Our newest Then Came June pattern is here - Simple Joys! And today I am sharing our cover quilt with you!
I was very unsure of which sample was going to be our official pattern cover. I kept going back and forth between this quilt and the Confetti sample. But I then decided I wanted the Medium Throw size sample to be the cover - this one finishes at 60" x 72". Once I decided I wanted the Medium Throw size, I had to finalize my palette.
The Medium Throw Simple Joys requires 7 FQs for Bar Blocks and 6 FQs for Cross Blocks with 2 1/2 yards of background fabric. I knew right away I wanted a punchy warm palette but with a more unexpected background color. The bright and warm oranges were fun to play with, especially when I added some corals, peaches, yellows. It was almost like a partial rainbow. Then I bypassed the greens and went straight to blues. Here are some mock ups of other background colors I played with until I landed on a soft purple called Freesia.
I almost chose this last one with Bella Spice. I really love how it made all the Cross Blocks really pop. But finally, I landed on Freesia.
I almost *never* sew with purple. I am not totally sure why but it's like the ONE color I really struggle to use. I can appreciate it and admire it but rarely do I gravitate towards it. But I did think that his soft lilac with some pink undertones was just perfect and a little different for me.
Here is what the fabrics look like in real life.
When I started sharing some of this quilt sample on social media, several people mentioned they could not tell that the background color was purple at all. It looked white to them. And I can see how that would happen but when it's against our bright white couch, it is so much more apparent and in real life you can tell easily too!
Above is how I divided the FQs into their Bar or Cross Block piles and I added the color names for anyone who wants to reference it.
And now here are my cut ribbons just waiting to be sewn together.
Bella Freesia is such a soft gorgeous purple. I am so happy we used it.
Simple Joys is a beginner friendly pattern and you get a lot of practice strip piecing while making it. The sewn ribbons are some of my favorite to watch grow and tumble and wiggle off the backside of my sewing machine.
And then before you know it, you have finished Bar Blocks and Cross Blocks!
Once all the blocks were ready, we put them up in their rows on the design wall. Simple Joys is meant to be freeing and fun and not over thought. I provide size by size diagrams on how to lay out your blocks. I intentionally alternate the Bar Blocks between horizontal and vertical orientation to create movement in the quilt. But you really just place your blocks where they go according to the diagram (going back and forth between Bar and Cross Blocks) but it's up to you with what fabric goes well. There is no rule for how to separate your colors.
Simple Joys is assembled row by row and you don't press any seams until all your rows are together. Once the rows are assembled, you press each row in opposite directions so when two rows get sewn together, the seams nest. It's my favorite way to assemble a quilt top. Most like a puzzle to me.
And before we knew it, we had a quilt top!
I sent this quilt top off to Emily of So Sunny Quilts and I knew right away I wanted to use the pantograph Moon Phases. I love this pantograph so much because the texture is creates is stunning. I used it on my COTY 2023 Nova Star and my Rejoice Meadowland.
Yummm, I love the small repetitive nature of the pantograph. We used a shiny gold colored thread and then I backed this in Bella Citrine and bound it in a lovely orange Broadstripe.
So we have learned that if we take photos and have that soft white rug with us, Redford immediately comes to me and wants to be in them. I think it is mostly he wants to lay on the super soft rug but I'm gonna believe it's because of me.
I have a few more photos to share with you! We did our Simple Joys kit launch a little differently this time where we provided two options - a full kit which includes the FQs and background needed or just a FQ only bundle. Find the Simple Joys Cover Kit + Bundle here. If you go the FQ only route, you can choose whatever background color you'd like (can scroll up for more inspo) or you can just use the FQs for whatever project you have in mind! It's fun to give people options.
