Meadow Star is a block based pattern highlighting stars and movement through construction and color placement. The Meadow Star is perfect for showing off your favorite fabrics and color. The pattern includes eight sizes with two different design styles: Mix + Match and Alternating.
Meadow Star is a sister quilt to our beloved Meadowland quilt pattern. We released Meadowland in 2018 and it still remains to this day our best selling pattern. Over the years I have been asked why I think the Meadowland quilt pattern has been so loved and admired, and I really do think there are a multitude of reasons. Here is why I (and many of you) think Meadowland has been so popular:
- It is a block based quilt pattern.
- It is Fat Quarter and Half Yard friendly.
- It is a larger block so less piecing overall (16").
- Both small and large scale fabric prints look great in it.
- The design is mix + match, so each block highlights 3 different fabrics as well as one consistent fabric as the background.
- It is really easy to play with contrast - low, medium and high within each block.
- There is no sashing, so it's quicker quilt top assembly.
- The block construction is fast and satisfying.
- The block creates movement through construction and piecing.
- It really has a magical unicorn quality to it.
When I sat down to work on my next idea, I wanted to see if I could design something like Meadowland, but new and fun that honored the original design choices I created while meeting all the reasons above. And I really think I did it!
Alysson and I both have sewn our samples for Meadow Star and have talked about how it provided us the same feeling of "I can't wait to get back and sew more blocks tomorrow." Anything that gets us excited to wake up and create is liquid gold to me!
I played with so many mock ups at the beginning of this design. I played with both the FQ, HY and Alternating ideas because I wasn't sure which one I wanted to be used for the cover quilt. I also played with a few different sizes before landing on the Large Throw that is 20 blocks.
Once I created this last mock up using Half Yards, it clicked. I knew I wanted to make it and most likely use it for the cover quilt! All these fabrics are Bella Solids for Moda Fabrics.
The Meadow Star Cover quilt uses the Mix + Match design style in half yards. For easy math, one half yard = two Meadow Star blocks. So for the 20 block design, we use 10 Half Yards plus 1 yard of background fabric.
Once all the fabrics are cut and organized by their groups, it's time to build our blocks and this is where the mixing and matching happens! The Meadow Star block is made up of 4 parts - the background cuts, the border, the center and the star. That means each block pile will need 4 different fabrics in it. When mixing and matching, be sure that the three main block fabrics (border, center, star) are made up of 3 different fabrics. The background remains the same in each block.
Here are all my piles plus one finished block. We worked block by block and they come together rather quickly. The stars are NOT made with HSTs or flying geese so they also construct rather fast! Here are 4 of my favorite blocks.
Before we knew it, all 20 blocks were done and ready to be assembled!
The darkest solid can read black but it's actually a dark green. Each block can look so different depending on the contrast between the colors, which I love. This contrast or lack their of is how we create a sparkle or dappled effect to the final look. And this is always something I strive for.
I love that some of the borders fade more into the background and allow the stars to pop! And also the reverse where the borders frame the block and hugs the stars.
I decided to back this quilt in a Riley Blake Blossom print in a dark green. It felt like a nice compliment to the dark green solid in the front of the quilt. And I sent this off to Emily of So Sunny Quilts! It took me a little to decide what pantograph to use but I landed on a bouncy all over vibe called Hexi Petals that is a flower design.
I chose to bind this quilt in Electric Lemon which is also in the quilt top fabrics. I can't seem to get away from a bright hit of yellow in my quilts! And I added a new TCJ quilt label from my multipack collab I did with Sarah Hearts!
See how well the two different greens match between the front and the back of the quilt?! And I used the Everett Star Quilt label because I loved the bright pink and gold tones that also pair well with the front.
The Meadow Star quilt has a really fun asymmetrical symmetry to it. The individual blocks look offset and they are but it's done in a way that once put all together, become symmetrical across the quilt.
The light we get in the upper level of our studio is top notch! Even on a cloudy days, we get good consistent light that is just perfect for product photography.
