Meet Solar Wind! A mixing of both modern and traditional quilting to create a bold and colorful update to the Missouri Star block. Solar Wind is a confident beginner pattern and uses both foundation paper piecing (full instructions included) and quarter square triangles. It's available in crib, throw, twin, and queen sizes.
The design of Solar Wind began as one of my blocks for Quilt Camp 2022. I knew I wanted to create an FPP element to update a more traditional quilt block. Thus, Dark Sky was designed! It's right in the middle of the full quilt photo below.
The name of what was originally Dark Sky was inspired by the idea of a place so untainted by man-made light that every star in the sky was able to shine brightly. When I wrote the entire quilt pattern, I changed the name to Solar Wind to avoid confusion with my Skye pattern. Solar Wind interacts with Earth's magnetic field to create the Aurora Borealis, which can only be seen in the darkest of night skies. I used images of the Aurora Borealis to create my color palette.
The colors I used are all Michael Miller Cotton Couture solids in Indigo, Pine, Ocean, Citrus, Soft White, Luna, and Plum.
I absolutely love the brightness of the Citrus against the darker colors, and how the ombre effect creates an inner glow. If you want to create a similar effect, use a dark value color for Fabric D and a very bright/light value for Fabric F. I then used three descending light values for Fabrics C, A, and E to help create that inner glow.
Also, the pattern is available on QuiltInk to color! This should help you with creating your intended color effect.
I hope you enjoy making Solar Wind! Remember to post it on Instagram with the hashtag #SolarWindQuilt and tag me, @juliawachs.designs!
-Julia