Hello, meet the Nicely Knotted Quilt pattern! I wanted to make a modern quilt to match the Royal blue couches in my living room to go on the beautiful quilt ladder my husband made me. I had drawn out this design a while back and thought it would be perfect!
I love a quilt that uses squares and rectangles because once you make your first cuts, it’s time to sew!
The fabrics I used for my quilt are: A: Dear Stella – Moonscape in Marlin, B: Art Gallery Fabrics – Tomales Bay – Meandering Ocean, C: Dear Stella – Moonscape in Denim, D: Dear Stella – Moonscape in Spruce, E: Dear Stella – Dash Flow in Aruba, F: Dear Stella – Moonscape in Lagoon, G: Riley Blake Designs – Kisses in Silver, and the Binding – Dear Stella – Crimp in Peacock.
I found a super cute sheet set on sale at Target online that I think would go perfectly with this quilt.
I’m still in the process of finishing this quilt. I’ll post it in this blog when it’s all done.
QUILT PATTERN TESTERS
You can see the gorgeous quilts all of my amazing quilt pattern testers made here:
Wow! That quilt along was a fast one, I can’t believe it’s already the last week. Now that we are done making our blocks, it’s time to finish our quilt! If you are still making your blocks, that’s ok. This was a super quick quilt along because my family is going back to school/work in 2 weeks. I’d love for you to keep posting your progress photos over in the Facebook Quilt Along group.
JOIN ME for a LIVE video on Wednesday, August 21, 2024 at 7 am PDT in the Facebook Quilt along group. If you can’t watch it LIVE it will be saved to the group and uploaded to my YouTube channel.
SHARE YOUR PROGRESS PHOTOS: Join my Facebook group and post your weekly progress photos OR post your photos on Instagram with the hashtag #OrchardInBloomQAL or Tag me in your photo!
Finishing our Quilts!
Things you will need: Backing Fabric (at least 6 inches wider and longer than your quilt top.) Quilt Batting (at least 6 inches wider and longer than your quilt top*) * If you plan on having a longarmer quilt your quilt, check with them to see how much overhang they need. Basting Spray or Basting Pins Binding Fabric These are helpful but not necessary: Hera Marker to mark out your quilting lines Walking Foot (Helps pull your quilt from both the top and the bottom) OR a Free Motion foot, if you’d like to try Free Motion quilting.
Quilt Sandwich: First you will need to make your Quilt Sandwich. You will need to cut and sew your backing fabric to make it fit under your quilt correctly. Make sure it is at least 3 inches wider than your quilt top on all sides (quilt top size + 6 inches). Trim your selvage edge off after joining your pieces.
Make your quilt sandwich by first laying down your quilt backing, wrong side facing up. Tape down to a hard surface, making fabric taut. Next lay your batting on top. Smooth out with your hands, do not stretch. Then lay your quilt top right side up, smooth out with your hands.
There are so many different types of batting. I really love the Warm Company products! I really like the Warm and Plush a lot lately because it is a little thicker than the Warm and Natural and the Warm and White cotton battings. The Warm and White is nice when you have a lot of light colors or white in your quilt and you don’t want the batting to alter the colors at all.
Basting Your Quilt:
Spray baste: My favorite way to baste my quilt is by using Spray Baste! It makes basting so much easier. If you have allergies, this is probably not a good option for you. I’ve tried several different types of spray baste. Some are better than others. 505 Temporary adhesive spray has come highly recommended by several quilters to me. I have been using this brand for the last few quilts I have made. It has great stickiness without being overly sticky. I love that it does not get all over the place like some other sprays I have used. Find a place where you can lay out your quilt. Make sure to tape the backing fabric taut to the floor (or large table).
Pin basting: You can use large curved safety pin about 3 to 4 inches apart (about the width of your hand). I like to use the large curved basting pins. This takes a little longer than the spray basting but is a great option.
Quilting your Quilt: I love that Quilting your quilt can give it another design element. You can choose to send your quilt to a longarmer or quilt it yourself.
Make sure to check your batting to see how far apart your quilting lines need to be.
For my original quilt, I quilted it diagonally to make a crosshatch. I think I will probably do the same with this quilt too. I really love how it turned out.
I like to choose the lightest color in the quilt to use for my thread. This quilt I used white on the front and back.
Hand Tie your Quilt: Some prefer to tie there quilt. Suzy Quilts has an cool way of tying quilts. Check out her Tutorial!
Hand Quilt: Here’s a wonderful video tutorial by Suzy Quilts all about How to Hand Quilt.
Machine Quilt using your Walking Foot: Emily Dennis from Quilty Love has a great tutorial on how to Zig zag quilt your quilt with a Walking foot. Click here I love this method of quilting, it give your quilt great texture.
Free Motion Quilting: Free motion quilting can give you great texture and if you aren’t great at quilting straight lines, this would be great for you. Suzy Williams from Suzy Quilts has a great Free Motion Quilting Tutorial. Click here.
