Introducing: The Sunny Side Quilt

I’m so excited to finally share the Sunny Side Quilt, a modern, beginner-friendly design that is fun, approachable, and fabric-efficient. It’s fat quarter friendly and no waste, so every piece of your favourite bundle gets put to good use! Seriously, the only “waste” is the selvedge edges (although I've seen some gorgeous quilts that use those too!).

Earlier this year, winter refused to loosen its grip, a never-ending blanket of cold, snow and ice. Yes, that’s normal for where I live but it does take its toll. I found myself in a bit of a creative slump and badly in need of a reset.

Okay, can we be real for a second? I think we’re all feeling the pinch these days, especially when it comes to spending. That’s exactly why, when I was designing this quilt, keeping it budget-friendly was a priority for me.

A pattern that makes the most of a fat quarter bundle (that you probably already have), uses up every last bit of fabric (no wasted scraps), and still comes together into something beautiful? That’s a win in my books.

And because I wanted this pattern to be a little extra sunshine for as many quilters as possible, I worked hard to keep the pattern at a more accessible price, something that feels good to say “yes” to, even on a tighter budget.

With clear instructions, clever construction, and a fresh, modern vibe, the Sunny Side Quilt is the kind of creative simplicity we could all use right now.

Sunny Side Cover Quilt

This quilt was actually the second Sunny Side I made. The first version was full of prints (more on that one next!), so for this one, I knew I wanted to go in a totally different direction, with bold, colourful solids.

I had the perfect wide-back fabric in my stash to use on the back! Moonglow by Alexia Marcelle Abegg for Ruby Star Society is a favourite of mine and I paired it with Kona Navy for the binding.

Golden Hour by Fableism

This was actually the very first Sunny Side Quilt I made! When this gorgeous bundle arrived in the mail, it was the dead of winter, a frigid -45 degrees outside. Brrrr.

But those golden hues were just begging to become a cozy, sun-soaked quilt. From curating the fabric pairings to sewing up blocks and playing with layout options… It was love at first stitch, to the degree that my daughter even claimed this quilt before it was finished!

With so many beautiful prints on the front, I wanted to keep the backing minimal to let the quilt top shine. I chose Homespun Essex Linen in Pepper as the perfect bit of subtle texture. I’ve long been a fan of Fableism’s Sprout Wovens and had plenty of coordinating colours already in my stash. For the finishing touch, I went with a slightly scrappy, subtle ombré binding as the cherry on top!

I’ve said it before, and I’m sure I’ll say it again: quilts made with wovens (like Fableism) are just begging to be hand quilted! And who am I to say no?

On a quick trip to Michaels with my kids, I found myself wandering down the DMC thread aisle when inspiration struck: big-stitch, 5wt (aka chunky), multi-coloured thread!

I picked out a few coordinating shades and got to work. I’ll admit, between the thicker perle cotton and the linen backing, this wasn’t the easiest quilting I’ve ever done. It definitely took more effort, but the texture it created? Totally worth it.

I stitched a plaid-inspired grid, using different thread colours in each direction—and I love how it turned out.

Ruby Star Society Prints

Since this is a FQ friendly pattern, and I’m encouraging quilters to dig into their stash and use what they have… I wanted to do the same! 

I’m not a big fat quarter bundle shopper myself. I usually lean toward solids for my quilt tops and save prints for the backing, so I didn’t have a full bundle ready to go. But like most quilters, I do have plenty of fat quarters to choose from!

If you haven’t figured it out yet, Alexia Abegg is one of my all-time favourite fabric designers. For this version, I used all prints by her, mixing and matching collections from the past few years.

In the spirit of making the most of what I had, I even pieced together some leftover backing fabric from my Canadian Wilderness–inspired Crystal Creek quilt to create a fat quarter-sized piece. Scrappy, resourceful, and just the way I like it!

Once it was all pieced together I couldn’t help but notice it had a bit of a bandana vibe, if you know what I mean. So I decided to lean into it and backed the quilt with Flicker in Persimmon. 

Apparently, one hand quilted Sunny Side Quilt wasn’t enough for me… my fingers must be feeling extra twitchy lately! So I decided to hand-quilt this one too.

Maybe it’s a little cheesy, or maybe it’s just right, but the “still-in-the-works” quilting is radiating circles with lines bursting outward just like, you guessed it… the sun! Stay tuned for more!

Lily Pond Sunny Side Quilt

Do you know what happens when you can make a quilt top in a day? On a random Saturday with nothing to do… you end up making another quilt top!

With plenty of solids in my stash, I had lots to choose from. My goals for this one were:

1. Something totally different from the cover quilt
2. Full-on summer vibes
3. A smaller (and quicker!) version, therefore limited to 12 fat quarters

I started with the six main colours I knew I wanted, then chose coordinating shades to round it out to twelve. Quick, colourful, and so satisfying!

Here are the Kona Cotton colours I used: 

• Bright Peri
• Amethyst 
• Ivy 
• Olive 
• Cadet
• Dresden Blue
• Creamsicle
• Peach
• Dill
• Green Tea
• Spruce
• Sage

Cutting, piecing, and pressing went so fast I wasn’t even able to finish my documentary, ha!

I laid out all the blocks on the floor to figure out the final arrangement, and that’s when it hit me. This quilt looked like a lily pond… maybe even vaguely reminiscent of a famous painted water-lily pond?

Once I had that vision, I knew exactly what fabric was meant for the back: Shore Birds from Lake Life by Jessica Swift for Art Gallery Fabrics! I had just picked up this unique fabric during the spring sale at Piece Fabric Co, and it hadn’t even made it to my shelf yet. It was a match made in heaven!

Next up, basting, quilting, and binding so stay tuned!