As I edit these photos, I’m still not sure quite how this quilt happened.
Of course, I’ve wanted to make this quilt since Denyse Schmidt’s book Modern Quilts Traditional Inspiration hit my doorstep a couple of summers ago. I had this FQ bundle of the Flea Market Fancy Legacy reprint–only the second FQ bundle I had ever purchased!–and really needed to do just the right thing with it. I thought of copying Angela at Fussy Cut’s amazing, bright elongated long cabin take on the original line. I thought about making Sew Crafty Jess’s Lucky Square pattern. I thought about making a fan quilt; Suburbs; a Red-Pepper-Quilts-style simple HSTs-with-white quilt. But really? In my quilter’s heart I knew it had to be Snake Trail for this fabric, fabric that seemed too good and too special to cut into.
But when I decided this a couple of years ago, I wan’t quite a skilled enough quilter to make it happen. I just didn’t have the chops. I struggled with FMQ. I struggled to make some blocks lay flat. I kept not making the quilt, and I kept not being quite able to use the Flea Market Fancy fabric for anything. In the meantime, though, I made a whole bunch of quilts. I made some harder quilts, like Penny Sampler and Bargain Basement; I made some easier quilts, like Briar Rose Boy’s Nonsense. I free-motion-quilted a whole bunch of quilts–charity quilts, quilts for Boston, my own quilts. I developed a set of quilter’s skills and a quilter’s eye, and this year, when I started thinking about “all the hard things” I wanted to do this year, Snake Trail topped my list.
And buddy was it worth every bit of the 2+ months (on and off, of course) I spent making it.
I made the quilt exactly as Denyse Schmidt calls for in her book. The quilt is twin-sized (I dream of one day having a guest room with a twin bed to put this on!) and took 48 blocks. Each block takes 14 snake “segments,” which had to be more-or-less hand-cut off a template. I used that clear, flexible no-melt template plastic, and stuck the templates to my fabric using scotch tape. Then, I used my ruler and rotary cutter to cut the straight edges, and my scissors to round off the top and bottom. 672 times. Then the pie pieces and weird maxi-pad middle pieces had to be cut (they were bigger so I rotary cut those around the same template-plastic-scotch-tape mess).
I had every intention of sewing the whole top up over the Boston MQG/Seacoast MQG retreat in March in Kennebunk Maine. Three days with no kid, no dishes to wash, no macaroni to make, no laundry to wrangle? I could make five quilts. No, but I forgot to factor in that I really need to sleep and actually I still need to eat and oh yeah this quilt is actually a hoss. A beast, if you will.
Though it did take longer than planned, the cutting was really the only tedious part. I found that the sewing went mostly smoothly. When I pieced together the blocks at the end, I had to be VERY careful to line up the snakes. It took a lot of unpicking. It took help from friends on Instagram.
The quilting was a bit of a challenge too. I had seen Don’t Call Me Betsy’s tutorial for Baptist Fan free-motion quilting and knew I really wanted to try it. Why I chose a monster beast of a twin quilt to try it out I’ll never know, except: could there be a more perfect quilting motif for this block design? It took two days and 2.5 Frixion pens, and quite a lot of positive self-talk at the sewing machine (if you look up close, my fans are WON KY) but holy cow you guys, the texture.
A final thanks should to go Sarah over at Smiles Too Loudly because SHE was the one who (maybe a little joking? I can’t tell) suggested that I try using the Kona Cerise as a background when I found white fabric JUST TOO BORING. She made me look super-smart but it was all her idea. Now, I can’t imagine this quilt any other way but cerise!
Now I can’t wait to take on my next challenge quilt. I cut an easy project to keep my hands busy while I plot and decision-make, but I have big ideas already 🙂
Melanie in IA said:
Great job, in multiple ways! Good to take on such a challenge, one that would intimidate me totally. And such great success with it, too!
I’m at the point now of needing a couple of easier projects, things to rest my brain. I’m thinking most of one with great big half-square triangles, set in something like a barn-raising pattern. Could make that top in a day or two, and it wouldn’t take much brain power, either. Yeah… quite tempting… 🙂
Jess @ Quilty Habit said:
I can’t get over this quilt! I love hearing about your process and growth!
lisa@hilltophouse said:
Laura! This quilt is absolutely fabulous and is has such a great story to tell. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on this process as it makes it so much more meaningful to your reader. The cerise is perfecto!!!
