What Share are You, Coral Shawl Quilt

Fun announcements coming at the end of this blog post!

I'll always love an opportunity to work with RJR's Cotton Supreme Solids.  Beautiful colours, beautiful hand, so many potential colourways to dream about!

In my last What Shade Are You feature in 2017 I played with cool blues, purples and greens, using my Botanica Quilt Pattern.  But this time the gorgeous warm tones were calling to me.

 This is my Shawl quilt Pattern.  I first designed it over a year ago!  I've since made it four times, in three different colourways, but this is the first time I've made it using solids.

Picking out fabrics for this quilt is a different approach than most other quilts I've designed:

First you decide on a handful of colours you want in the quilt.  These become (that were it an actual woven shawl) the yarn colours you would choose to weave the shawl.

I always stay stitch 1/8"from the edge around my quilt before it goes to the longarmer's.  It keeps seams from opening, bias from spreading, and keeps seam allowances the way they were pressed.  Do you stay stitch too?

Next, since on a shawl these different yarn colours cross each other and interact, we need to find a colour that represents an even mix of any two yarn colours.  I used an amazing tool to determine these interactions, The Color Hexa website.  I've just written a Blog post all about how I use it to select colours.

I considered a few different colourways before I decided on this one, and with the help of Electric Quilt, I was able to have a great idea of what these colour interactions would look like.

I really love the colourway I chose (top left), and was able to find the exact colours I needed to make this quilt come to life.  Here are the Cotton Supreme Solids I selected for the quilt top:

 • Ballerina • Rio • Lemon Chiffon • Raging Ruby • Bubblegum • Just Peachy • Elephantastic Pink  • Pink Sapphire • Rhododendron • Guava • Rose Coloured Glass •

Then, since I'll always jump on an opportunity to use low volume neutrals or bling, I chose these C+S Basics for binding and backing.

 • Sprinkles in Jelly Bracelet • Add it up in Party Hat • Netorious in Silver Metallic Cloud •

The end result is a fun play on corals, plum, yellow, and their interactions!

Sheri @violetquilts quilted a sweet crosshatch on the quilt.  I requested an asymmetric crosshatch, and when I dropped off the quilt, we laid it out on her cutting table and she laid a sheet of glass over the quilt.  I drew where I would like the quilting lines to be with a dry erase marker on the glass, then she took it from there.

Batting is Hobbs Tuscany Unbleached Cotton. Almost every quilt I've made uses Hobbs Tuscany Wool, but I wanted a flatter profile for this quilt, and achieved it with the soft and supple Unbleached Cotton.  I did a flanged binding following this tutorial, but I trimmed binding to 1 1/8" once pressed in half, to make my usual 2 1/4" binding.

I've made this pattern in prints as well!  First as a mini in June's Cottage (our first fabric line with RJR), and in Bequest (our second line).  Choosing fabrics to achieve the woven shawl effect can apply to prints and solids, and is all explained in the pattern.

A Stripology Ruler is a great companion while making this quilt!  Highly recommended!

So, four things I'd like to tell you about this quilt:

1.  We're having a giveaway, and we hope you'll enter!  We love when you participate!  For a chance to win these fabrics: 

• Follow @briarhilldesigns, and @rjrfabrics on Instagram, then...

• Tag a friend in the comments on the giveaway post.  Each comment counts as an entry.  There is no limit on how many times you can enter.

A winner will be chosen from both @briarhilldesigns and @rjrfabrics, so comment at both locations!

To sweeten the deal, the winners will also be receiving a digital copy of the Shawl pattern from me.

Giveaway closes Monday Feb 11th, 4pm PST.

2. This pattern is available now in print in quilt shops, and as of today, Shawl Quilt Pattern is available as digital pattern and on sale at 25% off until Tuesday Feb 12!

3. This pattern is kitted through Missouri Star in our Bequest fabrics!

4. I'm doing a quilt along with this pattern starting March 25th.  You can subscribe here, and follow #shawlquilt hashtag on Instagram to follow along.

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