finished quilt Archives - Daydreams of Quilts Blog

August 9, 2022August 9, 2022

Seven Tips to Make Your Quilts Last Longer

Here are seven tips plus a bonus tip to help your treasured handmade quilts last longer:

Only wash your quilts when needed. If they have pet fur on them or something that you can just remove with a lint roller then try to do that before putting the quilt in the washing machine. This will minimize wear and tear on the quilt.
Wash in a front loading machine with no agitator. The agitator in older machines can often get quilts tangled up in it and rip them. Do not wash the quilts on hot water and do not use any bleach. Wash on a cold or medium water setting and use baby detergent or Tide Free because there are no dyes in the detergent.
Tumble dry on medium heat. Do not use a hot dryer setting.
Don’t leave the quilt in the sun or in a hot car. If your quilt sits in the back seat of your car for weeks the sun can bleach the fabric and also weaken the fibres in the fabric which can lead to the quilt tearing more easily. Keep the quilt rolled up in the trunk away from the hot sun and the heat.
Keep the quilts away from pets. Pets have sharp teeth and claws and sometimes pets will even chew on a quilt.
Don’t eat or drink over the quilt. This can result in spills that cause stains. If this does happen then use a stain treater like “Shout” and get the quilt into the wash right away before the stain has time to set.
When your quilts are in storage pull them out at least every six months to fluff them up and re-fold them so they are not always folded on the same fold lines. The fold lines can eventually weaken the fibres in the fabric and the quilts can wear out faster.

Bonus Tip:

Mountains Pixel Heart Quilt, Hidden Zig Zag Quilt and Featured in the Stars Quilt patterns by Daydreams of Quilts.

For an antique quilt try to soak it in something like Soak Wash or Zero or cleaner for soaking knits that doesn’t need to be rinsed. Then very gently squeeze the water out of the quilt and lay it flat to dry on a clean sheet on a clean patch of lawn. Keep the quilt out of direct sun by using the shade of a tree or a house. Hanging the quilt to dry could cause the quilt seams to weaken and rip due to the weight of the wet quilt. Therefore, lay the quilt flat out of the sun.

Log Cabin Hearts Quilt made by Daydreams of Quilts.

I hope these tips help you to keep your handmade quilts in great shape and lasting for many years so they can be handed down for generations to come.

June 28, 2022

Two Log Cabin Heart Quilts for Identical Twins’ Graduation from High School

I am in the Canadian Modern Quilt Bee on Instagram this year (#canadianmodernquiltbee) and for my bee block in January I chose the log cabin heart block by Just Jude. You can read more in her blog post. She has a free tutorial/pattern with a YouTube video.

Originally I wanted my blocks to have a Kona snow background and I was going to make a large rainbow quilt. Some of my bee mates didn’t have Kona snow though so half my blocks came with a white background and I decided to make two quilts.

One quilt is for my son’s girlfriend and one is for her twin sister. Both girls are graduating from high school this week.

The Kona Snow background quilt for my son’s girlfriend for graduation.

The white background quilt for the twin sister for graduation.

I am so appreciative to my bee mates for helping me make the blocks for these quilts and I know the girls will love them as they have grown up with quilts from their Mom and their Grandma too.

I put a cute Anne Kelle print from Robert Kaufman on the borders of Matryoshka dolls and used striped Essex linen for the binding.

The Matryoshka doll borders and striped binding.

The back is an ombré dots wideback by Vanessa Christenson for Moda.

The back of the quilts is moda wideback ombré dots by Vanessa Christenson.

I am so pleased to have finished these two quilts in time for the graduation and can’t wait for the girls to receive them!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

September 9, 2021September 9, 2021

Zombie Quilt Pattern

Big spooky news today! Our new Zombie Quilt pattern has been released into the world! It is now available in our Etsy shop.

This is an easy quilt to make! It’s pixelated design means all you need to do is sew squares together. The pattern comes with three size options; lap quilt, twin quilt and king sized quilt.

There is plenty of time to sew this fun quilt for Halloween! Our pattern is 40% off through Sunday.

