King David’s Crown quilt pattern in Cali & Co. fabric, made by That Crafty Cara (Cara Brooke) for Fat Quarter Shop

King David’s Crown Quilt, a new free pattern from Fat Quarter Shop

March 11, 2025March 14, 20255 Comments

It’s pattern release day for the King David’s Crown quilt, so I can finally show you this beautiful project in its entirety!

The Pattern

Since this pattern is part of Fat Quarter Shop’s “Classic and Vintage” series, the requirement was to make just one of the blocks, but when I saw this pattern I really liked how unique it was compared to the quilt blocks that I normally make, so I decided to make the entire quilt.

TIP: Not gonna lie, I had a hard time with not cutting off my points on this quilt. I realized after a few blocks that you want to prioritize getting the skinny tips to match up and not worry about the wider ends of the tips because those will get trimmed and won’t matter. Prioritze the skinnier tips of the wedges when you’re doing your cutting and piecing on this pattern; it makes a huge difference.

The Fabric

Corey Yoder’s fabric “Cali & Co.” had just come out and I decided to use this quilt as an opportunity to indulge my desire to make something with the beautiful multicolored flower print (SKU# 29190-11) in that collection. Unfortunately, when I tried mocking up the pattern with the multicolored flower print, I just couldn’t come up with a fabric combination that worked for me, so I pivoted to using the cherries print (SKU# 29194-11) as my main background and went with the blues and flamingo “reds” in the hopes for a subtly patriotic color scheme that I could display in the summer months.

ANOTHER TIP: I did figure out a way to sneak in as much of that multicolored flower print as I could, though—I opted to use it as the backing of the quilt. I realized, years ago, that if you use your most favorite print of a fabric collection for a quilt’s backing, you’ll end up with a ton of it leftover for your scrap bins (to then use in future scrap quilts) because you’ll have to trim off the requisite additional four inches on each side that you need to include for quilting. No more ugly fabrics for quilt backings here! I’m looking forward to sneaking in more of this beautiful print into future quilts! It’s just so pretty.

Cali & Co. fabric used in That Crafty Cara's (Cara Brooke) King David's Crown quilt for the Fat Quarter Shop

My plan is to use one of the darker blue fabrics in the Cali & Co. collection for the binding. I just love the light and airy feel of the fabrics in this quilt!

Blue fabrics from the Cali & Co. fabric collection by Corey Yoder for Moda Fabrics.

The Quilting

So, um, the quilting…isn’t finished. I have quilted in my foundational lines and I really thought about doing fast stipple quilting to just get this done on time, but I happened to see a really perfect quilting stencil design and fell in love with the idea of using it for quilting this up. Problem was, it took forever for the stencil to arrive in the mail and then it became apparent, very quickly, that I was going to have to practice a bit before executing my plan.

Quilting stencil atop the King David’s Crown quilt pattern in Cali & Co. fabric, made by That Crafty Cara (Cara Brooke) for Fat Quarter Shop

I don’t quilt as confidently as I piece, so there’s been a noticeable gap in my skills, and I’ve avoided quilting for a while. Nevertheless, I think it’s time to address this disparity and start legitimately working on upping my quilting skills, so I’m planning to take my time with quilting this beautiful quilt so that I can be proud of it when it’s done.

Final Thoughts

I really, really like this pattern and have already started mocking it up in other color palettes in the hopes that I can make another one. I think it’d look really great in a red-and-green color palette, don’t you?

The pattern is available for free on Fat Quarter Shop’s website, and they’ve also assembled a kit, featuring French General’s “Sacre Bleu” fabric collection, for maximum ease in getting started on this fun little pattern.

Thank you to all the new readers who are popping through to read this post! If you’d like to automatically receive more of my posts about quilty goodness, please subscribe to my blog on WordPress by clicking here, or sign up for my mailing list by clicking on the “Subscribe” button in the sidebar!

Thank you, Fat Quarter Shop, for inviting me to sew along with you on the King David’s Crown quilt! This quilt is going to be a lovely addition to my summer quilt collection! (Quesnel thinks it’s great, too!)

