Did you see the news?! My newest bundle for Robert Kaufman was just announced last week! The new bundle is called Rejoice and includes 20 FQs of Kona Cotton. It is available for PREORDER in my shop right now and should be shipping in December 2022.
FYI, this blogpost is very very full of gorgeous photos so buckle up! It may be a long one, but at the end you'll see this beauty on the beaches of Hawaii.
We made four different quilt samples to show how the new bundle can look in a quilt! The first one I am going to share about is the Sienna Burst Quilt. The Sienna Burst pattern is a Fat Quarter friendly pattern that makes a beautiful 68" square throw. We haven't made one in years and I was so excited to jump into this pattern again.
The Sienna Burst Pattern uses 17 out of the 20 FQs in the bundle. The colors NOT included in the quilt are Desert Green, Seafoam and Salmon. All the other FQs are used in the quilt.
The Sienna Burst pattern has 16 blocks and it's a mix and match friendly pattern. So that means 16 FQs are needed for the stars and then a single FQ was used to create the cornerstones in the sashing. We used the Yarrow FQ for the cornerstones.
The piles are mixed into their blocks now. My friend and fellow quilter, Maechen, sewed this sample for us. She took roughly 1 million photos and I am so grateful for her dedicated documentation of the project! Maechen went ahead and mixed all the cuts into their block piles but then she pulled out all the like pieces/cuts so she could batch sew them individually. The Sienna Burst block is made up of HSTs, HRTs, and bars. So that is how she separated out the pieces.
One of the challenges I gave myself during this new bundle creation was to use non white background fabric for each sample. I really wanted to celebrate color and use it in different and saturated ways. For this sample I chose the Kona Cotton color Glacier. It is a deep teal/green color and it is gorgeous. I am so happy with how the color plays and makes all the other FQ colors pop in the quilt.
The first chain piecing section is the HSTs. We make them 8 at a time in this pattern and each block gets 8 HSTs.
The next section up are the Half Rectangle Triangles (HRTs). These little guys can be a bit of a struggle but once you get the hang of it, they really are so fun! I wrote a detailed blogpost about how to trim them here.
Trimming the HRTs probably is the part that takes the longest in the whole quilt process. Maechen loves to sew in large batches but if you are overwhelmed with this idea, I would suggest working block to block. It is a lot easier to manage and to jump "in and out of" the project this way.
The HRTs create the most precise and beautiful diamond units for the center of the Sienna Burst block. Love love love them!
The last separate batch sewing section is for the "bars" of the Sienna Burst quilt aka what I called the windows around the diamond center.
Now that all our pieces are assembled and pressed, it's time to batch sew all the blocks together! So at this point, Maechen went back through her photos of the block piles and put back together all the color combinations.
The Sienna Burst Quilt does involve sashing and cornerstones. So, now that all the blocks are ready, it is time to sew it all together!
This quilt really made all my color dreams come true. Having the darker saturated background really lets all the other colors shine while supporting the depth of the palette. So so happy with how it turned out.
We took this beauty out onto the streets of Portland and found this pretty wall!
All of my Rejoice Quilts went to Emily of So Sunny Quilts for longarm quilting here in Portland, Oregon. She was able to fit me into a tight turn around mid summer so I could fly these quilts to Hawaii!!
I really struggled trying to figure out what pantograph I wanted quilted on this one. Nothing too harsh or too soft. Nothing directional but also wanted some solid movement. And then what kind of thread? The same kind of darker green/teal but then it may be too bright on the lighter solids. It was a pickle. But, I am so happy with what we chose and how it all turned out.
We chose Hot Cross Buns for the pantograph and neon lime green thread! The perfect combination of angular lines to match the angles of the blocks but also some soft points to create a visual flow as well. Yummy.
We bound this quilt top in Kona Mango and backed it in Acid Lime. Also, I intentionally rented this hotel room for this photography session. It provides lot of fun little niches and corners to style the quilts at before we took them to the beach.
After we took some styled in door shots, Amy's family and my family all met at a beautiful beach just before dinner and sunset. We grabbed Thai food and had a picnic on the beach. The boys (Amy has two sons) all played in the water while Amy and I took photos. It was an incredibly windy night but it made for some stellar golden hour shots.
Right as the sun was setting Amy really wanted to go across the parking lot to this beautiful big green open space for a different look. The wind was wild but I love the change of scenery. Looking at these photos again feels like another lifetime already even though it was only 2 months ago.
I remember the warm breeze of this evening and I can feel it on my skin now when I close my eyes again. What a beauty place and I am so grateful we were able to photograph these quilts in Hawaii. Here is a wind swept, sandy but happy Meghan.
