Oh my gosh, you guys -- I'm so smitten with a new quilt idea that I'm tempted to mask up and head to my not-quite-local quilt shop right NOW to buy fabric. Never mind that I'm still slogging away at the long arm machine on my Spirit Song quilt, or that my son's Beware the Ishmaelites sampler is still languishing, untouched and barely begun, and my Modern Baby Clam Shells quilt has been cut out and waiting for me to start piecing it for an entire year... I have eight works in progress at the moment, and I really have no business starting something new.
None of that stops me from wanting to start making THIS quilt:
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| 44 x 44 Baby Version of BERNINA's Summer Sparkle Quilt-Along |
Bernina has been hosting a quilt-along on their We All Sew blog featuring a pattern called "Summer Sparkle," designed by Faith Jones of Fresh Lemons Quilts. I love Faith's aesthetic and have admired her work for years. The pattern for this quilt is available on the We All Sew site for FREE here.
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| 50 x 60 Summer Sparkle, Designed by Faith Jones for BERNINA |
What do I love about Summer Sparkle? First of all, I'm a huge sucker for star quilts. I LOVE stars. Second, I love how Faith has taken the simple, traditional sawtooth star block and given it a fresh, contemporary feel with her use of a gradient color scheme and her asymmetrical alternate block based on a 5-patch grid. Plus, these 10" blocks should go together fairly quickly and the assembly of the top won't be a hassle, either, since there are no seams needing to be matched.
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| No Points to Match at Block Intersections Means Speedier Assembly of Quilt Top |
So I love the quilt pattern and think I might want to make it, but of course I had to tweak it first in my EQ8 quilt design software. I stuck with the 10" block size to keep things ruler-friendly for rotary cutting, but I reduced the number of blocks from 30 to 16. This will significantly reduce the required investments of time (and fabric) for making my version of Faith's quilt.
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| Recoloring in EQ8, Using Pinterest Images for Color Inspiration |
I also wanted to change up the colorway in my version. Faith's version in pinks and blues is lovely, but I'd rather not spend time making a quilt that looks exactly like everyone else's. I have a Pinterest board called Favorite Color Combinations that I refer to sometimes for palette inspiration, which is what I was doing in the screen shot above. I could do the same thing "in real life" at the quilt shop, by choosing a beautiful large scale, multicolor print bolt of fabric and then matching solid bolts of fabric to the colors in the print.
To bring my quilt up to a 44" x 44" size that would make a good baby gift, I added asymmetrical 2" borders with corner stones on just two diagonal corners. These borders have the added benefit of moving all of my star points away from the quilt binding, so I don't have to worry about cutting off star points when I bind the finished quilt. Win-Win!
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| The Colors I Ended Up With |
I saved my design and printed out my yardage and rotary cutting instructions, but I'm loathe to go buy more fabric for another project that I might not actually get started on, ever. I might just hang onto this one and pull it out the next time I have need of a baby quilt.
Is anyone else participating in Bernina's Summer Sparkle QAL? Maybe I just need to see some other versions to make up my mind. For now, I'm headed back to my long arm to continue quilting Spirit Song.
Stay safe and happy stitching, everyone!
I'm linking up today's post with:
MONDAY
TUESDAY
10 comments:
Oh, that's a lovely squirrel ;)) Beautiful quilt, I understand thet you want to make it right now!
a very summery quilt!
I love the colour palette you’ve chosen. Is this new quilt, or one from a few years ago? The links all use a date in 2014?
Oh that is a beauty! I hadn't seen the QAL, I understand your not wanting to start something new at the same time it is pulling you to join in. Stay strong and pin it for later;) Or maybe it is your reward for finishing your current quilt on the frame:0
You have the pattern worked out and on your computer. If it were me, I’d give myself a challenge to complete at least one if not 2 of my WIP before buying fabric. Then I would either cut the blocks or give myself another challenge to move one of your deadline quilts along to the completion phase before starting to sew the star block quilt. I still have projects lined up and it is more than 8. However most are much shorter in time than a quilt. I have 4 quilts in process tha I seem to work on once a year for about a week of time. One just needs the border quilted and bound. But a baby outfit must be done before the kid grows too big for it!
Go for it! Sometimes a new project is just the ticket to help you with another project that has been hanging about!
I love to see quilts made in a different colour way to the original. I think you need that trip to the quilt shop!
Helen
Hi,
Beautiful quilt...I do the same thing...see a pattern and I
want to do it right now..have a great day!
Pretty quilt!!! Don't tempt me!?! Happy belated birthday, also. Love the FMQ you've been doing, on your previous post.
Love your colours and tweaks, and totally agree with you about the genius of the design avoiding all those matched corners. Thanks for sharing at the Chameleon's Colour & Inspiration party.
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