Bright Side is a block based mix and match quilt pattern. It includes four sizes and you can use FQs, Half Yards or your scraps as well as some background fabric. For this Backyard Party, I used 20 out of 24 of my FQs from the Revive Bundle and used Kona White for my background fabric. You can see in the photo below, the 4 FQs at the very top were the ones I left out for this quilt.
In some of my other samples, I had to leave out a few FQs here or there but for this one specifically, I really wanted to play up the blues, greens and teals the most. I didn't want to neutrals to dominate too much. So this is the mock up I created to confirm my wants:
This quilt was the first thing I sewed in my new studio this last spring. The room was such a blank slate and I was learning the light in here for photographs.
The project was the perfect one to help me get back into the swing of creating. It was easy to cut, easy to sew, could do block one here and one block there. It didn't feel like an overwhelming quilt to take on.
The texture play in this quilt really makes me happy. Each block has 3 different fabrics in it (besides the background) and to see how they play off each other creates such variety. There can be a mix of brights, the a metallic marble and maybe a soft linen.
The sashing on this quilt is skinner than some of my other patterns but I love how it's just a little frame between the blocks.
Before I knew it, I had a quilt top finished!
Because this was made right after we moved in, I didn't have a lot of furniture for my studio or even some rooms in the house. What that did create was a nice big blank canvas for photos!
This was the last quilt to send off to Kaitlyn for longarm quilting. Kaitlyn suggested a pantograph called Chevron Tumblers - Grande and it turned out SO good. I love love the movement and the sharp lines but still a soft overall look.
I chose to bind this top in Kona Peach, the same color in the Revive Bundle. I love how the binding ties in the Peach in the quilt top too.
I fell down the stairs holding our puppy and broke my toe - 2 days before this shoot. These photos of me on the living room floor were suppose to capture me in our new house. And in literal terms it did but what you don't see is the entire hour I cried to Amy my photographer right after she shot these images. The year of 2021 was the hardest one of my life and my mental health was awful. Amy simply asked me "How are you?" and I just lost it. It is strange to look back at these images now, 8 months later, and see how sad my eyes were, my body posture, how exhausted my spirit was, everything. But I wouldn't change it, I have grown and evolved and learned so much since these photos were taken. And I am grateful that I have snapshots of my life in this way.
After I collected myself and we snapped more images of the individual quilts, we took them upstairs to shoot some shots on the bed. I had to put my boot on to actually walk and Amy shot a couple photos to show real life ha.
And here is the beautiful flat lay shot that Robert Kaufman took for marketing purposes. I love this quilt.
