I am OBSESSED with this quilt. I loved making it and the pattern for it! It is so cheerful! Because the creation of this quilt and its pattern followed right behind the publishing of my All Together Now quilt pattern, I was ready to work on something simpler - one square block instead of 32 hexagon blocks. Now don't get me wrong, I am still sooooo in love with the way All Together Now turned out with its incredible borders, amazing blocks, and all that gorgeous custom quilting. It will forever mean so much to me but it was really nice to make a quilt that came together more quickly!
For this cover quilt, I made it with Confetti Cottons - White and Canary from Riley Blake Designs and they were so sweet to post about it on their blog! Thanks Maddie from RBD for sharing my work!
Construction - Piecing the Quilt Top
The blocks in Sunshine Puff are so precise because they're made using foundation paper piecing (FPP). If you're new to this method, this is a great quilt to learn on because the FPP for these blocks is easy! FPP is amazingly accurate and it makes using odd shapes easy, creates exactly the same sized blocks, and creates sharp points. There are full step by step instructions in the pattern and if you're interested in seeing FPP in action, watch my YouTube tutorial where I break it down step by step. It's kinda like riding a bike down a flat paved road, it takes a moment to get a feel for it but it's totally worth it.
To stabilize the center of each sunshine block, a circle of fabric is stitched down where all the sunbeams and white spacers meet in the center. This circle is later covered by the puff. You will see this flat circle in some of the photos in this post, these are pre-puff progress photos. Since the puffs are so three dimensional, it would be kinda ridiculous trying to quilt the quilt with them on so they are added after the quilting is completed. I quilted right over those flat center circles with a wonky circle design just like I used in the borders.
Inspiration
I was initially inspired to make this quilt because of my love of all things outdoors. If it's a beautiful day, you'll likely find me reveling in the beauty of nature, soaking up the sunshine and embracing its warmth on my skin. I was also inspired when I encountered this incredible octopus quilt aptly named "Tentacle" by the talented Mary Arter @merry_otter at QuiltCon 2024. I could not get it off my mind after the show because of the amazing shape and three dimensional aspect of those suckers!
I was further inspired by my love of puff quilts. While I haven't made one in about 15 years, I've been smiling seeing their popularity have a resurgence. With these three ideas bouncing around, I knew they had to be combined into sunshine blocks. I went to my computer and the design poured right out onto my screen. I drew up the block's FPP template, wrote the first draft of the pattern, printed it all out, and started stitching. I tested out several size puffs to figure out how to get them to the size I was imagining and a test block was born!
Pattern Testing
After a bit of editing, I excitedly sent the pattern off for testing. I naively thought we could get this pattern tested in a month. 🤦♀️ After a 4 month testing period for All Together Now, this one's easy, we can do this one quickly right?!? Well, life happens. I got sick with an upper respiratory infection for three weeks and found out that a slow leak in my master shower caused black mold to start brewing under my stairs. Yuck! If you heard my raspy voice and construction going on during my recent social media reels, you now know why. Thankfully we caught the leak early enough, the shower is now waterproofed, and the mold is gone!
Most importantly, it's really not fair to my testers to put this much of time of a crunch on them. They're balancing everything going on with their lives too. One of my testers is even working and in grad school and somehow still found time to work on this project! As they continue to work on their projects, I'll add more pictures and of course you can always check them out on social media with a search for #SunshinePuffQuilt. I have to say thank you to these amazing quilters who helped make this pattern shine and because they were patient with me as I tried to stick to an unreasonable timeline. You all are the best!
For the cover quilt, I went with canary and white Confetti Cottons, which are solids by Riley Blake Designs. My pattern testers took the project to the next level with lots of different colors and some fun prints! I always tell my pattern testers to make something they love and I think you'll really enjoy what they came up with. Click on any photo to see it larger.
It's easy to see why Kristen @kristensewkrafty went with these adorable prints! Meet her adorable pup Oliver! Isn't he the cutest!?! I love that she used the big print on her puff and stitched a block into a pillow! It's perfect!
Mollie @madeby_moonlight embraced those summer vibes by going with lemon fabric then found twisty straws for her backing fabric on spoonflower! Sunshine and lemonade! Does it get better than that? I can't wait to see this one put together.
Stasi @tennesseequiltretreats teased us with that beautiful first photo of her cut fabrics saying that she had a plan. When I saw her first block, I got so excited! The colors are fantastic! It's so cheerful and I love that she's got different colored circles...Will the puffs match? We will have to wait and see!
