Do you switch up your home décor with every season change?
Living in Canada, we’re so lucky to be surrounded by lots of natural wonders and get to see the landscape change as each new season rolls in.
With autumn in full swing, it’s got me switching up my décor from colourful happy vibes to moodier, earthy and cozy tones. Anything that encourages the urge to cuddle up on the sofa and feel cozy inside is what I’m usually drawn to this time of year.
I don’t know if it’s the cooler weather rolling in or the change of seasons showcasing the best of Fall colours, but whatever the reason, I’m super drawn to deep rust, golden yellows, orangey reds and forest greens.
What colours are you drawn to this time of year?
The Harvest Falls Mini + Pillow Pattern is here and ready for instant download!
Harvest Falls Mini Quilt/Pillow Pattern Features
If you’ve been around here for awhile, you might recognize the Harvest Falls Mini design from when she was originally featured in Love Patchwork and Quilting Magazine back in 2019. The team at LPQ had reached out to me to stitch up what I’d been calling up to that point my Spring Lilacs quilt. They were hoping I could tweak the original design by bringing it up in size and then making an accompanying mini to go along with it.
That’s how the Harvest Falls Mini was born!
I’ve been meaning to share this pattern with you for quite some time, but other quilty projects kept getting in the way! It might be a good thing I waited as I’ve been on a pillow-making kick as of late and thought the Harvest Falls Mini would work perfectly as a quilted cushion.
Which means, the Harvest Falls Mini + Pillow pattern includes instructions for the original 20”x20” wall hanging, but also 3 different pillow sizes: 16”x16”, 18”x18” and 20”x20”. We like our quilty options, right?!
Here are some fun pattern highlights:
She’s beginner-friendly! This is a great project if you’re looking to dive into the quilty fun but don’t want to bite off more than you can chew with a full quilt. A mini or pillow is a great size to start with.
She’s fat quarter friendly! Actually, she’s fat eighth-friendly too. Even scraps would work! This means fabric play is at an all-time high with this one.
I redesigned the original steps to incorporate flying geese blocks to better showcase larger-scale prints you might want to feature.
Whether you’re a seasoned quilter or just getting started, the step-by-step graphics and detailed piecing instructions are sure to help guide you to quilty success!
The ‘track your progress’ interactive tick boxes are sure to keep you on track so you don’t miss any key steps and make it super easy to pick up where you left off 😊
There are 12 additional colourways to give you lots of quilty inspiration for your own colourway.
A colouring page to help you see how your fabric choices will look before committing your fibre dollars.
Detailed pressing instructions at each step to ensure your seams nest and points line up.
Finishing instructions for both a quilted wall hanging and how to insert a metal zipper in your quilted pillow. Love a 2-in-1!
Fabric cutting diagrams to maximize your fabric and take any guesswork out of the equation.
Clear details on exactly which Wild Forgotten fabrics I’ve used so you want to make the same version featured on the cover.
Story Behind the Harvest Falls Mini Quilt x Wild Forgotten
My friends at Art Gallery Fabrics gave me the heads up about Bonnie Christine’s latest fabric collection – Wild Forgotten.
You know how much I love working with solids, but my dive into wanting to learn how to sew was because of all the pretty fabric prints. I love working with prints when the collection is right. And this collection is just everything I love about autumn summed up in a fabric collection!
Bonnie’s known for her whimsical botanicals and references to animals in nature. I was delighted to see Beavers featured in one of the prints as they’re native to Canada and play a huge part in the history of Canada. While writing this for you, I was intrigued to research what the beaver represents and found this interesting description:
“A beaver is a builder of the mind, body and soul and symbolizes creativity, creation, cooperation, persistence and harmony. The beaver is a hard worker and will not quit until his job is done.”
Source: Spirits of the West Coast Art Gallery
The beaver caught my eye from the very beginning of seeing the collection. He stood out for me, and it’s made me take a moment to think of my appreciation for nature. Maybe that’s why I feel so drawn to these colours and collection: it reconnects me with…me. Born in autumn with a true love and appreciation for nature and all living creatures, who found joy by reconnecting with her creativity through a love of fabric and texture and discovered that quilting can be used to express all of those loves and interests. This Harvest Falls Mini quilt is my expression of that.
