Each year Pantone Announces the Color of the Year. For the second time in 22 years, Pantone has selected 2 colors to represent this year. Those colors signal optimism and strength.
We have selected 8 Confetti Cotton colors that we feel capture the essence of the year’s color (or should we say colors). We’re re-releasing 12 projects, one each month (on Instagram) as well as a quarterly FREE Quilt Tutorial (on the blog) that feature our dazzling range of colors.
We are excited to release our third Color of the Year FREE Tutorial today! We’re calling this the Nightlight quilt. The quilt features brilliant golden Double Sawtooth Stars and glowing “fireflies” set on a nighttime backdrop made up of various shades of gray.
The quilt is made up of 12″ blocks, with the finished quilt measuring approximately 60″ square. Because this is a simple block quilt, you can easily add or subtract blocks and rows to create any size quilt you want.
The quilt is made up of two different blocks: the Double Sawtooth Star Block and the Hovering Hawks Block. This is a great opportunity to master half square triangles and flying geese, which are essential components of these blocks. The great news is that we have a FREE Video Tutorial featuring these blocks HERE.
Fabric Requirements for 60″ Night Light Quilt:
- 1/4 yard Lemon Zest Confetti Cotton
- 1/2 yard Dandelions Confetti Cotton
- 1/2 yard Honey Confetti Cotton
- 2/3 yard Riley Yellow Confetti Cotton
- 3 1/2 yards Charcoal Confetti Cotton (includes yardage for quilt blocks and border)
- 1/3 yard Riley Gray Confetti Cotton
- 1/4 yard Iron Confetti Cotton
- 1/3 yard Silver Confetti Cotton
- 1/2 yard fabric for binding (I used Lemon Zest)
- Quilt Batting
- Fabric for Quilt Back
This Double Sawtooth Star block (sometimes called a Nesting Star) is unique in that we used four different shades of yellow to make our block. I think the multiple shades of yellow adds a lovely, subtle depth to the quilt, however, you can always simplify by using two shades of yellow (one for each star). Eight flying geese units give this block its star points. With 13 Double Sawtooth Star blocks, you will be making a total of 104 flying geese. If you haven’t mastered the flying geese block, here’s your chance!
To make 13 Double Sawtooth Star Blocks, you will need:
- 13 – 3 1/2″ Squares Lemon Zest Confetti Cotton
- 52 – 2 3/8″ Squares Dandelions Confetti Cotton
- 13 – 4 1/4″ Squares Honey Confetti Cotton
- 52 – 2″ Squares Honey Confetti Cotton
- 52 – 3 7/8″ Squares Riley Yellow
- 52 – 3 1/2″ Squares Charcoal Confetti Cotton
- 13 – 7 1/4″ Squares Charcoal Confetti Cotton
Let’s begin by making a Honey/Dandelions Flying Geese block. We are using the four-at-a-time no-waste method, so instead of just one flying geese unit, you will have four units with no fabric waste at all. Brilliant!
- Draw a guideline from corner to corner on each of the Dandelions squares. Place two of the Dandelions squares on opposite corners of the 4 1/4″ Honey square.
- Sew 1/4″ on either side of the guideline.
- Cut apart along the drawn guidelines.
4. Press the triangles outward. Place a Dandelions square on the top corner of the larger Honey triangle and sew 1/4″ from either side of the guideline. Cut along the guideline.
5. Press triangles outward and trim flying geese to measure 2″ x 3 1/2″.
6. Sew a flying geese unit to each side of the 3 1/2″ Lemon Zest square. Press seams toward the center.
7. Sew a 2″ Honey square to each side of the remaining two flying geese units. Press the seams toward the Honey squares.
8. Sew the three rows together, nesting the seams. Press the seams open. Trim the block to measure 6 1/2″ square. ***To see how to chain piece these units for quick assembly, watch our VIDEO TUTORIAL.
Repeat steps 1-8 with the Charcoal and Riley Yellow fabrics.
- Draw a guideline from corner to corner on each of the Riley Yellow squares. Place two of the Riley Yellow squares on opposite corners of the 4 1/4″ Honey square.
- Sew 1/4″ from either side of the guideline.
- Cut along the guideline.
4. Press yellow triangles outward. Place a Riley Yellow square on the top corner of the larger Charcoal triangle and sew 1/4″ from either side of the guideline. Cut along the guideline.
5. Press triangles outward and trim flying geese to measure 3 1/2″ x 6 1/2″.
6. Sew a flying geese unit to each side of the inner Sawtooth Star block. Press seams toward the center.
7. Sew a 3 1/2″ Charcoal square to each side of the remaining two flying geese units. Press the seams toward the Honey squares.
