Red Sky at Night Quilt - My Blue and White Version

I always wanted to make a blue and white quilt. When I was pondering what colours to use for this second version of my Red Sky at Night Quilt for last year's Quilt-Along, I almost went with something different. And then it occurred to me that this was my chance to make the quilt that always tugged something inside me whenever I saw vintage versions of it. 

Blue and white quilts, like red and white quilts, have been made a lot over the years. I didn't really set out to make this one 'my own' or 'modernised' or unique, but just by chance, in the way it came together, it does feel at least a little of these things. I chose scrappy low volume for my white because my low volume scraps are always bursting out the edges of my scrap baskets, and I never have enough of any kind of white on hand to have made it a single colour. I love the way it brings pops of other colours into the quilt. And pops of sweet flowers and houses and other happy images. It's one of the things that makes me love to look at it - the discovery of little motifs I'd almost forgotten were there. It's something I've loved taking in again, coming back to it this week, 6 months after finishing the quilt top.

The navy blue fabric is from the Moda basics Grunge range, which I bought on a bit of a whim because I imagined blue and white hexies in a New York tile style quilt. I really love the colour. It's a very pretty, happy blue, not leaning grey or green. 

The Red Sky at Night Quilt, though designed to be a '2 colour' quilt, requires a third colour for the English Paper Pieced blocks, and I chose teal because I wanted it to almost blend. To feel like a subtle highlight rather than a bright contrast. I didn't want them to stand out as the main thing you looked at, but just to add depth, perhaps like a shadow does to fancy lettering. I went with scrappy because I didn't want to buy new, but I kept the colours within a very narrow range. I have a lot of teal and aqua in my stash, but a lot of it reads more blue or more grey. I chose one print that was my absolute favourite with the navy, and then picked out other prints that were essentially the same, but just darker or lighter tones.

I was all set to finish this quilt with the quilt-along last year, but then my sewing machine jammed up! Since getting her back a month or two ago, I've been looking forward to carving out time to baste and quilt this quilt. I found a queen sized flannelette bed sheet that matched the navy almost exactly, and got my daughter to help me to baste it. 

Quilting this baby was quite the undertaking! I really enjoy straight line quilting, but most of the quilts I quilt are not so big and heavy. I had a little more fabric drag than usual, and didn't love trying to fit all of that quilt into the throat space. At one point I considered unpicking the stitches and switching to hand quilting, but then I set it aside for a day or two, reaslied I was just making this for me, and not a customer or competition, and that perfection wasn't my goal at all. And so I kept going. And now it's done, and I have it on my bed as an extra layer now that the nights here have gotten cold. So while soft and heavy made it tricky to quilt, it's perfect as a finished product!

While making this quilt, I wrote a series of emails looking at the women who designed these blocks, their lives and work, and the world events that shaped them. They lived through financial chaos and war, so much hardship and uncertainty, and it meant so much to me that in that season, many sewed, not just to make do, but to create and explore different patterns, to foster community, to care for neighbours and soldiers and friends. Those stories are published in an email series available here!

Last weekend, Tim and I took it around the corner to our local Botanic Gardens. It was wonderful to see it held up like that. To stand back and take it in. I'm really proud of this quilt! And I have enjoyed spending a week with this quilt and going back over these stories in my mind. Stories of courage and service and the pursuit of joy and beauty when the world was in shatters. These blocks that came out of those hardships are just so beautiful! And such a gift to us still today.

If you'd like to make your own Red Sky at Night Quilt, check out the listings below!