Prickly Pear Quilt

There’s a new quilt pattern in my SHOP called Prickly Pear and you’re in for a real treat but first there’s a little notice I need to talk about that affect changes to my newsletter sign ups.

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Now, let’s get to the quilt show!

Prickly Pear Quilt Show

I’m thrilled to bring you the newest quilt pattern in my Shop called Prickly Pear. This PDF pattern comes in three sizes: Crib, Double (full), and for the first time ever offered in one of my patterns, a king-size quilt!

I ended up making two quilt samples; a crib and a double. The crib size was made first while I was testing the pattern and waiting for the rest of my Lilliput collection to arrive. Let me introduce you to each of the quilts I stitched, then have you meet the quilt testers who also made versions of this pattern.

First up is the cover quilt for the pattern. It’s the smallest size, finishing at 50” square and really an oversized crib quilt. I was excited to mix prints from my Spirited and Kismet collections for this quilt as I’d not had a chance to combine the two collections before. They were meant to be together! That pop of solid red is Art Gallery Fabrics Pure Solids PE-456 Aurora Red.

This is a very traditional color palette but looks fresh and modern in this quilt.

I’ve been wanting to try rayon as a backing fabric for some time now and had this AGF Luna and Laurel rayon on hand which was the perfect look with this palette. Brooke Becker of Lady Belle Fabric did the long arm quilting on this quilt as I have to admit I was a little nervous about quilting with a rayon backing on my own. Brooke took a little extra time and slower speed but said it quilted beautifully and when asked, said she’d absolutely do it again—which I take as the best recommendation to use rayon as a backing again in the future!

For batting, I used Hobbs Tuscany Silk Blend batting and together with a rayon backing and Art Gallery Fabrics percale-like quilting cottons this quilt feels like a cloud and the drape is amazing!

This crib quilt is available as a kit from Lady Belle Fabrics and Brooke can even do the quilting for it as well. I used the Ginger Flower quilting design she offers and I love the playful floral and curly-q design.

Get the Kit HERE

Photo courtesy of Lady Belle Fabric

The second quilt I made was in the double-size (or full) and I used Art Gallery Fabrics Pure Solids and prints from my new Lilliput collection.

I took cues from the pattern name for this color palette and my Lilliput collection has the most amazing green prints and beautiful blushing peach prints paired with Snow and Tender Green AGF Pure Solids—it was a match made in heaven!

I’d set up the guest bed for photographing the quilt and it still remains on that bed—I love it so much and it feels like summer time when I walk in that room—it’s prettier than my master bedroom!.

Brooke Becker of Lady Belle Fabric also did the long arm quilting on this quilt and we selected the design called Peek Bloom. I backed and bound the quilt in the same Lilliputain print from Lilliput for a whole cloth-look backing if the quilt were reversed.

Lady Belle Fabric also has kits for this double-size quilt in this coloring/fabrics. Be sure to act fast if you’re wanting either one of the kits as they sell out fast!

Get the Kit HERE

Photo courtesy of Lady Belle Fabric

I used Hobbs Heirloom Premium 100% Bleached Cotton batting for this quilt and it’s the perfect drape and weight for a classic quilt feeling. I like to use a bleached cotton batting with a white background for the brightest white quilt.

Meet the Testers

For sometimes a couple months before a quilt pattern release I have quilt testers stitching behind the scenes making versions of the quilt and of course double checking everything in the pattern as is it should be. These testers are the most amazing ladies and so talented! I say this every quilt release but they’ve really out done themselves this time and three of them even made the king-size version of Prickly Pear!

Prickly Pear quilt made by Sharon Holland

If you remember with the last quilt release, South Paw, I had not only made the normal Meet the Tester collage that I do for my tester’s quilts but we added an additional feature of including pinned inspirational images we’d gathered from Pinterest. The testers and I use the inspiration images to help with the quilt color story and the vibe we want our quilt to have. You’d be amazed how this helps us all stay focused on the mood of the quilt and even helps when it comes to photography time. Above is the mood board for the full size Prickly Pear quilt I made and you can see the southwest desert influence in my color choices and images.

Prickly Pear quilt made by Sharon Holland

For my crib quilt I went a mix of Victorian-Boho-Free People, if that’s even a thing, I don’t know but am hoping the added inspiration images help to convey that energy I wanted to capture in this quilt.

