One night in December, I'm thumbing my way through Instagram when I notice a post from Amanda of Westwood Acres Fabric. She was selling her Fall Market Stash, including charm packs of Bonnie & Camille's new spring line: April Showers. Hmmm it took me roughly two seconds to decide to jump at the chance of grabbing some April Showers. (The blues are absolutely gorgeous and this line is in my "comfort" color scheme). I jumped on and grab three sets. Why three?
Last month I won a copy of Love Patchwork and Quilting's first issue and on the cover is Holly DeGroot's The Plus Side quilt. I swooned. I loved the simplicity and boldness of the pattern. The quilt was screaming "MAKE ME." And so I responded, in kind :)
The pattern requires three charm packs (so that you have three matching 5" squares, but you can easily just cut out 3, 5" squares if you choose to do this pattern). The pattern also provides measurements if you choose to use different fabrics for each block background, or if you want to use one consistent block background. I've been hesitant to join the modern quilting trend of low volume fabrics and didn't feel like it was quite "my style." However, after seeing this quilt, I felt confident to try a "new thing." It was my spark! Don't you just love inspiration?!?
Progress:
I started the quilt on a whim late Friday night (I even "Instagramed" it with the hashtag #measurethreetimes) because I was worried I would cut my precious fabric incorrectly. (After all, they're currently my substitute for children). First I separated out all of the low volume April Showers charms and set them aside. Next comes the process of laying out the low volume backgrounds so that I could get them to "look" random. Then I played with placement of the April Shower charms, again to make them "look" random.
Then I finally started to piece the blocks together and I am halfway done! 10 more blocks to go and I am enjoying the process.
Thinking this one is my favorite so far.
Howie likes this one more.
So far, I love this pattern! I would highly recommend it to a beginner or seasoned quilter. It's a great pattern to show off your fabric and to play with the low-volume trend. What do you think of low volume fabrics?
Details:
Pattern: The Plus Side (From Love Patchwork and Quilting's Issue One)
Designer: Holly DeGroot
Fabrics: April Showers from Moda's Bonnie & Camille
Low Volume Fabrics: Happy-Go-Lucky from Bonnie & Camille, Waterfront Park from Violet Craft, Nottinghill from Art Gallery, Moda's Surrounded by Love, Chicken Wire from Moda Classics, and Kona White.
Wow. This is looking awesome. I want to do one now too! The only problem: I don't have a good stash of low-volumes, so I think I need to head to the quilt shop... :)
ReplyDeleteThis is going to look great. Your LV stash must be awesome:)
ReplyDeleteI love this quilt! Holly is so nice--she helped me make a different kind of plus quilt once and was so fast to respond to my questions. I am a little jealous of your new fabric! I always buy stuff hoping to make something earlier rather than 3 years after it comes out and you are way,way ahead of the game! The low volume background is really on trend and I like it!
ReplyDeleteLooks like a really fun quilt.
ReplyDeleteThe low-volume backgrounds are such a great idea. I'm totally going to try that in the next quilt I'm designing! So glad you shared this :)
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