Offshore Crib Quilt Tutorial for Precuts

This week I finished putting together my Stick Shift crib quilt – the previous WIP (work-in-progress) quilt from this post.

It felt great to get this one out of the WIP pile and get it done! You can find the original tutorial for this quilt here. (I also walk through the steps for making this quilt in my video Bluprint (formerly known as Craftsy) class here, if you prefer visual learning. You might recognize some of these blocks from that class.)

This is a great quilt for using precuts – it works with either precut 2 1/2″ strips (rolie polies or jelly rolls) or 10″ x 10″ squares (10″ stackers or Layer Cakes). I love working with precuts because it’s the most economical way to get a wide variety of different fabrics in coordinating prints and colors.

I added an extra row compared to the original tutorial so that this quilt finishes at 40″ x 56″ – a generous crib size quilt.

The fabrics used for this quilt are a combination of Deena Rutter’s original Offshore fabric collection supplemented with the brand new prints from her coordinating Offshore 2 collection for Riley Blake Designs. (The original Offshore fabrics are out of print, but you can easily recreate this look using all of her new Offshore 2 prints.)

The Offshore 2 fabric collection is available from LouLou’s Fabric Shop, Simply Love Fabrics, and Cherry Creek Fabrics.

The wavy quilting by Sew Shabby Quilting (pattern is Good Vibes) is the perfect compliment to this linear quilt, giving the overall design some movement.

I’m especially smitten with those VW busses and that awesome red bias plaid! It worked SO perfectly for the binding on this quilt.

Here is the pieced back. My original plan was to use that blue check-type print as my binding, but when I pulled out my old WIP and added Deena’s new Offshore prints, I made the quilt bigger than I originally planned. And since the quilt was feeling really blue, I decided to use the red plaid as the binding for a cheerful contrast. The leftover blue check came in handy for expanding the backing. And I really love that navy in the middle (part of the Offshore 2 collection) with the fun, beachy text.

This quilt felt particularly relevant this week. I have a confession to make: I ran away to the beach for a few days with my Italian lover (aka, my husband.) I’ve now returned home to a responsible adult routine.

My original plan was to take this quilt with me and get fun pictures in the beach setting, etc., etc., but you know what? At the last minute I decided I needed a full break.

We added in some swimming and hiking and just taking in the sunshine, but for the most part I did my best imitation of this guy. (or, gal. My turtle-loving son insists that it must have been a female, since it crawled up on the beach. And he might be right since I can totally relate to that feeling of wanting to just collapse into a good nap. You too?)

I didn’t sew, I didn’t get on my computer, I didn’t post on social media, I avoided email, texts and calls (except from the kids). I just took a much needed and much enjoyed mental break.

And it was heaven.

(I know, poor me. 😉 )

 

I did make one quilty stop before we came home – visited Kapaia Stitchery in Lihue, Kauai. (That’s my husband there waiting patiently in the husband-chairs on the porch.) It’s a cheerful quilt shop full of bright, sunny island-inspired prints and batiks. The traditional Hawaiian quilt in the window was a beauty

I love the graphic detail and simplicity of color in traditional Hawaiian quilts. I wish I could have seen more of them.  I also wish I could say I stumbled across a demonstration of making a traditional Hawaiian quilt, like I did with the serendipitous Manx Quilt discovery. I guess this means I need to go back sometime soon…

Anybody watch Somebody Feed Phil on Netflix? It’s about a guy (Phil) who travels to different exotic locations to try the food. I think I need a cause like Somebody Teach Amy and I’ll travel to different places and learn about different quilting techniques. We just need Netflix to come foot the bill… 🙂