Palm Out Moonflower Trellis Baby Quilt
About This Baby Quilt
This sweet little baby quilt has become one of my favorite makes, ever, and I'm excited to finally share it with you. I started this quilt in the summer of 2020 as a sample quilt for my Palm Out Collection Pattern Extension.
The top came together quickly by combining the six mini quilts together but then it took a back seat to many other projects. It waited so patiently for me to return to it, and finally, almost three years later, it's complete.
Hindsight is always twenty-twenty but I'm glad for the space I gave the project and myself. Because I waited so long, I was able to finish it exactly how I imagined: with hand quilting and fabric of my own design for the backing.
Fabrics from the Dreaming Collection
I used mostly Kona solids for this quilt top with a bit of striped woven fabric I was gifted by my friend Amanda. The Kona colors used are Spruce, Pickle, Sage, and Slate. I like how the striped woven fabric adds a bit of both visual and physical texture to the project to break up the monotony of the solids.
The backing of this baby quilt is a fabric from my latest fabric collection, Dreaming, for Hawthorne Supply Co. A happy, bouncy, mid-sized floral, the design is made up of morning glories in a palette of greens and blues, perfectly matching the top of the quilt. The print is called Moonflower Trellis in Leaf and it's available in three other color options.
For the binding, I wanted to play on the neutral black and white of the striped woven fabric so I chose second black and white fabric. Another design from my Dreaming fabric collection, this print is called Wax and Wane in Fog. Tumbling triangles, resembling HSTs and SQSTs, represent the moon's cycle, just like my logo. I like to think of this particular design as the Wax and Wane Studio signature print. Right now, it is available in six color options and I hope to have more in future collections.
Mix & Match Mini Quilts
As I mentioned, this baby quilt was made as a sample quilt for my Palm Out Collection Pattern Extension which is a unique quilt pattern extension inspired by having the courage to follow your dreams. The goal of the pattern extension is to mix, match, and combine multiple mini quilts from the Palm Out series to make a larger quilt.
The Palm Out series is made up of four different mini quilt patterns; Spine (which you can get for free through my free hand quilting course), Never Shut Up, Two of Sight, and Comet Kin. For this project I combined two Spine mini quilt tops, two Comet Kin mini quilt tops, one Never Shut Up mini quilt top, and one Two of Sight mini quilt top.
Piecing & Quilting
I focused on constructing the individual mini quilts first, then I arranged and auditioned them to find the best configuration before assembling them. The long break between finishing the top and getting around to basting and quilting meant I had a lot of time to plan out the quilting. This project has a special spot in my heart because I see it as the culmination of my first series of quilts so I wanted to take the extra time and care to hand-quilt the whole thing. The final quilting design I marked out is maze-like and dances around the quilt top. I chose a simple white thread, in DMC’s pearl cotton size 8, so as to not distract from the design of the quilt top.
Palm Out Mini Quilt Collection
This baby quilt is just one example of how you can mix and match the mini quilts of the Palm Out collection to create a larger quilt. Each mini quilt is 14” X 28”, so when combined with another will create a 28” X 28” square. You can think of that as a huge quilt block! The possibilities for mixing and matching mini quilts are literally endless but the Palm Out Pattern Extension aims to give you some guidance. There are three layout ideas included in the pattern extension each available in throw and baby size. If you’re looking for a way to make a totally unique quilt, but still like to follow a pattern, this is for you!
