The Champagne Quilt pattern released in early March this year and I am so happy to have it out in the world now. We made five samples for this quilt release and we are finally back to share more after a couple weeks off from talking about them.
The Picnic Quilt may be my favorite sample we made. I am obsessed with gingham (for those who are new here - if you aren't, this is no surprise) and I love how playful, classic and timeless the print is. I knew I had to make a Champagne Quilt using it to show the combination of classic fabric PLUS classic Irish Chain and Stars.
I want to use ginghams that were springy and soft but then still have a pop of black and grey to ground it a bit. I also didn't want to use a white background but a soft warmer light grey. It really provides a vintage touch.
Okay, time to mix it all up!
We were deep in sample making mode on this quilt and I don't think I took many in between photos. I went straight from cut fabric stacks to finished blocks. So let's just jump to it!
With this quilt, we used the Mix + Match Stars design option in the pattern. It requires Fat Quarters for the stars and essentially 1 FQ = 2 stars. So a single fabric will get repeated two times throughout the stars. I love the variety this gives while still giving a consistency to the eye.
After I laid out my blocks and made sure each one was alternating the opposite direction, I stacked them in their rows. Then it was time to sew the rows together.
And for this quilt, I wanted the Irish Chain pieces to be darker than the background color with the accent being lighter. In the Champagne Quilt Cover girl, we did the opposite - light pink background with white Irish Chain and a pop of color for the accent. I love showing variety when I can in a single pattern. You can see both quilts below.
I believe this quilt made me the happiest when I saw it finished. Everything I wanted this quilt to make me feel, I felt.
When I was sending this quilt off for longarm quilting, I tossed and turned a ton about the pantograph design. I thought about doing a fun floral one. Or maybe one that has a lot of leaves or something like straight line quilting. I couldn't decide but then it hit me that I wanted something retro and garden inspired. I landed on Featherweight by the Longarm League. Karlee of Sewinspired2day did the quilting and it turned out beautiful!!
The quilting just gives the best texture and is curved but directional - it is a vertical pantograph. A lot of times I do not use directional pantographs but this time it felt right. Also, it made it easy to know what is the top and bottom of the quilt when taking photos.
Amy told me to spin in my dress. So I spun.
I really wanted to play up the Picnic vibes of this quilt so I went to Trader Joe's and got a bunch of yummy goodies. Croissants, raspberries, grapes, Madelines, champagne and more. The studio we rented had so much good table top accessories. They also had these cool painted wood panels that we used to lean up against the wall and draped the quilt over it. I wish this were a real picnic but we got lots of beautiful photos of it.
I want to be back eating this food. The night of this photoshoot, I ate only this food for dinner. ha! It was a carb heavy but exhausted don't want to cook night. And it was delicious.
We made quilt kits for this sample and I brought a bunch of them to the shoot. It is fun to share the whole vision and process of a release in this sense.
Okay, time to mix it all up! 
With this quilt, we used the Mix + Match Stars design option in the pattern. It requires Fat Quarters for the stars and essentially 1 FQ = 2 stars. So a single fabric will get repeated two times throughout the stars. I love the variety this gives while still giving a consistency to the eye. 
The quilting just gives the best texture and is curved but directional - it is a vertical pantograph. A lot of times I do not use directional pantographs but this time it felt right. Also, it made it easy to know what is the top and bottom of the quilt when taking photos. 
I really wanted to play up the Picnic vibes of this quilt so I went to Trader Joe's and got a bunch of yummy goodies. Croissants, raspberries, grapes, Madelines, champagne and more. The studio we rented had so much good table top accessories. They also had these cool painted wood panels that we used to lean up against the wall and draped the quilt over it. I wish this were a real picnic but we got lots of beautiful photos of it.
