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Sparkler is one of my favourite quilts to make. I love how it showcases the fabrics, plus it's so fun to watch the sparkler blocks come together. Quilt photography at the beach is a lot of fun, too!
For this version I used Imagine fabrics, designed by Kristy Lea for Riley Blake, which is shipping to stores now. Kristy, of course, is one of the ladies behind Make Modern magazine, which I highly recommend (and not only because they publish my patterns! It's a fabulous digital magazine 😊)
Did you see my quilt notecards that launched last week? I think this picture would make a great card, too!
This is Kristy's third fabric line (see the quilts I made with Create and Dream, too) and my fourth version of Sparkler. Click the links to see the original Sparkler, the blue one I made for Paul and the Snow Day baby size version.
Get the Sparkler pattern in my shop as either a PDF or a printed pattern (with free shipping). The pattern includes the throw size I've made here as well as baby and queen sizes.
We went on our first hike of the season this week and I saw my first dragonfly of the year while we were out on the hills overlooking the ocean. It's so much fun watching dragonflies dart around! I once had one land on my shoulder while we were camping, which was pretty cool.Paul was my photography assistant and when he saw me setting up this picture, he came over to add his coffee mug as a prop 😆
I love this print, with it's colour wheel of little shapes. In fact, I loved it so much I used it in white, green, orange and purple!
The purple looked perfect with these little beach pea plants.
Finishing at 52" wide, Sparkler was the perfect size to use one of the off-cuts of Warm and Natural batting from making a previous quilt. Yay for not needing to piece scraps together, but still getting to use some of the scrap batting!
I considered using white or grey thread for the quilting, but then I thought of using yellow (Aurifil 1135) and I'm so glad I did. The yellow just adds a little extra glow to it. I also considered doing custom quilting, with one motif in the coloured sparklers, another in the white ones and something else in the grey sashing. Then I remembered that a) I had a deadline for when to post the finished quilt and b) the forecast was calling for some very hot days. Since I don't have air conditioning, I don't quilt much when it's hot, which meant I needed a quick quilting option. As a bonus, the double loop quilting reminds me of the way dragonflies fly (they never fly straight for long!) and kind of echoes the circles of that colour wheel print.
I used the teal shooting stars print for the binding. I love how it frames the quilt and the shooting stars scattered around the edge of the quilt.
Sparkler is a confident beginner friendly pattern that comes together nice and quickly. There aren't any points to match up, either! Get the pattern now in my shop (PDF or printed) and don't forget to check your LQS for Imagine fabrics or you can get it online here.
Your Sparkler design is attractive, and drew my attention perhaps because I too have lately made some twirly-blocks. Such lovely fabrics, especially the rainbow circles on the white background. It's great that Paul assists with your photo shoots, even to adding accessories! You have a good-'un!
ReplyDeleteIt's awesome. I love her fabric collections. I have used yellow for quilting. It really blends in when needed, but also stands out a bit. Well done.
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