Vista Quilt Pattern

Vista Quilt Pattern

Life’s been pretty exciting around here with the fall collection reveals at the beginning of the month, the Sweet Home quilt along in full swing, and a brand new quilt pattern release today! Of course, all these things have been planned for some time and created well in advance but everything’s coming due all at once and really has me hopping!

Vista quilt pattern by Sharon Holland with feather quilting and photo by Lady Belle Fabric

I’m thrilled to announce Vista as the newest PDF quilt pattern in my SHOP. Vista is a medallion-style, over-sized throw quilt. It looks complicated but is really very straightforward. Even though I have it labeled as an intermediate quilt that’s only because of the large background pieces are a little awkward to cut and handle but that’s the only reason I have it labeled that way. A confident beginner will have no troubles making this design.

The Vista quilt, like my recent Phoenix quilt use a lot of half-square triangles (HSTs) in their constructions. If you haven’t invested in Bloc_Loc rulers yet and find yourself making HSTs and Flying Geese most of the time you’ll really thank yourself for purchasing these wonderful rulers. I’ll have an Amazon affiliate link at the bottom of this post for recommended Bloc_Loc ruler sizes.

The graphic quality of a medallion quilt makes a real statement in home decor. This would look right at home draped on your favorite chair or hung on the wall like art. It uses only 6 different fabrics which makes it easy to coordinate with your homes color scheme and easy to plan a fabric pull.

For the sample quilt I used Art Gallery Fabrics from a few of my fabric collections: Spirited, Signature, and the baby blue print is a recolored Spirited print released in the AGF Rosewood Fusion collection. I love this mix of prints and colors because they have a end-of-summer feeling and boho-nature vibe.

The exquisite feather quilting on my quilt was done by Brooke Becker of Lady Belle Fabric. Not only does Brooke have an awesome shop with Art Gallery Fabrics, she also has a long arm service. I’ve been getting quite a lot of quilts quilted by her lately and she’s so wonderful to work with.

For my batting I went with Hobbs Tuscany Silk batting inside. I love how silk batting is more crease resistant than traditional cotton and the wonderful stitch definition to show off that beautiful feather design.

In August I’d release my Phoenix quilt and for the first time, used quilt testers for a quilt release and have done so again for the Vista quilt. It’s been a wonderful experience working with these talented ladies and with three more quilt releases coming between now and November I’m really appreciating their help even more!

In case you’re wondering how to become a tester for me I’m not taking on any new makers at this time. There could be a new call for testers next year so best advice is to follow along on my Instagram feed as I would put a call for testers out via that social media platform.

Meet the Testers

The following six ladies (in alphabetical order) have done an amazing job making their Vista quilt samples. I asked that they work exclusively with Art Gallery Fabrics but to select prints or collections of their choosing— just like if they were making a fabric pull for any other quilt.

I’ve made collages of their quilt makes to bring you a virtual quilt show of Vista quilts. I highly encourage you to visit each one of their Instagram feeds or use the links I’ll provide in each of their write ups.

Enjoy the show!

Vista quilt make by Jennifer Cannon

Jennifer Cannon is the owner of Piper Autumn Designs, an online ETSY quilt shop. Jennifer has used a mix of AGF prints from designers Pat Bravo, Bonnie Christine, and AGF Studios and we’ve collaborated to bring you a kit based off Jennifers gorgeous quilt!

Vista Sunrise quilt kit from Piper Autumn Designs

The beautiful Vista Sunrise quilt kit is available at Piper Autumn Designs. Hurry, these kits don’t last long! The quilt pattern is sold separately and can be found in my SHOP here on the blog.

Vista quilt maker Jennifer Monroe

Meet Jennifer Monroe, and Ohioan who lives very close to me but because of covid we never got to meet up. Jennifer is packing up and moving any day now but still managed to complete her Vista quilt make and snap some Ohio landscape photos before she leaves. This ethereal quilt is made with Art Gallery Fabrics designed by Bonnie Christine. I love the golden color palette. Read more about Jennifer and all her sewing adventures on her blog Sunshine Selvage.

