When I made this quilt for the first time, it was in the midst of frustration and disappointment, during our search for a home in The Netherlands. That quilt was called Starry Night and featured a somber color palette with hints of peach dawn at the edges.

Now, one year later, it’s so fitting to sew this Autumn Glow rendition of my newly released Honeycomb Stars quilt pattern. The fiery palette has all my favorite fall colors: plum, red, amber and peach. It’s a spectacular sunset of hues that seems to celebrate where I find myself now - settled into a home I love and into a life with family and friends that fills me with satisfaction, gratitude and hope.

Yes, I love this quilt just as much as I had hoped. Let me tell you a bit about the finishing process.

I used leftover yardage from my quilt top to create a pieced backing. All the fabrics in my quilt are Warp & Weft woven cotton fabrics from Ruby Star Society. Because I had more than I needed (and more than is in the quilt kit), I was able to make this backing too.

As a result, the entire quilt is extra soft to the touch, with a luxurious drape. If you’ve worked with Warp & Weft (or other designer woven fabrics like AMH Luminous or Kaffe Fassett), you know what I mean.

Even the binding is Warp & Weft. I chose an orchid shade to blend with the light edges.

The Honeycomb Stars patchwork style is obviously very geometric. When I consider a complimentary quilting pattern, I like the idea of bringing in curves, rather than more angles, and yet something really random doesn’t strike my fancy. This is the second time I’ve chosen this Circle Chain quilting motif for Honeycomb Stars. This time I scaled the pattern twice as large as before, so that the quilt remains super soft and cozy.

I’ve purposefully mapped the quilting to the patchwork so that the circles roll along in the hexagon rows. The interlocking circles remind me of the interlocking stars!

And so - the finished quilt! The blend from dark to light gives it something special.

Thanks to everyone who came along the sew-along journey and who watched and commented from afar. I’m grateful for each one of you! Also thanks to Dragonfly Quiltworks, who provided me the fabrics for this project and created quilt kits so that you can sew either the Starry Night version of Honeycomb Stars or Autumn Glow rendition. Dragonfly Quiltworks still has at least one quilt kit of each, as well as the acrylic hexagon rulers. Thank you in advance for supporting my sponsors!

As much as I love, love, love Autumn Glow, I knew from the beginning that this is one I would release into the world. I have a feeling it is meant to bring a luxurious joy to someone who needs it just now. I’ve listed Autumn Glow in my Handmades shop today. She can ship almost anywhere in the world.

xoxo,

Rachel