Right after I came on board See How We Sew last summer, conversations began to stir about designing a blog Quilt-Along. Darra, Laura, Jennifer, and I were excited to create something together to share with our readers. In reality, though, none of us were sure where to begin. A blank canvas is probably the hardest place to nurture inspiration, especially with a quartet of opinionated women. For us, a couple of little ideas sparked a true collaboration.
Before I reveal our wonderful Quilt-Along quilt, I thought it would be fun to share a bit of the creative process involved over the past few months and a behind-the-blog peek. So read on . . . and no scrolling ahead!!!!
In our first brainstorming session, we decided on a layout inspired by a quilt I made years ago, Baltimore Yo Yo’s.
At the time, Laura and Jennifer were totally in love with the fabric line, Collage by Carrie Bloomston, so our inspirational fabrics and color palette were easy decisions.
Jennifer was going through a “circle” phase then and so she suggested using circles as a recurring theme to give our quilt design continuity.
We began our project as a round-robin, building from the center and out. It was a given that our spherically motivated Jennifer should start us out with a center medallion. What an incredible job she did!
Next would be four rectangular panels to wrap around the center. Darra and I decided to work together on this. For variety, two panels were designed with simple vines of circular blossoms, while the latter two were designed with fuller clusters of blooms.
To finish our colorful, whimsical garden, Laura took over to add the setting triangles. As birds and birdhouses are a natural addition to a garden setting, Laura designed an adorable chirping bird and his birdhouse . . .
And then, she repeated it for every corner: there are no run-of-the-mill setting triangles for this project!
And this is how, dear readers, we came to create our whimsical Quilt-Along for See How We Sew. We hope you love it as much as we do. We also hope that you follow along over the next few months as we share our steps for creating . . .
Blackbirds & Blossoms – -Oh-La-La!
In Friday’s post, we will deliver the fabric requirements for the Quilt-Along. And then, each month, we will supply directions for each section and we will also share tips and tricks to bring your garden to life. Jennifer will begin our first round of the Quilt-Along at the end of May. Get your stash ready and mark you calendar.
Not interested in making the entire quilt? That’s okay! You might find inspiration for your own riff. We will be sharing ideas, projects and video tutorials along the way that focus on doable weekend projects using the individual blocks. So join us for all the fun! I can’t wait to get started! See you on Friday!
Announcing Our Lucky Winners!
The winners of the Modern Robe pattern from Laura’s post last week are:
Pat T and Katina Chapman