Prickly Pear quilt made by Mary Gove

Mary Gove is a delight and always a surprise to me when I see what she creates from my quilt patterns. Mary made this king-size Prickly Pear for herself and her color palette is inspiration in itself! She used all AGF Pure Solids in the most sophisticated and cool-girl color way—it’s sublime! Be sure to follow Mary on Instagram @thecurlyquilter.

Prickly Pear quilt made by Brittany Tunison

Brittany has a great eye for mixing prints and chose Amy Sinibaldi’s new Velvet line from Art Gallery Fabrics together with AGF Wicked Sky Smooth Denim for a quilt that really shines. This is the crib size quilt and is a kit available in Brittany’s shop White Plains Quilts. You can also find Brittany on Instagram @brittanytunison.

Prickly Pear quilt made by Joyce Ulm

Joyce Ulm is a powerhouse quilter and fearless! This is another of the king-size Prickly Pear quilts made and is stunning. Not only did Joyce make the quilt but she made the entire bed ensemble complete with toss pillows from my pattern seen in the Fall 2020 issue of Quilts and More to the pillow shams. The entire look is perfection! If you’d like to make a quilt like Joyce has in a king or a double-size, Country Chick Fabrics is offering kits in both sizes, find the KING HERE and DOUBLE HERE. See more of Joyce’s work on Instagram @evamaecustomquilts, Etsy shop, and on her Facebook blog HERE, and does long arm quilting as well!

Prickly Pear quilt made by Marija Vujcic

I love how working with my quilt testers I can start to see their personalities show through in their work and Marija Vujcic is a classic example of how knowing your style can translate through your work and create a signature look. Marija’s not intimidated by color and loves it pure and saturated. She used Katarina Roccella’s Aquarelle collection for Art Gallery Fabrics to create a crib-size quilt that looks picnic-ready for summertime. Her inspiration images bring the quilt full circle and makes me want to take a trip to Nantucket just to stay in that scene longer. Follow this talented lady on Instagram Marija Vujcic and on her blog at Mara Quilt Designs. Her passion for sewing and life has no bounds!

Prickly Pear quilt made by Megan Eckroth

Megan Eckroth also made a king-size Prickly Pear quilt and is planning an entire master bedroom makeover around this quilt. I loved seeing how Megan took the Ruggable inspiration image and translated that room into a fabric pull for her quilt. She really nailed it and now has the dreamiest king quilt for her bed! Megan used a mix of Art Gallery Fabric Pure Solids, with prints by Bonnie Christine for her Her and History collection and the AGF Studio Luna and Laurel collection. Be sure to follow Megan on Instagram, FB, and her Etsy Shop and see more of what this gifted maker has to share.

Prickly Pear quilt made by Christine Trotta

Christine Trotta has a flare for florals and a sweet bohemian/coastal style that is elegant and casual all at once. Christine used Art Gallery Fabrics Aurus Pure Solid with Amy Sinibaldi’s new Velvet collection to make this crib-size Prickly Pear version. This captivating quilt is being kitted by Christine in her Serendipity in Love Creations shop. You can also follow Christine on her Blog as well as her Instagram account @serendipityinlovecreations.

Prickly Pear quilt made by Shannon Staton

Shannon Staton of Pennily Quilt Shop has made a double-size Prickly Pear quilt that she’s kitting. This bold and beautiful quilt is made using Art Gallery Fabrics new Adina collection mixed with coordinating Pure Solids. Find the fun kit at Shannon’s Etsy shop Pennily Quilt Shop. You will also find Shannon on Instagram @shannonsquiltingadventures.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the Prickly Pear quilt show today and are inspired to make one of the kit versions or strike out on your own and create something uniquely you!

For other sewing inspiration, be sure to check out the Art Gallery Fabrics Lilliput Look Book that was released last week. It’s a virtual magazine full of Lilliput fabric projects and ideas—you’ll love it! I’m planning an entire future blog post, maybe two to show you more behind the scenes and images of the Lilliput projects I contributed to the Look Book.

Find a growing list of your favorite quilt shops carrying Lilliput on the FABRICS page.

Happy sewing!

I am an Amazon Associate site and earn from qualifying purchases on the products I’ve linked below. The helpful products selected are the same or similar to materials used to make the project(s) in this blog post or related items I think you may enjoy.

