And the first quilt I will be sharing is my pattern test quilt - the Goldie Baby one! Per my usual, I always write the bare bones of a pattern on paper and in mocks up in Adobe Illustrators before I even decide if it's for sure happening. Once it's in a semi thought out spot, I make a test quilt. Only after I complete the test quilt, make adjustments to the math or process, do I fully commit to writing and releasing the pattern. It is my quality control check before all the time and energy goes into a new design.
For this baby test quilt, I went into my personal stash and chose a palette that isn't traditional to a "baby" quilt. I new I wanted the pop of black for the background and then a mix of solids and RSS basics. Here is the pull.
I don't work in the teal colors much or in the traditional green - I do love acid limes and yellows tho! And this pull marries the two a bit and I love how it turned out. I wish these Starry prints were RSS Basics but they aren't yet so I unfortunately can't buy anymore to make kits happen.
The Goldie Quilt Pattern is a Fat Quarter and Mix + Match friendly block pattern. That means, you cut the Fat Quarters up and then you mix different cuts and fabrics together to build your quilt blocks. This always is fun for me and offers so much variety in a quilt top.
My general rule of thumb for the Goldie Quilt mixing and matching is:
1. Pair some LIKE colors together - light teal with a darker teal/green and the acid lime with a similar acid lime but still different in saturation. These similar pairings create a soft spot in the quilt.
2. Do the opposite as well. Pair up contrast colors like the light yellow with a pickle green and a golden yellow with a bright teal. These create the punch needed.
The back and forth of high and low contrast make for a scrappy and playful quilt - my favorite!
Here is all of the fabric cut into their pieces but kept together fabric by fabric.
Then I organized them by cuts so I could easily build the block piles I needed.
I didn't snap any photos of them all mix and matched because I forgot and also because I was still working out the logistics while making this quilt. Test quilt = pattern not all together yet.
Seeing the first Goldie Block come together and see my vision turn into a reality was so satisfying. It is one of favorite parts of the whole design process. I get to say "LOOK! MY IDEA WORKED!!" haha.
This Goldie Quilt was actually the last quilt I made in our house. We moved into our new studios shortly after finishing this. So the original concept, the chicken scratch math and test quilt were made in my home. But the actual pattern writing, editing, all the sample sewing, etc was done in the new space.
Next it was finishing up the rest of the Goldie Blocks and really notating any tips or tricks I had for myself to remember for when I go back to sit down and write the pattern. It was about two months between making this test quilt and actually sitting down to write the pattern.
Once all four Goldie blocks were done, it was time to make the long strip sashing to finish out the quilt top! Every piece EXCEPT the black Starry background fabric is cut from the Fat Quarters. I love how scrappy and versatile working with Fat Quarters can be!
It is also the first quilt top I ever photographed once we moved to the new TCJ Studios!
I sent this quilt off to Emily of So Sunny Quilts, a Portland local. And we chose to do the Boardwalk pantograph on it. It is a fun, dense quilting design that has some movement to it!
We did a shiny gold thread and I bound it in a beautiful teal solid and I think I backed it in Kona Curry. I forget!
Shooting these Goldie samples in our upper mezzanine was a first for us! Our first big photoshoot and we brought up so many things to style out different looks. Here is a sneak peek at all four Goldie samples together.
