If you haven't read the blogpost about the Baby Campfire Glow, head there now.
I made three samples for the Campfire Glow Quilt Pattern release and in order of them being made is 1. Baby Quilt 2. Scrappy Quilt 3. Cover Girl Quilt. I talked in the baby quilt blogpost about some of the criteria I have for myself when committing to writing a pattern. One of them is if the design can be written with scraps or for using stash fabrics. Not every design I create has scrappy vibes in mind but a lot of them do.
Specifically with Campfire Glow, this pattern has been my go-to therapy quilt make for two years in a row now. When I am burned out, overwhelmed, anxious or just want to make something for fun, I almost always go to my stash. It is less commitment then really planning out a top and buying fabric. I want that instant gratification of "I want to make a quilt for fun" and 3 seconds later, I can start the process by playing with fabric. So it was REALLY important to me to make a scrappy version before even making my cover quilt. If the scrappy part didn't work, I wouldn't have written the pattern.
Sometimes people write scrappy only patterns but I rarely do that. I love providing ALL the options. So for me, I had to make sure the scrappy and the solid version still provided the same overall aesthetic. So here we go!
I really feel like this pattern is perfect for a lot of holiday sewing - Valentines in pinks and purples, Memorial Day/July 4th with red white and blue colors, Fall colors AND of course Christmas colors. I chose a fun retro modern palette. I didn't want it to scream traditional Christmas.
My challenge to myself was to use green! I rarely use greens and I am not sure why because I always love using them when I do. So I wanted to go with some minty, teal, grass and mossy greens. I made sure to pick fabrics that were solids, small prints and some more classic prints - strips and gingham.
Before I really dove in and started cutting, I played with the basic idea in Illustrator of the main color families. The lime greens, minty blue greens and then some peachy blush pinks and darker greens. The stars I knew I wanted to be mostly white and then the backgrounds I thought would be more tonal pinks and peaches but in the end became more reds and pinks.
So now after seeing that, here again is my initial fabric pull to match these main color families.
I ended up adding a print or two as I was cutting but man this is SUCH a fun happy cheerful palette. I only used I think 1 or 2 actual Christmas prints - snowflakes and adorable reindeers. You don't always have to have fabrics that ARE Christmas prints to still make holiday vibes happen. I even have almost more summery prints in here but it works all together.
The fabrics got cut into strips and then it is chain piecing heaven! One of the reasons I use this pattern as my "therapy" quilt is because you get a good amount of time to just do something repetitive. It gives you time to zone out, listen to something and just enjoy your time. There isn't too much thinking or having to be super focused where you can't actually enjoy your movements. Repetition can be very therapeutic.
I love all the chain piecing ribbons and bunches that fall behind your machine as you work your way through this top.
Up next, I made the stars. I used this window pane print from Robert Kaufman. I felt like solid white would be too sterile in this top since everything is scrappy. I wanted something that added a tiny but of interest while still reading "white" overall in the top.
Then it was really exciting to see all the pieces together but not laid out. I honestly was a little scared of how good or bad this scrappy version would look. I wasn't sure if my colors would be consistent enough throughout the top to make the design still stand out.
Now my suggestion for laying out a scrappy quilt - don't over think it. Yes, pay attention to placement according to the pattern but don't pick it apart. I just laid out my blocks every other and dropped the stars in the right spots. If you start to look too closely, you will always find a reason to move a block and it is endless. One of the joys of sewing scrappy it letting the fabric tell you the story instead of the other way around.
Then it was time to sew them all into rows. And then sew the rows together for your top. All of these seams would nest! My fav!! I hate pins.
After finishing this top, I took it with me to my TCJ retreat weekend. So I had my baby and my scrappy top done before I actually wrote the pattern. ha! I just used my chicken scratch notes and then I wrote it while I was away.
I still needed to grab some full photos of the top before I dropped it off for quilting. To make the quilt photoshoot outing more exciting for my guys, we grabbed breakfast to go at our favorite GF bakery and went to a park. After filling our bellies with yummy food, we drove around until I found walls I wanted to shoot on.
GUYS! I went bold for the thread on this top! I have always loved bold thread colors on quilts but I have always been so scared it would take away from the top. Be more distracting than adding anything. But, this time, Michelle convinced me to go for it. We went for neon pink thread and it is so good!
Isn't that so fun?! And Michelle did these organic waves and then suddenly a few bubbles! I love it so much.
It took me awhile to decide on what to bind this top in. I felt like a solid print or color would be too harsh. I am happy with the gingham because 1. I love gingham but 2. it gives a consistent look without being harsh.
And guess what! One of my favorite aspects for a photoshoot in the past couple of years has been our "quilts in the air" session. Essentially, I throw quilts as high as I can, run out of the shot and Amy shoots. It always creates the silliest photos and we laugh at how stupid I look doing it!
I can't wait to see how you guys connect with Campfire Glow! Please tag me in your makes - #campfireglowquilt #thencamejunepatterns.
