Today I am sharing our first Lemonade quilt, the scrappy one! You can now grab the Lemonade pattern in our shop!
If you haven't yet, you should read the first blogpost all about Lemonade. I dive deep into what prompted me to sew with my scraps, the initial design and the evolution of it.
As a quick recap, I went into 2026 knowing I wanted to sew with my scraps more often than not, created better access to my scraps in my sewing space and started on a new project right after our winter break. Not only do I want to spend this year focusing on sewing with my stash and scraps, I also want to sew some classic quilt blocks I've never made before. Enter the Lemon Star or Lemoyne Star.
I had no intention of making this project into my next pattern. All I wanted to do was sew for fun, use my scraps and see what I could create. Well, that to me is the most authentic way for me to create and work. It's no surprise that I had so much fun and enjoyed the process so much that I wanted to now write a pattern based on this quilt.
I did some basic math on what size I'd like my Lemon Star to finish at and guess what, I did it wrong! Ha. So I ended up with a smaller star than planned but I went with it. I did not create a mock up or anything visual before cutting into my scraps. I decided I wanted the background of each star to be very scrappy and in a range of blues and a few soft purples. The stars are made from two different colors so I choose one half to be a variety of greens and the other half to be in the peach/gold/orange/brown family. Or as I'd like to call it the pegorabr family. Just kidding, but really I sort of used a lot of the warmer colors in the second part of the stars.
I cut just enough fabrics out for a few stars at the start to understand how the block goes together and see what I thought about the color vibes.
These were my first four blocks. As you can see the "green" is very vast in its family - lime green, cactus green, pickle green and peacock green. And then the other half is peaches, salmon and almost blush. I rarely ever stick to just one tone of a color or all warm or all cold. I want them all. And this quilt helped me do it. And of course you can see that one block is the light purples in the background. After seeing this, I decided I liked the idea that purple be 25% of the background fabrics. I like that ratio.
I went back to my scraps and cut a bunch of more squares out of my colors. And this is where the scraps sort of dictate the colors too so I knew they would continue to evolve as I kept working on them.
Each time I made a new star, my pile grew and the color palette really started to shine and become more and more playful with each additional star.
At this point I was thinking I'd make a square quilt so my original goal was 49 blocks to make a 7 x 7 grid. So I'd need 5 more rows added to what's pictured above.
Also, I should note that I tried to keep the star points as "solid" as I could within each block by using only two fabrics to make them. But it wasn't always possible with the scraps I had on hand. So if the star points are scrappy, it's because I didn't have enough fabric to cut enough squares but I tried to pair like colors together so it wouldn't be too distracting. And I ended up loving that some of the blocks were a bit more scrappy than others.
Once I finished all 49 Lemon Stars, I put them up on my big design wall and stepped back and thought "huh, something is missing". First, the blocks felt too small, and the idea of matching alllllll the point seams between each block felt terrible. Also, the backgrounds were so fun and varied that I wanted to see more of them. I got the idea to add a frame to each block. I loved the idea that each block would be its own little masterpiece, like each star could be framed by itself and hung on a wall.
By adding the frames I solved all my problems, the blocks would be bigger, I wouldn't need to match star points in final construction and I got to add more background fabric. The negative is now I had an entire new round of sewing to do when I thought I was done. Before I fully committed, I decided to try it out on four blocks to see if I liked the size and scale of the frames.
I loved it! I tried to match some of the fabric or at least the color tones from the background squares itself to the fabrics used in the frames. Back to my exploding scrap bins, I cut out strips for about 4 - 6 blocks per round. It went a lot faster than I imagined.
Oh! And also at this point, I decided I wanted the quilt to finish as a rectangle so I had to make 7 more blocks to add more one row.
In this stack you can really see how the background has a specific palette all within itself even though it's incredibly scrappy. This is my jam. I love this so much.
Now it was time to lay them out on the design wall and sew it all together!
I tried not to overthink the final layout too much. I am sure we moved some blocks around even after taking these photos. And now it was time to sew it all up!
I love love love it. The frames were the perfect choice. The scrappy background creates the depth and sparkle I always hope to achieve when sewing, especially scrappy.
And here she is in all her beauty!!
I am so thrilled that listening to myself and what would feel best for me and my creativity led me right here. It's been years since I've been able to be in a place to put my creativity and enjoyment first before business. And it's been my north star before and is absolutely the best guiding light now. To honor myself is to honor my business too.
I sent this off to Emily of So Sunny Quilts and we used the Vienna pantograph. We also chose a shiny light purple thread.
I backed this quilt in a Bella Little Boy Blue and bound it in a blue with a pop of acid lime.
The texture of the pantograph is really stunning. The Vienna design is an echoed petal style design. I loved the softness and movement it adds.
There you have it! Our first Lemonade sample. The Lemonade pattern is now available in the shop and it includes scrap charts so you can make your own 100% scrappy Lemonade quilt if you desire!