Zombies have arrived in the Daydreams of Quilts studio! This fallen tree near our home was a great photo backdrop for our newest quilt pattern.

Buy Now

Happy quilting and stay safe from Zombies!

October 5, 2019October 5, 2019

Holiday Lodge Christmas Throw Quilt Dark Version

Holiday Lodge Christmas throw quilt by Daydreams of Quilts

This is second Holiday Lodge throw quilt that I finished last week. You can see the first one (the light version) in this post.

This quilt uses a Holiday Lodge panel as well as some of the fabrics from the “Holiday Lodge” line by Deb Strain for Moda Fabrics. I have added in fabrics from Tula Pink’s “Holiday Homies”, Basic Grey’s “Evergreen”, Kate and Birdie’s “True North” and other fabrics from my stash. There are also Kona snow and Kona black solids. The Holiday Lodge fabrics were purchased from Funky Monkey Fabrics and Thread Count Fabrics.

Holiday Lodge Christmas Throw Quilt Dark Version. — Holiday Lodge Christmas Throw Quilt pieced and quilted by Daydreams of Quilts.

The Holiday Lodge quilt is available here in the Daydreams of Quilts Etsy shop.

Vertical image of the Holiday Lodge Christmas Throw Quilt by Daydreams of Quilts. — Holiday Lodge Christmas Throw Quilt

We did actually get some snow here the day before this photo was taken which would have been nice for photos but I’m not sad that it melted quickly.

These fabrics fit in perfectly with the farmhouse decor trend. They make me wish I could spend Christmas in a cozy cabin in the mountains.

Close-up of quilting. — Close-up of some of the quilting motifs.

I quilted this quilt with various custom quilting motifs including stippling, wishbones, straight lines and loop-de-loops around the plaid bears, trees and stags. The border is quilted with feathers.

The black shooting star fabric as the background for the trees is a Figo Fabrics print from Studio 39 Fabrics.

The dark wood grain fabrics are what really make this quilt! The wood grain background on the bows is a Northcott fabric.

The back of the quilt is red and black buffalo plaid. — The back of the quilt is the red and black buffalo plaid check from the “Holiday Lodge” line.

The present block is from Thimble Blossoms “Handmade with Love” pattern. The ornament block is from Thimble Blossoms “Vintage Holiday” pattern.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

October 1, 2019October 1, 2019

Holiday Lodge Christmas Throw Quilt Light Version

Here is the first of two quilts I have finished in the last week. This quilt uses a “Holiday Lodge” quilt panel designed by Deb Strain for Moda Fabrics. I used some Holiday Lodge fabrics and mixed in other fabrics from my stash including: Basic Grey’s “Evergreen” line, Tula Pink’s “Holiday Homies” line and some Kate and Birdie “True North” fabrics. The “Holiday Lodge” fabrics were purchased from Birdie and Dot Fabrics. There is also Kona Snow and Kona Black fabric in this quilt.

Holiday Lodge Christmas Throw Quilt. — Holiday Lodge Christmas Throw pieced and quilted by Daydreams of Quilts.

This quilt is available here in the Daydreams of Quilts Etsy shop.

Holiday Lodge Christmas Throw quilt pieced and quilted by Daydreams of Quilts. — Holiday Lodge Christmas Throw Quilt pieced and quilted by Daydreams of Quilts.

I added ornament blocks, tree blocks and present blocks to the panel pieces to expand the quilt to a throw size. The quilt measures 54.5″ x 65″.

Close-up showing quilting. — The quilt is quilted with various custom quilting motifs throughout.

Quilting motifs include wishbones, straight line, loop-de-loops and stippling. The outer border is quilted with feathers.

Close-up of quilting in the border. — Close-up of the feather quilting in the border.

The present block is from Thimble Blossoms “Handmade with Love” pattern. The ornament block is from Thimble Blossoms “Vintage Holiday” pattern.

Thank you for coming to see my quilt today.

