Bloom Bloom Pow! Make a springtime quilt with me

It's 18 degrees here as I type this, and winter doesn't seem to be letting up, so who wants to help me hurry spring along with a flowery, sunshiney quilt?

Yes, I've decided it's time for another quilt-along! I've got a yummy stack of Lizzy House's Pearl Bracelets line by Andover, and I'm ready to bring on spring, even if it doesn't feel like it outside.

So this is the design we'll be making. I'm calling it "Bloom Bloom Pow." (My apologies if you end up with a certain song stuck in your head!) This looks hard, right?

I promise you it isn't!

No paper-piecing here, no templates required—the design uses a really simple strip-piecing technique to make the flower shapes. The most difficult thing you'll do during this QAL is sew together equilateral triangles, which really isn't that hard either, and I'll show you all my tips and tricks for lining up your triangles nicely.

All the fun kicks off with our first post a week from today, March 28. There will be two size options: Baby/Crib and Throw. Fabric requirements for each are below.

Baby/Crib

Finished size: 37.5" x 50"

Fabric requirements to make the top:
• 1/4 yard each of 17 colors of Pearl Bracelet prints by Andover (straight quarter-yard cuts are ideal because of the strip-piecing, but you can also use fat quarters)
• 1 yard solid white

Throw

Finished size: 52.5" x 69"

Fabric requirements to make the top:
• 3/8 yard each of 17 colors of Pearl Bracelet prints by Andover
• 1 1/2 yards solid white

Fabric Selections

I think Pearl Bracelets is perfect for this design, with its bright colors, its subtle but fun print, and the varying values within the line (my design relies a lot on the darker flower "petals" paired with lighter secondary elements). But there are plenty of other prints that would look great in this quilt. Because of the strip-piecing, it would be difficult to make it scrappy, but using stash prints or another fabric lines would be very cool too. I'm looking forward to seeing what you talented people do with this!

Cutting Equilateral Triangles

For both sizes, we will be cutting 7" equilateral triangles. I'll be providing a downloadable template that you can use to cut your triangles, but if you want to make life easier for yourself, use a 60-degree equilateral triangle ruler. If you don't have one already, consider buying one—it's a versatile ruler that you'll almost certainly use for many other projects. I love the Creative Grids rulers, so this triangle ruler would be a perfect choice, but any 60-degree equilateral triangle ruler that cuts up to 7" finished sizes will work.

Quilt-Along Schedule
March 21: Introduction and Fabric Requirements
March 28: Design Strategy
April 4: Cutting Your Fabric
April 11: Make the Strip-Pieced Units
April 18: Cutting the Triangles
April 25: Completing the Top
May 2: Quilting
May 9: A Finished Quilt

It's important to note that this will be a very laid-back, do-it-whenever-you-want kind of quilt-along. Because if the weather does improve, we might all want to go outside, after all. : ) So follow along at your own pace—the posts will be available indefinitely. I hope you'll all join in—you can grab the quilt-along button below for your own blogs if you would like.

See you next Thursday when we'll talk design! I can't wait!