Pink Lemonade – Modern Quilt Pattern

Do you ever find yourself with an idea that you roughly jot down and move onto other projects, only to have that idea keep coming back to tempt you?

That’s what happened with this quilt design.

It’s a variation from my Blue Odyssey quilt that I altered specifically as a baby quilt. It sat sketched out in my little design notebook until, months later, when I did an impromptu fabric pull and I was completely taken with this very girly colourway.

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I knew it would be perfect as a little girl’s quilt. The fact that it turned out to be for my little girl made it that much more special. Even though my pregnancy took a turn for the worse (you can read more about that here), this lovely quilt, the hope it represented and the comfort it brought me will forever be cherished.

The name pink lemonade stems partly from the colours in the original quilt – these shades of pink and yellow immediately conjured images of hot summer days where I held (unprofitable) lemonade stands. Anyone else host those? And proceed to drink more of your product than you sold?! Ha! Yup, that’s what I did. It was so hot outside that I just couldn’t resist drinking MOST, if not all, of my juice! Good times!!

Aside from the fun colourway and trip down memory lane, what I love about this pattern is how versatile, graphic and quick it is.

The latest version I made, I whipped up in about a week’s time, but that’s fitting her in between lots of other work commitments. So, she’s quick, trust me!

One of the blocks is an hourglass block and I’ve shared two methods for creating it. This is particularly helpful if you’re a beginner quilter and want to explore different techniques. Neither one is difficult, I opted to include the two methods so that you can use the one that fits your quilting style best. The traditional hourglass block method is perfect if you’re using a large-scale fabric print. It will really showcase that print rather than losing the feel of it to the smaller cuts in HSTs.

I’ve used both methods in each of the quilts I’ve made, and both work perfectly.

The pattern includes fabric requirements for baby, lap, twin, double/full and queen/king size quilts. You can keep the colourway as simple or as complex as you want, and the pattern includes a colouring page to help you plan that out!

The first one I made, I used only two colours plus the background, including:

Kona Cotton in Petal 

Kona Cotton in Highlight - 2016 Color of the Year 

Kona Cotton in White 

Camelot Fabrics Triangles in Geranium

In the second version, I used 4 colours plus the background, including:

Kona Cotton in Melon 

Kona Cotton in Sage 

Karen Lewis’ Blueberry Park Libs Stitches in Nectarine 

Cotton and Steel Basics XOXO in Dandelion

Windham Fabrics Party Animals by Petitcollage

Amazing how the look changes, right?!

That’s what’s so fun about quilt patterns – they are guides and foundations for you to build from.

There are plenty of ways for you to tackle the quilting on this one too.

Here I stitched on either side of the seams using 50wt Aurifil Thread in #2021. Then added lots of texture and detail with big stitch hand quilting using 12wt Aurifil Thread in Pale Pink #2410 and in Lemon #2115.

For the lap size, I opted for 1-inch straight line quilting also using 50wt Aurifil Thread #2021.  

Both have lots of quilty texture, just different kinds.

The first took me quite awhile to hand stitch (here’s an update of this project back in March 2017), but if you’re looking for a quick finish, the lap size can be done in weekend (quilting included). Get the Pink Lemonade pattern here.

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To inspire you even more, here are some amazing interpretations from my pattern testers:

Light and creamy

Photo courtesy of Village Bound Quilts

I adore Tiffany’s mid-century modern vibes, and this one has me dreaming of a café lattes and French pastries on a warm sunny day. You can see more of her amazing work at Village Bound Quilts.

Vintage floral

Photo courtesy of Frieda Tong

This vintage floral version by Frieda is so delicate and dreamy. Plus, I love how she’s adding some hand quilting detail to add even more delicacy to the finished quilt.

Dark and stormy

Photo courtesy of Stefanie Cook

I don’t often work with black fabric, but I love Stefanie’s dark and stormy colourway. It really changes the look of the pattern and that turquoise just pops!

Slow or fast, the end results are stunning and would make a lovely baby shower gift or snuggly birthday present for a loved one.

Happy quilting!

xo

Shannon

PS I’ll be sharing these pretties for Finish it up Friday with Crazy Mom Quilts and knocking it off my Q1 2018 FAL list!

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