the making of Sew Speedy quilt

Sew Speedy mini Quilt. Pattern available at shop.wholecirclestudio.com

Earlier this year, Christopher Thompson, (aka The Tattooed Quilter) asked if I would make a mini quilt using solids and near solids that complimented his first fabric collection, Blue Carolina. The package of fabrics arrived and I’ll admit that at first I had a difficult time trying to decide what to make. The color palette was not something I would normally select. Being a designer is all about problem solving, so that’s exactly how I approached the project. After brainstorming and sketching, I decided to go with a new design, inspired by sewing. I named it (not so creatively) Needle Up and Down.

Early version of "Sew Speedy" Mini Quilt pattern. Pattern by Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill | Whole Circle Studio. Available at shop.wholecirclestudio.com
Early version of “Sew Speedy” Mini Quilt pattern.

This summer, I decided to take a closer look at the design and make some modifications to this foundation paper pieced pattern, including altering the size and adding additional needles to show more movement. I made the pattern easy to make using a strip roll (also known as a Jelly Roll). I also renamed the quilt Sew Speedy. I made a prototype as I wrote the pattern.
prototyping Sew Speedy mini quilt pattern—a foundation paper piecing pattern by Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill | Whole Circle Studio
prototyping Sew Speedy mini quilt pattern—a foundation paper piecing pattern by Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill | Whole Circle Studio

As you can see, my first complete Sew Speedy sample is basted but not quite quilted yet:
Sew Speedy mini Quilt. Pattern available at shop.wholecirclestudio.com - sample made in Kona Cotton Solids by Robert Kaufman.
For this sample, I used Kona® Cotton Solids (Pomegranate, Watermelon, Goldfish, Buttercup, Chartreuse, Pool, Caribbean and Mulberry) by Robert Kaufman

A couple of weeks later, I was approached by QT Fabrics. They had a new collection, entitled Ombre Stitches and wanted to know if I was interested in working with it. My Sew Speedy pattern was a perfect fit, especially since they were offering this collection as a strip roll.

When the fabric arrived, I first selected which 8 colors I wanted to be the needles and used a subtle white on white dot print for the background.
Quilting Treasures Ombre Stitches collection.

and then came the piecing and quilting!

QT Fabrics teamed up with Aurifil to create a special thread collection that coordinates perfectly with the Ombre Stitches collection. Included in the box are the following 50wt colors: 4670, 2515, 2540, 2735, 2710, 2810, 4654, 2870, 5017, 2150, 3920 and 4660. Before quilting, I played around with 8 (out of the 12) thread colors I wanted to use. I added White (color: 2024) for the quilting in the background. Batting is Warm and Natural by The Warm Company.
Aurifil 50wt / Ombre Stitches collection


Quilting Sew Speedy mini Quilt. Pattern available at shop.wholecirclestudio.com

Leftovers from the pre-cut 2.5″ strips made for the perfect scrappy binding.
Scrappy binding using Ombre Stitches by Quilting Treasures. Scrappy binding using Ombre Stitches by Quilting Treasures.
Sew Speedy mini Quilt. Pattern available at shop.wholecirclestudio.com Sew Speedy mini Quilt. Pattern available at shop.wholecirclestudio.com

 

Many thanks to Laura McDowell Hopper (@sonicstitches) for testing this pattern. Here is a detail shot of her Sew Speedy.

Sew Speedy mini Quilt. Pattern available at shop.wholecirclestudio.com
Pieced, quilted and photographed by Laura McDowell Hopper (@sonicstitches)

Sew Speedy isn’t just for a rainbow palette. Check out a sample I have in the works using Cotton + Steel basics.
Sew Speedy mini Quilt. Pattern available at shop.wholecirclestudio.com - sample made in Cotton+Steel basics.

 

Want to make your own Sew Speedy? Get the pattern here!
Sew Speedy mini quilt pattern by Whole Circle Studio. Available at shop.wholecirclestudio.com

 

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