Eighth Annual Quilt Along Heads Up!

Happy first full day of Spring to those readers in the Northern Hemisphere where the Vernal Equinox occurred last night at 11:06 EST. Happy first well due to getting this out later than planned, make that the second full day of autumn to my Southern Hemisphere readers, where the Autumnal Equinox occurs at 2:07 AEDT. In both hemispheres the amount of daylight and nighttime is almost exactly equal. The world is totally in sync!

If you are looking for my Villa Rose Designs post, click here.

So today is an auspicious day to announce that exactly two weeks from today marks the kickoff of my eighth annual quilt along, and I am excited to give you a little teaser of what we are doing this year. First of all, here is the graphic:

Feel free to grab it for your sidebar or for other social media. At the end of the post is another graphic to post on your Instagram stories or wherever else you post if you are participating. I appreciate the help in getting the word out about my free, yes completely free, QAL!

I've decided to go back to offering the QAL for free because I truly enjoy sharing a design, and I get such joy out of seeing what the participants do with it. So each week, from April 3 through June 15, you will get an assignment as to what to make for the following week. The pace is always pretty slow, though I think this year is the slowest first couple of weeks in all eight years!

What quilt are we making? This is one I designed for Island Batik in 2019 when I was an ambassador. A few wanted a pattern then, and well, here I am five years later (finally) with one.

Oh my stars, right?! I named the quilt Luminous Layers, and there are no less than eleven and a half stars in four sizes that overlap and echo each other in the quilt . The quilt comes in two sizes, a small (48.5" square) and a large (72.5") throw. You can make either size for the QAL. The original quilt above is the small throw.

What if you want to work at your own pace, as in make the quilt all in one go because you don't wait well?! There is a pattern that you can purchase, and it will be on sale beginning April 3 for 25% off!

Northcott Fabrics is my main sponsor this year, and I will be making the large throw in their beautiful Stonehenge fabrics. Can you guess which on of the nine possibilities below I am making?

Hint: it was so hard to settle on the final one, and I could have kept on playing, but I began to think spring, with cherry and magnolia blossoms, green grass and new leaves, also peonies and dahlias, ahhh. There are five fabrics in the main quilt colourway, but you can see from my original that it really lends itself well to scraps and small chunks of fabric: instead of one violet for the large star, I used three! 

Northcott is also offering a prize of the fabrics I'm using to one lucky winner who completes their quilt. At present, ten generous companies and pattern designers have offered fabulous prizes from batting to magazines, to gift certificates and patterns.

Is the quilt beginner-friendly? Absolutely! There are only two shapes in it: a square and a triangle.

I'll be back in two weeks with the schedule, the list of sponsors, and the pattern details. As mentioned, it will be on sale for that kick-off week for 25% off, which means just CA$9.

Are you in? Feel free to grab the graphic below and post it everywhere you like. A link back to my blog, mmmquilts.com would be much appreciated, and if it's on Instagram, be sure to tag me, @mmmquilts. 

In the meantime, watch for my SAHRR finish on Friday. It's got a little extra in it that surprised even me!