8. Sew the three rows together, nesting the seams. Press the seams open. Trim the block to measure 12″ square. ***To see how to chain piece these units for quick assembly, watch our VIDEO TUTORIAL.
Repeat all of the above steps to make 13 Double Sawtooth Star blocks.
Next, let’s tackle the Hovering Hawks Block. This block is all about Half Square Triangles. In fact, each block contains 10 Half Square Triangles. There are 12 Hovering Hawks Blocks in this quilt, so that gives us a total of 120 Half Square Triangles! In the instructions below, we will show two different ways of making Half Square Triangles.
To make 12 Hovering Hawks Blocks, you will need:
- 48 – 3 1/2″ Squares Charcoal Confetti Cotton
- 12 – 4″ Squares Charcoal Confetti Cotton
- 24 – 6″ Squares Charcoal Confetti Cotton
- 12 – 4″ Squares Lemon Zest Confetti Cotton
- 12 – 6″ Squares Riley Gray Confetti Cotton
- 12 – 6″ Squares Iron Confetti Cotton
- 24 – 3 1/2″ Squares Silver Confetti Cotton
Let’s begin by making our Two-at-a-Time Half Square Triangles with the Lemon Zest and Charcoal Confetti Cottons.
- Draw a diagonal line on a 4″ square of Lemon Zest.
- Pair the 4″ Lemon Zest and 4″ Charcoal square together, and sew 1/4″ on each side of the diagonal line.
- Cut along the drawn line. Now you have two Half Square Triangles.
- Press seam toward the Charcoal fabric. Trim each HST to 3 1/2″ square.
Next, it’s time to tackle our Four-at-a-Time Half Square Triangles.
- Pair a 6″ Charcoal and 6″ Riley Gray square together.
- Sew 1/4″ around the perimeter of the square.
- Cut along each diagonal, making an “X”.
- Now you have four Half Square Triangles. Press seams toward the Charcoal fabric. Trim each HST to 3 1/2″ square.
- Repeat steps 1-4 using a 6″ Charcoal square and a 6″ Iron square.
NOTE***To save time, you could use the Four-at-a-Time HST method to make the Lemon Zest/Charcoal half square triangles. To do this, you’ll use a 6″ square Lemon Zest with a 6″ square Charcoal. Follow the steps for the Four-at-a-Time HST. You will want to make 6 of these to end up with 24 total HST.
You should now have 4 Iron/Charcoal HST, 4 Riley Gray/Charcoal HST, 2 Lemon Zest/Charcoal HST, 4 Solid Charcoal Squares, 2 Solid Silver Squares — ALL measuring 3 1/2″ square.
6. Arrange the squares as shown in the image above.
Row 1: Silver + Iron/Charcoal + Riley Gray/Charcoal + Charcoal
Row 2: Iron/Charcoal + Lemon Zest/Charcoal + Charcoal + Riley Gray/Charcoal
Row 3: Riley Gray/Charcoal + Charcoal + Lemon Zest/Charcoal + Iron/Charcoal
Row 4: Charcoal + Riley Gray/Charcoal + Iron/Charcoal + Silver
7. Press the seams for each row in opposite directions.
8. Sew rows together. Press seams open.
Repeat all of the steps to make 12 Hovering Hawks Blocks.
Need extra help? You can watch our VIDEO TUTORIAL for both of these blocks.
Assembly is easy. Sew the blocks together in 5 rows, alternating the blocks in each row. Add a border if desired. I added a 1 1/2″ border of Charcoal Confetti Cotton. I used Lemon Zest for the binding.
I quilted this freeform on my domestic machine. The stars are a combination of a matchstick and leaf-like design. The Lemon Zest “fireflies” are quilted with little circles.
For the gray background, I used black Aurifil thread to make a meandering stipple design. Because the stipple was fairly small, it did take time, but I found it was very forgiving — hiding any little puckers and bumps while adding a nice overall texture to the quilt.
I used a Black Blossom wide back fabric for the quilt back. The yellow thread from the stars and fireflies left a fun design on the back!
And that’s all there is to it! Two blocks are all you need to learn to make this dreamy Nightlight quilt. This would be a fun quilt to take along at campouts, watching fireworks, or just stargazing out on the front porch.
Confetti Cotton Color of the Year yardage and fabric bundles are available for purchase at your favorite local and online quilt shops. Pick up yours today and share your makes with us on Instagram using #rbdcoty, #rbdcreatecolorfully, #rileyblakedesigns, #iloverileyblake, and tag us @rileyblakedesigns.