South Paw Quilt

South Paw Quilt

It’s pattern release day and there’s a new quilt pattern in my SHOP called South Paw! I love writing a blog post for a new quilt pattern because it’s one continuous stream of pretty pictures and inspiration that pulls together the weeks of hard work and love that’s gone into making the quilt and pattern—all for you to see and enjoy.

The South Paw pattern name was some word play fun to celebrate all the lefties out there and is what I lovingly refer to as a block baby that would come from joining a Log Cabin and Bear Claw block. The South reference is to the Southwest-vibe of the quilt design and Paw is a nod to the Bear Claw block—South Paw.

This is a fast and easy block to make and a great quilt for beginners as well. The pattern is fat quarter-friendly and plenty of opportunities to use and show off your pretty prints. You’ll find the material list for this over-sized throw quilt in the Shop description image carousel.

For the cover quilt sample I used Art Gallery Fabrics and mixed prints from my upcoming Lilliput, Spirited, and the AGF Decostitch blender collections and used AGF Pure Solids in White Linen for the background. I’m loving the cool spring tones of these color of denim, carrot, pale pink, and violet.

Get the Kit

You won’t have to search around sourcing the fabric I used in my quilt because our friend Brooke Becker of Lady Belle Fabric is kitting this quilt! You can pre-order a kit and as soon as the Lilliput collection starts shipping the beginning of April, you’ll be one of the first ones making a South Paw quilt just like the one I’ve made. Pre-order your kit HERE.

As soon as I had designed this quilt my granddaughter claimed this one for herself! So, to make it extra snuggly for her I backed this quilt with Shannon Fabrics Cuddle 3 Extra Wide backing in Woodrose. The color was just perfect and it looks and feels like velvet!

The beautiful longarm quilting on my quilt was done by Brooke Becker at Lady Belle Fabric so not only can you buy your quilting cotton from Brooke but you can have your quilt quilted, too! It’s very subtle but we used a pale pink thread with the Bangkok pattern from her huge selection of quilting designs.

For batting I used my favorite Hobbs Batting Tuscany Silk Blend batting for the most luxurious drape and quality.

Spring is just showing it’s signs here in south-western Ohio and even in just the last few days the trees are starting to bud out a bit. Unfortunately, over the last weekend when I needed to snap pictures of the quilt we still looked in the grips of winter dreariness. Above, shot on Wednesday at home and below, shot on the Saturday before at a nearby park.

I’m fine with the bleak outdoor shots because frankly, this quilt looks good anywhere. It was just nice to take a hike and get outdoors a bit and make my husband hold up the quilt for me, teehee.

The dried grasses in the image below I picked from the park to use as photo props!

Meet the Testers

South Paw quilt by Sharon Holland

For this quilt release I had some extremely talented quilt testers making their own version of this pattern. All the testers used Art Gallery Fabrics but selected their own fabrics and colors based on their vision of this quilt. I’ve had Meet the Tester highlights for several of my most recent quilts of this year and last and always create a collage showcasing the tester and the quilt they made from my pattern but this time we’re mixing things up a bit. For this quilt we all stepped up our game and incorporated a few images each tester curated from Pinterest to create a South Paw Moodboard collage to show off their quilt make and tell a bigger story.

Above is my mood board that includes a photo I took on our last trip to Arizona where we traipsed around Sedona. Oh, how I wish I was there now, photographing this quilt in those surroundings and can just imagine my husband holding up the quilt amongst the cacti!

South Paw quilt by maker Victoria Newmyer

Victoria Newmyer of Midlife Quilter shop used various Art Gallery Fabrics prints that include some of my Kismet collection. I am in love with her color palette of olive green, harvest gold, pink, berry, and black. This will eventually be a kit available at her shop once Kismet prints are back in stock. Be sure to sign up for her newsletters so you don’t miss a thing!

South Paw quilt by maker Tracey Taber-Perry

Tracey Taber-Perry does amazing quilts and you can follow her feed @ttabes80 on Instagram. The spruce and pinks color palette of her quilt is stunning and I love how she photographed this elegant quilt in front of the rustic white barn! In her quilt I now see the quilt block design as spring tulips!

South Paw quilt by maker Megan Eckroth

Megan Eckroth of @cartellastudio on Instagram is a new member to my tester group and this is her second test quilt for me. Megan is amazing and her work is exceptional and creativity is boundless! The South Paw quilt made from Art Gallery Fabrics Serenity prints with the smokey-blue background has captured her inspiration images to a Tee. Follow Megan on Instagram, FB, and her Etsy Shop and see more of what this gifted maker has to share.