Wow, right?!
I talk about this more in my upcoming Improv Behind the Scenes course, but it’s this habit of mine to really connect with the process and tune into what I’m making, not always why I’m making. I first tap into the creation process and allow my instincts to guide me. It’s only after I’m done that I really ‘see’ the piece I’ve been working on. It’s all very organic and unplanned.
My point is, that seeing her finished in the autumn wild confirmed just how fitting this collection is for a fall lover!
Quilting Featured in the Harvest Falls Mini Quilt
The quilting could have gone in so many different directions, but my main goal was adding in texture and dimension. I didn’t want to detract from the prints, rather, I wanted your eye to be drawn into the design and prints.
Stitching in the ditch is my fave quilting technique to achieve just that.
I needed a moment to think through my thread colours.
A great tip is to pull a selection of threads and see what calls to you. That’s exactly where I started as well.
The oranges and deep yellows and golds were a no-brainer, but I was also super drawn to the greens. The yellows and pinks snuck in for contrast and to put things in perspective.
Ultimately it came down to orange or green.
After polling you on Instagram, it all came down to team orange for the win.
Buuuut, I was still loving the greens. Ha!
So, I mixed them both but with an emphasis on orange with a hint of green.
I machine quilted in the ditch with this gorgeous *50wt green Aurifil Thread from my recent Slice & Stitch Challenge.
Love what a perfect compliment it is for the greens in the Wild Forgotten collection.
HAND QUILTING
One of the great things about creating smaller quilty projects is that they’re the prime project to try some big stitch hand quilting on!
Hand quilting is such a glorious way to add additional details, dimension, and texture to your quilts. There’s something super appealing about running your hand over a quilt that incorporates hand stitching: it just feels glorious!
If you’re a tactile lover like me, then sneaking in these chunky stitches are a sure-fire way to bring you quilty joy.
Plus, slowing down and settling in for some Zen meditative hand quilting is perfect for destressing. Add in a cup of coffee or hot tea and it’s a beautiful calm way to start the day (my fave!).
Here I added in all the quilty texture with pearl cotton thread in size 8 in these gorgeous autumnal thread colours.
Binding Details
It didn’t take me long to pick a print for the binding! The print reminds me of hand-painted swatches, and I love the organic feel it has. Especially paired with that gorgeous caramel colour. I didn’t think it could get much better, that is, until I added in the big stitch hand binding detail in this gorgeous green colour (*available in this kit).
Dark-coloured thread isn’t usually my go-to in this application, but I love how she turned out. It’s actually one of my fave parts of this Harvest Falls Mini!
Check out Part 4 of the Binding Tutorial Series for tips on how to incorporate this technique in your quilty practice.
Tips on Hanging Your Quilt Mini
I was just telling the hubz the other day that I wanted to move some of paintings in favour of hanging some of my quilted wall hangings. That’s the plan for this cutie!
Here’s a couple of tutorials on:
Materials Featured
Here’s a full overview of everything I used to whip up this Fall centric Harvest Falls Mini Quilted Wall Hanging:
- Harvest Falls Mini + Pillow pattern
- Fabrics from the *Wild Forgotten collection
- *Green Solid
- *Batting
- *50wt thread for piecing
- *50wt thread for quilting
- Pearl cotton thread for hand quilting – some of the colours are available in this *kit
- *Ruler
- *Rotary cutter
- *HST Ruler
- *Rotating mat
- *Marking tool
- *Sewing machine
- *Iron
- *Ironing board
- *Thimble
- *Needle for big stitch hand binding
I can’t tell you enough how gorgeous the Wild Forgotten fabric collection is! It gets all the love every time I share it on Instagram. Even though I was drawn to the beavers, in the end it’s the Ferns & Angus Acorn print that I just adore. I need a full quilt backed in this pretty!
Your turn! Grab the Harvest Falls Mini + Pillow Pattern and feature your favourite prints in this quick sewing project!
Happy quilting!
xo,
Shannon
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