Creating an original quilt design in a Garden State of Mind

If you’re creative at all, and you surely are as you are here at QUILTsocial…, you know that creating is not something you can force to happen. 2020 has been a challenging year for all of us in one way or another and I have struggled with creating and I know I’m not alone. So, when the opportunity to work with the glorious Hoffman’s Garden State of Mind came along, I had a lovely opportunity to record my creative process and share it with you. I’ll be including instructions on how to make this quilt and you can follow along or use it as a springboard to create your own design!

I used the Hoffman Garden State of Mind fabrics as well as a selection of their 24/7 Linen fabrics as they play so well together. The fact that I was using a digitally designed fabric in a world where we’re relying more than ever on our digital connections was not lost on me.

Initially, I had imagined something along the lines of Monet’s waterlilies but when I had the fabrics in front of me they led in a different direction. I knew that it’s best to follow along.

I have been riding my bike a lot and I’m lucky to live close to open farmland. My nearly daily rides put me in front of some incredible inspiration. At first, I was concentrating on cycling but as I relaxed, I found that there was a lot of natural art all around me. I took a lot of pictures.

I have also been teaching my niece how to use watercolors. Watercolors have a magical way of doing their own thing… kind of like nature does, you never quite know how things are going to turn out. This was an image I created, and I quickly realized that combined with what I have been seeing on my bike rides, was something that could be translated into a quilt with the Hoffman Garden State of Mind fabric line.

Often, I find the inspiration and materials will come together at the same time if you just give them a little space.

It has been some time since I made a full-size quilt but what I was imagining needed to be big and bold as well as simple and calm. This was my initial sketch, just as a starting point because in the end when making a quilt I always have to listen to the fabric.

Putting all this together with the Hoffman Garden State of Mind fabrics was going to be fantastic!

To create the quilt I made, you’ll need the following fabrics:

Garden State of Mind Collection

½yd of each

• S4757-580-Cypress
• S4757-170-Meadow
• S4755-550-Big-Sur
• S4755-145-Spring

And…

24/7: Linen

• 2yds G8555-3G-White Gold
• 2yds G8555-33G-Cream Gold
• 1yd  S4705-41-Aqua
• 1yd S4705-74-Mint
• 2yds S4705-198-Apricot

A note about to wash or not to wash your fabrics. I prewash all my fabrics. The Hoffman Garden State of Mind are of such an amazing quality that you could use them unwashed without any problems. My reason for washing fabrics is because I started out on my quilting journey as a washer and always will be. It’s too much bother to keep track of what is washed and what isn’t so all of it gets the same treatment. Consistency is key.

That being said, you’ll need to iron your prewashed fabrics before cutting into them and this process is made so much easier with the Oliso Iron! This entire project would have been much harder without her by my side… and in such a lovely shade of yellow too! And any iron that greets me with a lovely hello when I open the box is certainly the iron for me!

Tomorrow I’m cutting the background from the Hoffman 24/7 Linen. See you then!

This is part 1 of 5 in this series

Go to part 2: Cutting quilt strips for the Garden State of Mind quilt