Today I'm going to tell you all about the cover quilt I made for the Rosie's Quilt. This quilt is like a kick in the face of happiness. It's so bright and cheerful... just my style.

Rosie's Quilt is my modern quilt pattern written for the beginner quilter. It's fat quarter friendly and just plain fun to make. This version is my third and I keep thinking of other color combos I would like to make. So I'm sure it won't be my last.

Rosie's Quilt is a block based pattern which uses half square triangles. As the blocks are put together a secondary block appears and voila... quilting magic.

You can find a copy of the Rosie's Quilt Pattern here.

Inspiration

This pattern was inspired by the many forts and palaces my husband and I have toured with our kids while living in India. The forts and palaces have the most beautiful ceilings, walls and floors. They are truly works of art.

Rosie's Quilt is named after my third child. Since she was 6 months old I carried her in a wrap on the front of me when we hiked temples, tombs, palaces and forts. She was my travel buddy on airplanes and through airports. She went to the market and in rickshaws like that. She is far too old to pack around now. But I miss the days of having a little pal snuggled against me as I go through life.

You can see an image below of us touring a palace together. She is in my arms for the picture, not my pack.

About the Pattern

Rosie's Quilt is a great pattern for beginner quilters. It isn't intended for a brand new quilter's first quilt, but the pattern will definitely help grow your skills. Half square triangles are a foundational block used in quilting and this pattern will give you lots of practice.

Rosie's Quilt uses the 8 at a time half square triangle method. This makes everything go a bit faster... although it doesn't help with the trimming.

Really the longest part of this pattern is the trimming part. I don't mind trimming half square triangles (HSTs). I like to leave them on my kitchen table and trim them as I have time or when I am helping my kids with school.



There are two main methods I go back and forth between when trimming HSTs. One is to first press the HSTs, then trim using a square ruler with a 45 degree angle. You can see this method in this 2 at a time HST tutorial here. I also like to use my Clearly Perfect Slotted Trimmers to trim my HSTs. When using these guides you first trim the HSTs, then press. It might take a minute to get used to the Clearly Perfect Slotted Trimmers. But I like mixing things up sometimes and find these get an accurate trim.

Rosie's Quilt Pattern is fat quarter friendly (accent fabrics), with Fabric A (used in the center of each block) and background fabric. I included 5 sizes, that way everyone can make what they want.  See the fabric requirements below for all the details.

More About This Quilt

First off this version is all thanks to Amy from Sewtopia. She curated the fat quarter bundle I used for this version. It's called the Crazy Rich Asians Bundle. The day she posted it on Instagram I was in love! I ordered it right away.

I love how all the fabrics are blenders or have a subtle print to them, but they are all bold and bright colors. I did have to replace one of the colors because I was making a throw size and needed a half yard for the Fabric A instead of a fat quarter. I swapped out a Stary fabric, which is very similar in color (at least it is to my eyes).


The scraps from trimming the HSTs were so pretty I didn't want to throw them away.

I used the suggested number of fat quarters for this quilt (11). However, I think the quilt looks better the more fabrics you have in it. In fact, if you are willing to trim them a bit you can use layer cakes for this quilt. It would give a much more varied fabric selection. You could also use larger pieces of scraps or fat eighths instead of fat quarters (just double the number needed).

You can see above my block, chain pieced together, above.

I love how when the blocks start coming together on this quilt they form a secondary design. As best as possible I try to arrange my fabrics so the colors and fabrics are mixed up and no two of the same are touching.

I like to layout the blocks, then pick the pieces up in the correct order so I can chain piece them together. I do this one at a time and leave the blocks chain pieced on my ironing board until all are done. Then, I press and finish sewing the rows together.

With this version I was still working on how to write the pressing instructions in the pattern. It's important to follow the pressing instructions of a designers because they have made the pattern a couple times and have insight why pressing a certain way is important. For instance, some of the seams in this quilt got a bit too bulky. If a seams becomes too think it affects the quilting and you can feel a bump. No one wants a bumpy quilt. 

We had all the snow when I was sewing this quilt top together. It brought me so much joy to see the colors in this while I looked out at the falling white snow.

 I was so pleased with how this quilt top turned out. I love the contrast between the clean crisp white and the bright, bold colors.

I went to my local quilt shop and chose a woven fabric with a red on red stripe for the backing. I'm not brave enough to quilt my own quilt with a stripe. It's hard for me to baste the quilt completely straight, so I prefer to use backing fabrics with out lines. But, I knew I was going to send this quilt out to Kait from Knot and Thread. And, I knew that basting and quilting a stripe on the back would be no big deal for her.

Kait helped me choose this pattern of all circles. She thought it would be a fun design for this quilt. I wasn't so sure, but I trust her judgement. It turned out very fun! Look at all that texture. It reminds me of pebbles or rocks.

I had enough left over fabric to make a scrappy binding for this quilt, which I thought went very well with it. :)

Rosie's Quilt is a fun make. It's easy to find a fat quarter bundle to make some of the smaller sizes and just add a bit of yardage for the background and center square.

You can grab a copy of this pattern in my shop.