Summer Garden BoM: September Fabric Requirements
- vafibrearts
- Sep 13, 2022
- 4 min read
Hello Friends and Welcome to the Summer Garden BoM!
I'm thrilled to announce that my first Block of the Month project has now begun!
I designed the Summer Garden pattern over the past summer to be used as my guild's annual BoM project. It features 7 pieced blocks, each finishing at 10” square, drawn from the traditional blocks featured in Barbara Brackman’s Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns. But while the block patterns are of a traditional style, through colour selection and block placement, participants can make their version of this quilt as traditional or modern as they like!
And though this pattern was designed for use by my guild, all instructions are freely available here on the blog. I would love to see how many different variations we can make of this pattern, so please quilt along with me!
Summer Garden
Let's start by taking a look at the quilt we will be making. I haven't quite finished piecing my first sample, but I do have this digital rendering to share:
When the fabric version is complete, I'll add a picture of that here too!
As you can likely tell from the name, the Summer Garden pattern was inspired by the beautiful flowers that grow in my yard throughout the summer season!
We get a lot of red and white clover, birds foot trefoil, and climbing nightshade, none of which are native to Ontario but all of which are very beautiful. The blocks that were selected to be used in the pattern reflect the different shapes of these flowers, with the green background blocks representing the shapes and shades of leaves, stems, and other foliage.
I had a lot of fun converting some of my favourite summer wildflowers into an easy, pieceable format and I hope you’ll have just as much fun applying your own ideas to the pattern as I’ve had designing it!
Fabric Selection
For September, the first month of this project, we will be focusing on fabric selection. This includes choosing a finished quilt size, colour scheme, and fabric.
The Summer Garden pattern includes fabric requirements for a quilt in three different sizes; a throw sized quilt finishing at 50” x 60”; a twin sized quilt finishing at 70” x 90”; and a queen sized quilt finishing at 90” x 110”. It also accommodates a few different colour variations; a two-tone colour scheme, three-tone colour scheme, and a block-by-block breakdown of the fabric requirements for those who want a little more creative freedom!
Full details regarding fabric requirements can be found in the PDF below.
Colour Planning
In addition to the fabric requirements, I’ve also shared a PDF with some notes and information regarding colour selection. For some quilt makers, like myself, colour selection is an exciting part of the creative process, but for others, it’s simply an obstacle in the way of starting their project.
For some colour inspiration and advice, check out the Colour Selection PDF below.
My Colour Scheming
I’ve already mentioned that the colour inspiration from my original design came from the wildflowers in my backyard, but for the quilt I’ll be making along with the rest of you, I wanted to do something different.
Originally, I had thought about using a colour scheme that’s totally new to me, something I had never used before. One of my least used colours across all mediums is pink, so I had the idea to make a pink ombre version of the quilt as a challenge.
I’m actually really happy with how this looks, but as I don’t usually work with pink, I don’t have much of it in my stash and I was really hoping to be able to use up some of my scraps and remnants rather than buying a totally new selection of fabric. I’ll save this idea for another time.
My next idea was to use a selection of metallic-printed fabrics, I have tonnes of them in black, white, and grey. I really love the starkness of the greyscale background and the delicacy of the golden designs, so I was quite excited about the possibility of working with them!
I’ve been collecting these types of prints since last fall when I used them to make a patchwork plague doctor mask and some blocks for the Generations Quilt, so I have lots to work with and already know that I love the colours. But another idea came to me that stuck in my head and renewed my excitement about the Summer Garden BoM!
Following the original garden theme, mixed with a little bit of Alice in Wonderland inspiration, I’ve decided that my next version of the Summer Garden quilt will follow a Garden of Cards colour scheme!
This version of the Summer Garden pattern won’t be quite as different from the original design as I had initially expected; it will still have a scrappy green background and bright accent colours inspired by flowers, but there will be differences as well.
The flowers I’ll be representing are the red-painted white roses in the Queen of Heart’s garden, and the blocks I use these colours in will be different from those of the Summer Garden quilt. Roses are typically fairly round, so the Snowball block is a good choice, and I think using the Dove at the Window block for buds could be really beautiful as well!
On top of those minor differences, I will also be adding a few contrast blocks in solid black and white to represent the playing card soldiers and gardeners. These contrast blocks will totally change the feeling of the quilt and I’m excited to work in this extra detail!
Now the only step left is for me to pick a finished size for this quilt and to gather my fabric!
Friends, I’m really looking forward to seeing how each of you interpret, alter, and otherwise enjoy working with this pattern! I know there’s a million different ways to make it unique and I hope that together we can discover them all!
Once you’ve selected a colour scheme, I would love for you to share it with me here or on Instagram @vafibrearts. And if you have any questions or concerns about the pattern, I would be happy to help, please reach out!
I can’t wait to start making blocks! Coming up in October will be Bear Paw, have your fabric ready Friends!
I have never done a BOM before, and I am confused about choosing colors. How much fabric do I need for each square, and shouldn’t all the blocks match somewhat?
craftylady5@charter.net
Maryann C.