Summer Sampler 2020 quilt complete
My Summer Sampler 2020 quilt is complete, and I couldn't be more pleased!
I just loved working with this color palette - I have a feeling you'll be seeing more variations on this palette from me in the future. Creating this palette—and the fabric pull that brought it to life—was a labor of love, with tons of tweaking and refining as I went. Often, by the time I finish a long-term project like this, I'm tired of the colors and I'm ready to move on to a new palette, but surprisingly, this time, I'm still into it. These colors are just that yummy.
I added four extra blocks that weren't included in the pattern to make the quilt a bit larger. All four of the extras were pulled from previous years' Summer Samplers. For the setting, I went back to something more reminiscent of Summer Sampler 2016: I set them all in 3" wide white sashing. I love a sampler with blocks that just kind of float on a simple background, and I felt the need to give this quilt plenty of white space. It makes the design feel lighter and airier. This kind of simplicity is something I'll never get tired of, especially in sampler quilts, which by their nature tend to be a little busier design-wise.
I also kept it simple with the quilting. This classic loopy edge-to-edge pattern is perfection! This gorgeous quilting was done for me by Tia Curtis Quilts, who has done an amazing job for me on two quilts now. And she's fast too!
Last but not least: Pieced binding for the win. I often bind quilts in the same color as the background (in this case, white), for a simple, clean, modern look. But in this case, with all the white sashing and borders to air out the blocks, I felt like it just screamed for binding with some punch. Usually by the time I get the binding stage, I'm too lazy to put in the effort of piecing a lot of smaller strips, but in this case I think it was well worth the extra work. You might just see more pieced bindings from me in the future!
You can still make your own Summer Sampler 2020 quilt! While the official quilt-along is now complete, there are still PLENTY of people working through the blocks from the beginning, so you'll have lots of company in the Summer Sampler 2020 subscribers-only Facebook group. Click here to make your own Summer Sampler 2020!