Tamie said:
Impressive finish. Congratulations. And the cerise is perfect!
Mari@piecesoffab said:
Amazing! I just love the colors on this one!
sfredett said:
I’m still going to make one of these, someday. Maybe I need my own hard things challenge. And you were the one brave enough to go with cerise (and I really just wanted to beat Ashley to suggesting it. :D)
cloudcoucou said:
So beautiful Laura and a real achievement. The cutting sounds like a nightmare, it makes me tense just reading about it!! I didn’t realise you had been thinking on this one for so long, def worth the wait. I love the quilting, it’s just perfect with the design and you’re right the texture is to die for. Looking forward to seeing what comes next 🙂
Ashley said:
You know how I feel about this quilt. True. Love. This quilt is phenomenal and you should feel so proud. I love it. Def one of my favs – just let me know if you need my address.
LauraC said:
It’s beautiful!
Laurie said:
Stunning- and I love the cerise background. So inspiring to see you master such a challenging pattern. Where’s this briar rose quilt you made? I couldn’t find it on the blog.
pomegranateandchintz said:
It looks fabulous Laura, the cerise is wonderful with it (clever Sarah!). Congratulations!
Stephanie said:
Oh my goodness – the texture on those fans is amazing after a wash n dry! This is just so stunning from a to z – I think I need to follow your kead and challenge myself to try some more difficult things! It is paying off in spades with all of these gorgeous creations. Woot woot to Sarah – now that I’ve seen the cerise, I can’t begin to imagine it in white!
clumsykristel said:
I’m sure I’ve said so on IG, but this quilt is really, really beautiful. The cerise was the perfect backdrop.
wombatquilts said:
Fabulous. I love the scrappy curves soooo much.
Julie said:
WOW – this is just beautiful – the cerise is just fabulous. Well done you!!!
Candy Radford said:
Absolutely beautiful!!!!
Judy said:
Congrats on a great finish to a challenging project, Laura! I love the quilting! I am looking forward to seeing the finished product in person. 🙂
duringquiettime said:
Congratulations on your big finish Laura–I know a lot of hard work went into that one!
Charlotte said:
wow! It’s so beautiful! Congratulations 🙂
jibberishdesigns said:
Beautiful quilt! I love hearing about the process and although I love how it turned out, I’m not sure I have the patience for template cutting! Kudos to you!
citricsugar said:
It really did turn out beautifully, Laura! You should be proud of every stitch, wonky or straight. 🙂
Paula Krolikoski said:
Good job Laura, love the quilting. You get an atta girl! Sincerely, Paula K.
Renee said:
I love this quilt all the more knowing you’ve been hoarding the fabric for so long! The cerise is an amazing idea, the quilt is just gorgeous with it! I so don’t make white quilts, but really need to branch out from grey and navy quilts!
Rachel at StitchedinColor said:
Congratulations! You were victorious over the beast =) also, I LOVE cerise.
Amanda said:
I love this quilt so much that I have fantasies about making one of my own, identical in every way! Not sure I can get past the cutting though. Congratulations on a truly beautiful and truly epic finish.
hydeeann said:
I really, really adore that calf shot! what a perfect setting for your glorious, hard finish. maxi pad pieces?! you always make me laugh, laura.
Robin ♥ said:
Lovely finish, Laura! You wrangled the beast and were victorious. Congrats!
melintheattic said:
It’s beautiful. And I bet it gets even more beautiful to you as you get farther from the process. So vibrant and curvy and fantastic. Great job.
Franziska said:
The quilt looks great! I’m amazed that you made it from start to finish and have such a beautiful result. The quilting is wonderful, I’m sure you learned a lot. That’s what’s it about, isn’t it?
When I see this quilt I’d like to find my single girl blocks and continue. It’s less colourfull then your’s and I’m almost regretting it. You’re quilt is so cheery.
I could write more but I’ll go looking at your pictures again instead. 😉
Alison said:
Came over from SMS. Great quilt and back story.
beth said:
i LOVE the cerise!!! wow. what an amazing amazing quilt!!