Blog / maze and vale

Something I've enjoyed doing the past few years is working with local photographers to photograph my work. Through doing this, I've been able to meet other local creative women, have my work photographed in a number of beautiful spaces, and create a high-quality visual archive of my quilts.

My most recent photoshoot took place last February, in the Cause Creative space in Essex, MA. I drove out there with a handful of my quilts and a pair of pillows and handed them over to Ashley Brooks (the owner of Cause Creative), who styled them in her beautiful space, and Jesika Theos, who photographed them. 

The resulting images are some of my favorites. Because the space was so large, I was able to bring my larger throw quilts to be photographed---something that's harder for me to do on my own. Among the work I brought that day were an Amish Hourglass Throw Quilt (pictured above); a Chambray Log Cabin Throw Quilt (featured in the beginning and end of this post); and the Minimal Stripes Throw Quilt pictured below.

I also brought along two improvisationally pieced lumbar pillows, made from an assortment of neutral scraps, including treasured hand-printed fabrics from Cotton & Flax and Maze & Vale. 

Having my work photographed so beautifully in such a warm space meant so much to me, and I hope you enjoy the images as much as I do. If you're interested, you can shop all of the pieces that were photographed that day here. 

All photos in this post by Jesika Theos. 

Almost a year after starting this quilt at a Vermont sewing retreat, I finished it (and just in time for the baby boy we're expecting next month!). I've long admired the Sunrise Quilt pattern by Carolyn Friedlander, the paper-piecing pattern which this quilt is made from, and really enjoyed having the chance to finally work with it. 

The bulk of the quilt's prints are from a jelly roll of Carolyn's Doe fabric collection, which I paired with solids, as well as prints from Maze & Vale, Umbrella Prints, and Cotton & Flax. The white sashing is made from solids and nearly solid prints, all pulled from the scrap bin. 

To create the coordinating back, I used a long-hoarded Cotton+Steel print by Alexia Abegg called "Painted Indigo," and two other Carolyn Friedlander prints. To quilt it, I kept things simple and stitched in the ditch (no need to mark!), which created a pretty texture and transferred the sunrise shape to the back of the quilt, which I really love. 

The quilt is now hanging in our nursery, ready and waiting for its owner to arrive.

This quilt has been in progress for what feels like forever, so I'm so excited to finally have a finish to share with you today!


The Donuts quilt pattern has been on my mind ever since I saw Amanda's Donut Quilt back in 2013. I loved the whimsical nature of the design---donuts!---and the staggered layout, so I bought a copy of the quilt pattern from The Workroom.



Knowing that this would be a quilt I...

Happy Monday, all! I hope you all had a nice, relaxing weekend. I'm so excited to let you know that I've added six brand-new Maze and Vale designs to the shop! Leslie Keating, the talented woman behind Maze and Vale, is a prolific and popular independent fabric designer based in Australia. I first began stocking her fabrics this past winter, and they've proven to be quite popular!


Each batch of Maze and Vale fabric I carry is exclusive to Salty Oat; you won't be able to find these color combinations anywhere else. For this latest batch, I selected two different color base cloths and six different ink colors. While each panel works well on its own, I also decided to create two bundles within the group, which coordinate together well and could easily be used in the same project.


For the first bundle, I selected a spectrum of grays---pale gray, dove gray, and charcoal---printed on a white organic cotton base cloth. I personally love using low-volume prints in place of solid white in many of my quilts, and I had that in mind when I selected these prints and colors. Wouldn't they look beautiful in this Pow-Wow Quilt?


For the second bundle, I selected rich jewel tones---deep peacock, camellia, and eggplant---which were printed on an organic pale mushroom gray base cloth. These bold prints were inspired by fabrics I saw while visiting Japan more than a year ago, and I'd love to pair them with bits of rich leather to create zipper pouches. I think the large pink polka dots in particular would create an especially beautiful foldover clutch.

I hope you love these prints as much as I do! And please be sure to tag any projects you make with fabrics from the shop with the hashtag #saltyoat, so that I can see them and share them!