You can find the Red Fort of Agra quilt pattern here.
Red Fort of Agra is probably my favorite modern quilt pattern. I have made it the most times, by a lot. It is also the pattern I used for hosting my first quilt along. I chose it for the quilt along because it isn't a very complicated quilt, and is great for precut fabrics. You can use a jelly roll or fat quarters with this pattern and it doesn't require background fabric. It's also pretty quick and it's just plain fun to make.
A little about Art Gallery Fabrics
Art Gallery Fabrics sponsored the quilt along by allowing me to use their new fabric line, Pollinate, to make my Red Fort of Agra quilt (They also gave a fat quarter bundle of Pollinate to one lucky winner from the quilt along).
I just love Art Gallery Fabrics. They are known for the high quality of their fabrics as well as their modern designs. Really each line of fabric is a line of art work. Their motto is "feel the difference" and you really can. Their fabric has an extra soft feel to it. If you are a modern quilter then I highly encourage you to try out Art Gallery Fabrics.
Art Gallery Fabrics also has a variety of other fabrics including rayons, knits, canvas and denim. I have used some of the fabric from their denim line in quilts before and it was like using a linen, except it didn't fray near as much. They also have over 100 colors of solid quilting cotton fabric, as well as other lines of modern blenders.
It's also easy to match solids and blenders with their lines of fabrics if you are color challenged like me. On their website they list which fabrics coordinate with which lines of fabrics. It's also common on online shops to find coordinating solid bundles that match lines of their fabrics. Again, so convenient when life is already hard enough.
Pollinate Fabric Line
The Pollinate fabric line caught my attention because of it's bold colors and designs. Jessica Swift designed this line for Art Gallery Fabrics. In fact, I just love all her fabric lines. They are a combination of bright flowers, usually an animal, some modern designs and a couple geometric prints. Her fabrics remind me of a rainbow and saturated in color.
This Red Fort of Agra quilt is the small throw size from the pattern, which measures 48 x 60. It is the perfect size if you want a project that's not too intensive or if you are just learning to quilt. It is also a great size quilt to give as a gift. The pattern does have 5 sizes available, baby - queen.
For this quilt I decided to use several prints from her line as well as coordinating solids (Pure Solids) and blenders. I made the larger printed fabrics the focus of the quilt by using them for the larger squares.
The contrast
This is the first time I have used this type of contrast for the Red Fort of Agra quilt pattern. In the past I have made the larger blocks the solid fabrics. But there is a first time for everything, and I really wanted to show the modern floral and nature designs off in this quilt. The four patches in the corners support and accent the main fabrics which I feel like really adds so much more color to this quilt. You can check out some of my blocks in the picture below. 
The blocks turned out just as I had hoped, bright and cheery with a focus on each print in the Pollinate line. The solid fabric hold their own with their bright and coordinating colors.
A word about lay out
One of my favorite things about this pattern is you really don't have to lay all the blocks out ahead of time. The key is adding enough variety to the blocks when you sew them together. Then when you sew your blocks together just turn them different directions if you have fabrics matching up. I don't ever lay out this quilt. I just sew it up and cross my fingers. It always turns out great. Plus, craziness is part of the design of this quilt. :)If you really like to do directional prints and like to have them all going one direction, then this might not be the best modern quilt pattern for you. I don't mind directional prints but I also don't mind if they are going different directions. I figure people look at quilts from all different sides so fabrics should go all different directions. It's possible to line directional prints up in this quilt. I just don't provide the directions in the quilt pattern.
My favorite Art Gallery Fabric from the Pollinate line is Abundant Rainbow. It is so beautiful! It reminds of a flower garden. I used this in the quilt top and also used it for the backing. I think it might just be my favorite backing to date. I usually like to add to piecing to the back of the quilt so it's not completely boring. But I didn't do any to this quilt. Abundant Rainbow was a work of art in of itself.
I basted and quilted this quilt myself. At first I just did diagonal lines two inches apart. Then, I went the other direction diagonally. Last, just for kicks, I decided to add a horizontal line which crosses the other two. It's my first time doing this detailed of a design. By that I mean crossing a line three times. After two times then it starts getting a bit harder making sure to hit the exact spot each time. I think it turned out well and was a good skill to grow in.
If you have a chance to grab this line do it! It is sure to be a hit no matter the pattern. Also, if you don't have your copy of Red Fort of Agra grab it here.
Isn't this backing amazing?!?
