My Kailia's Quilt for Kailia using Riley Blake Fabrics

This is all about my Kailia's Quilt for Kailia. That is confusing. But I named the Kailia's Quilt Pattern after my oldest daughter, and then she insisted I needed to make her a version to take with her to college. So... this is the Kailia's Quilt for Kailia. It's still confusing.

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

This quilt pattern is great for beginners. Quilters love it's scrappy look. In fact, it's become my best selling pattern.

Why is it so popular? Well, it's kind of unique in that it's very versatile. It's precut friendly (think Honey Buns or 1 1/2 inch precuts and Charm Squares or 5 inch squares precuts), fat quarter friendly and scrap friendly. So basically almost any quilter should be able to make this pattern without buying any fabric.



I know a lot of people who have purchased the pattern because their scrap pile is getting out of control and they want a pattern to use up some scraps. I made the Kailia's Quilt with my scraps and turned it into a rainbow quilt. You can read about that quilt here.

I have actually made this quilt more than any other of my quilt patterns. Even with all the trimming of Half Square Triangles, I still love making new versions. Most of my versions have been made using fat quarters. You can find my version using Cotton and Steel Fabrics here. Or read about my first version using a Kona fat quarter bundle here.

More About The Pattern

The Kailia's Quilt Pattern is for the beginner quilter. It's a great pattern to perfect your Half Square Triangle. Because of the scrappy look of the quilt, it's important to have as many combinations of fabrics in your Half Square Triangles as possible. For this reason, they are made 2 at a time. I know, this can be a bit tedious. But, the result it worth it.

If you have never made 2 at a time Half Square Triangles you can find a tutorial here. If you are a beginner quilter and haven't perfected your 1/4 inch seam or your Half Square Triangle yet, I suggest purchasing extra fabric and making your squares a 1/4 inch larger than what the pattern calls for. This will give you extra trimming space and little extra room in case your seams are slightly off. It's better to make oversized Half Square Triangles and trim them down, than to make ones that a smidge too small.

The Kailia's Quilt Pattern includes directions for the scrappy version, precuts and fat quarters. So there isn't any guessing, all are clearly written in the pattern.

Kailia's Quilt includes directions for three sizes:

• Baby 36 in. x 40 in.
• Throw 60 in. x 72 in.
• Twin 72 in. x 92 in.
  
  

This specific quilt is an oversized throw.

One of my favorite features of this quilt, is it doesn't require any background fabric. Almost all the versions I have made have been from my stash, by just grabbing large bundles of fat quarters. That's my kind of quilt pattern!

 

About This Quilt

As I said earlier, this quilt was made for my oldest daughter, Kailia. Since the pattern is named after her she insisted I make her a Kailia's Quilt for University.

Kailia is a big fan of green. Green isn't my favorite color. That's partly because I am red/green colorblind, so I can never tell if a fabric is green or brown or some other color.



Anyway, I fell in love with this beautiful line of fabric and she bought it for me for Christmas a couple years ago. The fabric is by Heather Peterson for Riley Blake. The line is called Indigo Garden. It is a bit older and might be hard to find. However, she has a new line coming out October 2023, called Market Street, which has similar colors and patterns. You can find that here.

Indigo Garden has lots of greens in it. Kailia loved the fabric and I had a fat quarter bundle of the entire line. This was the perfect option for Kailia's quilt.

Kailia wanted a little larger than a throw, but smaller than a twin size. So this quilt has one extra row added for length from the throw size directions. This oversized throw came out the perfect size.

Usually I use regular cotton, quilting fabric for the backing of my quilts. However, Kailia is going to University in Montana. We are not used to cold weather and decided to make it extra warm by adding flannel to the back.

We picked out a high quality flannel fabric. Art Gallery Fabric makes very nice flannels, which are double brushed. This means it is brushed on both sides and makes the fabric extra soft. If you are backing a quilt with flannel, make sure to get a high quality flannel for durability.

Flannel can shrink after being washed. For this reason I washed the flannel before I pieced the backing. I also used a 1/2 inch seam when piecing the backing.

I sent this quilt to Knot and Thread Design to be quilted. My daughter chose the panto she wanted for the quilting. Kaitlyn always does a lovely job and get the quilts back in short order. I highly suggest her for your quilting needs.

Kailia chose a solid green for the binding fabric from our local quilt shop. It frames the quilt nicely, especially since there is already so much going on.

Although green really isn't my color, I just love this quilt and didn't want to let it go. The scrappiness of the quilt works perfectly with the design of the fabrics. I hope this is something she will enjoy for many years to come.