More Free Quilt Patterns from the Fat Quarter Shop:

This post contains affiliate links. Fat Quarter Shop also provided me with some of the fabrics and the Creative Grids Starburst ruler in exchange for me sewing up the pattern.

Mini Charm Chiffon Quilt

October 21, 2021March 14, 20255 Comments

I love how this one turned out! Fat Quarter Shop is releasing a new pattern called the Mini Charm Chiffon Quilt and it is PERFECT for quick little baby quilts. Just four Mini Charm packs and some background fabric and you’re good to go!

I chose to use the “Flowers for Freya” fabric collection by Linzee McCray because I absolutely love the color palette that she uses in her collections. It was a few little sewing sessions and then it was done! It finishes at 36.5 inches square, which is a great size for a new baby quilt. Excellent for baby shower gifting!

You can download the FREE quilt pattern by clicking here. It includes instructions for crib-, lap-, twin-, and queen-sized quilts.

Thank you, Fat Quarter Shop, for inviting me to participate in this little sew along! You can subscribe to receive a notification when the quilt kit becomes available–shipping delays have impacted when the sample fabric will be available. (Also, they sent me the fabric to sew up in exchange for my time and posts–transparency and all.)

And thank you to Rachel for being my quilt model on this one:

There’s also a new video out about this pattern:

Crystal Quilters Block of the Month: Sew Many Stars! Block 5: Checkerboard Star Block

July 3, 2020July 1, 20201 Comment

Happy July, everyone! Yay, we made it to the point where we’ll only have a new block every month now!

This month’s block is another easy one, the Checkerboard Star:

Download the instructions here: Sew Many Stars BOM Pattern_Block 5 Checkerboard Star

If you’re posting your block to Instagram, please make sure to tag it with the #crystalquiltersbom (If you’re a member of the guild) and #sewmanystarsquilt hashtags so we can find your blocks!

Happy sewing!

Crystal Quilters Block of the Month: Sew Many Stars! Block 4: Broken Dishes Star Block

June 19, 2020June 18, 20201 Comment

Block 4, using a Broken Dishes block for the center of the star is now available!

Download the instructions here: Sew Many Stars BOM Pattern_Block 4 Broken Dishes Star

Block 5 will be available on July 3rd, and then we’ll go to one block a month. (Whew!)\

If you’re posting your block to Instagram, please make sure to tag it with the #crystalquiltersbom (If you’re a member of the guild) and #sewmanystarsquilt hashtags so we can find your blocks!

Happy sewing!

Crystal Quilters Block of the Month: Sew Many Stars! Block #3: Variable Star

June 8, 2020June 3, 20201 Comment

It’s time for our third block, the Variable Star block.

PLEASE NOTE: Because these blocks will be set on-point in the finished quilt, any fussy-cut center fabric will rotate. I’ve pointed it out in the cutting directions in the pattern, but thought it’d be a good idea to wave a red flag in front of your faces from the beginning: You have to cut the original fussy-cut square on-point.

Download the block pattern here: Sew Many Stars BOM Pattern_Block 3 Variable Star

If you’re posting your block to Instagram, please make sure to tag it with the #crystalquiltersbom (If you’re a member of the guild) and #sewmanystarsquilt hashtags so we can find your blocks!

Happy Sewing!

Crystal Quilters Block of the Month: Sew Many Stars! Block #2: Four Star

May 15, 2020May 13, 20201 Comment

Welcome back for our second block, the Four Star block! I’m introducing this block early on in the sew along so that you have time to make FIVE of them and not feel rushed. Make them all at once or make another one with each successive block unveiling; it’s up to you!

Download the block pattern here: Sew Many Stars BOM Pattern_Block 2 Four Star

If you’re posting your block to Instagram, please make sure to tag it with #crystalquiltersbom (if you’re a member of the guild) and #sewmanystarsquilt so we can find your blocks!

Happy Sewing!

