Blush Fabrics Blog Tour
I was completely shocked, excited and humbled to have Dana of Made Everyday reach out to me to ask if I would participate in her blog tour for her recent line, Blush by Art Gallery Fabrics. I was ecstatic! And then.. I panicked: what do I make? which quilt might best showcase these vintage-inspired prints? aaaand, how will I ever decide which prints to use?!! With 16 quilting cottons to choose from (and I'm obviously not going to greedily ask for 'one bolt of everything, please!'), I had to make some tough choices. Should I go with my tried and true blues? Or maybe switch it up with the pinks? Ultimately, I decided to work with the yellows and greens: Floret Bright, Hex Teal, Mod Paper Citrus, Cat Nip Mint and Retro Petal Mint, and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out!
I love how crisp Art Gallery Fabrics are right off the bolt. They're not stiff, but they can hold their shape without much attention and are still super soft! I'm not a big fan of pre-washing (more laundry?! no thanks.) or starching, and these quilting cottons require neither! (though you can if you want to). So, armed with a hot, dry iron, my pattern measurements and a fresh rotary blade, I pressed my fabrics and got to cutting.
I was eager to use these fabrics to make a quilt that would not only showcase the large scale prints but also embrace the retro style. For a long time I've wanted to make a quilt based on one of my favorite architectural concrete blocks that can be found in mid century design, and these fabrics were the perfect opportunity to finally create it!
Before I knew it, I had all of my pieces cut and organized, and I was ready to start piecing! Pressing is necessity, cutting requires precision, but piecing is easily my favorite part of the quilting process (as evidenced by my stack of UFO quilt tops). There is something quite meditative about running piece after piece through the machine, creating a bunting banner of raw-edged fabrics that you’ll get to press and sew over and over again. It's so fun to see the quilt coming together and the unintentional pattern matching that happens along the way. And when the seams nest perfectly together? Swoon!
With the quilt top complete, I quickly pieced the backing together with Cat Nip Mint, taking care to match up those adorable teal-aqua kitties as best I could (because, look at those cute little faces!). I made surprisingly quick work of pin basting this throw size and then it was on to the quilting - but not before I procrastinated a bit by pre-making the binding in Mod Paper Citrus. This bright golden yellow color is gorgeous!
It’s very rare that I choose a quilting design before it’s time to put the quilt sandwich to my machine, and this was no exception. After marking up several ideas on my quilt top with my Hera marker, I finally opted with simple straight-line quilting and got to work. I’m pretty pleased with the results!
Want the pattern? Haver Square is available in my shop!