When I set out to make Sophia a graduation quilt (like I’ve made for each of our kids as they graduate), I asked her to find an inspirational image to pull color from. She was drawn to an ocean sunset with super-saturated tones. From there, I pulled solid fabrics in my stash, and we culled a few out that she wasn’t keen to include. Clearly, she’s not afraid of color!
I added a few more colors to round out the color story there are about 20 different tones included. I decided to use my Talk of the Town quilt pattern to show off all the colors and worked out a quilting plan with Sophia. I love the “fun flowers” digital design and enlarged it to coordinate with the scale in the quilt top.
Sophia requested charcoal thread for quilting, which initially made me nervous. There’s so much color and simple shapes in the quilt top though that the dark thread brings everything together in a fun way.
The backing fabric is a Kaffe Fausett wide-back that is a super soft sateen. I loved the colors in it and how well they coordinated with the top. It was the obvious choice for the backing.
I loved making this graduation quilt for her and putting love and happy thoughts into it as I made it. Sophia is working to gain more experience in interior design and we are excited to see where it takes her!
This is the fifth version I’ve made of this quilt, and every iteration is so fun! This fat quarter friendly, simple patchwork pattern is a winner every time.
Here’s a few more images of the finished quilt—
I love that you explained your process for designing the quilt for your daughter! I will try to use your process when planning quilts for gifts in the future. I’m in the middle of working on a graduation quilt for a niece and wish that I had seen this post before. I struggle with trying to make sure that the pattern and fabrics are “just right” for the person I’m making it for. Having them participate in the process would make some of the choices much easier and much faster.
Thank you for sharing all the renditions of this quilt. I would never have guessed that they were from the same pattern. Have to say, my favorite quilt is Sophia’s.
Just wondering if this pattern is jelly roll friendly?