Behind the Seams March 2025

Here’s what I’ve been up to so far in March… not in chronological order, but rather let’s just start with my favorite! I suddenly decided that I must make a Wagon Wheel quilt. It’s one of those patterns (really any circle pattern) that I always adore. So I suddenly wondered why I had never actually made one? I found a pdf version of American Jane’s Wagon Wheel pattern and started in.

My plan was to make a color scheme inspired by this vintage quilt above. And then I decided to just try one block to make sure I liked it and all. So I just pulled scraps that were sitting around from recent projects and ended up really like it!

So then I just kept on using those scraps and branching out a bit. Digging further into the scrap bin and also pulling out a few pieces of yardage here and there. So far I’ve got four blocks and my goal is to make 9 total for a 3×3 block layout. These spokes are teeny tiny and while cute, I think there would be just as much impact if I did them bigger. So that’s why I’m not going to make 16 blocks like the pattern shows. I think 9 will be just lovely and then I’ll do a simple border around to make it a throw size. I think I’ll make another one with only half as many spokes because this is very time consuming and also wastes a lot of fabric. The spokes are paper pieced, and in my opinion that just wastes a fair bit of fabric, because I make my pieces plenty big so they don’t run short, and then I have to trim off more. And when I’m using precious fabric, that bugs me!

That being said, this quilt is making me very very happy. So exciting to be working on one of those ‘magic’ projects where I just love it and somehow it ended up being exactly my favorite without hardly trying.

Here is what I was working on before, the scraps of which I used for the Wagon Wheel Quilt. This one did not turn out as well as I wanted, but I chugged through and finished the top (which I did not take a photo of). I do think I will like it once it’s completed, all quilted and washed up. Just didn’t turn out quite how I had hoped.

And then a finish… this is the last of the four that I had long armed. I don’t have a lot of feelings on this quilt one way or the other… It’s cute, it’s bigger which is nice for a change. And it’s full of neat fabrics, so it’s great to have it done. It’s for sale in my shop:). Oh ya, and if any one is worried about tariffs since I’m in Canada, to my understanding there’s an $800 threshold so I don’t believe it will affect anything.

And one random little hint I’m going to give you… Oh it’s almost hard for me to share this! The greedy part of me worries that there might not be enough vintage fabric left for me haha. But I’ve ordered fabrics multiple times from a site called AntiqueFabrics.com. and I’m just saying they’re a pretty cool source for vintage fabrics. And very affordable too!

They have two types of fabrics, Antique, and Vintage. The antique fabrics are generally a bit more money, and some of them date back to the 1800’s! Some of those old ones are small pieces for a lot of $. I have bought some of these smaller pieces because they are just so stunning and I use them in small amounts to really elevate a quilt. There are also lots of older woven ginghams which are so cool, just more fun to use than the new ones in my opinion!

Then there is the vintage category which is what I’d call ‘Granny’s quilt store went out of business’. But seriously these are mostly all $7 a yard! And if you sift through them you will absolutely find some wonderful gems!! I’ve actually bought so many tone on tone prints, like old Jinny Beyer and Cranston. I use a lot of those in my quilts now!

So anyways, these kind of fabrics may not be your style, but I hope you feel my love and generosity in sharing this store with you!

Here’s another top I completed this month while doing some ‘cleaning up’. It was partially sewed and cut up and had been hiding at the bottom of the drawer for a long time. As I started putting it together, I realized how much I actually liked the colors, so I added some more strips to make more blocks and have it large enough for a twin size quilt. I’m going to use a plush throw on the back and use it at home here for when my kids have friends over for sleepovers and we need more blankets. I’ve come to realize that we have a shortage of these types of blankets that are larger than throw size but about right for one teenager to sleep under. (and lest you think the photo above has been sent through a vintage muted filter, not it hasn’t! The colors really do look like that!)

and then just one more thing, I feel kind of embarrassed to mention this:). but if you have bought either of my books and you have it in you to leave a positive review on Amazon, that would be so nice and helpful! A lot of you have sent me the kindest and loveliest messages personally about enjoying either or both of my books, and I totally get how it’s a lot of bother to write a review… I almost never do it either!

But I feel like some reviews that give potential buyers an idea of the book are so helpful. My first book, ‘A Year of Quilts’, got one negative review, which is totally fair. I want people to be honest. But it’s not very helpful because it doesn’t tell us what her expectation was or why she was unhappy. Was it different in some way than what she expected? Or maybe Amazon did a bad printing job on hers. I’ve heard of this happening. So anyways, I would be so grateful to any of you that would leave a review!!