Quilt Finish – Follow Along

I’ve currently been on hold for thirty minutes waiting for someone at the airlines to pick up so I can cancel my tickets! Since the state border closure has cancelled our honeymoon for the second time, we’ve decided to go visit our friends’ farm up the coast for end of year celebrations. It looks like I may be on hold until then, so I thought I might as well show off another 2020 quilt finish! I’ve titled this one Follow Along because of the directionality created by the Kaffe stripes and angles of the HSTs. It’s my first quilt ever made entirely of shot cottons. The finished drape is a thing of beauty!

I originally showed off these Kaffe stripes and shot cottons back in May 2017 as part of Sunday Stash #224 – A Stable Home. Although I didn’t know what to do with them at the time, I couldn’t say no to a huge sale! I remember some time last year just deciding to start making HSTs without much of a plan. I wanted to put my design wall to the test, and see how my brain reacted to these stripes. I’m not usually so much of a fan of stripes because I get uncomfortable when they don’t line up! But, face your fears, right? It’s just fabric, it ain’t gonna bitch slap you if it doesn’t work out! (I mean, it hasn’t happened yet, but who am I to say!?)

I knew I wanted to keep playing with the purple and yellows because of them being complimentary colours. Hot tip: complimentary colours sit opposite each other on the colour wheel. Because of their opposing forces they contrast each other more than other colour schemes. So if you want something to pop more than a cinnamon Pop Tart, start there! All of the stripes I had purchased sat well with the purple and yellow, so I sliced and diced for the hell of it. You’ll also see the gentle warp and weft colour shifting with these fabrics! Divine!

The layout of this quilt was probably the most challenging. Lots of side-cocked head, steps back, block scrambling, and topsy turvy twists. And that was just while I was doing my pre-quilting stretches! Once again, I played with a creative border by extending the purple and yellow to just two sides of the quilt. Just that extra bit of solid colour banding allows some solace for the eyes and makes the quilt a tad bigger, all while keeping the vein of modernism pumping. Ultimately, this is a simple quilt, but the fabric choices and layout make it stand a bit taller than expected!

Title: Follow Along
Size: 51″ x 51″
Pattern: Half-square triangles, Molli Sparkles original
Fabric: Kaffe stripes and shot cottons
Piecing: Machine stitched on Juki TL-98P with Aurifil 50wt, 2024 White
Quilting: Long arm quilting, by Mount Vincent Quilts
Binding: hand stitched with Aurifil 40wt, 1240 Very Dark Eggplant
Backing: Kaffe shot cottons
Timing: October 2019 – October 2020
Favourite Part: My first time using only shot cottons in a quilt.