A little over a year ago I set out on a journey to stitch the 50 states. I was inspired by the classic embroidered state quilts that you see pop up from days gone by. They usually featured state flowers, or sometimes birds, and they are pretty much amazing.
I wanted to bring the Wild Olive aesthetic to my quilt, and I also wanted to bring some friends along on the journey. I knew that they'd be great encouragement and inspiration. I was right. And now that my 50 States Stitching Club Members have received all of their patterns, I'm finally able to show the finished quilt that I made for the club.
Each state is represented with a star that has an embroidery in the center. The embroidered motifs range from flora and fauna to some pretty crazy things (including statues of an ox and a king!). Some of the designs are historical, and some are hysterical (like a watermelon that is a state VEGETABLE!).
The stars are English paper piecing, which is then appliquéd to a square. There are SO MANY stitches in this thing!
As far as the whole quilt goes, the scrappy binding is my favorite part. I've always been a fan of this style of binding (it's an unexpected detail that also makes good use of extra fabric!), and it was fun to use it here.
If there was one thing I would have changed, it would be to have some low-volume fabrics in with the striped blocks. But my goal was to have only 10 fabrics (in addition to the stars and backing) to make fabric shopping a little easier for folks. And I wanted the stars to stand out against a color/bold pattern. That goal was achieved, so next time around I'll aim for a more mellow quilt!
This quilt was so much fun to make, and just as much fun as making it has been watching club members work on their own quilts. I'll gather some photos and share them here soon, but you can find what folks are making by searching on social media for #50StatesStitching.
Eventually the entire club will be available as one big pattern download, so keep an eye out for that if you're interested in stitching the 50 states too!
It's beeeeeautiful Mollie!!! I'm so so excited to see this one finished up and I can't wait to get back to mine after I get a lot of work sewing out the way after August! yippee!! xo
ReplyDeleteit is absolutely stunning. Well, done, Mollie....:))
ReplyDeleteMarvelous, indeed?
ReplyDeleteHugs and happy highways,
Kelley~
Wow! I love this! And I'd love to make one!! When do you think the pattern will be available for purchase?
ReplyDeleteProbably by the end of July. I will be condensing a whole bunch of patterns, emails, and instructions into one big file, and I want to make sure that everything is correct (and downloadable!)
DeleteI LOVE your "less-than-mellow" quilt!
ReplyDeleteDamn, great job! Awesome quilt!
ReplyDeleteI can tell you put a lot of work into this quilt, Mollie - it is fantastic! Everything is so straight, centred, precise, lined-up, and cute, too (all those little happy faces ^_^). Well done, well done!
ReplyDeletePerfect for a picnic at the park. Well done!
ReplyDeleteLove it!!!! It has been so much fun and I can't wait to get my quilt finished too! Thanks for another awesome stitching club! :)
ReplyDeleteLove it! Thanks again for sooooo much fun!
ReplyDeleteIt turned out beautifully!!! Great work! I have all my patterns from you, but have yet to cut out the first thing. One of these days! Thanks so much for all your hard work on this!!!
ReplyDeleteJulie
Gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteWill you be doing another stitch club soon? :D