Balboa Island Quilt Pattern
Born from my love of equilateral triangles, the Balboa Island pattern is now available here!
I’m having trouble writing about this because I only have an x amount of energy and wondering if it’s time well-spent when there are so many good reads out there! Do people read blogs? Are you on this page by accident? Am I writing into the void? What is the meaning of it all? If a tree falls in the forest…
Before I throw myself into a full-blown existential crisis, let’s talk about how beginner and stash-friendly this is! If you’re just diving into the world of quilting, this pattern doesn’t require you to follow a lot of step-by-step instructions. However, I do guide you through almost every step with diagrams and tips to help you construct the triangles without sweating. Unless you’re like me, in which case, you’re probably always sweating.
What I love most about the triangles is how quickly they’re assembled without any need for additional trimming. While designing this pattern, I made a conscious effort to reduce cutting background pieces and to require triangle sizes that would maximize the fabric yardage requirements. This eliminates some of those hard-to-use leftovers after cutting!
I ended up making a few versions of this pattern, not only to show you some color variations, but also because I couldn’t decide on which color palette to make. A, B, or C? Forget those letters. I choose D. ALL OF THE ABOVE!
From my last post, this is the very first Balboa Island quilt and the only one that made it to Balboa Island. If you’re a fan of Arrested Development, I did not find any money in the banana stand. I used AGF’s Catch and Release collection by Mister Domestic, which seemed fitting given the theme of the prints!
The first Balboa Island Quilt
Next up, I wanted a dark background version to showcase how adaptable this pattern works with your stash. I love green and grey combos so I found some Cotton + Steel basics that I’ve been hoarding for some time. I also added the Rifle Paper Co.’s Wildwood print for an extra oomph and then quilted it the same way as the first version. I don’t know if there’s a name for straight line quilting in various stitch lengths but in my head, it’s called Impatient Stitch Quilting. Actual quilting remains one of my least favorite part of quilting.
Cotton + Steel Balboa Island Quilt
As soon as my eyes caught the Jungle Heatwave print in my stash, I knew I had to make a color palette with those bold colors! I love the vivid world that goddess Jessica Swift creates with her art. I’m also really digging the tropical vibes of this quilt.
Jessica Swift print Balboa Island Quilt
After making the Jessica Swift inspired version, I was intent on creating a version using zero prints. I love the look of solid quilts but I have so much more fun working with printed fabrics that this was a bit of a challenge to remain print-free! There was A LOT of back and forth on choosing the color of the main body of the boat. This is slightly different than my cover page colors but decided to make the version more accessible by using all Kona colors. I continued my bold streak and went with a saturated pink!
Kits for this version are available at Cottoneer Fabrics! It’s one of my favorite online fabric shops with gorgeous photos and must-have fabric bundles!
The not-quite-cover-page cover page Balboa Island Quilt
Pattern Tester Versions (it’s pun time!)
I was fortunate to have found several immensely talented quilters willing to test my pattern before its reel-ease and you guys, these incredible makers and dear friends are a force to be wreckened with. They created the most oar-inspiring takes on the Balboa Island Quilt pattern. So how aboat less words and more pics? Arr, let’s do this!