South Paw quilt by maker Joyce Ulm

Joyce Ulm is a quilting powerhouse! This exciting South Paw version was made with Art Gallery Fabric Terra Kotta prints and AGF Pure Solids background. I love the bold print backing and how the quilt relates to her inspiration images of shapes and colors. See more of Joyce’s work on Instagram @evamaecustomquilts, Etsy shop, and on her Facebook blog HERE, and does long arm quilting as well!

South Paw quilt by maker Marija Vujcic

The instant Marija Vujcic saw my South Paw quilt pattern it reminded her of her Serbian heritage and particularly Pirot kilim rugs. Marija’s mood board tells the story of her color inspiration, heritage, and color palette for this most amazing quilt. Follow this talented lady on Instagram Marija Vujcic and on her blog at Mara Quilt Designs. Her passion for sewing and life has no bounds and it’s wonderful to have her testing my patterns!

South Paw quilt by maker Mary Gove

Mary Gove amazes me with every quilt she makes. She has an eye for design that translates into quilts you want to use in every room in your house. For her South Paw make she chose to use only Art Gallery Fabrics solids, four plus the background for five total colors that is inspired by her turquoise earrings—stunning! See more of Mary’s work on her Instagram account @thecurlyquilter.

South Paw quilt by maker Amanda Bagin

This is the first quilt Amanda Bagin has tested for me as she just joined our group at the beginning of the year. It was a no-brainer to bring Amanda into our testers fold and you can see yourself from her Instagram feed @quiltsbycritter why I fell instantly in love with her work. Amanda has a clean, fresh style and you can see that in her crisp and graphic South Paw quilt in turquoise and terracotta. Along with AGF Pure Solids she also used prints from the AGF Studio Luna and Laurel collection.

South Paw quilt by maker Jennifer Cannon

Jennifer Cannon is owner of Piper Autumn Designs shop and the face behind this stunning all solids South Paw quilt. Jen used Art Gallery Fabrics Pure Solids in tropical sherbet colors that she’ll have available as bundles in her shop. The quilt design pops off the Nocturnal blue background—what a fun quilt! Visit Jen’s Etsy shop Piper Autumn Designs and see all her Quilty doings on Instagram at @piperautumndesigns.

South Paw quilt by maker Christine Trotta

Christine Trotta used AGF Smooth Denim Afternoon Sail for the background in her South Paw quilt as a nod to Ina Garten’s signature denim blouse then mixed in feminine AGF florals of spring-fresh colors adds a bit of boho flare to classic chambray. Visit Christines Etsy Shop and Blog as well as her Instagram account @serendipityinlovecreations.

Wasn’t that fun? Now, go grab your pattern from my SHOP and start planning your South Paw quilt today! If you are posting your South Paw quilt make to Instagram, be sure to tag me @sharonhollanddesigns and use the hashtag #SouthPawQuilt so I don’t miss seeing your inspired make!

And, for links to the products I used to make my quilt, see the affiliate Amazon links below.

Happy sewing!

I am an Amazon Associate site and earn from qualifying purchases on the products I’ve linked below. The helpful products selected are the same or similar to materials used to make the project(s) in this blog post or related items I think you may enjoy.

Charming Nine

Charming Nine

Charming Nine quilt designed by Maureen Cracknell and stitched by Sharon Holland

Scrap quilts and Nine Patch blocks hold a special place in my heart. Collecting fabrics and making quilts from a stash is the core reason for me making quilts in the first place and what started my love affair with prints, calicos, and becoming a surface pattern designer.

The Nine Patch quilt block is especially meaningful to me because it was the second quilt I’d ever made and the first quilt I hand quilted. The first ‘quilt’ was actually a Nine Patch variation with sashing and tied, so technically it doesn’t count as a quilt because of the way it was finished.

To see my first quilt of a red and white Single Irish Chain quilt on my @sharonhollanddesigns Instagram post swipe through to the second slide to see a fun stop motion video.

Last week Maureen Cracknell posted images on her Instagram account of a Nine Patch quilt she was making that used 34 different fabrics from combining her 16 piece Art Gallery Fabrics Homebody collection with my 16 piece Kismet collection and 2 prints from Bonnie Christine’s Lambkin collection.

