Now that it’s May, I can introduce a new quilt pattern that is in the McCall’s Quilting May/June issue.
Meet Northern Lights!
Photo courtesy of McCall’s Quilting
Northern Lights started life as a QDAD design. When Elizabeth Hartman released Rhoda Ruth (her very first fabric collection with Kaufman) I just ADORED it. And still do. I love rich, vibrant jewel tones, and since my good friend Anne introduced me to the joys of navy as a background, I love them even more! I knew when I saw it that I just HAD to make something with Rhoda Ruth and started digging through my files. I landed on this beauty from Aug 30th. The inspiration photo was a bunch of root veggies-carrots and radishes I believe.
As you can see, the final design took quite a departure from the original. It took a couple versions to get the paper piecing just right. I REALLY wanted to have the chevron shape at the end of the point, instead of just a straight across piece. Would it have been easier? Yes. Would it have looked as stellar as it does now? Not a chance!
I wanted to try and showcase as many of the Rhoda Ruth prints as possible, for the most part because I couldn’t narrow them down much, and then paired them up with the coordinating Kona Solids.
The quilting took me a while to think of, but I finally went with a combination of freehand designs that really made the quilt pop! I changed thread for each color of stars (a lot of winding the quilt top back and forth for that!) and quited some dense straight lines in the star points and then some pebbles in the center solids for texture. The background I went with a freemotion swirl between the stars to represent the motion of the night sky, clouds and wind. Then I chose an elongated piano key for the outside edge, giving the quilt a faux border and adding some additional visual texture and interest in the solid background. This is why I have a love/hate with solids, because you can have some amazing quilting stand out but you need amazing quilting because it will stand out. Makes total sense, yes?
I love that the quilting hides the seams of the blocks so you can’t tell it’s on point. I don’t know why I love that, but I do =)
You can find the May/June issue of McCall’s quilting on Newsstands now. I really hope you give Northern Lights a go! It’s one of my favorite quilts to date =)
Until next time,
Happy Stitching!!
