The Sew and Tell Project

It’s fairly safe to say that every sewist/quilter/fabric collection curator has a favorite fabric designer or two. Crystal Manning is definitely one of my favorite designers! I’ve now made garments or quilts using each of her 4 unique and colorful collections released by Moda Fabrics. Make sure you check out her Instagram feed for a daily dose of color and inspiration! You’ll want to keep reading to see the Growing Beautiful fabrics designed by Crystal that I’ve chosen for this post.

You might have noticed that I’ve been a bit quieter on the blog the last several months. I’ve been focusing mainly on my new baby girl and my big kids’ activities. I’ve squeezed in a fair amount of sewing here and there, too, but haven’t shared much of it here yet. One thing I’ve discovered during the past few months, is that quilting is best done with a lot of breaks which is perfect for my life right now! Who wouldn’t want to take a break to sit in the sun with this one? Doesn’t she look adorable in her little caftan? 

Today I get to share a fun, beginner-friendly quilt I pieced over the past several weeks using Growing Beautiful fabrics courtesy of Moda Fabrics. Moda and Crystal kindly provided me with the fabric I used for this post. All the print fabrics are from the Growing Beautiful Fabric collection and I chose White Paper Grunge as the perfect background fabric! 

I decided to join in on the Expanding Stars Quiltalong hosted by designer Emily Dennis of Quilty Love.  Even with swim lessons, end-of-school-year activities, and large family living, I was able to stay caught up and complete and bind my quilt on time. I highly recommend the pattern if you are a beginner quilter wanting to perfect your HST skills, a more experienced quilter looking for a quick and relaxing project, or a quilter of any level who may have some yardage in your stash just begging to be made into your next favorite quilt! You can grab your copy of Expanding Stars either as a PDF download or a paper pattern here. 

I decided to go for a wild, ombre effect with my piecing. I wanted my star to start dark and radiate out to light! If you are not a “pink” person, Growing Beautiful has beautiful turquoise and blue colorways as well! The possibilities are endless and I used the coloring sheet included in the pattern to try a few different fabric placement ideas before settling on these fabrics and placement. 

I squared up each and every HST in my quilt (I even brought my rotating cutting mat, blocks, and blade to swim lessons!) and overall was very pleased with how all my points lined up. One of the best things about going for a subtle ombre effect with print fabrics is that it was very forgiving if one of the HSTs decided to scoot just a little bit over on its own adventure. #honestquilter I was quite pleased when I was all done and discovered my top finished at almost exactly the same size as the pattern said it would! I attribute that to squaring up all my blocks and investing in a new 1/4″ foot with a longer 1/4″ guide which made my piecing more precise. I did also nest most of my seams (a first for me) which definitely helped keep my piecing in line. 

When I was finished piecing my quilt, I took it to my local longarmer. With our busy spring, I did not want the quilt to remain a UFO since I love it so much! 

I am absolutely thrilled to have finished this quilt. Each step of working with the Growing Beautiful Fabric brought cheer to my chilly spring days as it’s only now started to warm up here in North Dakota! If you want to see more of my in-progress quilting photos for this quilt and other projects, make sure you follow me on Instagram. 

If you love Growing Beautiful fabric as much as I have, ask for it at your local quilt shop! I know mine proudly carries them as well as several online retailers. 

Thank you for reading along with me today! Happy quilting!