AGF Nine Patch bundle and photo courtesy of Lady Belle Fabric

I instantly fell in love with Maureen’s quilt and had to make one, too! Because I had written the free pattern for my Charming One quilt last fall, I thought it would be fun to continue the beginner-friendly series of easy quilts and dubbed this quilt pattern Charming Nine because of it’s inherent scrappy nature. Find both the patterns on my Free Projects page.

This fabric pull is a partial look at the fabrics that went into my Nine Patch version. I had just a few scraps of my upcoming Lilliput collection left and because they were light prints I decided to keep the lights and darks of the Nine Patches in the same place on each block, opposed to Maureen’s quilt that she mixed up the light and dark positions in the blocks.

By my using the light prints in the 4-patch positions on the Nine patch I could conserve my little bit of fabric and use the 5-patch darker fabrics in solids and blenders that I had more materials of. I ended up supplementing this pull with Homebody, Kismet, Spirited, Pure Solids, Decostitch, and AGF denim to get enough for my scrap quilt. I also kept the background squares of my quilt light to create a Single Irish Chain affect with the diagonal dark squares as a nod to my first quilt make.

I’m calling my quilt a Controlled Scrappy quilt because even though I used 16 different fabrics there’s an order to the light and dark placement to create an obvious pattern to the quilt design.

You will want visit Maureen’s blog to read about her quilt and see her beautiful photos. I like to think of our two versions as sister quilts, Town and Country quilts, or Controlled Scrappy and Super Scrappy quilts but however you name them they’re uniquely beautiful and so much fun to make!

Like I mentioned earlier, this scrap quilt pattern is fat quarter friendly and written using Strip Sets rather than cutting a bunch of squares. You can use as many or few of prints as you like and in whatever way to reach the total yardage required (see PDF pattern). I used a mix of scraps, fat quarters and width of fabric cuts to get the number of blocks needed. Jelly Roll strips will also be great to use on this project.

I could’ve evenly distributed the Nine Patch blocks across my top like Maureen had done but to accentuate the difference between our versions and keep more control over the look of my quilt I placed the Nine Patch blocks in diagonal lines by color or close enough color if I ran out of fabric for an exact match.

With the low volume spring-inspired palette and playful nature-based prints I was smitten by the cottage-style of my quilt and wanted to play off the vintage feeling to it’s fullest. So, to give some added texture and comfort to the quilt I used two layers of Hobbs Tuscany Silk batting! Doubling up the batting makes the quilt heavier and stiffer but has an incredible, vintage heft and feel! The machine quilt has lovely definition and the binding edge is thick and wonderful.

This quilt needed to be made and finished quickly because there was also a pattern to be written and photographs to be taken before posting a week later. I started cutting pieces on a Thursday and by following Tuesday morning put the last hand stitches in to the binding. I didn’t have time to send this quilt out to be professionally long arm quilted so I did the free motion quilting myself. Yes, it’s irregular and very organic (a pleasant word for wonky) but I’m very happy with the results and it fits the true utility scrap quilt tradition.

At first I was tempted to do diagonal straight line quilting but thought that would be pretty boring and maybe I could do something just a little better than that. I ended up with this not-so-perfect Orange Peel design that I will share with you just how easy it is to do—without even marking your quilt or using templates or rulers!

Orange Peel Quilting

1. Working on the diagonal, and eye-balling down the center of the blocks, start needle at the corner of a block and stitch an arching half circle or shallow curve that returns to the center of the block. Repeat that same arching curve, ending at the opposite corner of the block. Continue repeating the two arching curves on each block until you reach the end of the diagonal block row.

2. Turn the quilt around and repeat Step 1, arching the curves to reflect the curves made on the first pass down the quilt.

3. Repeat Steps 1 and 2 creating parallel diagonal arching stitches down and back up each Nine Patch and Square diagonal rows creating loops as show in illustration 3.

4. Repeat Steps 1 through 3 in the diagonally opposite direction to create Orange Peel quilting. Note that the quilting on my quilt has shallow loops compared to the nice computer generated example. If you’d like your quilting design to be more regular and closer to perfect, you may want to mark the top first or use a curved ruler when stitching.

For the backing of my quilt I used Ikat Diamond Posh from my Art Gallery Fabrics Kismet collection. My labels are made by the Dutch Label Shop and I hand stitched the binding with a running stitch for a little extra special touch.

