Summer Breeze Quilt - Ta Da!

Today I get to share my version of the Fat Quarter Shop's  Summer Breeze Quilt Pattern. I named my quilt Rainbow Breeze. It's been hard working on this quilt in secret for much of the summer.

This clever kaleidoscope pattern is designed to use fat quarters, and the Fat Quarter Shop encouraged the choice of Moda Fabrics. I saw this as an excellent opportunity to finally try a bunch of Moda Bella Solids. To give me a nice rainbow of solids, I chose four different bundles: the Mumbai Solid Bundle, the Sew Sampler Solid Bundle, the Me and My Sisters Designs Bundle and the Blues Bella Solids Bundle, together with Bella Solids Ivory and a couple of extra Bella Solids oranges and yellows.

The Fat Quarter Shop's  Summer Breeze Quilt Pattern uses a really easy approach to piecing and trimming this traditional kaleidoscope pattern. To make it, the Fat Quarter Shop also supplied me with two rulers for making this quilt, the Creative Grids 45 degree kaleidoscope ruler and 8.5" square ruler.

Here is the Fat Quarter Shop's video tutorial, which shows how to make this lovely and clever pattern:

I had fun quilting this quilt. I first quilted horizontal lines from 1/2" to about 1" apart. Then I turned the quilt a quarter turn, reloaded it on my long arm frame and quilted a second set of horizontal lines. The resulting effect of having squares that are not quite even is lovely.



I used a Wonderfil 50wt variegated grey and ivory thread for the quilting. The thread worked perfectly, no thread breaks and very even tension, and the colour added just the right touch to the quilt.



These detail shots were taken of the quilt after it had been washed and dried. I used a cotton batting which shrinks just a little to give the quilt a soft, puckered look.



I had a lot of fun deciding on the colour placement for the blocks on this quilt. I wanted the rainbow to have enough distinction to be noticed, while still having the sparkle of mixing up the colours a fair bit.



I used a Tula Pink wide back fabric for the back and more of the Bella Ivory for the binding.

Again, you can find the Fat Quarter Shop's  Summer Breeze Quilt Pattern here.



There is Rainbow Breeze one more time - she is about 56" square, which is a slightly smaller quilt than the pattern calls for. I love the rainbow and the way that, if you just move back from the quilt a little bit, the kaleidoscope circles peek out from this approach to the colour placement.

Be sure to check out the other versions of this lovely pattern created by these lovely bloggers:

Melissa from Happy Quilting

Nicole from Modern Handcraft

Sherri N. from Rebecca Mae Designs

Sherri M. from A Quilting Life

Alyce from Blossom Heart Quilts

Jessica from Quilty Habit

Afton from Quilting Mod

Kathryn from Kathryn Jones Quilts

Stephanie from The Modern Sewciety



This  quilt was also on my Q3 Finish A Long list, and it's done too!

Best,

Leanne