A quilt from large pieces, a free downloadable instructional
A great benefit of making something yourself is that you can make it very personal. I designed this quilt, inspired by the tile pattern on the kitchen floor in the house where my children grew up. I made each of my children and myself a quilt using this pattern. The pattern is made of large squares and rectangles, so piecing it goes quickly.
A Quilt of Memories
Our house was in was in very poor condition when we bought it, twenty some years ago. We completely renovated it, refinishing every surface in the entire house. We chose ceramic tile for the kitchen floor. Our son Josh, then ten years old, helped us lay the tiles (one of the many times he was conscripted for involuntary service). The tile pattern has a fairly large repeat that is not obvious unless you intentionally look for it. I always liked the pattern.
Kitchen floor, inspiration for a quilt
When our youngest child, Chloe, graduated from high school, I got the idea to make her a quilt using the tile pattern from the kitchen floor. I sketched the pattern out on graph paper and planned it for the size of a twin bed, so she could use it in her dorm at college.
Planning the quilt floor
I used my sketch to plan out how many pieces of each size and color to cut. I glued small swatches of each fabric along the edge of my sketch and assigned a letter to each swatch. The main fabric was "A." Then I filled in my sketch by putting a letter in each square or rectangle, taking care to spread each letter across the template as evenly as possible, not putting a "B" very close to another “B," etc. I did this in pencil and erased a lot. The fabrics that I had the most of I filled in first.
When my template was complete, I counted how many small squares and rectangles I would need from each fabric and noted that beside the respective swatch, and cut them out.
Original quilt template
The main fabric was a large print, with motifs of peacocks, flowers, and the Eiffel Tower, containing several complementary colors. I used this fabric for the back of the quilt, and for the large square pieces on the front of the quilt. Most of the other fabrics I picked from my stash. This can be a scrap quilt.
This is the version of the Kitchen Floor Quilt I made for myself and my husband. We use it in our camper.
Piecing the quilt
There is no specific order to sew the pieces together. All the squares and rectangles are sewn to pieces of the 1 1/2" strips. I sewed the pieces to the strip and then cut strip to size. I pieced a repeat of the the pattern, or a portion of the repeat, and then sewed the repeats together. I sewed 1 1/2” strips around the outer edge of the quilt.
The back of my quilt
I sewed a label for the back of the quilt that said:
This quilt was made for Chloe by her mom for Christmas 2015. The pattern was taken from the tiled floor in the kitchen of the home where Chloe grew up, treasured and beloved by her family.
The finished quilt was 88” long by 67” wide and covers a twin bed.
Download instructions for the quilt here.
Blogpost blooper
I tried to pose Gus, our 10 month old English labrador, with my quilt, since he is so endearingly cute. Most of the pictures turned out like this one:
As you can see, he is very cute. But not always cooperative.
