Caved Quilt Finish and Review

I don't share progress or process posts or pictures here or on Instagram. I just never think to stop and take a few pictures while engrossed in a project. Also, because of my full-time job, my sewing time is so precious. I want to make the most of it and just sew! What I thought I could do instead of simply sharing a finished project is provide you with a little bit of a review. Hopefully, you'll find this helpful.

A little note before I get started: I don't get sponsored and pay for everything I share on this blog (unless it was a prize I won). Therefore, my opinion and reviews will be my honest thoughts on a pattern and project. 

This week, I finished a fun lap size quilt called Caved which I got in Issue 39 of Make Modern Magazine. I made another quilt from this issue - New Orleans Sidewalk and I'm planning to make at least another one. I think making three quilts from one issue is pretty good value.

The pattern designer is Kelli Marshall from www.simplymackbeth.com. This quilt pattern was designed to use a Layer Cake (40 10" squares) along with some background fabric, but you could definitely make this quilt with scraps. I've had a 3 Sisters Layer Cake in my stash for years so decided to use it. I paired it with Kona Lingerie as my background fabric. I thought the light blush would work nicely with the rich reds and browns in the "Double Chocolate" Layer Cake.

The quilt finishes at 61" square so a nice lap size. With additional 10" squares or if using scraps, it would be very easy to make the quilt larger by adding more blocks.

This is not a difficult quilt to make. There are no seams to match perfectly, but you do have to be precise when sewing the flying geese so your blocks all end up at the same size. The block placement is also important when stitching the rows together and I must have messed up somewhere along the way because mine isn't exactly as the pattern says.

I quilted my version with wavy horizontal lines with the walking foot. I wanted a thread that would blend in so used my favourite one - Aurifil #2600 (Dove) in 50 wt. It basically disappears on the background and on most of the prints in this Layer Cake.

The backing is a red print from my stash and I used strips I had left from a Jelly Roll for the binding. I think those Jelly Roll strips had been in my binding bin for almost a year now. The colour of the binding doesn't match the Layer Cake perfectly, but it works ok.

The details:

• Pattern designer: Kelli Marshall from www.simplymackbeth.com
• Size: 61" square
• Difficulty: Easy
• Instructions/construction: The instructions were clear and easy to follow with pictures as well as illustrations from the cutting all the way to the binding. I like that the instructions included how to piece the binding.
• Would I make this again? If I had another Layer Cake in my stash, I might. It's a pretty quick make and could look completely different in another fabric collection.