QM Scrap Squad: Jennifer’s Caribbean Vacation

The QM Scrap Squad is a select group of seven QM readers. They take one pattern from each regular issue of Quiltmaker and create their own scrappy versions to inspire you.

This quilt is found on the cover of the Jan/Feb ’13 issue of Quiltmaker.

Caribbean Vacation from Jan/Feb ’13 Quiltmaker, designed and sewn by Denise Starck.
Quilted by Hatty Brown. Fabrics: Dear Stella.

It’s Caribbean Vacation, designed and sewn by Denise Starck, QM’s Graphic Designer. It was quilted by Hatty Brown. The fabrics are Dear Stella.

Today’s featured quilt is by Jennifer Stevens from Holcomb, Kansas. You’ll hear from Jen in her own words below.

Jennifer Stevens from Holcomb, Kansas

Our time has come to an end.  How quickly a year can pass and how much fun one can have while quilting! The Caribbean Vacation quilt was the exact quilt therapy I needed to finish out 2012.

It was love at first sight, this Caribbean Vacation and me. As soon as I saw it, I knew exactly which fabric would be perfect! My husband and I were married in 2011, and it began on our honeymoon. I wanted to collect fabric and make him a quilt, so to the fabric store we went.

Well, it’s been two years of collecting fabric and still no quilt—but I had quite the stash of blues and whites.

This was a small portion of the scraps and fat quarters I used to begin this quilt. This photo shows the mediums and darks I started with. I switched the darks for the lights in the pattern, because I had only a few lights but I had plenty of darks.

I laid out the pieces as a guide on how to pin before I sewed them. Out of 2200 pieces, I only had to rip out one piece because I turned it upside down. I did have to rip out a few due to not sewing straight or other little mishaps.

When working with pieces this small and in this multitude, it is incredibly important that you are as accurate as possible, otherwise you will find the mistake when you’re further along.

When I sewed the blocks together, I didn’t cut the thread between the blocks. This helped me to not have to go back and lay it out all over again. I was able to just pin each row that was already tacked together. This saved me a lot of time and struggle. It never fails—I have to put the whole quilt down and come back to it and then I can’t remember where I was or how I had it before.

I ran into a snag when it came to the borders. I had to put a narrower border than the pattern called for because I had depleted my blue stash and didn’t want to add anything more into the quilt.

Above are the fabrics I had enough of to make a 3″ border. I used the marbled blue, as the quilt has a lot going on, and I liked how the more solid color helped tone it down.

I used a soft microfiber solid white for the backing and it turned out great! I used the same white backing fabric for the binding.

The quilt was quilted with an overall stipple, just adding to its beauty. I love how this queen-sized quilt turned out. My husband also liked it and was thrilled to get this quilt for Christmas!

Jennifer has a good grasp of how to let something be very scrappy and yet control the color scheme so that it all holds together. This is a beautiful quilt and what a great guy gift it makes! Maybe there’s a guy in your life who needs a quilt—this pattern would be perfect. You’ll find the pattern in the Jan/Feb ’13 issue of Quiltmaker.

Please join me in thanking Jennifer for a job well done on the 2012 QM Scrap Squad!