General Store Quilt in a Cozy Fall Palette

Are you a Little House on the Prairie fan? What a timeless show! I remember reading the Little House books back in elementary school and then watching reruns of the show on days that I was home sick from school. The whole feeling of that era has always intrigued me.

I was thrilled when I had the chance to sew with Melissa Gilbert's new fabric collection, A Walk on the Prairie. This collection is available now from Riley Blake Designs. It has a such a well-balanced mix of florals, ticking stripes, and gingham. As soon as I saw it, I pictured the fabrics used in a scrappy, vintage looking quilt and decided to make the General Store quilt pattern. The General Store quilt pattern is a convenient take on a scrappy Irish Chain quilt. The pattern has been adapted to use with precut fabrics and comes together easily through strip piecing. If you like this pattern, be sure to check out the other nostalgic Cabin Series quilt patterns. 

To make this quilt, I used 11 various fat quarters from the collection. The background fabric, also from the collection, is called Floral Deep River.

To up the cozy factor, I used wool batting and kept the quilting very dense. Wool batting has a sponginess that makes the quilting more pronounced and provides a snuggle factor I haven't found in other battings. I made a scrappy binding from the quilt top scraps that were left over after cutting. Scrappy binding is a great way to complement a scrappy patchwork quilt, reduce fabric waste, and lower the overall fabric cost of your quilt! Scrappy binding is made in the same way that traditional one-fabric quilt binding is made: by sewing 2 1/2" width fabric strips together, end to end, using a diagonal seam. It can be a bit more time intensive to make, since it typically requires you to sew short lengths of fabric strips together, but I think it's well worth it.

Quilters seem to be going wild over this fabric on Instagram! What would you choose to make with it? I'm excited to see. If you make a General Store quilt, and you're on social media, please tag me (@ritualquiltcompany) so I can see your quilt.