcast/Netflix and get ready to sew up a storm!  Happy sewing 🙂 

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Free pattern! Water resistant pool tote


 If you’re planning a trip to the pool, river, beach this summer, you’ve got to whip up this painless pool tote lined with laminated cotton.  Throw your wet towels in and you don’t have to worry about them getting water spots on the car seats or even forgetting about them in the car (hey…don’t judge…we’ve all done it!)

Water resistant pool tote

The only thing extra you might want to pick up, as far as sewing machine accessories, is a teflon foot.  Teflon feet are absolutely amazing when it comes to sewing any sort of “sticky” fabric.  So if you run your hand over it with pressure, and it doesn’t smoothly run across the fabric, a teflon foot will easily sew it!  Some great examples are glitter vinyl, regular vinyl, oilcloth, and laminated cotton.  Any fabrics that look like they have a sheen or platic-y finish.  Personally, I love to sew with weird fabrics, so I’ve had a teflon foot for a while now.  But if you don’t stray from the beaten path very often, now is the time to stray!!!  You will love the teflon foot, and have so many more interesting sewing options.  

Teflon foot for Janome

So let’s get down to the nitty gritty–This pattern was written for Janome exclusively for the Quilt views blog.  So you can grab the FREE PATTERN HERE

Hop to it and get sewing!  Make something cool this summer 🙂