You guys! Tomorrow will be the ONE YEAR anniversary of me releasing my first ever quilt pattern (Inside Out Star Quilt). I can't believe it's been a whole year but at the same time, just a year? It seems like I have been dreaming of quilt patterns for forever. To celebrate my pattern anniversary, I decided to do a 25% off SALE on everything in my shop. Use code ONEYEAR at checkout. And what's an even better way to celebrate my pattern anniversary? Well, deciding super last minute to write and release the Ombre All Day Quilt pattern I designed last week, of course! Crazy much? YEP! haha
After sewing with mainly all solids for the past few months, I really was craving some fabric print play. I have wanted to create a scrap/stash friendly pattern for awhile now and inspiration finally struck! It struck in the way of me being sick in bed with the flu for two days and playing around with ideas on my computer. Once I started feeling mildly better, I went right into my stash and started mixing and matching. I think with Valentine's quilts popping up all over my feed, I was drawn to pinks, corals, reds, and blushes.
I was surprised at how many prints I had to choose from in this color palette. Most of my prints are Cotton + Steel, Arroyo by Cotton and Flax, and Carolyn Friedlander with a few other ones thrown in. It was a breeze to put together but I struggled with what accent color I wanted for each block. I finally landed on Kona Yarrow but I did test out Kona Acid Lime and Kona Wasabi. The background fabric is a fun polka dot print from Rad and Happy for Riley Blake Designs. I bought it about a month ago for no reason besides wanting to eventually use it as a background fabric. Boom! It is perfect.
This pattern is block based so it is super easy to size up and down as you see fit. All you need is background fabric and 2" x 30" strips of fabric. If you want to get super scrappy, you can easily use different background fabrics for each block. The scrappier the better sometimes! I can't wait to keep making more of these.
Pretty sure I am a quilt at this point if you take the quote above as literal truth. ;)
I think as I am continuing to create and figure out what styles and color palettes I am drawn to, it is clear I love gradients. I love playing with colors and tones and depth.
The quilt blocks came together so fast. I LOVE a simple fast pattern. And there is nothing more satisfying that making a whole quilt with only my scraps and stash! The pattern includes three sizes: baby, small throw and large throw (what I made). But since it is block based, the world is your oyster when it comes to choosing whatever size fits your needs best.
I picked the fabric out on Friday morning, cut it all and made 4 blocks Friday afternoon. I made the entire top on Saturday. My husband was home for most of the day so I got to sew, sew, sew! At the end of Saturday, I had the nutty idea of "Hey Meghan, why not try to write, get it quilted, photographed and released in 6 days?!" So I reached out to a local quilter, Michelle of Mariposa Quilting and said "I know I am insane but is there any chance you could quilt this for me in about 2 days?" And she said "YES!" I was so excited!! Michelle was helping fuel my crazy idea and I loved it.
I dropped the quilt off Sunday mid day and she returned it Tuesday afternoon. I told her to do whatever she wanted and man did she deliver! Swirls, swirls, swirls. They are organic, dense, soft and playful. Absolutely perfect for all the straight lines of the quilt itself. And I think they compliment the playfulness of the polka dot background. I am OBSESSED.
See! The swirls are ammmmmazing. You know the quilting is magic when you can't stop rubbing your hands all over the quilt.
I decided to bind the quilt with all solids in another ombre effect. I used 6 different shades of peaches, pinks, corals and magentas. I love how it brings it all together.
Getting good clear photos is hard in a 800 square foot house. It took me 3 different sessions to finally get some decent ones. Tons of gaffers tape, white sheets hanging on the walls to reflect light, white sheets on the floor to offset the wood floors yellow shadowing. My whole living room got rearranged a million times. But! I finally got some ones that will work for now. ;)
I threw the quilt on my bed and it made me realize that this would be a super fun bed size quilt too! Just add more rows and columns. I can't wait to make an Indigo version. If I thought I had a surprisingly amount of pink, then I KNOW I will have wayyyy too many blues to choose from. Love blues, always and forever.
Don't forget! EVERYTHING in my shop will be 25% off through Sunday, February 18th! Use code ONEYEAR at check out for the discount. You can get the PDF here and preorder the printed pattern here.
Thank you all for following along and supporting this business of mine. I love creating and am so honored that I get to keep doing it. You are the best and I am giving each and every one of you a big hug!