September 23, 2019September 22, 2019

Black and White Animals with Rainbows Child’s Quilt

I bought these adorable animal panels and the white border from Funky Monkey Fabrics in the summer when they had a sale on Dear Stella fabrics. I didn’t have a real plan for them other than I thought I might make pillow covers with them.

Black and White Animals with Rainbows Quilt made by Daydreams of Quilts.

Then I thought I would like to make a kid’s quilt with them but needed to add to the panels to make it bigger. I collected fabrics in rainbow colours from my scrap bins and cut the panel in half. Then I added the strips of rainbows. I then added the coordinating white border. I felt the quilt should still be a bit bigger as I was thinking it could be for a toddler bed so I ordered the black border and the binding from Thread Count Fabrics. This quilt is 45″ x 51.5″.

Close up of the borders and binding. — Close-up of borders and binding.

The black fabric has a white print of mountains on it and the binding has sticks. So cute! This quilt would be lovely for a family who loves camping or spending time in nature. It’s perfect for my own family actually. 🙂

The bear panels says "Be Brave" — The bear panel says “Be Brave”. All of the animals have virtues to go along with them.

The animal panels are adorable and they all have virtues. I quilted around them in stipple quilting with variegated rainbow thread in 80 weight from Aurifil.

The llama panel says "Be Silly" — The ever popular llama.

This was a fun quilt to make and a great one for using up scraps. This quilt is available in my Etsy shop.

Animal panels quilt with rainbow scrappy borders. — Such a cute quilt for a child or even a lap quilt for an adult. Available here.

September 22, 2019September 22, 2019

Rainbow Hot Air Balloon Panel Quilt

My Rainbow Hot Air Balloon panel that I designed for the Cheater Quilt Panel challenge on Spoonflower has arrived. I have it all quilted and bound now.

This baby quilt is available in my Etsy shop and the panel is available in my Spoonflower shop if you want to make your own.

Rainbow hot air balloon baby quilt designed and quilted by Daydreams of Quilts.

Having the grid lines printed on the panel makes it so easy to quilt this modern quilt in an equally modern grid. The only spot that’s a bit tricky is the white part of the heart. I wobbled a bit but you can’t tell right? 🙂

It’s a lovely September fall day for quilt photos. The rainbow really pops in the shade of the trees.

This is the backing and binding. I used a gradient chartreuse from Cotton and Steel for the binding that worked out very well. The backing is a Flourish print from Windham Fabrics.

A closer look at the quilting. It’s so easy to quilt this quilt with a walking foot.

Thank you for checking out my fun modern quilt today! I hope your day is going great!

June 8, 2019June 8, 2019

Colour Blocked Modern Hexagon Quilt

I made this colour blocked modern hexagon quilt this week. It was finished yesterday but it was too windy and rainy for taking quilt photos. My son was my quilt holder today and he helped me get photos of this newest finish. This quilt is for sale in my Etsy shop.

A hexagon quilt with eight inch hexagons grouped in blocks of color of pink, yellow and blue. — Colour Blocked Mermaid and Ocean Themed Hexagon Quilt by Anita LaHay of Daydreams of Quilts.

This quilt is made entirely with fabrics by designer Alison Glass from her fabric line called “Diving Board.” The fabrics are mermaid and ocean themed. The quilt is backed with a blue fabric by Mia Whittemore from her Flourish line.

Blue fabric on the back of the quilt. — The backing is a blue print by Mia Whittemore from her Flourish line for Windham Fabrics.

I used the Hex n’ More Ruler by Jaybird Quilts to cut the 8″ hexagons and tried to fussy cut the mermaids whenever possible.

Blue mermaid touching her palm to the tentacle of an octopus. — The blue mermaid touching her palm to the tentacle of an octopus.

Florescent pink mermaid hexagon. — I needed just one more piece of pink in my pink block of colour so I added this florescent pink mermaid in.

Pink mermaid touching her palm to the tentacle of an octopus. — The pink mermaid touching the octopus.

This quilt is quilted a quarter inch on either side of all the vertical seams with bright pink thread.

The modern color blocked mermaid and ocean themed hexagon quilt is for sale in my Etsy shop.

