Blitz Quilt Pattern for Scrappy or Ombre Fabrics

This quilt pattern came out of nowhere, but that’s not why I named it Blitz – more on the name later!

If you are looking for the pattern and don’t want to read through the post to the links at the bottom – you can get right to the pattern HERE.  Although really, you should scroll through the whole article, even if you aren’t reading, just to get some ideas of different color palettes and fabric combinations that work well in this pattern. 

Who am I kidding?!?! They all work well!

Scrappy Blitz

Several years ago I was playing with scraps.  I wanted a way to combine squares with triangles, not because I was trying to be innovative, but because I had scraps of both squares and triangles in the same fabrics and wanted a way to use them together.  Necessity really is the mother of invention, and that is how the Blitz block was born!

I made this fun scrappy quilt for a friend, but my brain wasn’t yet in pattern writing mode.  It’s Scout tested and approved though, so that’s always the sign of a good quilt pattern!

Queen Size Blitz

Then, last year, I had the opportunity to make a queen sized quilt.  I wanted to see how the Blitz pattern played out in a larger repeat, and instead of the many, many fabrics from the scrappy version, I used many, many fabrics in blues and grays.

This queen sized quilt is so large that I took it to a BBQ and corralled my “tall friends” into holding it for me.  Seriously.  I stepped out onto the back porch and yelled “Hey, all my tall friends!…” to get their attention. No joke!

Blitz as a pattern still wasn’t on my mind at that point, but I did use the quilt to write up a series of basic quilting tutorials.  These tutorials will not substitute for the pattern, but they do walk a beginner through all of the steps of the quilt making process.

Ombre Bloom

This year, an announcement was made that V & Co was releasing a new version of their Ombre fabric, this time with delicate little flowers and calling it Ombre Bloom.  I knew instantly that I wanted to make an Ombre version of Blitz. 

This was the first time that I thought, “Hey, maybe this would make a good quilt pattern!” 

I had months to wait for the Ombre fabric to release, but needed to get started on writing the pattern.  Since I had only made Blitz as a scrappy quilt up to that point, I didn’t actually have any idea what the fabric requirements would be to make the quilt.   

I don’t know how other pattern writers go about their process, but for me, at the point of “I want to make this into a pattern” my first step is to make the blocks with whatever fabric I have on hand, and write the directions after each step. 

Seahawks Blitz

I had this very, very bright neon green fabric and had started collecting navy fabrics to make a quilt for a Seahawk’s loving child (we’ve got a lot of them around here!) and decided that I would use these fabrics for my test version of the pattern.

And that is where the name Blitz came from!  That neon green is Seahawks green, I think it was once called “Action Green”.   Blitz is the name of the Seahawks mascot.  I think the name translates well to other color combinations besides burn-your-eyes-out neon green and I hope you think so too!  I actually didn’t have quite enough of the neon green, so this Blitz actually has TWO accent colors!

Ombre Blitz

And finally, to the ombre quilt.   I waited months for this fabric.  I haven’t ever anticipated a fabric collection release in quite this way. 

This one didn’t come together quite as I imagined it, but I still love it!  I’m so glad that the vision I had of this particular version of this quilt is what led to this entire pattern coming into existence. I especially love the contrast between the lightest 16-patch block and the darkest.

The pattern is written for scraps, for yardage and for Ombre Bloom yardage, and comes in small throw (40” by 56”), large throw (56” by 72”) and long queen (88” by 104”) and is available in my pattern shop!

Blitz and Ombre Blitz are both included in the pattern.  Please note, each has a separate Etsy listing because I’m trying something new with Etsy’s search feature for marketing purposes, but both listings lead to the exact same pattern which includes cutting directions for yardage, scraps and ombre fabric.

Up next for me is making Blitz with a dark accent color.  I’m thinking maybe Christmas fabrics with a dark accent?  In what color palette will you make Blitz?