Vista quilt maker Joyce Ulm

Joyce Ulm is a life-long sewist and quilter and Etsy shop owner at Eva Mae Custom Quilts. Joyce had her Vista quilt done in no time flat so she could take it with her on a trip out west. She was able to snap some incredible photos so if you want to see more of her Vista quilt in the wild, be sure to visit her on Instagram to see it all! I adore her maroon, gold, and teal color palette and how she mixed AGF prints from Maureen Cracknell , Amy Sinibaldi, and Decostitch to make the perfect fall-inspired quilt.

Vista quilt maker Lindsey Fuessley

Lindsey Fuessley of @lindseyleemakes on Instagram, lives in Iowa fairly close to where I grew up. I get homesick every time I see photos of her holding a quilt near corn fields! I love how soft and vintage Lindsey’s quilt looks in these AGF spring-fresh prints by Bonnie Christine, and Pat Bravo, mixed with Pure Solids. Her Instagram feed is an inspiration you won’t want to miss!

Vista quilt maker Renata Auld

Renata Auld of @ciaomamaquilts on Instagram is an Aussie quilt maker who creates bold, beautiful quilts and isn’t shy to use color. I love the wow power of her Vista quilt and her photo locations! Renata deviated a bit from pattern and used only five prints, made placement changes, and didn’t add the end borders so as to keep her quilt a square. These changes are what makes quilting fun and customizable to your tastes. I love seeing how the same quilt can look completely different. The fabrics in Renata’s quilt are a mix of AGF Pure Solids, my Signature prints, and a print from Alexandra Bordallo’s Dew and Moss.

Vista quilt maker Tracey Taber-Perry

Last, but not least, is Tracey Taber_Perry of @ttabes80 on Instagram. Tracey is a relative newcomer to quilting but that doesn’t slow her down one bit! I’m in love with her fall-vibes quilt of honey and plum! Tracy used prints by Maureen Cracknell and AGF Floral Elements to create a stunner of a Vista quilt. Be sure to follow Tracey’s quilting adventures on Instagram!

Vista quilt make by Sharon Holland

I took a lot of photo of this quilt because it’s just so darn photogenic! Here’s a couple for Vista views for you…

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The backing for my Vista quilt is from my AGF Signature collection.

You have to admit that was a spectacular quilt show! Are you inspired???

Coming late October-early November time, this lovely quilt pattern will be gracing the virtual pages of the Art Gallery Fabrics Kismet Look Book. Kismet is my new fabric collection due out in October. The fabulous Nuria Elkins of Fabric Stork will be making a Kismet version of Vista AND have quilt kits available as well,—yay!!! Keep watching for that announcement.

So, grab your pattern from my SHOP and add Vista to your list of quilt makes!

I am an Amazon Associate site and earn from qualifying purchases on the products I’ve linked below. The helpful products selected are the same or similar to materials used to make the project(s) in this blog post or related items I think you may enjoy.

Phoenix Quilt Pattern Release

Phoenix Quilt Pattern Release

Phoenix Quilt by Sharon Holland

Has it really been two months since my last post!? Time really does fly when you’re having fun (and keeping busy)!

I hope this post finds you well. I’ve been staying home and trying to get the most out of what’s left of this dismal year. I’ve had a sudden burst of energy and from now until the end of December I’ve plenty of posts and projects planned to share with you! And, be sure to read down to the end for a special announcement you won’t want to miss!

August is the first month in the next four that I’ll be releasing a new quilt pattern! That’s not the special announcement but very exciting all by itself non the less. This first quilt is called Phoenix, not for the state but because the idea for this quilt came from me playing around with the left over half-square triangle (HST) trimmings from my Sweet Home quilts I made earlier this year. (That’s a hint to the special announcement.)

The Phoenix quilt was born from scraps! Well, really more like one block was born from scraps. I needed a whole lot more HSTs to make the Phoenix quilt.

This summer-inspired palette is a mix from several different Art Gallery Fabrics collections: Spirited, Decostitch, Marrakesh Fusion, Pure Solids, and Gossamer for the binding. But you don’t have to source out all these fabrics on your own if you’re wanting to make one just like the pattern sample because Brooke Becker at Lady Belle Fabric has made up Phoenix quilt kits with all the pretties you see in the photo above. Don’t delay—these kits go fast! Here’s a link to the Phoenix Quilt Kit. You’ll also need the quilt pattern and you can find that on my SHOP page.