Binding Your Quilt:
Binding is the fabric strip that goes on the edge of your quilt. It covers all of the unfinished edges and rounds out your quilt.
You will want to make sure to square up your quilt before you attach the binding. Cut off the extra batting around the edges and make sure your sides are straight and corners are squared.
Most quilters will cut 2 1/2 inch by width of fabric strips and then sew them together at the ends at a diagonal. Then press the strip in half, so that you are wrapping 2 layers of fabric around all of your edges.
You can machine sew the binding to the front of your quilt and wrap it around to the back and hand stitch it down. Or some prefer sewing the binding to the back of the quilt, wrapping it around to the front and machine stitching it down.
Machine binding tutorial by Emily Dennis of Quilty Love CLICK HERE. This is a great beginner friendly tutorial.
Here is a great binding tutorial by Suzy Williams of Suzy Quilts CLICK HERE.
I’m so excited to see everyone finished quilts! Make sure to post them in the Quilt Along Group on Instagram with the Hashtag #OrchardInBloomQAL
It’s week 5 of the Orchard in Bloom Quilt Along! We are done making all of our units, so it’s time to sew up our blocks! If you are going scrappy you can arrange your pieces in different ways. Decide what you like best!
I have 3 different choices that I’m trying to decide between (see above). Option A is super scrappy, Option B and Option C are 2 main colors with the background. I think I’m leaning more toward either Option A or Option B. What do you think?
If you can’t watch it LIVE it will be saved to the group and uploaded to my YouTube channel.
SHARE YOUR PROGRESS PHOTOS: Join my Facebook group and post your weekly progress photos OR post your photos on Instagram with the hashtag #OrchardInBloomQAL or Tag me in your photo!
I’m so excited to see everyone blocks come together!
It’s week 4 of the Orchard in Bloom Quilt Along! This week we will be making all of the diamond in rectangle units. After we finish these, it’s block making time! Woohoo! I love how quickly these blocks go together.
Here are my fabrics, all ready to go!
I hope you are enjoying this quilt along. Make sure to share your photos in the Facebook Quilt along group, or over on Instagram with the hashtag #OrchardInBloomQAL
JOIN ME – I will be filming this week’s LIVE video TODAY (8/6/24) at 7 am PDT in the Facebook Quilt along group.
If you can’t watch it LIVE it will be saved to the group and uploaded to my YouTube channel.
SHARE YOUR PROGRESS PHOTOS: Join my Facebook group and post your weekly progress photos OR post your photos on Instagram with the hashtag #OrchardInBloomQAL or Tag me in your photo!
It’s week 3 of the Orchard in Bloom Quilt Along! This week we will be making all of the corner units for our blocks.
Since I’m making the scrappy using Fat Quarter version, I’ve decided which 2 main colors I’d like to go to get for the corner units. After I make these, I’ll decide what other fabric’s I want to mix in or, I may just keep my block 2 main colors with the background fabric.
Here are my fabrics cut and ready to start piecing!
If you can’t watch it LIVE it will be saved to the group and uploaded to my YouTube channel.
SHARE YOUR PROGRESS PHOTOS: Join my Facebook group and post your weekly progress photos OR post your photos on Instagram with the hashtag #OrchardInBloomQAL or Tag me in your photo!
It’s week 2 of the Orchard in Bloom Quilt Along! This week we will be cutting all our pieces for our blocks.
I prefer to cut all my pieces, make my units and then construct my blocks. If you prefer to work on one block at a time, feel free to do so.
I am using fat quarters and (1) 1/4 yard cut. The pattern has suggested cutting layouts for these sizes of fabric. I will be making the lap quilt, it has 12 blocks, so I have (12) Fat quarters/1/4 yard cuts.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE: Join my Facebook group and post your weekly progress photos OR post your photos on Instagram with the hashtag #OrchardInBloomQAL or Tag me in your photo!
Grab the pattern and choose what size you’d like to make. The pattern includes instructions for: Baby (48 x 48 in), Lap (48 x 64 in), Throw (64 x 80 in), Full (80 x 96 in), Queen (96 x 112 in) and King (112 x 112 in).
Each week I will film a LIVE video in the Facebook Quilt Along group. If you can’t watch it LIVE it will be saved to the group and uploaded to my YouTube channel.
The fabrics I’m using are: Main Fabrics: Art Gallery Fabrics – Floral Pigments – Wet Riley Blake Design – Grl Pwr Sparkle – Fuchsia Art Gallery Fabrics – Garden Path – Light Riley Blake Design – Grl Pwr Dots – Yellow Art Gallery Fabrics – Breezy Blossoms in Lemonade Riley Blake Design – Grl Pwr Dots – Blue Riley Blake Design – Bloom Babe – White FIGO Fabrics – Midsommar Ditsy Flower Dots – Dark Purple FreeSpirit Fabrics – Picky – Blue FIGO Fabrics – Squeeze Floral – Orange Riley Blake Design – Bloom Babe – Eggplant Riley Blake Design – Grl Pwr Grid – Yellow Background: Riley Blake Design – White Swiss Dots – Aqua
I’m still trying to decide If I want to go super scrappy or 2 colors with the background for each block.
