Deco Quilt - the Gingerbread version

Written by Brittany Lloyd

It's been a while since I've written a post about a finished quilt that I've made! To be honest, I haven't had too much to share lately. January was filled with secret sewing and we also (finally) finished moving all of our large pieces of furniture up the mountain. We feel like we can finally start putting things away where they belong, so much of our time has been doing just that. The weather is starting to warm up, so I have a feeling that it's going to be an internal struggle to stay inside and work on my new pattern (which I hope to start sewing in the next two weeks) but I am excited and determined to have a new project on my cutting table. It's been a while!

But back to this quilt! This was the quilt that I made for the Deco Quilt Along back in the fall of 2021. I SO enjoyed stepping out of my comfort zone for these colors...except for the fact that they were SO tricky to photograph! Here are the fabrics that I used for this quilt:

AGF Spiceberry (Color 2)
AGF Coral Reef (Color 1)
AGF Sugarplum (Color 3)
AGF Snow (Color 5)
AGF Magnetism (Color 4)
AGF Gingerbread

I wanted to create a saturated, kind of moody quilt for this one, and the Gingerbread solid from AGF was calling my name. You might recall that this is one of Art Gallery Fabrics' newer solids and it's such a gorgeous color. I really think it might be my favorite!

The Quilt Along went through the pattern block by block. It really is so fun to see how each individual block contributes to the overall design of the quilt. If you are looking for the saved Quilt Along information, it can be found here. Be sure to grab a paper or digital copy of the pattern as well!

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Once all of blocks were created, we pieced them all together to create our quilt top! You really can't visualize how this quilt top will look until you add in the negative space and other blocks. The colors and shapes really all do work together.

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We brought my finished quilt top to the North Carolina Art Museum in Raleigh. At this point, it really sunk in that we were moving. This has always been one of my favorite place to photograph quilts, although sadly, I didn't do it nearly as much as I had hoped. But the thought of no longer being a 20 minute drive away really makes me sad! We grabbed a cup of coffee from Caribou (the mint mocha is my favorite- with dark chocolate!) and we enjoyed the afternoon walking around the campus and finding pretty shots for this quilt. The leaves were changing and it was so fun to experience. Fall is always the best time of year.

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Lilo of Trace Creek Quilting sponsored a long arm quilting prize for the Quilt Along, and she also did the quilting for my own Deco quilt. I decided to use the Arrow pantograph by the Longarm League. The symmetry of the lines is really just so unique and creative. Jess is the designer behind Longarm League pantographs and I have been LOVING her creations! Lilo even took the extra step to scale the design so that it was symmetrical with the blocks. Love that touch!

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For the quilting thread, she used a color that matches the Background. I love that it creates just a bit of texture, but doesn't compete for any extra attention.

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For the backing, I went with an Art Gallery Fabric print called Treasured Marrakesh. I wanted to draw out the pink fabric from the top of the quilt and since I used mostly solids for the piecing, throwing in a fun and bold print felt right.