Retro Ornaments 2.0 Quilt Pattern - The Cover Quilt

I shared in the pattern launch blog post that I’ve always loved the mid-century feel of the original Retro Ornaments pattern, and it’s been so much fun updating it!

The pattern is inspired by my Granny’s Christmas ornaments…and for the 1.0 cover quilt, I used a white background with red, pink, blue, and green ornaments. I still think it is a super cute quilt, but it’s interesting to see how much my style has evolved since then! I don’t use a white background as often anymore, and when I do (like the Lava Rock Pansy Patch quilt), I like to use variations of white or cream.

So when it was time to choose colors for the new patterns cover quilt, I wanted something that would keep the feel of the original one while also reflecting my current style. And y’all…I think we nailed it!

For the Cover quilt, I decided to stick with the Modern version (which used to be the only version in the original pattern!), and I went with the Small Throw size (64.5” x 66”), which is pretty comparable with the 64” x 64” Throw version I made for the original cover quilt. We named this size "Small Throw" because we added a "Large Throw" size but really the Small Throw is still pretty generous!

That gave me a good, similar canvas to work with…so when I started choosing my fabrics, I felt free to have a little fun!

For this cover version, I wanted a palette that felt related to the original cover quilt…but that also felt more like my current style. It still needed to feel Christmasy, but I didn’t want to go with super obvious deep reds and greens.

As I mentioned, the Retro Ornaments quilt pattern was inspired by a mid-century modern style, and I tried to make the pattern reflect that. So for this fabric pull, I looked at a lot of mid-century modern Christmas decor… aluminum trees, atomic stars, and that sort of thing! Everywhere I looked, I saw pinks, blues, and surprising shades of green. I had inspiration for my own colors!

I started my own pull with the background color. I wanted to go with something much bolder than the white of the original cover quilt…something that would bring a lot of personality to the quilt. I landed on Crystal Pink, an Art Galley Fabrics PURE Solid. It’s one of my favorite pinks lately! I used it as the background in my Cherry Blossoms Granny Patch quilt, and it also appeared in my Clover Ruby Sue quilt, Daydreamer Homespun quilt, Miami Sunset Mountain Horizon 2.0 quilt, and the Upscale Plaid Cover quilt.

I think the resulting quilt top is just what I wanted: a very Lo & Behold Stitchery Christmas quilt! It feels festive and just a bit surprising, thanks to those mid-century colors…and I absolutely love it!

And yes, we have quilts kits for this colorway in the shop!

I wanted to keep the pink going with my backing, and I found the perfect fabric in Art Gallery Fabrics’ Christmas in Color collection! I used Holiday Check Sugarplum…in Flannel!

I usually stick to quilting cottons for my backings, but flannel sounded so cozy for a Christmas quilt that I just couldn’t resist! Luckily, it’s just as good as I hoped it would be…so soft and warm, and really pleasant to sew with! It’s like this fabric was made just for this quilt.

For the quilting, I took it to Megan at Blue Ridge Quilt Co. Sometimes it takes a while to figure out the right pantograph for a quilt, but this time I knew exactly what I wanted!

I asked her to use the Christmas Star panto from Natalia Majors. It’s one of my favorite pantographs of all time! I actually used this panto on my Ombre Retro Ornaments quilt (which, funnily enough, is one of the quilts Pete and I use almost every day, even though it’s a Christmas quilt!), and it really keeps up the mid-century vibe I wanted.

For the binding, I used Berry & Bloom, which is also from AGF’s Christmas in Color collection! It’s probably the most traditionally Christmas-y part of this quilt, but it still has those touches of pink that make it coordinate beautifully with all the other fabrics.

The finished quilt definitely fits alongside the original Retro Ornaments Cover quilt, but this new version really feels refreshed and different. I’m a little bit obsessed with it…and with the photoshoot we did!

I know it’s only October, but I’m definitely ready for Christmas now!

I wanted to get this pattern out in time for you to make it for Christmas…and with 11 weeks to go, you have more than enough time! 😉

We’ve got two kits for Retro Ornaments: the Cover quilt kit (so you can make the quilt you’ve seen today!) and the Cactus Flower quilt kit (a three-color version). Both kits are the Small Throw size (64.5” x 66”), and you can choose to get just the fabric for the top…or to add backing and binding fabric too!

We’ve put Retro Ornaments 2.0 on PreQuilt, our favorite digital coloring app, so you can easily play around with your own fabric pull!

You can also shop our fabric bundles for an easy way to get a curated fabric pull.

No matter how you decide to make it, I’d love to see your take on Retro Ornaments 2.0! Tag me @loandbeholdstitchery with #loandbeholdpatterns so I can see what you sew up.

Happy quilting!

• Retro Ornaments 2.0 PDF pattern 
• Retro Ornaments 2.0 paper pattern
• Retro Ornaments 2.0 quilt kits
• Acrylic template set