The summer season is always an interesting one for our small but mighty quilt studio. First and foremost, school lets out, and we are all moms of school age kids, so right away our regular schedules are out the window. Then you throw in travel and impromptu pool days and the odd summer cold. And that's just for the three of us in the studio. There is nothing predictable about summertime customer behavior. Some years, it seems quilters are still quilting like crazy. Some years, sales drop dramatically. Some years, everyone seems to be waiting for that big summer sale. We have pretty much stopped trying to predict or fully understand what summer in the studio will look like, and just roll with it. So last July, when we noticed a substantial uptick in sales for Seeing Double - an early days TCJ pattern - we decided to forget trying to figure out why and just take it as inspiration to sew one of our own.
Meet Desert Skies.
Seeing Double is a TCJ take on the classic gingham and buffalo check design. The pattern is beginner friendly and incredibly fast. The pattern includes three sizes, and Desert Skies is a throw size, finishing at 59" x 67". This is a perfect weekend project as we head into cozy fall season. Turn on some Gilmore Girls, make a mug of tea, and sew a quilt!
Given that it was the middle of summer as we were conceiving of this version of Seeing Double, Meghan leaned all in on the happy, joyful, carefree, lazy days of childhood summer. Using only bolts we had on hand, she pulled together this palette, drawing inspiration from the summer desert skies of her childhood in Phoenix, AZ.
From top to bottom in the image above, we used the following fabrics for our Desert Skies Seeing Double quilt: Ruby + Bee Starling, Bella Dusty Jade, Carolina Gingham in 1/4" Periwinkle, Carolina Gingham in 1/4" Royal Blue, Bella Electric Lemon, Ruby + Bee Glow, Bella Peony, Bella English Rose, and Ruby + Bee Field Mouse.
A Seeing Double quilt starts with choosing your three fabric sets. In the pattern, these are referred to as a Dark, Medium, and Light Set, but as you can see here, you can get creative in your choices. In the above photo, our sets are laid out with the Dark Set (Royal Blue Gingham, Electric Lemon, Dusty Jade) on the left, Medium (Glow, Field Mouse, Periwinkle Gingham) in the center, and Light (English Rose, Peony, Starling) on the right.
Once you have your sets, it's time to strip piece until you just can't strip piece anymore. Above you can see the Dark Set getting strip pieced...
...and the Medium and Light Sets! Ta da!
For fans of quick piecing, your fun is not over yet. All those strip pieced and trimmed units get chain pieced together in Dark/Medium/Light Units that will then make up your blocks.
Before sewing our units into blocks, we took some time to lay out our finished units to see if we like where this quilt was headed. Spoiler, we very much liked what we were seeing.
Each and every block goes together in exactly the same way. When we say this quilt top goes together fast, we truly mean it.
Before sewing your Seeing Double top up, you will cut some of your finished blocks in half, and then some of those halves in half again. Lay the whole thing out, and then you will sew the diagonal rows together.
Ready for the good stuff?
We sent Desert Skies off to Emily at So Sunny Quilts for long arming, who quilted the Retro Sheets pantograph over top in a fun shiny gold thread.
We used solids we had on hand to back and bind Seeing Double Desert Skies. Sorry, no recollection of which ones specifically.
And that's it. Our childhood, fun-in-the-sun, lazy summer days inspired Seeing Double quilt. If you're looking for a quick weekend make, grab the pattern now! Also, this quilt is a great example of one of our unofficial TCJ life tenants:
NO BORING NEUTRALS. Help us spread this very important message with a sticker, available now in our shop.