Camping Queen

Sarah Tompkins
Jul 19
3 min read

One of the most enjoyable aspects of quilting for me is crafting personalized quilts for my dear friends. So, when my job share colleague casually mentioned that she had a significant birthday approaching, I immediately decided to create a camping quilt for her.

Initially, I considered making camping-themed blocks using foundation paper piecing, but I envisioned something more like a scene that captured her personality.

camping themed fabric — Camping Trailers Tents Caravans Forest Wilds Fabric by Timeless Treasure from modes4u.com

I discovered some fantastic fabric named Camping Trailers Tents Caravans Forest Wilds Fabric by Timeless Treasures, which sorted out the backing. Then, I assembled a straightforward background using large strips of solid blue and green fabric. Since I was going to applique the scene, I moved on to the enjoyable part of designing the details; I hand-drew the picture, incorporating her favourite elements, and then free-handed the shapes to the appropriate size.

I selected materials from my scraps, cut out the shapes, and began sewing them on. I aimed to practice needle turn applique as I had enrolled in Sarah Fielke's Big Woods BOM that was set to start a few months later. I began in early July 2024 but soon realised I had taken on more than I could handle, and there was no way I could complete it by the end of the school term, which coincided with her birthday. So, the birthday passed, and I felt a bit guilty for not being able to present her with something special on her big day.

To lift my sewing spirit after missing the birthday, I took the quilt with me on our holiday to the Isle of Wight, and in the evenings, I sewed while enjoying the lovely weather and the company at our holiday rental. However, once the new term commenced, life became busy again; Big Woods and then my major Christmas project took precedence, so the quilt was folded up and stored away in my project box.

Like my friend, I also enjoy camping and finally got the chance to go camping alone in May. I made sure to have an electric hook-up, took my trusty little Featherweight sewing machine, and headed to the beautiful New Forest for a few days. I was a happy little camper, sitting in the van sewing on the rainbow, sun, and clouds. I even had a curious squirrel hop onto the step to see what I was doing! I made significant progress and was now definitely motivated to finish this before her next birthday. When I returned home, I designed and cut out all the letters and little ducks on my Cricut just in time to pack everything up again for a trip to the Isle of Wight, where I sewed early in the morning on the B&B balcony, befriending seagulls and watching the ships pass by.

After completing all the needle turn appliqué, I loaded it onto the longarm and started the quilting process. After carefully basting the layers together, I went around the edges of all the appliqué and then filled in the background with free-motion patterns. I challenged myself with the free-motion designs, especially fitting feathers into one of the trees. While it was still on the longarm, I hand-stitched some extra details using pearl thread and added the rocks with raw edge appliqué. After removing it from the longarm, I trimmed it up, getting it ready for binding. Before I forgot, I remembered to create the label. I really like the appearance of corner labels, so I took a 6.5-inch square, folded it diagonally, printed the message, traced it onto the fabric, and hand-stitched it with embroidery thread. Then, it was ready to be sewn on with the binding.

Now it was time to add the binding. I wanted to include some cute pompoms, so I attempted to sew the trim onto the binding first, but it made mitring the corner quite bulky. Fortunately, I had only attached it to the first corner, so it was easy to unpick and rethink. I ended up machine-stitching the binding onto the back as usual, then attached the pompom trim to the front side of the binding so that the pompoms hung over the edge, with my stitches close to the top pompom edge of the trim. Once folded forward, I machine-stitched the creased edge to secure both the bottom edge of the trim and the binding.