Quick and Modern Quilt Pattern

I am so excited to finally launch my debut quilt pattern — Palisade! This is the first pattern that I designed after taking Amber’s Pattern Writing Academy, by Alderwood Studio.

“Palisade” is a quick and modern quilt pattern that is built using courthouse steps blocks and is set on-point. All of my pattern testers said that their quilt tops came together surprisingly quick. The design works well with a precut 2½” strip roll and 5″ square precut bundle, but can also be made with normal yardage. This pattern includes both four-color and two-color versions! This design is a blend of traditional and modern. Using solids makes this pattern more modern regardless of which color-way you choose, but I think a high-contrast (like black and white), two-color version is ultra modern!

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Get your copy of palisade

Finished modern traditional peach quilt swirled on a bed

For the cover quilt, I created the small throw size and opted for the four-color version so I could showcase these beautiful peach fabrics. I used Art Gallery Fabrics® exclusively and pulled from their Pure Solids line. I used: White Linen, Dried Carrot, Peach Sherbet, and Eucalyptus for the quilt top. For the binding, I used Patina Green, which is a beautiful dark sage green. For the backing, I chose Leo’s Orchard, also from Art Gallery Fabrics. It is a gorgeous peach tree pattern from Bonnie Christine’s collection “Her & History”.

Stack of peach, cream and green fabric and peach print fabric on a white table

The backing fabric actually inspired the name of the pattern! Here in Colorado, Palisade peaches are a big deal. The town of Palisade has actually been nicknamed “Peach Capital of Colorado”. Palisade peaches are known for being extra juicy and extra sweet, thanks to the long sunny days and cool summer nights in Colorado. Once all the pieces of this quilt came together, naming the pattern after this iconic Colorado town just made sense.

Difficulty Level

This pattern is perfect for a confident beginner — a new quilter with a couple of quilts under their belt. This quilt is essentially made of very basic log cabin/courthouse steps block. The difficulty increases slightly when we start to add some snowball corners using a stitch and flip method. The quilt is also set “on-point” meaning the blocks are turned 45 degrees so they look like their are sitting on their points and the rows are assembled diagonally. To finish the edges of the quilt top, on-point quilts require either setting triangles or for blocks to be cut in half diagonally — the Palisade pattern requires the later.

An important skill in any quilt is maintaining a consistent seam allowance. I found that my blocks were most accurate when I used a scant 1/4″ seam allowance and pressed my seams open.

Strip piecing set on a cutting mat with rotary cutter and ruler

Stack of finished courthouse steps log cabin blocks on a peach print fabric

Planning

When designing a quilt, I really prefer to use solids for my quilt tops and larger scale prints for the backing. So when choosing fabrics, I really love to start with the backing. I find a backing that I love and then I choose the solids to coordinate. Often I will order my back separately and then use my color card swatches to pick the perfects colors!

Printed paper quilt pattern on a peach print fabric with fabric color swatch cards and scissors on top of a cutting mat

I also love to do lots of digital mock-ups to make sure I absolutely love the color combinations before I start ordering fabric yardage. Check out a few of the variations I came up with!

Quilt Top

Quilting

Lilo of Trace Creek Quilting quilted the cover quilt! I picked the pantograph “Rosemary” by Deborah Lobban of Dastardly Line, I love how much whimsy it adds to this playful color palette. I really think this pantograph would look gorgeous of so many quilt designs! It’s one of my absolute favorites.

Quilted quilt folded and tied with a peach print fabric

On a funny side note, to prep the backing for the longarm quilter, I had to piece two large pieces of fabric together and I really wanted to have a seamless look on the back. (These little peaches are just too perfect to ruin with an unsightly seam.) I found the perfect method for pattern matching using some good ol’ Elmer’s School Glue. Not bad, right? Maybe another blog post for another day…

Printed fabric being pattern matched using a glue basting technique

Finishing the Quilt

One of my favorite way to finish a quilt is with big stitch binding. I always start by machine sewing the binding to the front of the quilt and then I finish by hand sewing onto the back. I love to use DMC Perle Cotton in size 8 for this.

Quilt binding being hand stitched with a heavy weight thread

Because this is my first pattern and first cover quilt, I decided to hand embroider a custom label for the back corner. I used some scrap fabric from the quilt top, so it coordinated. The lable says “Palisade No. 001”.

Hand embroidered quilt label for Palisade No. 001

Finished hand embroidered quilt label and finished binding

Get your copy of palisade

For more modern quilt patterns, make sure to look through my shop! New items are added regularly.

Get a Free Quilt Pattern

If you would like to try a free pattern that is a perfect beginner quilt, check out this awesome quilt with minimalist design. It is one of the easiest quilt patterns and it can be adapted for pre-cut fabric like fat quarter bundles or charm squares. This pattern downloads instantly!

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Want more?

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