Karrin's Crazy World: Carpenter's Wheel

Wednesday, July 19, 2023

Picnic Party Challenge, My Day

The Picnic Party Challenge started on Monday, hosted by the amazing Carol @Just Let Me Quilt. Many thanks to Carol for thinking up another fun challenge!

Carol's Challenge this time was to make something to use for a picnic, such as a quilt, basket, or tote. There have been some lovely projects in the previous days. If you haven't had a chance to see what everyone has come up with so far, the entire schedule is listed below.

When I heard of this challenge, I knew exactly what I was going to do. I bought these two fabrics back in the early 2000's and I always thought they looked like a table topper or picnic quilt. They have been sitting on top of a cabinet all these years, collecting dust, waiting to be made.

I used my Accuquilt, and Carpenter's Wheel die to cut out four blocks. I have no affiliation with Accuquilt, but I love their system, and especially how smoothly blocks go together.

The quilt measures about 50 inches square. This is going to be a birthday gift for my granddaughter Kyleigh. Her and her boyfriend are always going hiking or on other adventures and I thought it would be nice. I found this image on Etsy to make the label. I was going to put it on the front of the quilt, but couldn't decide how or where, so used it as a label.

Then last week I got to thinking about a Picnic in the Park bag I had seen on Pinterest, Patterns by Annie. I thought it would be a perfect addition to the picnic quilt. I ordered the pattern online, and Soft and Stable. But not a big enough piece of Soft and Stable, so went out last Friday and found more, plus the mesh and hardware I needed to complete the bag.

I was going along fine, sewing, quilting the pieces, binding the mesh compartments, and started putting it together. I had visions of finishing this for this challenge. Then the night before my day to post, I am trying to attach the top to the zipper. I have a dislike of doing zippers, and I tried to forget about that. This is a 40 inch zipper. I have it around the top of the unit, but apparently didn't divide it up evenly enough on the other side to attach it to the main bag. This is the back of the bag.

Inside top and front

I still need to attach the bottom too, but at least it doesn't involve a zipper. There is a sleeve to put a piece of cardboard or plastic in to make it sturdier..