My First Ever all Solids Quilt + a Blog Tour

(Please note that affiliate links have been used in this post.)

Because of Elizabeth at Quilter’s Candy, I have now sewn my first ever all solids quilt. Most of you know I love a scrappy quilt filled with a variety of patterns and colors and textures. This was a wonderful stretch of creativity for me. I never would have tried this on my own accord. I’m thankful for a gentle push from Elizabeth and Art Gallery’s new line.

These fabrics are all from Art Gallery Fabrics’ new line called Pure Solids. The colors were beautiful, and most of us know Art Gallery for the smooth, almost silky, texture of their fabrics.

Elizabeth will be releasing two new patterns soon. I created her X Marks the Spot pattern, but she is also releasing a Rainbow Mini pattern too. Follow along this week to see some immense variety of color and inspiration from other quilters too!

Tuesday June 25th – Rachel Thomeczek (Wren.Collective)
Wednesday June 26th – Brittany Lloyd (Lo & Behold Stitchery)
Thursday June 27th – Kelli Marshall (Simply Mackbeth)
Friday June 28th – Morgan Kelly (Morgan Kelly Quilts)
Saturday June 29th – Sarah Clayton (StitchandBundle)

I’ve already been able to spot some selections of Art Gallery’s Pure Solids in stores now. After checking around a bit, I believe the Fat Quarter Shop carries the largest selection of colors from the new solids line.

Out of the colors I chose, which ones were my favorite?

Grapefruit pink and the Turmeric yellow.

The Grapefruit is the perfect peachy pink, and the Turmeric is the best mustard yellow I’ve found yet. You can see all of their new colors HERE.

Elizabeth’s pattern has four rows of blocks, right? When she sent me the pattern, I noticed she used one color on the first row, a second color on the second row, a third color on the next row, and so on.

Like I mentioned above, creating an all solids quilt was already a stretch outside of my comfort zone. I’m more naturally drawn to the scrappy look. When I tried to limit myself to only four colors plus a background color, I grew a bit anxious. 🙂 There had to be some way to add a hint of unexpected variety and combination while using only solids.

This was all so new to me!

As you can see, I ended up with a random color scheme within each block. After creating each block, I sewed the top together attempting to balance the colors as best as I could.

Looking back on the project, maybe I should have used this project to push myself way out of my comfort zone. Maybe an edgy black and white would have taught me so much. It’s so interesting when I finish a quilt and discover what ends up defining the quilt.

Sewing with solids allows the pattern to define the quilt. The sewing pattern becomes such a focal point. I’m used to the prints on the fabrics and combinations of those that become the defining feature. This quilt looks so sharp and crisp to me.

I was a tad concerned sewing with such small strips of fabric, but the blocks went together so well for me! I am, by no means, a flawless quilter. My points don’t tend to match up on every block, and there is always a bit of puckering here and bunching there, but this pattern had a bit of leeway to lend it self to small errors. The blocks get trimmed down before sewing the quilt top together. Trimming blocks is always the most gracious part of a pattern for me. No matter how wonky the block went together, all the blocks are going to be the same size after trimming.

Now that the quilt top is done, I’m happily hand stitching away. Maybe a year ago, I started hand quilting, and I love the slow and monotonous task of stitching away.

If you are interested in this pattern, just a reminder to check out Elizabeth’s pattern shop.