90% of my fabric stash is purchased with no plan of what I’ll make. When Sweetwater released their Boat House fabric line a couple years ago I had to have it! It reminded me of my dad, who LOVED the water. So of course I bought it, but had no idea what I would make.

Inspiration finally struck me about a year ago. I started seeing a lot of decorative boat oars and thought maybe I’ll make a quilt with different oar styles. Like many of us, my list of current projects was long and I didn’t sit down to design it. But it stayed in the back of my mind.

When I sat down to finally design this quilt, it came together very quickly. I started sketching out designs on a Friday and by Sunday I had a finished quilt top.  My favorite quilts all seem to come together that way….in a flood of ideas and a flurry of late night sewing.

I sent my quilt off to Vickey Hughes of Studio V Quilting and love how it turned out. She had the perfect nautical quilting motif for this quilt.

I’m so pleased with how this quilt turned out. It’s just as I envisioned when the idea came to me.

I owe a big THANK YOU to my pattern testers for helping me fine tune my pattern.

Maggie Norman made a beautiful version with bright and happy colors. She went scrappy with some of my favorite Alison Glass prints and Art Gallery Fabrics Prisma Elements. I love the mixture of brown and gray linen oars.

Karen Burton used a mixture of Carolyn Friedlander prints from 3 different collections (Doe, Carcai and Botanics) and I just love when a fabric designer’s different lines play well together.

Karen and her family spend many weekends at one of Michigan’s many lakes. What beautiful memories they are making together!

My Lake House pattern is now available for sale in my Pattern Shop.
Thanks for stopping by!

xo Chelle