Mirrored Mountains Quilt

I’ve had the opportunity to test two incredible quilt patterns this month, which was a new experience for me. I worked with pattern testers when I was developing my Raw Diamond pattern, but I’d never actually been on the testing side of the process.

First up, was the Mirrored Mountains quilt pattern by Lorna of Cloth and Crescent. Her pattern was so much fun to work on. There are many pieces and most of them are one of a kind, so you really have to follow the instructions carefully to make sure each block is in the right place. It felt a bit like solving a puzzle.

I pulled fabric from my stash that was inspired by the green grass, yellow dandelions and white lily of the valley in my back yard.

I got to work cutting and piecing. The pattern is a great mix of HSTs, squares, rectangles and curves! I had to keep my pieces labeled to stay organized.

After piecing all my blocks, I laid them out and decided I didn’t like how the triangle print placement looked all random, and I needed to get out my seam ripper and re-do them so the triangles all pointed the same direction. It was a bit of a set-back to re-do them but I was so much happier with the results once I did.

 

The top and bottom of my quilt top fit perfectly on the clips on this narrow wall in my studio. I kept it up on the wall like this for a few days so I could just enjoy its bright colours.

I took my finished quilt top to the beach with me on Canada Day to get a lakeside photo.

I had fun quilting it with “mirrored” lines. I am always so delighted by how much a quilt is transformed once the quilting is finished. I used the bright green fabric for my binding.

Birds Hill Quilt

The second pattern I tested was the Birds Hill quilt for Erin at The Blanket Statement. This modern quilt has so much movement to it with its seemingly randomly placed HSTs.

 

I used Periwinkle, Hunter Green, and Natural solids along with Rifle Paper Co.‘s Wildwood Petite Garden Party.

My plan was to use the floral as my main background fabric. It’s soooooo beautiful, I wanted ALL the floral. I made my first block and was so excited with it.

 

Unfortunately, once I made 15 more blocks and started placing them together to admire my work, I realized that it was just. too. much. floral! It was a case of too much of a good thing. It was going to be dizzying if I steamed ahead as planned. So…I headed back to the fabric store to buy more of the Natural fabric and started again, using the Natural for my background fabric.

 

Ahhhhh… much better. This one has some breathing room and just enough floral to create interest without taking over.