Embercrest Digital Edge-to-Edge Quilting Design

Before we get started, I'd like to get the theme music for Game of Thrones in your head while you read this blog post.
 


I thought this spin on a classic clamshell shape looked a lot like dragon scales, but when it came to naming it, 'Dragon' didn't feel right. So, I spent approximately 10 hours (only a slight exaggeration) using ChatGPT to come up with a name. "We" were going for Mother of Dragons energy, but also kind of soft and nature-inspired. In the end, I thought Embercrest sounded like it could have been a house in Game of Thrones. Naming things is hard! 🔥



I love using simple shapes to create texture-rich backgrounds for quilts, and that's what I hope to have done with this design. It would be a great, jazzy alternative to a traditional clamshell quilting for quilts that need just a little extra flare. 

The Quilt

Quilt Pattern

The pattern I used for this quilt is called Simple Joys by Then Came June. It went together quickly and was fun to make at a recent retreat. It would have been even faster to construct had I used fat quarters as the pattern calls for, but I didn't. Even so, the straightforward patchwork was blessedly mindless.

Fabrics

The solid green background fabric is a Bella solid from Moda called Pesto! Isn't it fun?! It's my favorite thing about the patchwork. I ordered it from my friend Meg at Monograms for Makers. 

I had intended to use various Ruby Star Society fabrics for the prints, but when I saw the green in person, I found it coordinated so beautifully with a layer cake I had from Aneela Hoey called Marigold so that's what I used instead.

One layer cake didn't yield enough for the entire quilt, so I supplemented with matching fabrics from other lines.

This is not one of my favorite quilts! And I'm only phrasing it that way to be polite because I don't like when people tear apart their creative work. When pairing each fabric with the Pesto fabric, I thought they all worked. But, when I try to pinpoint what I don't like about the quilt as a whole, I think it's that the color range is too broad. I keep forgetting that's kind of "the deal" with pre-cuts like layer cakes or fat quarter bundles from a single line, especially when you need to use all of the prints in a project.

In this case, I thought the strong background could do ALL the work of magically (like a dragon) making everything come together effortlessly, but for my tastes and preferences... this ain't it. I don't hate it. I don't want it to be consumed in a dragon's fire, it simply misses the mark for me in some ways, and that's okay!

What I do like about the quilt:

1. Pesto - I love the color!
2. The Marigold prints - if I could have a redo, I'd buy fat quarters (like the pattern calls for) from a narrower selection of colors. I love the whole line, but not all together in the same project.
3. It's quirky, it's zesty, it's out of my norm; it's good to push my boundaries and try new things.
4. I like the quilting (almost always my favorite part of a project). I was really hoping the intense texture would help it cohere more effectively. I think it helps somewhat, but not enough to overcome the color range.

I was joking at the retreat that maybe I'll like it after the next step, like when the blocks are actually complete. And then, when I still didn't like it, I thought maybe I'll like it after the blocks are sewn together, or after the quilt is fully quilted, or when the quilt is bound. I am missing the label, so maybe when it's labeled?!?! :) 

I've been quilting for 20 years now, and I'm still learning about what I like and what I don't like, and that feels wonderful and exciting to me!

The Backing

I bought a bolt of wide backing fabric from Riley Blake called Silver Dapple Dots, so you might be seeing more of this in the future! It's cute and will go with a lot of tops.

The Quilting Details

Difficulty Level

I gave this design an "Intermediate" rating as far as difficulty to use. The rows need to nest closely, but I also found it very easy to quilt as there is no backtracking. If you've done another clamshell design or baptist fans, you'll be able to use this design with no problems.

If you'd like to look at the stitch path, there's a video at the top of the blog post that shows how it travels.

Scale

I'd recommend sizing down when you use this. I made the default size larger when I created it, just so the lines were nice and smooth when adding stitches to the path.

Here are the sizing specifications for how I set up this quilt using my Intelliquilter (60" x 72" quilt size):

Row height: 1.0"
Gap: -0.149" 
Pattern height: 1.149" (measurement from top to bottom of the repeat)
Offset: 50%
Backtracking: none

Here's a look at the included PDF:

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