QUILT ALONG SCHEDULE: NOW – Grab the pattern and pick out your fabrics July 23rd – Week 2 – Cut your pieces July 30th – Week 3 – Make Corner Units August 6th – Week 4 – Make Diamond in Rectangle Units August 13th – Week 5 – Sew the blocks August 20th – Week 6 – Finish our quilts!
HOW TO PARTICIPATE: Join my Facebook group and post your weekly progress photos OR post your photos on Instagram with the hashtag #OrchardInBloomQAL or Tag me in your photo!
Grab the pattern and choose what size you’d like to make. The pattern includes instructions for: Baby (48 x 48 in), Lap (48 x 64 in), Throw (64 x 80 in), Full (80 x 96 in), Queen (96 x 112 in) and King (112 x 112 in).
Each week I will film a LIVE video in the Facebook Quilt Along group. If you can’t watch it LIVE it will be saved to the group and uploaded to my YouTube channel.
I am so excited to see your version of this quilt! Andrea
Last September we bought a house that has an orchard! We have 65 fruit/nut trees altogether. The previous owners planted so many different varieties of flowers around the yard too. I love being surprised with new flowers blooming. The many colors of spring flower in our yard ‘The Orchard’ inspired me to make this scrappy, colorful flower quilt!
This pattern is a 16-inch block quilt. So, if you want a larger quilt, you just make more blocks.
The pattern comes with directions for a Baby, Lap, Throw, Full, Queen and King size quilt.
Construction options: 4 main colors with a background fabric Fat quarters/1/4 yard cuts (the pattern has cutting suggestion diagrams) Or Super duper scrappy, you can make every block with different fabrics.
I pulled fabrics from my bins, I only had to buy the background fabric for my pattern cover quilt, which is Riley Blake Designs – Le Creme Swiss Dot in Aqua from Stash Fabrics. When I buy Kona cottons I like to buy a little extra each time. So, I found all of these in my fabric bins. A-D: All Kona Cottons – Prussian, Cadet, Pool, Robin’s Egg, Sangria, Sassy Pink, Med Pink, Mulberry, and Grapemist. I also had the backing fabric, which is this beautiful Moda by Gingiber – Dwell in Possibility – Full Bloom
JOIN me for a quick quilt along! Summer Break is speeding by, I only have 7 weeks left until I go back to work. I really want to make a lap size quilt using a bunch of floral fabrics I purchased a few years ago. So, I thought if you’d like to join me, we can encourage each other to sew this beauty up!
QUILT ALONG SCHEDULE: NOW – Grab the pattern and pick out your fabrics July 23rd – Week 2 – Cut your pieces July 30th – Week 3 – Make Corner Units August 6th – Week 4 – Make Diamond in Rectangle Units August 13th – Week 5 – Sew the blocks August 20th – Week 6 – Finish our quilts!
HOW TO PARTICIPATE: Join my Facebook group and post your weekly progress photos OR post your photos on Instagram with the hashtag #OrchardInBloomQAL or Tag me in your photo!
Grab the pattern and choose what size you’d like to make. The pattern includes instructions for: Baby (48 x 48 in), Lap (48 x 64 in), Throw (64 x 80 in), Full (80 x 96 in), Queen (96 x 112 in) and King (112 x 112 in).
Each week I will film a LIVE video in the Facebook Quilt Along group. If you can’t watch it LIVE it will be saved to the group and uploaded to my YouTube channel.
You can check out all my awesome tester’s versions down below!
I am so excited to see your version of this quilt! Andrea
Check out the beautiful quilts made by my awesome testers!!
My February Finish it list has rolled over into March. I haven’t had much time to sew this month, but I was able to finish up my baby size Prismatic Party Quilt!
I quilted this one be lining my walking foot up with seems of the design, so my quilting lines echo the design. I bound it with some navy and white striped fabric by Riley Blake Design. I love how it looks with the beautiful backing fabric, which is Riley Blake – Liberty Fabrics – Bloomsbury Blossom.
It feels good to get a unfinished quilt out of my pile of needs to finish! Hopefully I can finish up some more soon!
Yay! I’ve finished my baby size Infinite Night Helix Quilt. This is my first quilt finish of 2024! I think I will wash this one and add it to my Etsy shop! This pattern comes in several different sizes, so I wanted to make the baby size since it’s a slightly different design that the other sizes.
Next up, is my baby size Prismatic Party quilt. I have this whole week off work, so I’m hoping to get this finished this week. I need to sew the backing fabric, baste, quilt and bind it! At least the binding is already made.
I started this during a Quilt Along I hosted in February of 2022. Here are the fabric’s I used in this quilt: A – Kona – Grellow (yellow) B – Kona – Nightfall (navy) C – Kona – White D – Kona – Woodrose (pink) E – Riley Blake – Liberty Fabrics – Bloomsbury Blossom Binding – Navy and White striped fabric by Riley Blake Designs
