Hi! If today's blog looks or feels a little different, it's because Meghan has released me from behind the sewing machine to tell you all the story of our most recent Sugar Quilt, the Scrappy Rainbow one. So, a quick introduction before we dive in: I'm Alysson, I've been working with Meghan for about 5-and-a-half years, and I'm excited to add my voice to sharing what goes on in our pretty, light filled TCJ studio.
Here's a little behind the scenes: Often the samples we sew are decided, at least in part, by what kits or bundles we are introducing to the shop and want to show off. Rarely do we just get to play. This Sugar Quilt was all play.
The Sugar Quilt Pattern offers instructions for a baby size quilt all the way up to a king size. We chose to do a Large Throw. And to not repeat any fabrics in any blocks. So fifty-six blocks. Fifty-six pairs of fabric. 112 individual fabrics.
We knew we wanted to play in gradients, working in both a very saturated gradient moving from lemon yellows to indigo blues, as well as a low volume gradient, from whites and creams all the way through corals and pinks. We decided to pair these gradients together, starting with the least contrast at the top, and weaving through the quilt as the contrast grew starker and starker. Meghan put together a mock-up to just give us an idea of the color story, and then she set me loose on her personal stash.
My fellow quilters. I have organized Meghan's personal stash of fabric. I have rainbow-a-tized those cupboards, packed those cupboards into boxes, and then rainbow-a-tized it all again. But I had not ever been granted access to play in that personal stash of fabric. It was a dream.
One-hundred-and-twelve fabrics later, it was time to get to work.
We kept our dark pile and our light pile separated as we worked, and were very intentional of the stacked gradients; each fabric was stacked exactly to match its buddy. This took some work to keep organized, but was so worth it to avoid sewing a woven to a woven, and to keep pairings we were really excited about together.
We were able to batch sew these blocks, working in small enough numbers to keep the gradient straight and to break up some of the HST trimming. There are A LOT of HSTs to trim. I'm not sure that's anyone's favorite part of quilting, but the pretty pretty trimming scraps are always a nice treat.
I mean, it's just so good, right? Every block I finished became my new favorite, and every finished block added to the design wall made us that more excited to see the whole thing put together.
These blocks were really fun and fast to put together (yes, even with all the trimming), and almost before I was ready to be done, I was sewing the last rows to each other, and we had a fully finished top. It was the first day of Spring in Portland, and our iconic waterfront cherry blossoms were in full bloom, so we decided to take a field trip, join the crowds, and snap some pictures.
It was just a little windy.
But we got it in the end. Both the cherry blossoms and Sugar put on quite the show for us.
Some more glamour shots back at the studio, and then she was off for finishing touches. This Sugar just does not have a bad angle. She's so fun.
Rainbow Scrappy Sugar was quilted by Ashley from Hen House Quilting. The pantograph is a non-directional fluffy rainbow called, appropriately, Rainbow Fluff, . The neon green thread is such a fun and unexpected pop on a quilt already full of visual surprises. The backing is Bella Solids in Avocado, and we bound it in a royal blue Carolina Gingham.
And that's The Scrappy Rainbow Sugar. Thanks for letting me tell you all about it. You'll hear more from me in this space - we have so many fun projects we've wrapped up that we are bursting to tell you about. In the meantime, if you like quilts, books, and fluffy white puppies, you can find me @wellreadquilter on Instagram.