Tweedy Lil’ Pumpkin Hat #2

September 29, 2017September 27, 20171 Comment

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With the birth of my stepsister’s baby, I went into baby knitting mode. One of the items I decided to include in the “Welcome Baby” package was one of my Tweedy Lil’ Pumpkin hats, size “newborn.” I wrote up this pattern four years ago when I wanted to make my nephew a cute autumn-themed hat. I haven’t made another since, mostly due to the lack of babies being born into our family, but also because I got wrapped up learning to make quilts and I’ve been doing lots of baby quilts instead of baby knits–but after spending almost all of 2016 making baby quilts, I decided to take a break from those this year. Voila, back to baby knitting.

I love this pattern so much because it’s got classic, basic cables that always look good, and the yarn is DK-weight, which I prefer for baby hats because it’s just a tad less bulky, but doesn’t sacrifice on warmth.

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I went with two different colors this time with this Tweedy Lil’ Pumpkin Hat, the lighter orange and darker green available in Rowan Felted Tweed. I now have scraps from both hats that I think will knit up nicely in a striped pattern next time there’s another beebs making a debut into the fam.

If you’d like to make a Tweedy Lil’ Pumpkin Hat yourself, the pattern is for sale on Ravelry. I recently increased the price of the pattern, but you can get it for the original price of $2.50 until October 10th, 2017 with the promo code “babyknitting” (without the quotation marks).

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Happy knitting!

Gingham Block pattern

February 6, 2016February 6, 20161 Comment

We have a sewing group in my neighborhood, and we’re running another quilt block swap this year. The pattern that February’s queen bee wants cannot be found online, so I’ve written one up for us. It’s going to be pretty cute!

Gingham Block pattern.docx-page-001

Gingham Block pattern.docx-page-002

Just right click on the images, save, and print.

Or, you can click here and view the file in PDF format.

And, to answer the oft-asked question: The “medium” and “dark” color should be shades of the SAME color. (ie. “medium PINK” and “dark PINK”)

New Pattern: Harmony Wave Cowl

December 8, 2013February 1, 20153 Comments

My second published pattern to date! This cute little thing was designed for a scarf and cowl contest at Harmony, one of my local yarn shops.

Yes indeed, it is crocheted. And it is lovely–I crocheted it in Blue Sky Alpacas’ Sport-Weight, and it is completely luscious-feeling against the skin! I am definitely making more of these!

I’ve named it the Harmony Wave Cowl, in honor of Harmony’s contest, and for the obvious wavy stitch pattern. It’s a quick pattern; I whipped this up over the course of two days of teaching school.

The original creation is on display at the Harmony shop until the end of the scarf and cowl contest on December 12.

In the spirit of the season, I’m offering this pattern for free until the close of the contest at Harmony.

Just hop on over to Ravelry, add the pattern to your cart, enter the coupon code HarmonyHoliday2013, and you’ll receive one download of the PDF pattern for free!^*

Share the news, and enjoy your holiday season!

^*Offer is good for one individual download of Harmony Wave Cowl pattern until 11:59 PM MST, December 12, 2013. Please visit Cara Brooke’s design store on Ravelry.com to complete your transaction. Registration for a free Ravelry account may be required for redemption of offer.

Tweedy Lil’ Pumpkin Hat My First Published Pattern!

October 16, 2013February 1, 20152 Comments

Because it’s October,
Because I have an adorable little nephew who is going to totally rock this hat,
And because I’ve harbored a secret desire to design knitting patterns for almost a decade.

Here it is, my debut pattern, self-published on Ravelry and available to any who wish to partake of its cuteness.

Yes, I’m proud.

Broken down to its bare bones, this is just a simple little hat with cables and a little bit of colorwork on the top. This particular version was knit with Rowan Felted Tweed DK, which was quite nice to work with. I prefer DK-weight yarns for kids’ hats because of its lighter weight. Worsted can so easily get too bulky on wee people, but DK-weight just works so perfectly.

Monkeyboy is modeling the hat, but it has been knit to fit a slightly smaller child, so it’s a tad snug on my boy’s noggin. I’ll probably knit him one in the 2-4 year size since he was such a fan of wearing it for the pictures.

You can read more about the pattern over on Ravelry, and you can buy the pattern if you’d like. There’s just something about knitting up little pumpkins this time of year and watching little people run around with stems atop their heads. Makes me smile so much.