Knitted Blooms - the Hydrangea version

Written by Brittany Lloyd

Knitted Blooms quilt pattern is now available! If you missed it, visit this blog post to find all the details about the pattern!

I'm back to share about another Knitted Blooms sample and this one is quite different from the cover! I've joked that I've had a "fabric crush" on Art Gallery Fabrics Hydrangea for the entire year and I've been itching to use it in my quilts recently. I don't know what it is about this shade, but it's the most stunning shade of periwinkle that I've ever seen! It's a bit of an unusual color, kind of a mis-fit if you will. It's not quite blue, not quite purple... I think the ambiguity of it is what draws me in. Nonetheless, it's bold, it's punchy and I think it might be my new favorite color. Without further adieu, let's dive in!

I actually used this fabric in my "Summer Nights" Valley Song quilt found here. For that quilt I wanted to create a mostly neutral palette with Hydrangea as an accent fabric. I loveeee the effect that it created, but it didn't fully satisfy my Hydrangea fix. (hah!) So when I was planning what other Knitted Blooms samples I wanted to make, using Hydrangea as the Background fabric was at the top of my list.

By this point, I had already designed the cover quilt, which you can read about here. I loved the fact that the cover quilt is so warm and this quilt reads much more cool. I tend to think of my quilt samples as a family. I want each one to bring something different to the table but I want them to all work together. Since the pattern has 3 different color-ways to choose from, I definitely wanted this sample to be the 4-Color version, which also really let's Hydrangea sing with minimal fabrics.

I wanted the other colors in the quilt to compliment but not overpower the Hydrangea, so I went with Kona Corsage and AGF Sweet Macadamia for the smaller flowers. I love how it offers a little bit of brightness to the quilt with a slight "twinkle." For the Main Flowers, I wanted to use something a little darker than Hydrangea, but not too stark. I landed on Kona Chalkboard. So all-in-all I used:

Hydrangea (Background)
Chalkboard (Main Flowers)
Corsage (Small Flowers)
Sweet Macadamia (Flower Centers)

We have quilt kits for this exact quilt in our shop!

Since the Cover quilt is the Large Throw size with 16 blocks, I wanted this quilt to be the regular Throw size with 12 blocks. I always love when we can include a square throw and a rectangle throw option in a pattern. Ya'll know I'm team square with my quilt sizes, but I think I might be in the minority on that one! So it's nice to have options when it comes to sizes. And Knitted Blooms has the most amount of sizes that we've ever included in a pattern! Cool, right? :)

Knitted Blooms uses strip piecing construction for all 3 color-ways, but the 4-Color and Traditional (2-Color) versions of the pattern really take advantage of strip piecing, more so than the Modern version. Because of that, I highly recommend a Stripology ruler if you plan to make the 4-Color or 2-Color version, especially if it's a larger size. Of course, you can make the pattern without the Stripology ruler, but it really speeds things up when you go to cut up your strip sets! You can get a little glimpse of me using the Stripology ruler in this Instagram reel.

I have the regular size Stripology, which I don't think they make any more. But looking at what they have, the XL version seems like the best fit for this. I even think it'd be better than what I currently have. The ruler is by GE Designs from Creative Grids. I LOVE it! Here is an affiliate link for the ruler on Amazon; you can also check with your local quilt shop to see if they have it. It's a bit of an investment, but it can really be a time saver. And it can certainly be used with many other Lo & Behold patterns, like Knitted Star, Heirloom Hearts and Interwoven to name a few.

This pattern is such a good opportunity for chain piecing as well. With strip piecing and chain piecing...I try to pack in as many shortcuts and efficiency tips as possible! It's nice to zone out and listen to a book or podcast while sewing and for me, chain piecing makes that possible, especially since the 4-Color and 2-Color versions are so repetitive.

As these blocks started to come together, the overwhelming use of Hydrangea was making me just GIDDY with excitement. This is exactly the project that I've been waiting for to let this fabric shine and I was just thrilled with how it turned out!

I brought this quilt to Megan of Blue Ridge Quilt Co. for longarm quilting and she worked her magic on it! Jess of Longarm League makes some of my favorite digital pantographs (edge-to-edge quilting designs). I always love to scroll through her site and see what's new and Migrate caught my eye. There was something about it that feels mid-century, which I absolutely love with this design. Megan ordered the most PERFECT shade of thread to match Hydrangea and it turned out beautifully.

I used Flora Fields Flax by Katarina Rochella for Art Gallery Fabrics for the Backing which complimented Hydrangea so perfectly with all of the colors in the print. For the binding, I was hesitant to introduce another color...but I also didn't want to use any of the fabrics that were already in the quilt. I struggled with this decision, but I ultimately landed on Kona Peach, which is just a little darker than Sweet Macadamia. It also warms up the fabrics just a bit without standing out too much.