Retro Ornaments 2.0 Quilt Pattern - The Cactus Flower Version
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The revamped Retro Ornaments 2.0 quilt pattern has been out for a week now and it’s time to share my second quilt sample in the new Traditional colorway!
The Retro Ornaments 2.0 quilt pattern
Retro Ornaments 2.0 is a big update to a classic Lo & Behold Stitchery quilt pattern. The overall design, inspired by my granny’s Christmas ornaments and mid-century modern holidays, has stayed the same. We’ve updated almost everything else, though!
I shared in the pattern launch blog post that there are a lot of new features I’m super excited about…like the new sizes (9 in total!), compatibility with our curved acrylic template set, bonus projects for your scraps, and more. And one of the things I’m most excited about is the brand-new Traditional colorway!
The original Retro Ornaments quilt pattern had just one colorway, which used a different fat quarter for each ornament. We kept that color option, now called the Modern version, in the updated quilt pattern…and it became the new Cover quilt!
I loved the Modern version, but I was equally excited to add a new colorway to the updated pattern. I started wondering what Retro Ornaments would look like with just three colors: one for the background, one for the ornaments, and one for the caps.
And guess what? I love this version too. It really plays up the mid-century modern vibe, so we added the new three-color Traditional colorway to the pattern…and I knew I had to make one for myself!
Cactus Flower Retro Ornaments 2.0 quilt
For my Traditional version, I decided to stick with the Small Throw size (64.5” x 66”). It’s super close to the Throw size from the original Retro Ornaments quilt pattern, and Peter and I use the Ombre Retro Ornaments quilt all the time…so I know it’s a good size for us!
fabrics
Since I was making the Traditional version, I only had three colors to choose. You’d think that would make the fabric pull easier…but sometimes, it can make it harder! When there are only a few colors in the quilt, each one stands out so much more.
Take the Retro Ornaments 2.0 Cover quilt, for example. There are so many colors happening that the caps probably aren’t the first thing your eye goes to. But in the three-color version, every fabric has a much bigger job to do, so finding the right shade felt especially important.
I started with the background fabric. Since I used a bright background for the Cover quilt, I wanted this one to feel a little softer and more traditionally Christmasy. Green felt like the obvious choice, but finding the right green took some time. I went back to all of my vintage holiday inspiration and kept seeing pistachio, sage, and minty greens instead of the classic evergreen shades we usually think of.
After playing around with a few options, I landed on Garden Fern, a PURE Solid from Art Gallery Fabrics. It has such a pretty, earthy feel that still feels really fresh and modern.
And then came the pinks. 😍 There was so much pink in my granny's Christmas decor, so of course I had to use it for the ornaments! I chose AGF’s Cactus Flower for the ornaments, then paired it with Crystal Pink, one of my favorite pinks, for the caps.
The three-color version really lets the style and simplicity of a mid-century modern Christmas shine. Seeing this quilt come to life made me love the Traditional colorway even more!
If you love it like I do, you can make your own Cactus Flower Retro Ornaments 2.0 quilt with a kit from the shop!
BACKING, QUILTING, AND BINDING
I knew this quilt needed a special backing, and y’all, I found the cutest fabric: Holiday Cheer from AGF’s Christmas in Color collection. These little Santas have a retro look that’s just perfect for this very vintage-inspired quilt!
Once I had the backing picked out, I started to brainstorm the quilting. I figured that the all-new Traditional version deserved something special.
One thing I’ve always loved about the Retro Ornaments quilt pattern is that it’s the perfect canvas for playing with quilting. The original cover quilt, for example, had gorgeous custom quilting by Andrea Walker (who, at the time, owned Walker Quilt Company). She designed the perfect motif, and I was absolutely head over heels with it…and all these years later, I still am!
The more I thought about it, the more I realized I wanted to recreate that same incredible quilting on this quilt!
Andrea has retired from quilting, so I turned this quilt over to our talented sample sewist, Dorathy. She quilted each ornament with a 12” outer circle, a 10” inner circle, and a star that fits perfectly inside the inner circle. For each ornament cap, she quilted a straight line and three 1” arcs across the cap. She also stitched in the ditch around the ornaments (switching thread colors depending on if the ornament was touching the background or the cap). Finally, she quilted a 2” grid on a 45 degree angle for the background. It was a real labor of love!
To plan out her quilting, Dorathy made a template for the stars and the cap arcs (using template plastic like this) and marked the quilting lines with a chalk pencil. Then as she quilted, she used a ruler to guide her foot over the star.
As you can see, it turned out so beautifully. Dorathy did an incredible job…and I’m just as smitten with this quilting as I was with the cover quilt years ago!
All that was left was binding, and I picked Starry Sky Twinkleberry (also from AGF’s Christmas in Color collection). It’s such a fun, subtle print, so it doesn’t distract from the quilt top at all, but it’s just a little more interesting than a solid would have been.
I love how it all came together!
We did the photoshoot for this quilt with the Cover quilt in our decorated studio…and I’m absolutely obsessed with the pictures.
Make your own Retro Ornaments 2.0 quilt
Retro Ornaments 2.0 is such a satisfying project, perfect for practicing curves, playing with quilting, and creating a fun and festive project! I’m already dreaming up future fabric pulls…and in the meantime, I’d love to see what you create!
Quilt kits
We have two Retro Ornaments quilt kits in the shop: the Cactus Flower quilt I just showed you (for a Traditional option) and the Cover quilt (for the Modern version).
DESIGN YOUR OWN
You can also color Retro Ornaments 2.0 on PreQuilt to easily figure out your own fabric pull! Whether you go for a classic Christmas look or something a little more unexpected, this pattern would look great in so many colors. Tag me on social media @loandbeholdstitchery and #loandbeholdpatterns so I can see what you decide on!
Happy quilting!
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Written by Brittany
Brittany is the founder of Lo & Behold Stitchery, a creative quilting studio offering tutorials, patterns, kits, and online courses for modern quilters. She's passionate about preserving quilting traditions while helping a new generation of quilters find inspiration, beauty, and community.
