- Veggie Quilt Pattern
- Nine "heirloom tomato" inspired colors, non-directional:
- Fat 1/8 of each cut into (14) 2-1/2" squares of each color
- Green print for leaves:
- 1 fat 1/8, cut into (18) 2-1/2" squares
- Total of 1 yard, low volume assortment for background:
- Cut into 144 total squares, from as many prints as desired
Heirloom Tomato Quilt
I've been dreaming of this quilt since we finished up the Veggie Quilt pattern back in April. It is finally finished and I am so excited to share it with you today!
I have a pretty deep love for seed catalogs that show up in the dead of winter. Have you noticed how beautiful the photography is in those catalogs? There are some amazing independent seed companies that have really upped their game in the marketing department. This is one of the beautiful pictures that caught my eye from Swallowtail Garden Seeds, Inc.
If red tomatoes are good, then a rainbow of tomatoes must be even better! For my Heirloom Tomato Quilt I pulled an assortment of smaller scale prints that were non-directional for my tomatoes, and mixed in all sorts of low-volume prints for the background. After my all white background on the Veggie Quilt, I was ready to mix it up! I kept the leaves the same color for all of the tomatoes so that it would bring a little continuity to the quilt and help them stand out. The best part - after pulling all of those fabrics I spent about 15 minutes with our Accuquilt fabric cutter and had my 2-1/2" squares ready to go for the whole quilt! Not only was it crazy fast, but they were all perfect 2-1/2" squares (which I know wouldn't have been the case if I had cut them by hand). The Accuquilt is available for use anytime! Just $5 an hour to use all of our die sets. It really can save you hours of cutting time.
The quilt finished at 24-1/2" square, a great wall hanging size! I am excited to find a place for this in my kitchen, but it looked pretty fun by my garden too. Maybe it will encourage my tomatoes to ripen a little faster!
I am so excited to have the chance to teach the Heirloom Tomato Quilt class at this year's Quilt Exhibit, sponsored by Blow's Sew-N-Vac! You can check out all the details and sign up for the class HERE. We'll be working through the ins and outs of the tomato block, which will also help you if you decide to do other blocks from the Veggie Quilt. Based completely on 2-1/2" squares, you'll learn the layering effects we've used to create fun and interesting blocks without difficult piecing. And the really exciting part - the classroom is stocked with brand new Bernina's! (And an instructor to show us how to use them, don't worry!) It's a great chance to make a super fun quilt and sew on the best of the best.
Precut kits to make your own Heirloom Tomato Quilt will be available soon in the shop and online. If you are taking the class and would rather use scraps & stash for the quilt (it is a perfect scrap quilt!) bring your fabric in and get an hour of free cutting time on the Accuquilt! Just sign up for the class and let us know you registered to get your free hour.
Here's what you'll need to make the Heirloom Tomato Quilt: