Welcome to Week 1 of the Goldie Quilt SAL! This week we will be chatting about color palettes and your fabric pull. We will dive into what makes up the Goldie quilt block and I will provide a lot of mock ups to give you inspiration in your fabric pull. Next week, we will be cutting all of our fabrics.
BASIC INFORMATION
Be sure you have purchased the Goldie Quilt Pattern - PDF or Printed Pattern (USA only)
We will be making the Throw Size Goldie Quilt which finishes at 63" x 63"
I will be using the Electric Waves kit which includes 20 FQs (18 for blocks and 2 for Cornerstone 9 Patches) and then 9 F8s for the background fabric instead of yardage
The SAL will be hosted on Instagram, be sure your account is public so myself and everyone else participating can see your progress on the #goldiesal hashtag.
POST TO INSTAGRAM
Week 1: Introduce yourself and post a photo of your fabric pull and/or your coloring page if you haven't finalized your fabric yet. Be sure to use the #goldiesal hashtag to be entered into this week's giveaway.
You must post by Thursday February 2nd at 11:59pm PST to be entered into the Week 1 giveaway. Each week starts fresh on Fridays and the previous weeks post won't count for the next week's prize.
The weekly prizes will be the same throughout the SAL. One person will win the opportunity to get a 15 piece FQ bundle from me! You will be contacted when you win and then you get to let me know the color palette you are interested in - all blues, neutrals, rainbow, etc. And I will take your idea and build you a bundle! You get to also tell me if you want all solids, all prints or a mix. I can't wait to specially curate a new bundle each week! And yes, this is open to International participants.
A CLOSER LOOK AT THE GOLDIE BLOCK
The Goldie Quilt pattern is my ode to the Bear Paw design. I also really wanted to create a pattern based on using FQs but making it look scrappy. Keeping those two things in mind, let's take a closer look at the Goldie Quilt block.
I love the Goldie Block. We have 4 specific units or sections that create this block. We have the Cornerstone 9 Patch that is the center of the block. We have the strip pieced sashing units. Then we have the HSTs and background corner squares that create the "claws" of the Bear Paw section. And then the larger 9 Patches create the "palm" of the Bear Paw. Below is the Goldie Quilt block sectioned out.
So everything you see above EXCEPT for the teal color in the HSTs and the squares next to them comes from all of your FQs. The teal color is the only background fabric needed in each block. This is how the quilt feels scrappy without using scraps. I love the variety and mix + match quality the Goldie Quilt pattern provides without having to actually work piece by piece.
Also, as a note, in Week 3 the first thing we are sewing is the Cornerstone 9 Patches (baby 9 patches) because they are the center of every single block as well as cornerstones in the long sashing. So without these, we can't finish a block.
GOLDIE QUILT BACKGROUND CHOICES
There are two different ways you can pick your choice for the background fabric. You can use all the same fabric and buy yardage - 1 1/4 yards for the throw size. OR you can use a single F8 for each block and have the background fabric be different block by block.
Here are a couple mock ups to show you the difference. I am showing you the same block fabrics but the background will be the only difference. These mock ups use my TCJ Kona 20 piece FQ Bundle. The first mock up has yardage for the background, a light cream color. The second mock up uses a variety of soft blues/mint colors that are different in every block.
GOLDIE FABRIC CURATING TIPS
I will provide more mock ups later on to show lots of other ideas and differences but for now I wanted to give you a few color picking tips for curating the best Goldie bundle you can!
FOUR COLOR FAMILIES
For your 18 main block fabrics, I recommend highlighting 4 color families and creating depth in each one of those through a change in saturation. An example of 4 color families (yellow and golds, dusty pinks, coral/bright pink, and gray/dark blue) would be this mock up.
See how in the Yellow/Gold family is it a light yellow, sunshine yellow and into a deep gold? It all plays with the same idea "yellow" but with variety. And then with the Dusty Pinks the fabrics go from light blush to a dusty rose. And the Coral/Pink can be anything from a flame color to a bright pink. And finally the Dark Blue/Gray family is mostly a deeper saturated family group. But when you mix and match them all together, it creates this sparkly depth to the quilt and you have a lot of visual interest. And the fact that the swirl of colors happens in every block also gives consistency to the final aesthetic.
