I love that this quilt can be made with six fat quarters, which are economical and easy to find – even easy to make, if you’re looking to reduce the size of some of the cuts in your stash.

It also looks very simple to make, without looking… well, simple. It’s basically no more work than cutting up a bunch of uniformly sized squares, but, visually, it’s so cute and interesting. This is definitely going onto my short list for gift-giving!

Check out what Faith of Fresh Lemons did with five cute quilt blocks:

I just love the rainbow effect of all of these hanging together. It’s a wonderful way to use up random orphan blocks, either for a bunch of gifts, or to group together on a wall. And with some of the Munki Munki prints being rare and/or expensive, it’s a great method for getting a ton of mileage out of a small number of scraps.

I love that she kept the boo-boo, for a couple of reasons. One, flipping a row or a bit of a block is my most common quilting mistake, and I always feel like I’m the only spatially challenged spaz who ever does that. Two, it really doesn’t hurt the aesthetic at all – in fact, I think it’s an unexpected cute element.

I know the phrase “it has character” gets thrown around a lot, sincerely or otherwise, but I truly do believe it applies to this quilt. In addition to the perfectly chosen fabrics, one wonky row provides a homey, handmade quality that I think our modern quilts sometimes lack.

And the best news of all? It’s on etsy, and at a great price. I hope I don’t regret posting the link – I may end up purchasing it myself!

Today I’m going to add another entry to that distinguished group, which I can only describe as a wholecloth with single floating star block. Or perhaps it’s technically a star quilt, with white borders that can be measured in feet or meters? Take your pick:

I love this vintage-looking quilt by Me? A Mom? to pieces. It was sized for a toddler bed, which makes it seem especially genius to me. I know I often get excited about the idea of going whole hog and spending months and years on that perfect set of 49 (or more) hugely intricate blocks for that special, once-in-a-lifetime quilt, but let’s be practical here. If you responsibilities go beyond crafting for a small child into the realm of, say, caring for a small child, you just don’t have the kind of time to make dozens of spiderweb blocks every time your little one outgrows a piece of furniture.

Unless you do, in which case you are a superhero, and I’m not sure I want to be talking to you.

At any rate, there’s something to be said about a quilt that seems to speak to its function. The simplicity of all that white coupled with the the jaunty color placement just screams childhood to me, even though there’s plenty of adult appeal here. And while I admire lots of fancy handiwork as much as anybody, it’s a breath of fresh air to see a quilt that isn’t too labored.

I can see this quilt getting lots of love in the future. Better yet, I can see it getting lots of love now.

How sweet is that?

I’d love to see this trend continue to include even more of my childhood favorites. The obvious downside is the sheer number of childhood favorites I have!

Vintage bluebird quilt, photo by Jaspenelle of Paganites. There was a time I wasn’t wild about tied quilts, and now I’m not sure why. Maybe because ties are sort of casual and playful? And, wonderful as that is, casual doesn’t go with every quilt top.

These blue birds, however, are perfect candidates for ties. The yarn looks wonderful with the embroidered detail on the birdies, and I can just imagine each little knotted length blowing in the breeze. Ties aside, these solid colors are so simple and stunning. Even the white binding, which I normally don’t care for, adds such lightness and freshness.

Love, love, love. I hope some part of your weekend looks even a little bit like this quilt.