Travel Home

My first back-to-school finish! It only took almost 2 years. I'm so happy today to share with you my finished Arkansas Traveler quilt. I decided to rename it though, since really the blocks have been changed from the original Arkansas Traveler quilt block. I chose "Travel Home" because this quilt is destined to live at home with me, on my couch.

This quilt is the product of a lot of different inspiration sources combined. First, I've always been in love with historic two color quilts ~ red and white quilts, blue and white quilts, black and white quilts. There's just something so striking about them.

Second, around two years ago I discovered Folk Fibers. I am really in awe of their quilts, the process that goes into making them, and then of course the natural colors.

And finally, last year I made an Arkansas Traveler quilt as a wedding gift and it was hard to give up! I knew I wanted to make some version of it again, this time for keeps.

When I started designing the Travel Home Quilt ever so long ago, I knew I wanted it to have the same overall look as my first Arkansas Traveler quilt. I liked the chain effect...but I didn't really want to make a quilt that large again. Honestly, for lounging under the couch I just don't need something bed sized. If I kept the blocks at 12" finished squares, I would need to make another large quilt to create a nice looking design. I ended up shrinking the blocks to 8" finished squares. That allowed me to have the chained look, but a smaller quilt. This one finished at 56" x 72".

Another change I made to the Arkansas Traveler block was to eliminate the 4 diamonds that made up each quadrant of the block. Instead, I used just one fabric for that space. I did this for a couple of reasons. I did really love the effect of the 4 diamonds in my original quilt (gave a sort of shimmering effect). But since I was doing cream/black prints on this quilt, I thought it would be overly busy and/or not very noticeable. Second, as I shrunk the blocks, the diamonds also shrunk so I though one fabric was plenty for these spots.

Nevermind my son running around like crazy!

The backing is a print from Melody Miller's Mustang collection for Cotton + Steel. It's quite different from the front, but I think complimentary. I quilted free motion meandering with a dark blue thread over the blue portions of the quilt, leaving the cream diamonds unquilted. I really wanted this quilt to have a nice, cozy drape after washing and it does! Now let's see what I can finished next. :)