ONE TO TWO COLOR FAMILIES
If you want a bit more monochromatic palette, focus on one to two main color families and make sure you have lots of variety within those groups. Here is an example of this:
The two main color families in the mock up above are blue and green. Now the fun part of this is you can do warm and cool tones within a single color family. You can do a light cool blue, with a warm deep blue, to a bright saturated blue. And they all still read blue. And same goes for the greens, anything from pickle to leaf to some leaning minty green. If you really love a certain color, this may be the best way to play with it in Goldie!
And have no fear, we will talk about how to mix and match your cut pieces into block piles when we get there in Week 2 or 3!
SOLID MOCK UPS
Let's take a look at some more mock ups using only solid fabrics!
FOUR COLOR FAMILIES - YARDAGE BACKGROUND
FOUR COLOR FAMILIES - 9 F8 BACKGROUND
ONE TO TWO COLOR FAMILIES - YARDAGE BACKGROUND
ONE TO TWO COLOR FAMILIES - 9 F8 BACKGROUND
DIRECTIONAL + LARGE SCALE PRINTS
DIRECTIONAL FABRIC: If having directional prints all face the same direction is very important to you, DO NOT use directional prints in this quilt. I personally don't mind when it is a basic or geometric print - angular or stripes. I think it's kinda fun and adds to the variety in the top to have stripes go opposite directions randomly. But, if it were a cute print of people walking and then they end up sideways or upside down, it might bother me. Choice is yours.
LARGE SCALE PRINTS: No pieces within the Goldie quilt will be wider than 2" finished. If you don't mind a large scale print being chopped up and only seeing parts of it, then use it!
ALL PRINT GOLDIE MOCK UPS
SOLID + PRINT GOLDIE MOCK UPS
CORNERSTONE 9 PATCH
I am going to show you the difference the Cornerstone 9 Patches can make to the final quilt look. The Cornerstone 9 Patch is in every block and at the connection of the long strip pieced sashing. I am going to show you four different ways you can approach these units.
1. In the same color family as the 18 FQs but HIGH contrast between the 2 F8s.
2. In the same color family as the 18 FQs but LOW contrast between the 2 F8s.
3. Different from the 18 FQs and HIGH contrast between the 2 F8s.
4. Different from the 18 FQs but LOW contrast between the 2 F8s.
I am not going to change anything about the 18 FQs picked for the block colors, the only thing changing in these 4 mock ups are the Cornerstone 9 Patches. The mocks follow the order noted above of how you can approach the Cornestone 9 Patches.
WHAT I AM MAKING
I am making the Throw Size Goldie with a more monochromatic vibe for the 18 FQs in a variety of blues and teals, a low contrast Cornerstone 9 Patches and then a variety of yellows and golds in F8s for the background fabric. We have this in stock in our shop - the Goldie Quilt Kit - Electric Waves. I am sort of mixing all the ideas above into this sample. I am mixing solids and prints as well. When I was curating this bundle, I kept saying "this is crazy... should I make it crazier?" and I really love it. It's got a lot going on but I think it will be really fun to sew together.
Here is my bundle all together and then a few photos to show how it is separated out.
And here is my mock up for the general idea. You can see that each block has a different background fabric in yellows and golds and a variety of prints and some solids. Also, the Cornerstone 9 Patches are a low contrast combo that ties into the blues in the main blocks but has a tiny bit of peachy vibes. I know this may look a little wild for some but I think that is what will make sewing this quilt up really fun. So much variety and playfulness.
GOLDIE QUILT COLORING PAGE
The Goldie Quilt Pattern includes a coloring page. This is a great way to play with color ideas. You can also download the coloring page here.
AUSTRALIA SAL FRIENDS - Scribbly Gum Quilt Co has made a beautiful Goldie Quilt and they have a kit available for anyone who would love to make one too! It is such a happy cheerful palette. Grab the kit here.
GOLDIE QUILT BLOGPOSTS
I am going to link the blogposts I have written and shared about my Goldie samples. They are a great place to find inspiration and see other versions of this pattern.
SOLID + PRINT GOLDIE MOCK UPS
