Unicorn Garden – Let’s do a QAL!

Did you hear? I am attempting my very first quilt along! It is for Unicorn Garden, my brand new quilt pattern that I just added to my shop! I am so excited, but also a little nervous, so please bear with me while I learn, lol!

If you haven’t registered yet, you can do that here.

We’ll be starting on October 10th and sew our Unicorn Garden quilt tops over a course of six weeks. The QAL ends half way through November, so you have a pretty good chance to have it ready as a Christmas gift for a special someone – if you don’t prefer keeping it for yourself… 😉

Below is our weekly schedule:

Every week I’ll provide you with my personal tips & tricks (and maybe a free pattern add-on or two…) to help you succeed with your own favourite unicorn.

Pattern and kits

Joining the QAL is free, all you need is a copy of the Unicorn Garden quilt pattern (pdf or printed booklet) and obviously some fabric. If you like purchasing a ready-made kit, I have some in my shop, and there are several quilt shops also carrying kits: Mad About Patchwork, Needle Crafts + Studio, Piece Fabric Co., Quilty Pleasures, Stache Fabrics & Notions, Stitch By Stitch (Canada) and Piper Autumn Fabrics (US).

And if you prefer curating your own kit, I am sharing some advice below (skip if you don’t want any 😜).

Choosing your fabrics

When choosing the colour palettes for my pattern cover and the other bundles available in my shop, I was primarily thinking of unicorns as white creatures. But of course you don’t have to follow this as a rule! I think your unicorn can look fantastic in almost any colour. The only suggestion I’d give is to choose colour 2 (the legs in the background) as a similar but slightly darker hue than colour 1 (main body colour). This works whether you feel attracted to pastels, neutrals or even something dark like navy or black. Have a look!

Let’s talk background next! It is the colour you’ll have most of in the entire quilt, so better choose something you really like! And then, secondly, choose something that provides enough contrast to your unicorn (and the flower banner).

For the flowers, I’d say just get inspired by your favourite flowers. I love daisies and anemones for example, both of which come in a broad variety of gorgeous colours. I particularly like the ones with darker centres.

For the leaves, again, I suggest to choose two similar hues, one darker and one lighter. And don’t feel limited to traditional greens! Blues, teals, browns – in the right combination they can all look amazing.

Yeah, that’s it, now you can play around and start planning! To make it even easier, you can use this colouring sheet:

I truly hope that you’ll be a part of this fun experience! Can’t wait to see everyone’s creations!