I have one more sample to share from our Meadow Star release, and I may have saved the best for last! Before we dive in, you can catch up on the other quilts we made for this release - the Cover quilt and the Veranda quilt. And the Meadow Star Quilt Pattern is now in the shop!
Ruby Star Society announced 20 new Speckled colors this spring and I knew I'd need all of them. Their Speckled fabrics are some of my absolute favorite basic quilting cottons around. We were just starting to work on the Meadow Star release when the new colors arrived at our studio, and the second I opened the shipping box, I knew they would be stunning in the new pattern.
We could have made the Large Throw size which requires 20 FQs but we already had two samples of that size. I wanted to make the 25 block size, the Small Square Bed, which finishes at 80" x 80". So, I decided to pick out 5 more existing Speckled prints and make a 25 piece FQ Bundle.
How beautiful are these fabrics?! There are tiny metallic pops in the fabrics and I love the warmth of the palette. I waffled back and forth on what background fabric I wanted to use. I made a quick mock up of these Speckled prints to make sure I liked the additional 5 I was adding to the stack. And then this is where I was able to play with a background fabric. After trying so many solids and different Speckled fabrics, not one felt right. It wasn't until I had the idea of using a larger scale gingham in a moody color that it clicked. I felt a little nuts when picking it, but I proved myself right! It's bold but works so well.
The digital mock up above was more of a general reference for me to pick the background fabric, not one we followed to make our blocks. I knew I wanted to organically mix and match the fabrics in person and do what felt right visually in front of me. But first, we must cut all the fabric out!
We cut the fabrics out one FQ at a time and then keep the fabrics organized by the position they will be in the block - the Star, the Center and the Border. Then from there, we make large stacks of each position so when we mix and match it is easy to see what we are working with. You will need one set of fabric for each position plus the background cuts.
Now let's mix it up! We created 25 block piles.
I tried to make sure there was a mix of some warm and cool tones in each block. I really do love how the gingham pops on all the edges of each block.
These were some of my favorite blocks. I love the change in focus depending on where the lightest or darkest fabric is positioned - border, center and star. And then I laid them all out together and WOW. I love it!
Alysson and I both got into a good rhythm when sewing these blocks and they flew together. You can batch sew this pattern in a couple different ways. Alysson and I both work a little differently, Alysson loves working on multiple blocks at one time and I prefer one block at a time, but no matter what, they go together quickly!
We spent probably a good 15 minutes playing around with the block layout. One way I make sure I don't overwhelm myself with decision fatigue or overwhelm is to mentally break a quilt down into smaller chunk. Instead of focusing on the whole first, I focus on rows. I make sure I like how an entire row looks and then I move to the next one. Once all the rows are up, I then look at them as columns and make sure they look good. Here is where I maybe adjust a block or two. And then finally we step far back and look at the whole. We moved a lot of blocks around in the last two rows because we were suddenly stuck with all of our lightest or darkest blocks. So we slowly moved those around the top and landed on this final placement.
And from here, it was sewing it all together. Each row gets sewn together and then we press each row the opposite direction as the row above so the block seams nest. And just like that, we have a quilt top!
We have Speckled kits available! We have a FQ only option where you get all (25) FQs but pick your own background fabric. We also have the full kit which includes the 1 1/4 yards of gingham.
I'll never get over the light in our studio space. It makes me incredibly happy.
This version of Meadow Star highlights the Mix + Match design style. The dark gingham background fabric and vibrant Speckled fabrics create a powerful bold design. I wanted to make sure the pantograph, the thread and the backing and binding choices supported the boldness of the aesthetic. I love how it turned out!
When a quilt finishes as a square, I like to choose a pantograph (quilt stitching design) that is non directional. Although there is technically a "top and bottom" to this Speckled square quilt, I want the quilting design to look correct from all sides. If the pantograph is directional, like a floral design with a stem that stitches out only vertically, then it means when turned 90 degrees, the floral stem would appear sideways, whereas a panto like Arches looks good at all angles!
When I dropped this quilt off to Emily of So Sunny Quilts, I told her I knew I wanted Arches but that I needed help picking thread colors. For about one second, I thought about using a more muted thread to blend with the blocks, but that second passed incredibly fast and I was back to what Emily and I knew all along, I needed to use neon. Emily had a handful of choices of neon yellow, lime, blue, bright pink, magenta pink, purple. We went with the bight pink neon thread.
We backed the Speckled Meadow Star in a new Favorite Flowers wideback in the color Balmy. The gorgeous large scale flowers are such a fun contrast to the front, and you don't have to worry about piecing a seam. We have two other Favorite Flowers colors available - Turmeric and Light Black - and I would absolutely choose either one of them. We then bound the quilt in one of the new Speckled colors - Goldfish. I love the frame the reddish orange fabric gives to the entire top. It's almost like it's "controlling" the edges in this design and I love that.
Each quilt we make, especially for new pattern releases, is incredibly personal to me. There is always something I am striving for with each quilt - working through a personal feeling, a challenge, sparking a creative journey - I am internally trying to solve something. I really enjoy taking photos with the finished quilt as it captures who I am or was with that quilt, in that moment. I had just bought a dress that matches this quilt PERFECTLY, so of course I had to wear it. I am the gingham.
