Valley Song: The Coyote Hill Quilt

Written by Elizabeth Bolten

When the updated version of Valley Song came out earlier this summer I immediately knew I wanted to make it using prints. Valley Song is such a fun and quick make AND the size of the pieces are big enough to really showcase your favorite fabrics. What could be better?!

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Around this same time Katie O'Shea's newest collection, Coyote Hill, was also getting ready to release with AGF. I love Katie's style and her use of color and linework; she creates such beautiful patterns inspired by flora and fauna. As soon as I saw the collection I knew it would be perfect for a Valley Song quilt so we collaborated with AGF on a project for the Coyote Hill Lookbook. One of the things I love most about this collection is Katie's subtle use of color and design to convey movement and (quite a bit of) detail while still reading as textured solids from a distance. It's truly the best when a quilt design, fabric design and quilting design (more on that in a minute) all come together in harmony!

Valley Song is an Advanced Beginner pattern constructed from strips and HSTs. It's also a "choose your own adventure" pattern which means it includes 3 different layout options to choose from. Fun right?! I went with the Melodic version for this quilt and love how well it works with the prints.

I used eight Coyote Hill prints along with two AGF solids, Night Sea and White Linen for the quilt top. Placing the solids toward the center of the quilt provided a bit of balance for the prints, drawing the eye in and giving it a place to rest.

Coyote Hill Quilt Kits and FQ Bundles are available in the shop.

Read on for more details about this quilt and how to use directional prints with Valley Song!

ROW BC

Row BC is made up of all HSTs, if you are using directional prints it is helpful to lay out your rows before sewing them together to make sure they are facing the same direction. I did end up with a couple of HSTs that weren't and picked the HSTs for those spots that weren't noticeably directional. Btw, aren't these little owls and mushrooms the cutest?!

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ROW GH

Row GH is another HST row and this one is all about making an impact for the centermost row of the quilt. I love the use of soft colors here and the looser, flowy pattern design. Depending on which layout you choose it can be helpful to use a non-directional or solid as one or both of fabrics which is what I did!

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ROW IJ

Row IJ includes the smallest HST's used in Valley Song so I went with a larger scale print for the triangles to create some color variation while still keeping the rows low key. If you wanted to use directional fabrics be sure to lay them out before assembling rows so they are all orientated in the same direction!

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For more tips, be sure to check out this Nightingale blog post on using directional prints for HST's prior to sewing!

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LADDER ROW

How fun are these rows?! I love a good stripe and this one did not disappoint. It adds a bit of texture and movement without overpowering the overall design. The Ladder Rows are also perfect for directional prints since you can easily keep each piece orientated in the same direction. Quick Tip: During Quilt Top Assembly you will rotate some of the rows, don't forget to factor that into your layout so your directional prints stay facing up!

With the quilt top complete it was off to Kristen Lee of Mashe Modern for a quilting spa treatment. This part is always so much fun, I love picking out pantos and Kristen does amazing longarm work. I've taken her so many quilts over the years and always love the results.

To compliment the straight lines of the quilt design I wanted to go with a quilting pattern that was allll about curves so we went with the Pluma pantograph by Longarm League, what do you think?!

PERK: Kristen is currently offering FREE batting of your choice when you book online and mention Lo and Behold Stitchery!

For the binding, I went with AGF Decostitch Golden Earth to add just a smidge of tone-on-tone texture. I love the earthy, neutral border it added to frame out the quilt!

Since the quilt top has a lot of deep, rich color I countered that with a lighter fabric from the collection, Wild Woodblock Day, for the backing. I love how it carries over little pops of color used in the quilt top. And of course, Coyotes!