Bundle photo courtesy of Lady Belle Fabric

Lady Belle Fabric is your one-stop online shop for fabrics and long arm quilt service. I have sent several of my quilts to Brooke and she has one of mine she just finished up yesterday. You’re going to love the service!

The entire Phoenix quilt is made from half-square triangles. You’ve probably heard me sing the praises of Bloc_Loc Rulers before and I’m still singing! If you’ve never tried them or feel it’s finally time to invest in a quilting tool that’ll make your life and quilts better, this may be the time—especially if you’re planning on sewing this quilt—there’s a lottttttt of HSTs! If you can only by one HST ruler, by the largest one because you can always trim smaller sizes with a large ruler.

I did a very simple and quilt machine quilting on the diagonal for this quilt. For my batting I used Hobbs Heirloom Bleached 100% Cotton because my background is Art Gallery Fabrics Snow and I didn’t want any color showing through from an unbleached batting.

Over the years I’ve been approached by makers wanting to know if I ever use pattern testers. I’ve never done so in the past but thought that this year might be a great chance to use testers and help promote new rising quilt makers.

So, during July I started work with my testers. I have 17 in all right now which is plenty so the search for testers is closed for this year. Since I have four quilt patterns coming out over the next few months this was as good a time as any to get some help from pattern testers and I’ve split up the testers into groups by quilts. Today I’d like to introduce you to six of my testers who have made and tested the Phoenix quilt.

Meet the Testers

Phoenix quilt make by Brittany Tunison

Brittany Tunison created a Phoenix quilt in a soft, farmhouse color palette and used a mix of Art Gallery Fabric prints from a variety of AGF fabric designers. I love her Farmhouse style and sweet fabric selection. See more of Brittany’s work on Instagram @brittanytunison and on her Etsy shop at White Plains Quilts.

Phoenix quilt make by Christine Trotta

This lovely Phoenix quilt top was made by Christine Trotta of Serendipity In Love Creations. Christine used Bari J.’s new 365 Fifth Avenue AGF fabric line and it couldn’t have been any more perfect a collection to juxtapose a feminine twist to the geometrics of this quilt design. Let’s all pause a moment to take in this beautiful garden setting for this quilt—it’s gorgeous! For more fabric fun, check out Christine’s shop on Etsy.

Phoenix quilt make by Kathleen Armstrong

Kathleen Armstrong is a prolific quilter. Just check out her Instagram account @creativestitchesbyk and you’ll see exactly what I mean! You can learn more about Kathleen from her website Creative Stitches Quilts where she also takes custom orders. Kathleen used prints from my AGF Everlasting collection for her Phoenix quilt and I love how she mixed up the fabrics in the blocks for a unique twist on the pattern.

Phoenix quilt make by Marija Vujcic

My long-time followers may remember my friend Marija Vujcic from my blog tours. Marija is the Queen of Bold Colors and her AGF Pure Solids fabric pull for the Phoenix quilt is pure Marija-magic! I love how she pulled colors from my AGF Bountiful Tartan Field print (the backing) for the color inspiration for the blocks. You’ll definitely want to follow her on Instagram @mvquilts and on her blog Mara Quilt Designs where she has quilting, tutorials, and lots of sewing inspiration to share.

Phoenix quilt make by Mary Grove

You’ll find Mary Gove on Instagram as @thecurlyquilter and be equally blown away by her beautiful quilt makes like I was when I first viewed her page. This new comer to quilting has a natural eye and Quilty talent plus I’m very envious of her Wyoming landscape for photography! Mary chose Art Gallery Fabric blender prints and solids form several different AGF collections to create the perfect summer-vibe palette.

Phoenix quilt make by Victoria Newmyer

Victoria Newmyer is also brand new to Instagram. In fact she just started her account @midlife_quilter the beginning of this year but don’t let that fool you, this girl has talent! Check out her Etsy shop at Brass Tacks Sewing. I can really connect with Victoria’s aesthetics and if you know anything about me by now, you know my love for this palette she used for her Phoenix quilt. Although her fabric selection is a mix of many AGF designer collections her backing fabric (the trees print) and some of the block prints are from my AGF Tapestry collection.

