In December 2025, we released our 37th (can you believe it??) pattern. Barrett combines two classic quilt blocks - the nine patch and the snowball - and then frames it all with a third quilting classic - flying geese. For the release of this pattern, we had already made five samples, but we couldn't pass up the opportunity to make a sixth one; that's how you know this is a good pattern! We made it our December Make of the Month, and we couldn't have picked a better quilt to end the year on.
A Barrett Quilt can be made in either a Five Color or Two Color design, and we provide charts and instructions throughout the pattern for using either yardage, precuts, or stash and scraps. For this sample, we decided to make a Large Throw (finishes at 66" x 72") in the Two Color design, in a red and cream color way using only stash and scraps.
First up: red for the (5) squares in our Nine Patches, the outer corners of our Snowballs, the outside of our Flying Geese, and the outside border. Our mock-up for this quilt showed a deep, almost brick red as our inspiration. But our biggest worry became whether or not we'd actually have enough of this color in our stash/scraps. Fire engine red and coral tones we had loads of, but that specific deep red? There was no way we'd have enough to use our stash unless we pulled in the brighter tones. But that's sewing scrappy. You use what you can, and having more variety in the color adds that sparkle quality we all love so much!
Next: creamy whites for the (4) squares in our Nine Patches, the snowballs in our Snowballs, and the insides of our Flying Geese. Now, creamy whites? We have no shortage of those. We were able to pull a great selection to work from. One note: we did end up removing the one bright white window pane plaid because it wasn’t vibing with the creamy whites.
And this is when we started to get really excited about this quilt. Seeing all the treasures we would get to play with from the stash? Exciting stuff. And even though it was December, we didn't intend for this to be a Christmas quilt...but the candy cane/peppermint vibes were still vibing. (And spoiler: we did more or less give into the Christmas of it all by the end.)
Cutting scrappy takes a little more time and a little more planning than cutting from yardage, or even precuts, but we used the scrap charts in the pattern to stay organized. Before long we had almost everything we needed cut. We decided to wait to cut the last border fabrics because we wanted to see how the reds in the flying geese ended up before committing to the final red border fabrics.
With that, it was time to sew!
Meghan and I team sewed these blocks, Meghan batch sewing the Nine Patches, me batch sewing the Snowballs, and then us meeting back in studio to tag team the Flying Geese. And anytime we are sewing scrappy, the biggest "rule" we are following is to try and avoid repeating a fabric in a single block, otherwise, we're sewing with our hearts. We aren't worried about directionality or if a floral is being used with another floral or anything else.
What you see above are what we like to call the "guts" of a Barrett quilt. The only element left to sew at this point would be the final border, but because we knew we were also going to be making that scrappy, we knew we wanted to get our "guts" sewn together first before finalizing the look of the border. To the design wall!
You certainly don't have to have a design wall to lay out a quilt. In my own home, I have used the floor, a bed, my kitchen island, the dining room table...any large flat space. And we have patterns that are designed to go together in sections rather than as one large piece, making it even easier to use whatever real estate you might have available to you. But, especially when working scrappy, having a large space to see all those disparate fabrics and come together like you imagined they would is such a treat.** And, when got all of our scrappy Barrett "guts" on the wall, we realized that what would tie the whole thing together beautifully would be to do the scrappy red final border in a gradient, the reds moving from lightest to darkest around the quilt.
Behold!
(**Our studio design wall is a twin size piece of batting clipped to screws in our wall using curtain hooks so that it can be easily removed when needed.)
To accomplish the look we wanted for the border, we chose a bunch of different red fabrics from our pile and organized them lightest to darkest. We then cut the width strips we needed from each one and sewed them end to end in their light to dark gradient. After we had one giant scrappy sashing, we cut them down to the (4) strips needed for the two sides and the top and bottom. And then, to make sure the gradient was honored in assembly, strip #1 (the lightest) became the top, #2 became the right side, #3 the bottom, and #4 (the darkest) the left side, snaking the gradient from lightest to darkest clockwise around the quilt. And it turned out beautifully.
We may not have started out intending this to be a Christmas-y quilt, but we gave in by the time we picked our backing. We went with a Mammoth Flannel in Red, with total red/green holiday vibes. Emily at So Sunny Quilts then quilted the Holiday Baking pantograph by Mistletoe Quilting over it, and we kept the scrappy of it all going by binding it in red scrappy binding moving from light to dark.
And there she is! The last of our Makes of the Month for 2025, though we still have more to share with you. If you want to catch up to where we are in the series, we have also shared:
- January: Campfire Glow - the Fresh Start one
- March: Granny Cabin Quilt - the Liberty Cottons one
- April: Rosecity Quilt - the Lily Pad one
- May: Star Adventure - the Sun Stripes + Checkmate Checkers one
- June: Redford - the Poolside one
- July: Petal Patch - the Scrappy Rainbow one
- August: Diamond Ripples - the Scrappy Big one
- September: Nova Star - the Nova one
Stay tuned for the next!