Gumdrops quilt for spring

In 2018, I released a layer cake pattern called Gumdrops, which featured candy-colored prints from Brenda Riddle’s beautiful Fleurs collection. That sweet quilt was gifted to my cousin’s wife, Nancy. After many years, I’ve finally made a Gumdrops quilt for myself. This time around, I’ve used a blue palette, and I love the end result. Here is my finished top:

Gumdrops is a fun and quick pattern to make. In fact, I finished my blue Gumdrops quilt top in a day and a half during a weekend sewing retreat with friends. My mom took a couple of photos of me, happily sharing my progress. The weather outside was not great, so having this pretty fabric under my sewing machine needle was a definite pick-me-up!

My Gumdrops pattern calls for one layer cake and some coordinating fabric. (Fabric requirements are listed at the end of this post.) The pattern includes an easy-to-construct pieced backing made from 16 of the layer cake squares. If you follow the pattern as it is written, you will have a quilt back that is nearly as pretty as the top! Here are some photos of the original quilt that I made in 2018, using the Fleurs collection.

Although Gumdrops was written as a layer cake pattern, you can always sew from yardage or whatever you have on hand!  I collected several blue fat quarters that I liked, and from those I cut the gumdrop squares required for the pattern. My blue prints came from several Moda designers, including Brenda Riddle, Bunny Hill Designs, Minick & Simpson and Corey Yoder.

I decided to use the same fabric for both inner borders. I chose a soft green from Heather Briggs’ new collection, Cottage Charm. For my center square and the outer border, I used a floral from Brenda Riddle’s Sweet Liberty collection.  I have been saving that blue floral for a couple years!

Gumdrops finishes at 64” square, making it a perfect throw quilt. During the spring and summer, I will use it on the sofa near my home office. It will be cheerful to look at and will always remind me of my quilt retreat friends!

Gumdrops is available in both paper and PDF format on my Etsy Shop. I hope you’ll consider it for one of your next quilt projects!

Thanks for stopping by!

~Taunja

Gumdrops Material Requirements:

• 1 layer cake, or (41) 10” squares (16 squares to be used for backing)
• Inner Border 1:   1/3 yard
• Inner Border 2:   1/2 yard
• Outer Border:   1 yard
• White:   1 1/2 yards
• Pieced Backing:   3 1/4 yard (avoid directional fabric)
• *Note: If you choose not to do the pieced backing, you will need 4 yards backing fabric.
• Binding…………………. 1/2 yard