Be sure to stop by my pattern SHOP and get the Phoenix quilt PDF so you can start your quilt today! I can’t wait to see what you create with the Phoenix quilt pattern! If you’re posting to Instagram be sure to tag me @sharonhollanddesigns and use the hashtag #phoenixquilt so I don’t miss your posts!

Quilt Along

As I mentioned at the beginning of this blog post I had a special announcement to make…drum roll…Maureen Cracknell (Instagram @maureencracknell ) and I will be hosting a Sweet Home Quilt Along! We’re also going to be joined by a special new quilting friend, Jennifer Jones of Penelope Handmade! Find her on IG at @penelopehandmade. It’s sure to be loads of fun!

The Sweet Home Quilt Along begins September 9, 2020 and will run for six weeks. If you haven’t already bought the Sweet Home quilt pattern yet you can find it in my pattern SHOP and started gathering your materials. All three of us hosts will be making new Sweet Home quilts from Art Gallery Fabric collections and I can’t wait to show you my fabric pull.

The QAL is going to be so much fun and there’ll be plenty of giveaways and tutorials during the event. Stay tuned for more QAL news—hope to see you there!

Sweet Home quilt by Sharon Holland

I am an Amazon Associate site and earn from qualifying purchases on the products I’ve linked below. The helpful products selected are the same or similar to materials used to make the project(s) in this blog post or related items I think you may enjoy.

Heart Quilt Sew Along - Week 3

Heart Quilt Sew Along - Week 3

It’s the final week in the Heart Quilt sew along. This fast and fun sew along has been hosted by myself and Maureen Cracknell with special thanks to Allison Harris of Cluck Cluck Sew for allowing us to use her Heart Block in our quilt layout.

If you’re just joining us, you’ll want to get up to speed by reading first weeks post announcing the sew along. If you’re already making heart block or at the point to start adding the sashing and borders—check out week 2 HERE.

This last post is dedicated to turning that top into a quilt plus I’ve added an extra bonus project for all those left over half square triangles from trimming the large flippy corners off the hearts!

Quilting

Rather than reinvent the wheel, I'm directing you to the blog post for Finishing that was originally posted during the Sewcial Bee Sampler sew along. You'll find all the tutorial information for spray basting, quilting, and binding your quilt. The sizes have changed but the concept for basting, quilting, and binding your quilt are the same. As stated in that post, there are many ways to finish a quilt and I am blogging about how I finish my quilts. If you have a preferred method, please do it the way you're comfortable with. If you intend to send your top off to be professionally quilted, discuss with your long-arm quilter how they'd like you to prepare your quilt top and backing for being quilted. 

I'm not a professional quilter by any means. I get by and call my quilting style "organic" because it's not perfect and lines are not straight. I love the human touch that non-perfect quilting adds to my quilts. I used my mid-arm Viking Platinum 16 for quilting my top. The quilting guide lines were marked out ahead of time and the quilting went really fast after that to just follow the diagonal lines as shown below in the quilting diagram.

Quilting diagram

I used my favorite Hobb’s Tuscany Silk batting inside my quilt and love how light and drapey it is—especially for handling and maneuvering when quilting.

The backing on my quilt is from my Everlasting fabric collection for Art Gallery Fabrics and is called Summer’s Dance. For the binding I used Woodblock Ballerina that was also used for hearts.

Here’s another look at the prints that went into my quilt. My Heart quilt’s stitched from a curated mix of fabrics from Art Gallery Fabrics Ballerina Fusion (a recolored mix of AGF designer prints), my Spirited, Everlasting, Signature, and Maureen’s Enchanted Voyage and Mystical Land collections.

My non-traditional Valentine colors remind me of sugared gum drops and candy. I’m crazy over this color palette and went with my heart when I did my fabric pull.

