If you want to catch up, read the Meadow Star Cover quilt blogpost. I share our inspiration for this design, how it became the sister quilt to the Meadowland pattern and it showcases the Mix + Match design using half yards!
Today we will be talking about our Veranda sample!
I designed Meadow Star to use FQs (you can never have too many)! I LOVE FAT QUARTERS! They are my absolute favorite precut and I go to them time and time again whenever I want to make a new quilt. The Veranda sample uses 20 FQs to create the Large Throw finishing at 64" x 80". I picked all of my FQs from bolts we had on hand, and chose the most gorgeous dusty mauve linen for the background fabric. We have the Meadow Star Veranda kits in stock!
Are you shocked that I used ginghams, plaids, solids, and in a blue, pink, yellow color way? No? Me neither! I have a vibe and I leaned into it. I love that these fabrics all are slightly more dusty and soft and muted than what I typically lean toward. We called it Veranda because I imagined sitting under this quilt on a beautiful covered porch drinking coffee in the fall. For this quilt, I did not make a single digital mock up, I trusted my fabric pull and mix and matched my fabrics until my heart was singing.
Once all of our fabric was cut, we organize them into piles by the part of the block they will become - Borders, Center and Star. This makes mixing and matching really easy, you need one set of fabric for each element plus background to make a block. And this is also where it is fun to play with contrast - low, medium, high - within a block.
The Meadow Star Block highlights three different fabric plus background fabrics in each block. The Star and the Center position can be cut and sewn to prioritize directional fabric. The Border position will not have all the fabric facing the same direction, but this was intentional. The Border creates the asymmetrical movement that the block appears to be twisting. I wanted to make sure that the fabrics leaned into that design element by NOT being directional. You can see what I mean in the photo below with the black and white stripe fabric.
The Meadow Star blocks come together quickly - there are NO HSTs or flying geese - you can't have to worry about star points when constructing the star. Each block is really satisfying to make and finishes as a 16" square.
Once all twenty blocks were made, we played with the layout and didn't over think the block placement. I made sure any blocks that touched did not have the same border and center fabric right next to each other. Other than that, we just went with what looked best!
The Essex linen in Mauve adds a beautiful softness and warmth to the quilt. The texture and weight is perfect for a porch inspired palette.
I rushed this quilt over to Emily of So Sunny Quilts because we are getting closer to release day and needing all the quilts finished for photography. Luckily, she was able to squeeze me in and we picked a pantograph real quick. Now, don't get mad at me for the name of this panto but I did chuckle when I found it. We used a pantograph called Nice Rack.
I backed this quilt in a lovely warm golden solid and I bound it in a soft dusty pink called Bella Petal Pink.
So the Nice Rack pantograph is a stacked flower design. It has a stem, leves and petals and then has a little swiggly stack below it. This pantograph design is directional which means if it the quilt was loaded incorrectly onto the longarm frame, the flowers would be lying on their side. I typically only use directional pantographs when the quilt itself is directional (like a rectangle, not a square). I do really love the playfulness of this pantograph.
I really enjoy the mix of plaids and ginghams throughout this quilt top. They always had a cozy warmth to any quilt.
So the Nice Rack pantograph is a stacked flower design. It has a stem, leves and petals and then has a little swiggly stack below it. This pantograph design is directional which means if it the quilt was loaded incorrectly onto the longarm frame, the flowers would be lying on their side. I typically only use directional pantographs when the quilt itself is directional (like a rectangle, not a square). I do really love the playfulness of this pantograph.
