Have you ever received an email that just made your day?
This is exactly what happened one very cold winter day during my Christmas holidays. I was up North at the cottage in full-on relaxed mode as we were celebrating our favourite time of year. I don’t normally check my emails while on vacation, but for some reason, I took a little peek. And boy am I happy I did!
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Story behind the Harvest Falls quilt
One email, in particular, caught my eye. It was one from the team at Love Patchwork and Quilting Magazine asking me if I’d be interested in making a quilt for their bohemian-themed issue. They sent me a couple of quilts I had made, as well as some inspiration shots to give me an idea of the style they were after. I just adore the team at LPQ, they’ve always been amazing to work with and so I was 100% onboard to help out.
After spending some time thinking through the design options, I opted to tweak my Spring Lilacs quilt to fit the size requirements they were after. The original wasn’t quite as big as they wanted and they wanted big – 80” x 80” to be precise. Plus, a little mini for some added fun.
I was shown an advanced preview of the *Rollakan collection designed by Cathy Nordstrom for FIGO Fabrics. You know how much I love Cathy’s designs. Working with her Forest Talk collection for Andover in my Winter Star quilt was such a positive experience and I was eager to have a repeat 😉 After looking through her first collection for FIGO I was sold!
Harvest Falls is perfect for featuring fabric prints
These prints are so versatile. I actually mocked up several different versions using this very collection. One was much moodier with a more prominent focus on the blues in the collection. But you know my love for corals, and it appears the team at LPQ have a similar love as that’s the direction we ended up going in!
What I love about the Harvest Falls quilt is that she’s perfect for showing off your favourite prints. The large half-square triangles are not only quick to piece, but they retain the feel of the fabrics, so you get to admire those details in all their glory. Plus, did I mention she’s a quick make?!
The large borders offer lots of negative space to play with your quilting. You can go super detailed and really show off your quilting skills or keep it minimal and let the central design motif take center stage. There are really so many directions you can go in.
You can see in my Spring Lilacs version that I went to town having fun with different quilt designs in all that negative space.
For this one, I opted for a crosshatch design. This was my first time tackling that design, and while it was lengthy to plot out, I’m really happy I stuck with it. The end result keeps the focus on the quilt design, while still adding lovely texture and a cohesive look to the quilt. I can see myself revisiting this design again. I will say this *ruler and my trusty *hera marker were invaluable in making this design a reality.
While I wanted the focus to be on the prints and quilt design, I still wanted to add some fun pops with the quilting thread colour. I think the Salmon in 40wt adds the perfect little pop while still blending in with the overall colour palette.
The mini is another quick make. Finishing at 20” x 20”, how could she not be, right? Since she was so quick, I decided to do a mix of both machine and hang quilting. These mini projects are the perfect opportunity to add hand-stitched details without feeling like you’re committing yourself to weeks on end of hand work. I used a few different thread colours in this one to up the visual interest and just have fun! Cause it is supposed to be all about the quilty fun after all 😉
To up the texture even more, I opted to big stitch hand quilt the binding too, which adds this fun little detail to the back.
MATERIALS FEATURED
I know you love knowing the materials I use in my projects, so here’s the full list broken down by each quilt size.
HARVEST FALLS QUILT
- Harvest Falls Quilt Pattern
- Rollakan Mustard Pears
- *Rollakan Pink Pears
- *Rollakan Multi Fences
- *Rollakan Blue Thread
- *Rollakan Pink Thread
- *Rollakan Pink Flower Toss
- Rollakan Navy Meadow
- *Rollakan Pink Meadow
- *Rollakan Orange Ditzy Geo
- *Rollakan Blue Stencil Flowers
- *Rollakan Blue Painterly Leaves
- *Rollakan Blue Geo
- Rollakan Ochre Flower Toss
- Pink solidOrange solid
- White solid
- *Lucky Charms Tan Acorns (backing)
- *50wt white Aurifil Thread for piecing
- *40wt Salmon Aurifil Thread for quilting
- White cotton batting
HARVEST FALLS MINI QUILT
- Harvest Falls Mini/Pillow Quilt Pattern
- *Rollakan Blue Painterly Leaves
- Rollakan Navy Meadow
- *Rollakan Pink Meadow
- *Rollakan Navy Ditzy Geo
- *Rollakan Blue Geo
- Rollakan Ochre Flower Toss
- Rollakan Mustard Pears
- *Rollakan Multi Fences
- *Rollakan Pink Thread
- Pink solid
- Orange solid
- *Pink Fruit Garden (backing)
- *50wt white Aurifil Thread for piecing
- *40wt Salmon Aurifil Thread for quilting
- Pearl cotton thread
- White cotton batting
Since I hadn’t planned for these projects, a lot of my first quarter got rearranged to be able to fit these in. But I’m so happy I took it on because these quilts are just so fun. Plus, it introduced me to the gorgeous fabrics available from FIGO Fabrics and the amazing team behind the company.
Be sure to check out the Rollakan Flight Plan baby quilt I made from the scraps leftover from these quilts. It’s proof of just how versatile the Rollakan collection is!
Both the Harvest Falls quilt and Harvest Falls Mini quilt patterns are available in Love Patchwork and Quilting Magazine Issue 76 or find the Harvest Falls Mini/Pillow Pattern in the shop.
Happy quilting!
xo
Shannon
PS Another 2 projects to be knocked off my Q3 FAL list!!
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