Colour. It’s often the spark for me.
Once I have a quilt design in mind, it’s usually the colours that get me fired up to bring it to life—and this Cloud Surfing quilt was no exception.
What was unusual was how long it took me to finish her.
This quilt sat patiently in my WIP pile for almost five years. Not because I had fallen out of love with the colours or the design, but because other projects kept calling for my attention.
Every once in a while, I would spot her and think, I really need to finish that quilt.
But “need to” isn’t always the same as being ready.
Then, one day, I pulled her out and felt excited to work on her again. The colours felt every bit as joyful as they had when I first chose them, and I suddenly couldn’t wait to see her finished.
It was such a lovely reminder of one of my favourite Creative Beliefs: every project has its own season.
Some quilts come together quickly. Others wait quietly until we have the time, energy, skills, or curiosity to return to them.
This was finally Cloud Surfing’s season.
The Cloud Surfing Quilt Pattern is available for instant digital download here.
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Starting With Colour
The starting point for this colour story was the background fabric.
I was completely enamoured with this gorgeous yellow-green hue called Olive Oil. It’s something I eat on the daily—ha!—but I was especially curious to see how that green-infused yellow would transform the Cloud Surfing design.
To stand up to such a bold background, I added a couple of equally bold colours: fuchsia and teal.
Then, to introduce a little breathing room and contrast, I brought in a pale, soft blue.
Together, the colours feel vibrant, unexpected, and wonderfully joyful.
The Cloud Surfing design features abstract clouds with bands of colour extending toward the edges of the quilt, creating movement and direction throughout the composition. Your eye naturally wanders across the clouds and follows the lines as they move through the design.
The deeper raspberry and teal help anchor all that movement, creating little focal points for your eye to discover along the way.
Meanwhile, the generous negative space in that glorious yellow-green background brings a sunny, uplifting energy to the quilt. It balances the moodier jewel tones and makes the entire colour story feel alive.
The colours don’t necessarily “match” in the traditional sense—and that’s precisely what I love about them.
They belong together because they create a feeling.
Deciding How to Quilt Her
I spent quite a bit of time simply looking at this Cloud Surfing quilt while she hung on my design wall (learn how to make your own here).
Sometimes, that quiet observation is an important part of the quilting process. I like giving myself time to notice where my eye travels, which areas feel calm, and where the design seems to be asking for more movement.
I would have loved to hand quilt this one, but my hands just weren’t having it—ha!
Instead, I focused on how I could machine quilt her at home on my domestic sewing machine.
I always enjoy sharing this part of the process with you because there is something incredibly liberating about being able to quilt your own quilts.
I’m often asked whether I send my quilts to a longarm quilter. I have, but only twice. One experience was okay, and the other was amazing. While I’m certainly not opposed to having a quilt professionally longarmed, I still prefer quilting most of my quilts myself.
That doesn’t mean it always feels easy.
Quilting a large project on a domestic sewing machine takes patience, practice, and a willingness to experiment.
You gradually learn how to support the weight of the quilt, how to guide it through the machine, and how to find a rhythm that works for you. Much of that knowledge comes from experience.
It’s similar to hand-stitching a binding. I can’t fully explain how I know whether my needle has passed through the binding, backing, and batting without poking through the front. After years of doing it, I recognize the feeling—but learning that sensation took time.
Machine quilting is much the same.
When I think back to quilting my first Cloud Surfing quilt, I can see how far my skills have come.
I still have lots to learn—and I hope I always will—but every quilt gives me another opportunity to practise, experiment, and become a little more confident.
That’s part of what makes returning to an older project so interesting. You’re not necessarily the same quilter you were when you started it.
Following the Lines of the Quilt
For this version, I used the piecing lines as natural divisions for the quilting.
I followed some of the seams and used a guide bar to create a combination of flowing curves and straight lines. The guide helped me keep the spacing fairly consistent while still allowing the quilting to move naturally across the surface.
On my previous Cloud Surfing quilt, I used oval drunkard’s path rulers as templates to plot some of my quilting lines. This time, I kept the approach a little simpler with a combination of seam following and guided stitching.
Since I wanted the quilting to add texture without competing with the colour story, I matched the thread to the background fabric.
The 40-weight thread adds dimension and tactile interest while blending into the Olive Oil fabric. You notice the movement and texture before you necessarily notice each individual quilting line.
I love how the stitching enhances the flow already built into the Cloud Surfing design.
Creating an Endless Edge
To emphasize the negative space and preserve the floating, ethereal feeling of the quilt, I chose a binding that matched the background fabric.
It creates an almost infinity-pool effect, where the design feels as though it could continue beyond the edges of the quilt.
There are no strong boundaries interrupting the movement.
Just clouds, colour, and that wonderful yellow-green glow.
Of course, I couldn’t resist adding a little hand-stitched detail to the binding. 😉
A Little Bird Song on the Back
The star of the quilt back is an adorable bird print designed by Jessica Swift.
It’s one of my favourite prints, and it simply makes me happy—which is exactly the same feeling the colours on the front give me.
To finish the binding, I added bright pink hand stitches.
Those bold little stitches connect beautifully with the colours on the front while adding one final playful detail to the back.
They’re a small touch, but they increase the joy factor every time I spot them.
And really, isn’t that one of the loveliest parts of making a quilt?
We get to choose the details that make us happy.
A Quilt Worth Waiting For
Finishing this Cloud Surfing quilt felt especially meaningful—not because it needed to be rescued from my WIP pile, but because I returned to it when I was genuinely excited to work on it again.
The five-year pause didn’t take anything away from the quilt.
If anything, it gave me the chance to approach the quilting with more experience, a different perspective, and a renewed appreciation for the colours that originally inspired me.
So, should you have a project patiently waiting in your own WIP pile, consider this your reminder that taking time doesn’t mean you’ve failed to finish it.
It may simply be waiting for its season.
And when that season arrives, you might discover that you’re bringing more to the project than you could have when you first began.
Ready for Your Own Quilty Adventure?
Should you be looking for a quilt project that will challenge your piecing skills while giving you plenty of room to explore colour and movement, the Cloud Surfing quilt pattern might be the adventure for you.
It’s a wonderful opportunity to practise accuracy, play with unexpected colour combinations, and create a quilt that feels uniquely yours.
Plus, she always seems to get a reaction. 😊
Do you have a quilt in your WIP pile that you’re waiting to feel excited about again?
Happy quilting 😊
xo,
Shannon
P.S. Want more quilting inspiration? Join Studio Notes for behind-the-scenes projects, creative encouragement, helpful tutorials, and early access to new patterns and courses. I’d love to have you there.
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