On the Bright Side...

"On the Bright Side" Flowering Snoballs Cheater print by Sandy Gervais for Riley Blake Designs.
54" x 54" Throw quilt with Faux-Piped Binding and Grey/LaCreme Swiss Dot backing.

Been having some fun with new Riley Blake Designs' fabrics!  Sandy Gervais is a new designer for RBD, but has been in the industry with her fabric art, patterns and projects for over 20 years! 

This darling fabric, "On the Bright Side" has cheery, retro-feeling colors and motifs with lots of positive phrases and texts sprinkled throughout.

I've been dying to test out this adorable "cheater" print, Flowering Snowballs.

I wanted my quilt to be a little larger than the standard 42"/44" width, so I used about 2-3/4 yards of the print, then carefully cut and pieced it into a 54" square.

1.  Carefully TRIM leaving 1/4" seam allowance.  

2.  ANCHOR intersections with a pin...

...then PIN sections together.

3. STITCH, using 1/4" seam allowance.    4. PRESS seams open.

It was pretty easy to trim the print, even if I had to sacrifice a little bit here and there to piece the quilt into a 54" square.  Once it's quilted, you don't notice any seamlines.

For the quilting, I took inspiration from the fabric itself and used an orange-peel/teacups/pumpkin seed-type quilting motif.  I didn't worry about following the lines in the print, though it would look more "pieced" if I had done so.

Next, I added a Faux-Piped Binding - currently my favorite method of a quick machine-binding technique which gives a clean finish with a little peek-a-boo of color at the edge.  The next pics will give you an idea.  You can also see a tutorial here or here.

~~~

Next, I quilted up some of Sandy's Placemat Panels, using these adorable prints for backing.  

Wow, do panels ever make things easy!  Each panel has 4 placemats.  And the binding could not be more adorable than with these coordinating Texture basics in Teal, Citron, and Rouge. ♥♥

One down... more to go!

Ask for "On the Bright Side" at your local quilt shop or find it online.  Then check out these gals in the coming weeks for more great ideas!

Deonn @ Quiltscapes

Elizabeth @ Brown Bird Designs

Amy @ Ameroonie Designs