I hope you make yourself a Charming Nine quilt and get your quilt friend involved too. You could have a Nine Patch block exchange or a virtual Sew In—a good excuse to play with fabrics and sew!

Fabric carrots by Sharon Holland

While we’re talking about scraps, I wanted to share a fast and fun project I had posted on my Instagram account—Fabric Carrots. This was inspired by burlap carrots I saw at Target and thought, “Heck, I could make those and there’s some prints in my Lilliput collection that would make the cutest carrots!”

The project is so easy I felt it didn’t need any more than a silent stop motion video to explain how to make them. You can use scraps, make them any size or length you’d like, and there’s only two seams to sew! I took my carrots and made a door decoration from hanging them with raffia. Use the link and slide through the photo like the one shown above to see the tutorial video HERE. See the door decoration post HERE.

If you’ve been wondering about this Lilliput collection I’ve been talking about in this post and the few prints you’ve seen used in my Charming Nine quilt, I’m talking about the next fabric line I designed. Lilliput is my first ever children’s collection but it’s not just for kids and has prints the whole family will love. Take a look at the collection on the AGF website, HERE.

Lilliput is my 10th collection for Art Gallery Fabrics and is slightly delayed because of all the shipping hassles happening world wide but due in any day and it wont be long before this collection starts showing up in your local quilt shop and favorite on line shops!

I’ve started a stock list for online shops carrying Lilliput and you’ll find link on my Fabrics page. Some of these shops are taking pre-orders for the collection to if you’re one who likes to have collections as they first come out and before shops sell out you’ll want to get your name on the list!

Trust me, there’ll be much more to share about Lilliput and new quilt patterns in the weeks ahead. Until then, happy sewing!

I am an Amazon Associate site and earn from qualifying purchases on the products I’ve linked below. The helpful products selected are the same or similar to materials used to make the project(s) in this blog post or related items I think you may enjoy.

Firelight Quilt

Firelight Quilt

Firelight quilt by Sharon Holland

Hello, and welcome to my first blog post of 2021 where I introduce my first new quilt pattern of 2021!

I know it’s been two months since my last post—sorry about the gap but I’ve been busy creating new quilt designs and doing some secret sewing. I’ve got plenty to show and tell with you very soon and there’ll be new blog posts showing up in your inbox on a regular basis—you can count on that!

Right before Christmas I’d received a bundle of Little Forester Fusions from AGF and knew instantly this is the collection I’d use to make my grandson a quilt for his upcoming third birthday. The Little Forester collection is a fusion of beloved prints from several AGF designer, recolored and grouped into a new collection under the Fusions division of AGF offerings. FUSIONS are bite size collections featuring prints from AGF designers arranged in conceptual themes and as the name suggest, this is a playful, nature-themed collection.

Little Forester Fusions

Above is the entire Little Forester Fusions collection. I did not use every print from the collection but instead selected five of the prints and paired them with AGF Pure Solids and a couple prints from my Spirited collection below.

The Firelight quilt pattern comes with three quilt sizes: Crib, throw, and twin. The pattern cover quilt is the throw size. Quilt kits, just like my sample quilt, are available at Midlife Quilter and include the fabrics listed below. See the PDF pattern listing on my SHOP page for material requirements for all three sizes.

Photo courtesy of Midlife Quilter

Photo courtesy of Midlife Quilter

I’ve labeled this pattern an intermediate level pattern because there are a lot of pieces per block and the need for accurate cutting, sewing, and trimming will be necessary for maintaining all those points. There are also many pieces to keep track of for orientation as well but the end results are really worth slowing down a bit and taking a little extra care.

The pattern has step by step instruction for making Half-Square Triangle (HST) units and Flying Geese units with no-waste piecing techniques. Units are purposely made oversized to allow for trimming and squaring so your blocks go together effortlessly.

For tips on trimming and squaring these types of units, read my tutorial HERE.

I love that this pattern is fat quarter-friendly and encourages mix and match, scrappy blocks. I preplanned my fabric pairing before I started sewing block so I could distribute the fabrics and make each block different.

My grandson really loves the quilts his Mimi (that’s me) makes and he’s a snuggle bug! So, to make this quilt extra special for him I added Shannon Minky in Cappuccino to the back of the quilt and quilted it myself on a diagonal grid by stitching in the ditch. It was a breeze to quilt on my domestic machine and oh, so snuggly!