One of the biggest challenges of photographing quilts this time of year is the gloomy, cold weather. I had some grand plans for how to photograph this out doors but the wind didn’t cooperate. It started to rain shortly after we got these shots…

Be sure to check out Maureen’s blog to see her finished quilt top and bonus project from left over HSTs all made using a mix of Amy Sinabaldi’s MayFair and the new Foresta Fusion collection. Quilt kits for Maureen’s quilt are available at Lady Belle Fabric.

Photo and Heart quilt by Maureen Cracknell

Bonus Project

Since I finished my quilt by Sunday I could’ve easily stopped there, written this blog post and moved on to the other projects stacking up on my desk but no—that’s too easy!

Remember in my Instagram Stories videos where I told you to hold onto those large half square triangle (HST) waste pieces???

I turned mine into this fun pillow! As a bonus, I’ll share with you how to make one (or more) for yourself!

The beauty of this type of project is that it can be customized to any size you want. I happened to have an extra rectangular pillow I wasn’t using anywhere in the house so I used it as my pillow form. It measures around 14’’ x 26’’ and is probably not a standard size.

I trimmed 36 HSTs to 3-1/2’’ square using my Bloc_Loc Ruler then arranged them into a design. I would’ve loved if the design was symmetrical but no such luck in this improv piece using scraps. I don’t really notice it now that the pillow is done.

I added 2’’-wide strips to the top and bottom to get it all up to the size I needed.

I’ve done a few projects on this blog where I’ve incorporated Chenille-it Blooming Bias and I can’t tell you enough how much I love this added texture—especially to pillows!

After stitching quilting lines to outline the chevron shapes 1/4’’ inside the seam allowances I added the 3/8 inch-wide Chenille-it to my pillow top. Stitching the blooming bias down not only adheres the product but also works as quilting.

I added two echo rows of chenille to the background areas. To read about how to stitch and then bloom the chenille, read more on my Chenille Pillow with Hidden Zipper post/tutorial. Plus, to see the gorgeous decorator pillows I made more recently with my Spirited Trail Marker print and Chenille-it, read HERE.

For more Chenille-it projects, here’s a fun You Tube video!

Personally I love a zipper closure on a pillow. Especially in a case like this where I’m using an existing pillow as the pillow form and like to switch out or clean the pillow covers regularly. You’ll find my go-to method for adding a hidden zipper on a pillow HERE. It’s insanely easy to do!

Now, not only do I have a heart quilt to snuggle under this Valentine’s Day but I have a coordinating pillow to go along with it!

Maureen and I want to thank you for sewing along with us and sharing your progress of your blocks to Instagram. We love seeing your work and encourage you to follow along, share, and tag when you post. Use the sew along hashtag of #agfLOVEquilt and be sure to tag @sharonhollanddesigns @maureencracknell and @cluckclucksew so we can see your progress! If you’re sewing with Art Gallery Fabrics don’t forget to tag them too as they love to see what Makers are making with @artgalleryfabrics !

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I am an Amazon Associate site and earn from qualifying purchases on the products I’ve linked below. The helpful products selected are the same or similar to materials used to make the project(s) in this blog post or related items I think you may enjoy.

Spirited Look Book - The Quilts

Spirited Look Book - The Quilts

This week, Art Gallery Fabrics released the Spirited fabric collection Look Book and I can’t wait for you to see how my new fabric collection comes to life in this virtual magazine.

Because I contributed many different projects to the Look Book and took many of the images used in it I thought it would be nice to break it down into subjects over a few blog posts and give you a personal tour of this virtual magazine. Go take a look at the entire catalog HERE and then come back for more views that didn’t make it into the magazine.

The Quilts

Blossom

Blossom by Sharon Holland

The largest quilt of the Spirited Look Book is my Blossom quilt of 72’’ square. This is my newest pattern release and now available in my SHOP. I labeled this quilt a Confident Beginner because it uses A/B blocks to achieve the overall design. What you get is the perfect canvas for showing off your selected prints and a lovely chain effect that connects the blocks. I even added a Controlling Directional Prints video to my You Tube channel especially for this quilt so you can tame those directional prints and be the boss of how they go together.

My beautiful daughter is the clothing model and quilt wrangler in these images. I’m not sure if it shows at all in the photos but it was a cold day. I draped the quilt over her shoulders to keep her warm between shoots and it was so pretty—I had the capture this scene! It’s one of my many favorite shots from the photography shoot.

