Have you seen the Paper Boat quilt on my Instagram feed??  Well, I am so happy to have them off of my list of things to do.  That’s right!!  These Paper Boat Quilts are finished.  They have been a work in progress for a while now. 

I am part of the Do Good Stitches, a charity sewing bee, and my group is the Harmony Circle.  The way this group works is, one quilter sets the block for that month and everyone in the group mails two finished blocks to that quilter. The quilter creates a finished quilt and donates it locally to the Linus Project.  Luckily, one of my local quilt shops is a drop point for this charity.  The group quilter rotates, so I get to pick a block two times a year.  

It is such a wonderful time to get snail mail!  I love getting all of the packages and seeing each and every block the group makes.  These quilts were from the second time I got to pick the block, and let’s just say I was a little overzealous and decided I could split the blocks in two color groups and make two quilts.

I overthought teals and blues and decided that I just had to get more fabric so I could add in extra negative space and everything would be perfect.  Well, after a few years of the project being moved from one corner of the room to another, in and out of drawers and going on road trips with me… I am finally done, all while having received four new charity block sets.  The lesson learned: I will be getting more blocks very soon so I just need to get one quilt finished so it can be donated and loved by someone. 

Quilting the Boat Quilts

Quilting these quilts was a wonderful journey of trial and error. It has been a great way to gain hours of experience.  I love how they turned out!  When I was in the thick of it, I wasn’t always sure if it would look ok.  I saw each and every error up close, and sometimes that can be overwhelming.  But when you step back it all just blends in.  I used wool batting, and I am pleased with it’s lovely texture and drape.  

If you follow Christina Cameli on Instagram, you probably saw her morning drawing sessions.  They were so insightful and inspiring.  Each morning she would show whoever was watching her live how to draw a continuous line using one or more motifs.  After many of these sessions, I felt confident enough to put it to use, and I quilted the second quilt, the one with seven boats after drawing the design out a few times.  I used organic wavy lines that look like water, a swirl for a wave, and a short string of circles which makes me think of pearls.  All of these motifs are somewhat nautical and perfect for the Paper Boat Quilt.  I would love to hear how you would have quilted them since this is the part of quilting that I overthink!  Any thoughts??

Get the Paper Boat Quilt pattern

In case you were wondering, this is a free pattern called Paper Boat Quilt, and it is from many years back when the Ruby Star Society girls were part of Cotton + Steel.  It is such a fun paper pieced block.  (For more blog posts on paper pieced quilting, click here.) Perfect for a boy quilt.  I changed the layout so my quilts are different from the Paper Boat Quilt pattern.  I like to think of patterns as a starting point.  Creating should be a liberating experience.  I guess that’s why I like designing my own patterns!

I also made this block smaller by scaling it down when printing.  Hum… I don’t remember the percentage, but it was small enough so I could add two boats in one 12 ½” block.  Funny, this, too, was a charity block, but it was for the Tucson Modern Quilt Guild.

I hope you like these Paper Boat Quilts.  Cheers!!  I have many more charity quilt blocks to work on, so you know what I will be doing this weekend.