June 15, 2018June 14, 2018

Hidden Zig Zag Quilt Pattern Release

The Hidden Zig Zag Quilt pattern is finally out in the world! I started this pattern a year ago but hit a few road blocks that I’ll tell you about below. I am so happy with my finished quilt though. It has pride of place on my bed.

This is a charm square quilt that uses three charm packs. It’s called “Hidden Zig Zag” because you don’t see the zig zag until the end when the quilt top is put together.

The Hidden Zig Zag Quilt is available on our website, Etsy and Craftsy and is 50% off through Sunday.

Hidden Zig Zag half square triangle quilt — Hidden Zig Zag Quilt as the sun was going down over the horse paddock.

This quilt is more challenging than my Pixel Heart Quilts. I had it basted and ready to quilt last summer and then I made a complete mess of the quilting. I tried to quilt the colourful triangles with curves on each edge. I don’t know how quilters do that. They must use curved rulers because mine looked terrible free hand.

I don’t know why I didn’t quit after the first few but I kept going until I had quilted almost every coloured triangle. I think I thought it would get better as I went along. It didn’t. It looked awful. So then I was faced with the task of ripping out all the quilting. The quilt sat. Then I ripped out about half the quilting. And the quilt sat.

Finally I finished ripping out the quilting in January but in the process I also accidentally sliced a one inch hole in the backing with my seam ripper. 🙁 I was so upset. So the quilt sat some more. Finally on Monday I looked at this quilt and decided that this week was the week this quilt was getting finished.

It had sat for so long that it was dusty and had dog fur on it so I had to lint roll it first. Then I set to work creating feathers in all the zig zags. I am happy with this quilt now but what a struggle I had with this one!

I quilted all the white background fabrics and left the coloured fabrics alone. This was the first time I have ever ripped out the quilting on a quilt but my final choice was a good one.

This quilt is made with all Fig Tree fabrics including “Farmhouse”, “Strawberry Fields” and “Strawberry Fields Revsited”. I love it and I’m thrilled to finally have it washed and on my bed!

charm square quilt pattern — Hidden Zig Zag Quilt by Daydreams of Quilts.

On another note: Just a quick heads up that our quilt pattern prices on individual patterns are increasing from $10 a pattern to $12 a pattern on June 21st so if you’ve had your eye on some you may wish to pick them up before the price goes up.

May 16, 2018May 16, 2018

Modern Tulips Quilt

A quilt finish to show! Hooray! This is the Modern Tulips Quilt. This quilt was pieced by Daydreams of Quilts and professionally long arm quilted by Geeky Bobbin.

This quilt was made with “Sweet Orchard” fabrics by Sedef Imer of Down Grapevine Lane on the tulip flowers. The base of the flower heads is a Kona green solid. The stems and leaves are Carolyn Friedlander crosshatch fabric in green. The background is Kona Nautical.

Sweet Orchard fabric in tulips — A close up of the Sweet Orchard fabrics in the tulip flowers and Geeky Bobbin’s quilting.

This was a fun quilt to make because other than the tulip flowers and leaves it was improvised. Bobbie from Geeky Bobbin said she had a lot of fun quilting it too. She has hidden a butterfly, a snail and a dragonfly in the quilting. The bottom edge of the quilt has ferns and grass quilted in green thread.

The tulip pattern was from the Fat Quarter Shop 2011 Block of the Month for the tulip heads and leaves.

Machine Quilting Details:

Butterfly machine quilting — The butterfly hidden in the quilting.

Machine Quilted Flowers — Some of the details of the quilting in green thread along the bottom edge.

The quilt is backed with wideback of Carolyn Friedlander’s Crosshatch fabric in grass green.

Crosshatch Wideback Quilt back — Wideback crosshatch fabric quilt backing in grass green.

I am so happy with the custom work Bobbie did on this quilt! This is only my second time sending a quilt to a long arm quilter and I see more travelling to Bobbie in Toronto in the future.

The Modern Tulips Quilt will be in our booth this weekend at the Etsy Made in Canada Pop-Up in Edmonton.

This quilt can also be found on our website.