Melinda McLaughlin Melinda McLaughlin

Introducing pine shadow

A modern quilt pattern for the confident beginner. The striking, on-point design is surprisingly easy and quick to make. Pattern comes in 4 sizes.

The Pine Shadow quilt at Biltmore Estate, Asheville, NC

I’m thrilled to share that the Pine Shadow quilt pattern is now available in my shop.

This project began as a course exercise but quickly became a passion. One thing about me – when I fall in love with something, I want to learn more and more about it! This insatiable curiosity led me to Amber Elliot’s (@alderwoodstudio) Pattern Writing Academy. I loved making quilts and I’m a total math geek so I thought it would be fun to see how designs became patterns. A few lessons in and I was hooked.

Pine Shadow represents my love of bold, modern quilt designs that look stunning but are not complicated (at all!) to make. Pine Shadow is an on-point quilt which means that the blocks are placed on one of their points, like a diamond. Each end of each row is completed with setting triangles. Just tilt your head to the left and you'll see it's just like any other quilt – blocks sewn into rows and then rows assembled into the final top. If you’re on Instagram, catch my reel about on-point quilts (and how easy they are to make!).

The basic elements of Pine Shadow are large half-square triangles (HSTs), squares, and strips. That’s it!

Naming quilt patterns is so fun!

I find inspiration in the beautiful outdoors. You can often find me staring at a tree or a flower or a running river or a pattern in the dirt. Which is exactly how this quilt pattern got its name.

I was holding a pine cone sideways and the shadows created by the structure reminded me of light and dark half-square triangles. Abstract? Maybe. You think I’m nuts? Also, maybe. But there you have it. :)

What to expect when you make Pine Shadow.

Cutting your fabric goes really quickly. You cut different size WOF strips and then make straightforward square and rectangular subcuts. Then, each step in the pattern is straightforward with simple instructions, diagrams, and tips like the ones below:

 

In a nutshell, you will:

  1. Combine some strips to make long strips

  2. Sew strips around a handful of squares and create your setting triangles

  3. Make a bunch of HSTs and trim them

  4. Sew strips around your HSTs

  5. Sew your rows together and assemble your quilt top

Not one… but three cover quilts!

After I completed the main throw size cover quilt for my new pattern, I couldn’t stop! I was curious how it would look in other colorways and with diferent quilting styles. Also, I knew that if I made the baby size and machine quilted it myself, I could go wild choosing a directional backing fabric WITHOUT needing to pattern match and seam two pieces together.

Quilt patterns generally (always?!) include enough overage to meet minimum longarming requirements — 4-5” of backing/batting overage all-around for loading into the machine. The yardage requirements above for Pine Shadow include this overage. For the baby size, he pattern calls for 2.5 yards of backing which you cut into two 1.25 yards x WOF pieces and sew together.

With hand or machine quilting, you really only need an inch or two of overage. The Pine Shadow baby quilt top is 37” wide so you only need 1 1/2 yards of standard WOF fabric. Woo hoo! No seaming and no pattern matching for directional fabric. I tend to make my quilt tops in solids so I almost always choose directional fabrics for the back. I bring a piece of each top fabric color to my favorite local quilt shop and wander the aisles in search of the perfect backing. To me, a perfect backing either plays to the design itself or, if I’m gifting it, the design speaks to something personal about the recipient. It’s hard to choose just one thing I love most about making quilts, but choosing the backing fabric is definitely in my top three.

Here’s the detail about each of my Pine Shadow cover quilts shown below:

Main Blue-Gray (Throw)

  • Quilt Top Fabric (All Kona Solids) — A: Pepper, B:Chalkboard, C: Quicksilver

  • Backing Fabric — Serenity by Amanda Murphy for Benartex

  • Longarm Quilting — by Megan at Blue Ridge Quilt Co.

  • Pantograph — Driftwood by The Longarm League

  • Binding — Kona Pepper, Hand Quilted with Invisible Stitch

Brown-Neutral (Baby)

  • Quilt Top Fabric (All Kona Solids) — A: Bison, B: Latte, C: Natural

  • Backing Fabric — Timeless Treasures Fabric of Soho, Nature #CD2260

  • Quilting — Wavy/Serpentine Stitch on my Janome MC6700 (Mode 2, Stitch 096, set at 6.5 Width, 5.0 Length)

  • Binding — Two Colors (Kona Bison & Latte), Hand Quilted with Big Stitch, Perle Cotton #8 - Ecru

Blue-Green (Baby)

  • Quilt Top Fabric (All Kona Solids) — A: Indigo, B: Celadon, C: Snow

  • Backing Fabric — Penny Cress Garden Collection (Agnes) by Megan Carter for Cotton + Steel

  • Quilting — Machine Quilted on my Janome MC6700, Custom Pattern Accentuating Design Lines

  • Binding — Kona Indigo, Hand Quilted with Big Stitch, 2 Strands Mettler Cotton Thread #50, Color 3000

I hope you love making Pine Shadow as much as I loved designing it and writing the pattern for you!

Purchase the Pine Shadow quilt pattern today and help Asheville recover from Hurricane Helene. ALL proceeds from pattern sales through December 31, 2024 will be donated to ArtsAVL Emergency Relief Grant Program for artists impacted by Hurricane Helene.

As always, never hesitate to reach out with questions or feedback. You can get straight to me at help@hamptonquiltstudio.com.

Happy Making!

Melinda

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