August 12, 2020

Level Up Quilt and Pattern Release

 I have been so looking forward to sharing this quilt and pattern with you today! Meet Level Up 😊 The pattern is now available in my Etsy shop.

Level Up quilt pattern | DevotedQuilter.com

These gorgeous, fun fabrics are from Create, Kristy Lea's debut line with Riley Blake, which is available in stores now. I've been following Kristy ever since I discovered quilt blogs, first at her blog Quiet Play, then with Make Modern (that one is an affiliate link - my love for MM is no secret) and Instagram. When she announced her fabric line, I immediately started writing her an email saying I wanted in on a blog hop to promote the fabric...without actually going to the Riley Blake website to see what the fabric looked like first! I just knew that if Kristy designed it, it would be beautiful...and it is! Full disclosure, I did go peek at the fabric before I sent the email, just in case, but I loved it at first sight 😊

Since one of my goals for 2020 is to make more small quilts, I made the baby size of Level Up. The pattern also includes throw and queen size instructions, in case small quilts are not on your list of goals for the year. Everyone likes options, right?

Aren't the geometric, rainbow bees fun? Especially with those hexies floating around them. The bees inspired the loopy meander quilting, which I'm saying resembles the flight path of bees as they meander around from flower to flower. These bees are probably very dizzy, though.

Level Up quilt pattern | DevotedQuilter.com
The two stripes Kristy created are fantastic. Both fabrics have the same bright rainbow, with little shapes inside some of the stripes, but one fabric alternates a white stripe with the rainbow colours and the other alternates a navy blue stripe. To me the white one feels fresh and summery and the navy one feels more serious and moody. It's funny what a difference that alternating stripe makes!
Level Up quilt pattern | DevotedQuilter.com

The star blocks are made with foundation piecing and the pattern includes tips for getting the stripes going the right way, if you're using stripes like I did. Figuring out how to get everything looking right while foundation piecing took a bit of work, but I'm so glad I did. I love my striped stars! And now you can piece striped stars without having to do all the work to figure it out!

As you can probably tell, I had a lot of fun with the quilting 😄 Just look at how it looks on the Confetti Cottons navy background!

free motion quilting in the Level Up quilt | DevotedQuilter.com

I used Aurifil thread 50 wt for all of the piecing and quilting. The loopy meander in the background is quilted with white (2024). I used 2024 for the back and forth lines in the white stripe parts of the stars, too, quilting the lines in the same direction as the stripes. Then I used 2785 for the navy striped pieces.

free motion quilting in the Level Up quilt | DevotedQuilter.com

I was really on a roll with the back and forth lines, so I did more in the plus blocks, still using 2785. I started out by echo quilting around the yellow center square on the first plus block before I quilted the rest of the plus. Then, halfway through quilting the second plus, I realized I forgot to echo quilt the yellow square, so the quilting went right up to it. There was no way I was going to rip out all that quilting, so I thought 'Design Element!' and then echoed around only half of the yellow squares. I doubt anyone will even notice the difference.

After quilting the pluses, I quilted a square spiral in the yellow centers with Aurifil 1135. All of this is done freehand, so there's not a single line that is perfectly straight, but I love the wobbliness of the lines.

free motion quilting in the Level Up quilt | DevotedQuilter.com

I love the texture on the back!

free motion quilting in the Level Up quilt | DevotedQuilter.com

The texture is pretty good from the front, too.

Level Up quilt pattern | DevotedQuilter.com

Nathan and I took the quilt to the beach for pictures. I wasn't sure how it would go, since white can be so hard to photograph, especially in bright sunlight. The pictures turned out surprisingly well, though. It helps when you have beautiful, Newfoundland scenery as the backdrop 😊

Level Up quilt pattern | DevotedQuilter.com
The navy stripe is the perfect binding! I will definitely be stocking up on it...and the white one, too. 
Level Up quilt pattern | DevotedQuilter.com

There was a bit of a breeze at the beach, which made getting pictures a little tough. Nathan was a good sport, though.

Level Up quilt pattern | DevotedQuilter.com

I send all of my patterns to Yvonne, at Quilting Jetgirl, for technical editing before I release them. She checks the math and cutting directions, checks that all the templates are the right size, etc. This time I sent her a file that was called "Unnamed quilt pattern" because I could not for the life of me think of a name for this one. I told her that if she had any ideas, I was taking suggestions and a little later she sent me a short list of possibilities. Level Up was the first on the list and I knew it was perfect as soon as I read it. Yvonne said the stars and pluses reminded her of new lives and power ups in video games, which was her inspiration for the name. So thank you, Yvonne! Level Up sounds so much better than Unnamed, lol.

Level Up is available in my Etsy shop, as either a PDF or a printed pattern. PDFs are ready for download immediately. Printed patterns are technically a pre-order right now as the pattern file has been sent to the printer  and I'm just waiting for them to get here. I'll ship them out as soon as they arrive, which should be early next week. I offer free shipping on printed patterns, too. 

Level Up quilt pattern | DevotedQuilter.com

As I've said before, I'd love it if you'd pin this image to Pinterest, to help other quilters find the Level Up pattern. Every little bit of extra exposure helps 😊 Thank you!

Level Up quilt pattern | DevotedQuilter.com

Don't forget to get your copy of Level Up in the print or PDF version 😊

Also, did you know that I'm having a rare sale (50% off!) on a selection of my printed patterns? You can see all the details in this post.


I'll be linking up with NTT, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop, TGIFF and Beauties Pageant and Sarah's Show Me Something with Stripes party.

11 comments:

  1. Congratulations on the pattern release, Leanne!!

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  2. Congratulations. It's a great pattern and great quilting job.

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  3. Great colour combination with the navy pluses making the rainbow stars pop. I just received my FQ bundle of Create so I've got to put my thinking cap on for a project.

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  4. Good for you to find such a lovely way to use Kristy's fabrics. It's gorgeous! I'm glad Yvonne could help you come up with a name... the most difficult part of quiltmaking, I think! Best wishes with pattern sales!

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  5. Another terrific design Leanne! Of course you know I absolutely love and study all the quilting too and I am a 100% on board with your design element LOL first heard of that from Angela Walters. Used it e er since. Kristy sure did create a gorgeous line. I think some of her stripes have my name on it for binding.

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  6. Congratulations on your pattern!

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  7. Congrats on the release one yet another brilliant pattern, Leanne!

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  8. Beautiful quilt and pattern. I love how it turned out. Those fabrics are perfect for it.

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  9. I LOVE this quilt! It's so bright and the fabric and quilting really adds to the overall appeal. The beach photos are gorgeous!

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  10. I love star motifs and plus signs in my quilts ... This design offers the best of both worlds!

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  11. What a great way to feature striped fabric. And your quilting looks fabulous! Thank you for linking up to Show Me Something with Stripes!

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