8 Point Meadow in Make Modern

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It has been a while since I had a quilt published in Make Modern magazine (I think the last one was Illusion, back in January of 2023), so I'm excited to say I have a baby quilt in the brand new issue that was just published. Meet 8 Point Meadow!

Okay, as far as quilt names go, that's not one of the greats 😆 Why is naming quilts so hard?? I came up with 8 Point Meadow because the star block is called 8 Point Star in EQ8 and, with the green background, the pink, purple, orange, and yellow stars reminded me of wildflowers.

I think this was the first time I made a quilt with the blocks on point. I love how it changes the whole look of the block. Here's the block set normally; it looks straighter and less interesting, somehow. 

But tip it 45° and it looks more dynamic. 

The star points are paper pieced. I know it's possible to piece that unit traditionally, but I really like the simplicity and accuracy of paper piecing it. Of course, I used freezer paper for the paper piecing, so I didn't have to remove the paper from the blocks when they were finished (it's the only way I paper piece!). You can learn this magic, too!

I don't have a lot of pink, purple, yellow, or orange fabrics in my stash, but I was able to pull enough for this baby quilt without repeating any.

For the quilting, I chose not to quilt the star points at all. They're outlined and the whole background is quilted with a dense, loopy meander, which really makes the stars pop. They show up beautifully on the back, too.

The loopy meander quilting always makes me think of eyelet lace for some reason. It gives the quilt fantastic texture, too.

I wanted the stars to be the sole focus, so I used the same green for the binding and the background. Now that I think about it, I could also have done a facing to achieve the same effect, but I never think of that. Binding is just automatic.

For the pattern for 8 Point Meadow, along with 9 other projects and some great columns, get your copy of Make Modern issue 66. Or subscribe to get 6 issues a year, all of them full of inspiration and eye candy 😊 Make Modern is celebrating their 11th birthday, so subscribers get a fun bonus pattern, too!

Showstoppers Quilt

I love getting to share a new scrappy pattern with the Stash Artists members every other month! For the September pattern, I designed a fat quarter-friendly pattern called Showstoppers.

There are so many things I love about this quilt! First, the big, bold flower blocks. They make me think of the biggest, showiest flowers in the garden, which is how the quilt got its name.

Then there's the shape of the negative space around the flowers. I love the curvy diamond shape on each side, but more than that, I love the way the four curvy diamonds around a flower seem to create the illusion of a larger black shape behind the flower. Can you see that?

And then there's the partial flower blocks that create the border around the full blocks. They give the quilt a more interesting look than if the quilt were entirely made of full flower blocks. I made the baby quilt, and the pattern includes instructions for throw and queen size, both of which also have the partial blocks on the edges.

If you're not comfortable sewing curved seams yet, I have a tutorial for how to sew Drunkard's Path blocks. I promise they're not as scary as they look!

That being said, something was going crazy in the sewing room when I sewed mine because every single one turned out wonky. Every. Single. One. There was no way I was redoing them, so I eased in fulness as needed and there were a few ¼" seams that weren't as precise as usual as I assembled the blocks. The blocks turned out surprisingly well, though, and then I didn't need to fudge things much to put the quilt top together. I've always said I could never be a carpenter because there's no 'easing in' when you're working with wood. Fabric, on the other hand, is quite forgiving! And remember, finished is better than perfect 😊

The folks at The Warm Company sent me a shipment of Warm and Natural batting recently (it's my favourite!), and this was the first quilt made with the new batting. Yes, I still have an abundance of batting scraps, but they're all pretty small now and I was getting tired of piecing multiple scraps together for everything. I have a plan for a series (or two!) of mini quilts next year, though, and those scraps will be perfect for that.

I wanted to use black solid for the back of the quilt, but didn't have enough. I did have enough navy, though, and that was neutral enough for me. Especially on a scrap quilt, I don't feel like the back has to be a perfect match. 

As a bonus, the navy does a nice job of showing off the purple quilting thread! With so many colours on the front, ranging from black to almost-white, it was hard to choose a thread colour for the quilting. Black was out, because it would be too dark on the light fabrics. White, beige, and light grey were all out because they'd be too light on the black. I tested teals, blues, pinks, medium greys, and purples (all Aurifil 50 wt), and 4225 (Eggplant) ended up being my favourite. As you've probably noticed in the pictures, the purple does show up, but there was really no way to avoid that unless I switched thread for every flower and the background, which didn't fit the all-over quilting I wanted to do.

I chose an all-over flowery meander, which makes me think of the smaller flowers in the garden. It felt like the perfect complement to the big flower blocks.

We went to the beach Friday for one last picnic supper before school started, and I wandered around taking pictures of Showstoppers while Paul barbecued. I love the light in this picture.

If you love scrappy quilts as much as I do, join the Stash Artists waiting list to be notified when the membership doors open again later in the fall. 

What colour would the background of your Showstoppers quilt be? I'd love to see it with a white background or a pale green. This is one of the many, many reasons I love quilting - there's always another option you could try, even when making the same pattern again!