Crystal Charm Summer Breeze Quilt
At the start of 2017, I made a list of all the quilt projects I wanted to do that were already on deck and in my studio. My list added up to twenty items and was not to be deviated from, which lasted a whole week. I found a pattern that was exactly what my now defunct list needed, Crystal Charm by Marjorie Rhine. I read through it and realized I had never made a quilt quite like this before and it looked straightforward and simple. Plus, I really enjoy the visual effect of negative space. Next chance I got, I made a trip to my local quilt store and sure enough, I found what I was looking for. So I bought three of the 5″ square charm packs from Moda’s Summer Breeze IV line and went with a white solid for the background and drove home to my basement studio. Now, if I don’t get started a project right away after obtaining the fabric, that’s a bad sign, so I made to sure to dive right in. I followed the instructions listed except that I decided not to include a border. Sometimes a border can make or break a quilt and I didn’t want to get too fancy. So often times I just leave out any borders and just get on with the binding. However, some day I WILL make a piano key border in a quilt, but not this time. The backing is comprised of light blue and white panels with a stripe of the remaining Summer Breeze IV 5″ squares sewn between.
This quilt finishes at 54″ x 62″.
3 Charm Packs 5″ squares of Moda Summer Breeze IV (each pack has 42 squares)
– 105 squares needed, the remaining squares I used in the backing design
2 1/4 yards white background fabric, cut into 5″ squares, 84 total
5/8 yards binding fabric
For the backing, instead of one single fabric, I used several different pieces of solid white and blue and any remaining Summer Breeze squares for a custom look
OR you could pick out your favorite summer breeze IV bolt and get 3 1/4 cut for backing material.
This quilt pattern starts out with a basic 9 patch block. I started by picking out 5 Summer Breeze squares and 4 white squares. I arranged these as seen in the photo below.
From there, I sewed these together row by row to have a completed 9 patch block. This quilt requires 21 completed 9 patch blocks. From there, you make 2 diagonal cuts across the blocks.
I changed my rotary blade before making these cuts. I made sure to align the ruler as best I could through the points of each square.
Since making these cuts, the bias edge is now exposed, I handled these piece gently to avoid stretching them. I flipped the triangles around so the white square lined up right next to the other square.
This is a finished block for this quilt. You will have 42 blocks that look like this.
Then I rearranged each block alternating the white diagonal direction to create the fun visual effect. I used my design wall as a placeholder for each block to figure out how it would look.
From here, I sewed up the rows horizontally and started on my binding. I love a white binding, but since those can get dirty quickly, I chose a blue color instead for a vibrant finish.
The backing of this quilt was customized by me just as a fun way to make it reversible. Otherwise, you will need 3 1/4 yard of one type of fabric to create a backing.
This quilt finishes at 54″ x 62″. A perfect size for a throw quilt and a nice comfy cozy addition to a sofa or rocking chair.
This was a fun, quick, and easy quilt to make. The floral design and summer colors were lovely to sew while it was zero degrees outside. I’m so glad I found this Crystal Charm pattern. Sometimes it just feels good to get the sewing machine humming along at a nice clip to keep the winter blues away.
Jenny Gogel
www.wildwhippoorwillarts.com