I used Hobbs Heirloom 100% Cotton Batting inside and it was the perfect thickness with a thick Minky backing but still quilted like a dream. The quilt has some heft to it but still has a lovely, traditional drape and feel to it.

But wait, there’s more!

I wasn't the only one making a Firelight quilt these last two months. My amazing pattern testers have been stitching away on their own version of this pattern and I can’t wait for you to see these quilts!

Meet the Testers

Pattern tester Brittany Tunison

Brittany Tunison is a talented quilt designer in her own right and an amazing maker. Brittany curated Art Gallery Fabrics from several different designers and included AGF Denim in her quilt and the result is this stunning denim, blush, and gold throw quilt. See more of Brittany’s own work as a quilt pattern designer and blogger at White Plains Quilts . You can also find Brittany on Instagram @brittanytunison

Pattern tester Elaine Satterfield

Elaine Satterfield chose to make a crib size Firelight quilt and it’s incredible! Elaine also backed her quilt with Minky but rounded the corners which is brilliant idea since the corners of the quilt are created from large background triangle and don’t interfere with any blocks. I love the soft shades of mint, gold, gray, and peach in these assorted Art Gallery Fabrics used in her quilt. You can follow Elaine’s quilt adventures on Instagram @elaines14 .

Pattern tester Joyce Ulm

I’m crazy over Joyce Ulm’s Firelight make! Joyce stitched the twin version of this quilt and used AGF Pure Solids and my Kismet prints—a feast for the eyes! See more of Joyce’s work on Instagram @evamaecustomquilts, Etsy shop, and on her Facebook blog HERE, she’s are real dynamo and does her own quilting as well!

Pattern tester Megan Eckroth

Megan Eckroth of @cartellastudio on Instagram is a new member to my tester group. I was instantly smitten with Megan’s work and have enjoyed getting to know her and know you’ll love her, too! Megan made the throw size Firelight and it’s a beauty. The dark background is inspired and sets off the sage, clay, putty, and peach solids and spring-colored prints from Art Gallery Fabrics. Follow Megan on Instagram, FB, and her Etsy Shop.

Pattern tester Mary Gove

I wait with anticipation to see what Mary Gove will create next. Her Firelight throw quilt version is stunning and is only rivaled by the equally glorious landscape settings she uses as backdrops to her quilts. This beautiful fabric pull of Pure Solids, Homebody prints and Kismet prints is delicious and feels so fresh. Follow Mary’s quilting adventures from her Instagram account @thecurlyquilter.

Pattern tester Terri Neil

I was real excited when I heard Terri Neil say she was going to make an all AGF Pure solids Firelight throw quilt and beyond thrill when she sent me the reveal photos! Have you ever seen a prettier color palette? The juxtaposition of bright, muted, and jewel tone colors blow away all color theory conventions yet it utterly works and reminds me of museum-worthy antique Amish quilts. Terri on Instagram @quiltingrubies and you’ll be in awe of all the beautiful quilts she makes and quilts for others from her long arm business called Quilting Rubies.

Pattern tester Tracey Taber-Perry

This gorgeous jewel-toned Firelight throw quilt was made by Tracey Taber-Perry. Tracey used the AGF Marrakesh Fusions collection for the blocks and background and I love the big, bold geometric print background to add even more energy to the quilt design. This quilt looks like a beautiful spring bulb poking out of the snow. To see more of Tracey’s beautiful work and you can follow her feed @ttabes80 on Instagram.

Pattern tester Victoria Newmyer

Victoria Newmyer is the genius behind the Midlife Quilter shop where you can find beautiful AGF fabrics and get personal help curating your next bundle for a quilt project. I love this spring-fresh bundle Victoria pulled for her crib size Firelight quilt. The addition of Chenille-It Just Peachy faux chenille binding is the perfect finish and a product she stocks in her shop as well.

Don’t forget that Victoria is stocking kits for the Firelight cover quilt and you can find all the details on her online quilt shop Midlife Quilter and beautiful Instagram account @midlife_quilter.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this virtual quilt show and have been inspired to discover new Art Gallery Fabrics you may not have seen yet or new color combinations to spice up your life and energize your creativity. Be sure to stop by my testers social pages and say “Hi” and tell them how amazing they are!

Find the PDF pattern for the Firelight quilt in my SHOP and happy sewing!

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