The Harper Quilt

This week Erica Jackman of Kitchen Table Quilting released a new pattern, The Harper Quilt.

I had a great time testing the lap size quilt for her.

There are two quilt size options in The Harper Quilt pattern, along with two different polka dot sizes you can choose from.

It took me a bit to decide which polka dot size to go with, but finally I went with the large dots.  That version really caught my eye when Erica showed the pattern for the first time.

I used the Bonnie and Camille Basics fabric line in different colors for my background.

The Harper Quilt also looks great with a background of different shades of the same color fabric as pictured on the cover of Erica's pattern. 

My stack of Basics fat quarters has been sitting on my quilting table for far too long, so instead of using all one color for my background, I decided to change it up a little and use my different color Basics fat quarters.

My dot fabrics are the neutrals from my fat quarter bundle, plus a few extra fat quarters thrown in that I found at my local quilt shop.

The Harper Quilt has easy to create templates which were a breeze to make.

I just printed out the paper templates from Erica's pattern and traced them on to some template plastic that I had in my sewing closet. 

Erica recommends cutting your fabrics using your templates and a rotary cutter, going slowly around the curve guided by a plastic ruler and cutting up to four layers of fabric at a time. 

I preferred to trace my shapes to my precut squares and cut them out one at a time using scissors.  It did take longer, but it was a great excuse to watch TV for awhile while I was relaxing with family on the weekend!

Sewing the curves was more fun than I remembered! 

I've sewn curves before, but it's been awhile. Erica gives lots of helpful hints to make the process easy and accurate.

Lots of pins and a little help from my iron, and I was happily sewing along!

Then it was just a matter of laying out the blocks and sewing them together.

I'm thrilled with the result!

This week I've been quilting The Harper Quilt with small wavy lines and I'll be sure to show it to you once I get it bound. 

I went with a backing that had circles on it to echo the front and I love it.

I wish I could take credit for finding the backing fabric, but the credit has to go to my husband who saw the bolt peeking out from behind a pile at my LQS.

 Now I'm just trying to decide if I should continue the circle theme with the binding or not.  I have a few fabrics in mind, but I haven't made a final decision yet.

I have decided that the next baby quilt I make will definitely be another Harper Quilt. 

Erica's smaller size quilt in this patten is adorable and it would be a great reason to make another, maybe I'll even go with the small dots next time.  We'll have to see!

For the full story on The Harper Quilt visit my friend Erica Jackman at Kitchen Table Quilting!