A breezy, summery, pretty herringbone quilt made of half-square triangles (HST). Just for me. Measuring at 57″ x 65″, it’s perfect for a napping quilt.

I started making these HST blocks back in 2013 at the Sewing Summit, and I’m finally piecing them into a quilt in 2016!

It’s a really simple design, made of Kona Cotton white and a blue print from the Ava Rose collection by Tanya Whelan for Free Spirit Fabrics. The backing is made from a bed sheet – first time I’ve done that! I found a full-size Shabby Chic sheet set on clearance at Target, and wow, it sewed like buttah. So super soft. It’s 100% cotton with a fairly low thread count, so it sewed fabulously. I machine-quilted it on my Juki with Aurifil 40wt thread, with not-so-dense quilting since I wanted it super soft and somewhat puffy.

For the binding, I used an ombre aqua print by Vanessa Christenson for Moda Fabrics. I stitched the binding strip to the back of the quilt, then folded it to the front and sewed it in place with a decorative stitch using Aurifil 50wt thread. I don’t know why I don’t do this more often – it looks great, is WAY faster, and it’s more durable than hand-stitched, right? For quilts that will be heavily used and laundered, this might just be my go-to binding method.

Nothing beats that fresh-from-the-dryer crinkle. Soooo satisfying.