Little Three Creeks Using Art Gallery Fabrics

You can find Little Three Creeks in my shop. 

Little Three Creeks is a fresh and fun modern quilt pattern which comes in a large throw size. It uses yardage to create a beautiful landscape with mirrored images of three mountains.

I finished this quilt just in time for the release of Little Three Creeks. You can find the story behind this quilt design here.

This version came out of a desire to try the Little 3 Creeks quilt pattern with a darker background and using all solids. I wanted to show the simplicity and modern design specifically. Nothing says simplicity in quilts quite like using solid fabrics.

Choosing the Fabrics

I loved the new colors released this year by Art Gallery Fabrics. They remind me of fall and all the bright colors of leaves. So I decided to use these as my palate to choose from.

It was hard to choose the mountain colors, I actually think the middle mountain could be a shade darker to make it stand out more.  But I wanted to choose colors that reminded me of a sunset. In the end I love all the colors in this quilt. You can find them listed below.

 

Colors used (mountains are from left to right):

Background - Ocean Fog

Creek and binding - Northern Waters

Mountain # 1 - Georgia Peach

Mountain # 2 - Sugar Plum

Mountain # 3 - Blushing

Background - Desert Flora (Terra Cotta collection)

I loved the creek panel as soon as it started coming together!

About the Pattern

The creek or middle of the quilt uses half rectangle triangles. In the past I have been scared to sew these, or maybe not so much scared as lazy. They take precise trimming skills which I don't love doing. The half rectangle triangles can take a bit of time, especially if you haven't done them before.

I suggest doing some practice ones with scraps to make sure you get the measurements and angles correct. In the pattern I give specific instructions and detail in how to trim these units. You can also find a tutorial on half rectangle triangles here. 

After you get the technique down start in on the half rectangle triangles for this quilt. You won't be sorry to have taken the extra time to sew them.


I don't know about you, but when I get into a project it can be a bit of a mad scientist scenario, in that when I start cutting fabric all the pieces usually don't get picked up, and definitely not organized, until the quilt is completely finished. This means I am not the best at keeping track of all the cuts and fabric pieces until I actually need them.


Little Three Creeks, as an example, uses a lot of strips to reduce the piecing needed to create the mountain scapes. I noticed I had a large, messy pile of strips lying on my ironing board. I couldn't remember which one measured which length and where it was supposed to go in the quilt. So I remeasured all the pieces in the stack and put a note on each strip with the length written. This made piecing the quilt at the end super fast. I could easily grab the correct length piece.


Labeled background pieces for easier assembly

To be honest I was a bit afraid I might sew the wrong length in the wrong spot and not notice the rows didn't measure up until I tried to sew them together. I suggest labeling the strips after you cut them when making this quilt... you can thank me later.

One of the things I debated when making this quilt was if I should include the strip of fabric which separates the mountains and the creeks. I asked my husband, who really doesn't care about anything quilts except that they take up too much space on the couch, he did that thing where he squints his eyes and looks out of the corner of them, and proceeded to say he didn't know. I don't know why I ask him, I think I do it to make myself feel more confident. LOL!

Anyway, I decided to add the space because it makes the mountains and creeks stand out a bit more, and it reminds me of how a shore separates a body of water and the surrounding area. However, my tester did not include the strip and hers turned out beautiful as well. So all that to say, do what you like best.

So the year long drama of getting my large sewing machine continues. Don't get me started about the time and money spent on fixing it. I was hoping to have it fixed to quilt up this beauty, instead I decided to hand quilt this quilt, which is the largest quilt I have hand quilted. And I really didn't mind. I would do it at night while watching TV (Hallmark Christmas movies) with my husband (alright, let's be honest, he wasn't watching, he was working) or while traveling to visit my parents. It's satisfying to see the quilting slowly come along.

When quilting I usually use a Hera Marker to mark where I want to quilt. If you do not have one I highly suggest getting one. They are an inexpensive and easy item to carry with you and make quilting so much easier. I couldn't find mine for this quilt, or I left it in India, not sure. So instead I used the back side of a butter knife to mark my lines. A butter knife works well also, I just prefer the Hera Marker and think it's slides better on the fabric. I marked all the straight lines and free handed the rest.

Hand quilting completely changes the feel of the quilt. It has much more movement and feels softer than quilts that are machine quilted.

My stitches aren't perfect or even, but I love how it turned out. And how else am I going to improve my hand quilting unless I practice, practice, practice...

I wanted a fun and floral background, so I chose an Art Gallery Fabric floral that tied in the pink/peach colors from the front to the back. I love having something interesting on the back of the quilt, so this pattern was perfect. My oldest child said the floral didn't match because it didn't have any blues in it, but I just ignored her. I mean she ignores me most of the time so I get to occasionally ignore her right?

I just love how this modern, memorable quilt turned out. Enjoy some more images below and don't forget to pick up your copy of the pattern!

 

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