Normally I machine quilt my quilts but because I had a heavy sew-list of makes and not much sew time I decided to make things simple for myself and send this quilt out to be long armed. I’m sure glad I did farm out the quilting to Brooke Becker of Lady Belle Fabrics. She did a beautiful job and with a quick turn around!

Brooke is wonderful to work with and she has a wide variety of super cool quilt designs to choose from. She helped me pick out this Garden Trellis pattern and I love how it echos the shape of the quilt blocks.

Lady Belle Fabrics is also a fabric shop and Brooke is carrying my Spirited collection along with many of your favorite AGF collections. She sells by the bundle and fabric by the yard—all at great prices!

Giveaway Alert!

For those of you that follow me @sharonhollanddesigns or Lady Belle Fabrics on Instagram we have a heads up for you that on Friday, December 6 Brooke and I are collaborating on a Spirited fabrics giveaway! Be sure to stop by IG on Friday and enter on my Instagram giveaway post.

Inside my quilt I used my favorite Hobbs Tuscany Silk batting. Silk handles much like traditional cotton batting but has a blend of 10% Polyester to help keep it from shrinking and the combination blend is light weight yet warm. The drape is wonderful as well with beautiful stitch definition.

This quilt looks right at home on the prairie as it does inside on a bed. If you love this quilt as much as I do, Lady Belle Fabrics will be exclusively carrying quilt kits to make a Blossom quilt just like the one you see here.

Free Range

Free Range quilt by Sharon Holland

With every Art Gallery Fabrics collection there’s an accompanying free quilt pattern. The Free Range quilt was designed by me (Sharon Holland) and made and machine quilted by the AGF Studio. This is the perfect size for a baby quilt at 42’’ square. I love how you can use a lot of your favorite prints in the half-square triangles and still have the large areas of hour glass blocks to break up the busyness. I even have you use the left over scraps for a scrappy binding—it all adds to the boho vibe of the collection.

Peppermint Twist

Peppermint Twist by Sharon Holland

The Peppermint Twist pattern could be my most popular design and you can find the pattern on my SHOP page. As you can tell by it’s name, I’ve always shown it in Christmas prints and the pattern comes in a table runner and large throw size.

I’ve been wanting to remake this quilt for some time now in non-holiday prints. I love the dramatic look of the dark Pure PE-482 Forest Night solid to pop the Spirited prints. I made less blocks than called for in the large throw and added some half blocks to the top and bottom edges (which were later cut off for a straight edge) and came up with a baby quilt size. The pattern does not reflect this baby size quilt but rather I’m showing you how to make a variation on the existing pattern and customize to the size you’d like.

Another change I made to this baby quilt was to keep the pinwheels all one print rather than two prints as in the original pattern. I love the movement of this quilt block and it shows off the prints really well.

Because of the small size I decided to hand quilt this quilt and used DMC Perlé Cotton thread in size 8. I backed it with the Tender Arrangement print from my Art Gallery Fabrics Signature collection. I love that there’s so many of my past collection prints that coordinate well with Spirited. If you already have some of my fabrics in your collection then you’ll love adding Spirited in the mix!

More Quilts

The stunning quilts in the above collage are made and designed by: AGF Studio (Dream Catcher and Izel Blocks), Harvest Star by Elaine Bergman, and Blooming Prairie Quilt by Marija Vujcic. See more of these beauties in the Look Book and on their blogs.

Spirited quilting cottons, knits, and rayons are shipping to quilt shops everywhere. I’ve started a stock lists of online shops for this collection on my FABRICS page and will continue to add links as more shops get their listings up. If your local quilt shop hasn’t ordered it yet, let them know you’d like to sew with these prints and feel the AGF difference for yourself at your favorite shop.

When you do make a project with my fabrics, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram @sharonhollanddesigns because I love to see what you’re sewing! And tag the Spirited collection as well with #AGFSpirited.

—Happy sewing!

I am an Amazon Associate site and earn from qualifying purchases on the products I’ve linked below. The helpful products selected are the same or similar to materials used to make the project(s) in this blog post. Thank you!