Cozy Boho Blooms: A custom Meadowland Quilt

Some quilts feel like sunshine and fresh air, even before they're finished. This custom Meadowland quilt was exactly that — a beautiful blend of boho, vintage-flavored (yum) florals, soft earthy tones, and the timeless geometry of a modern classic pattern. Backed in soft, heavyweight mammoth plaid flannel, this one was made for snuggling.

A Pattern that lets the fabrics shine

By far the most popular custom or semi-custom request is for the Meadowland quilt. This is a very popular quilt pattern by Meghan of TCJ Quilts. It’s just such a beautiful way to showcase fabrics in combination with one another, and it has a classic patchwork look that is so versatile, it can work with any style.

Recently, I had an amazing La Bizarra repeat customer request one of these beauties made from fabrics that she had been collecting. I had no idea what fabric I would be working with. Yes please! It was like a quilter’s mystery box.

Unsurprisingly, she has excellent taste (she is a repeat customer, after all). She sent me a gorgeous and eclectic stack of florals in deep purples, lavender, deep green, sage green, and navy. There were also plenty of subtle prints in low volume warm neutral shades. You can see that some of the florals have an intricate, vintage-style charm while others are bold and more modern. She even incorporated some stripe prints and a text print. But the soft color palette is very consistent.

However, she also mentioned that her favorite color was yellow, so I added some brighter navy and yellow fabrics to the mix and I love the final choices. The navy and yellow (yellow-adjacent, really) prints that I added were primarily from Art Gallery Fabrics, which really excels at the boho, earthy, organic vibe we were looking for. They even have a collection called Boho Fusion, so you can tell they know what they’re doing.

1-A Floral Custom Quilt for All Seasons — La Bizarra Keepsake Quilts.jpeg

2-A Floral Custom Quilt for All Seasons — La Bizarra Keepsake Quilts.jpeg

Quilt Piecing Process: Playing with pattern and contrast

When I’m freewheeling a quilt, all on my own, this is very wild and crazy part of the process. I get to mix and match the fabrics with abandon, and move them all around until they just feel right. But working with a customer, I need to consider their quilty vision above all, and make sure the final product is just what they’re hoping for. So I rely on digital quilt mock-ups.

I tell everyone during this process, “I am a quilt maker, not a digital quilt mock-up maker, so this is not my forte.” Because it’s true. And because they need to know that the quilt mock-up is a pale shadow of what their quilt will really look like. It’s just to help them visualize, in a vague way, to make sure we’re on the same page before I irreversibly cut up their beautiful fabrics.

But that said, making a quilt mock-up is FUN. It’s like coloring in a coloring book. I can mix and match to make sure the colors are placed evenly across the quilt, make sure the dense florals are paired with contrasting low volume prints or subtle stripes, rather than other dense florals.

Here is a fairly low-res image of the final approved mock-up (I don’t like to exceed the email file size limit with these). You can see that it really does resemble the final project, but is not an exact match, allowing me flexibility to change things up while I’m in process.

You can see why this quilt pattern is so popular. Large pieces and simple geometry really showcase each fabric. If you love the colors and prints in your quilt, you want to let them shine!

Mammoth flannel backing for the ultimate cozy factor

As I said, she was a repeat customer, and one thing she loved about her previous quilt purchase was the luscious flannel backing. I’m a huge fan of a thick flannel quilt back right now, especially plaid or checkered. It gives such a cozy, homey vibe, no matter what the aesthetic of the quilt front is.

I showed her plenty of flannel options, Art Gallery fabrics even has some boho floral flannel fabrics. She chose a Mammoth plaid flannel from Robert Kaufman—soft, warm, and just a little rustic. The scale and texture of the plaid added a cozy, campfire feel to the quilt, and the colors tied in perfectly with the front. It’s the kind of backing that makes a quilt feel like a hug.

So although the front of this quilt was decidedly springy and floral, the back of this quilt says, “Let’s stay in and cuddle this winter.” Truly a quilt for all seasons!

Spring Floral Meadowland - La Bizarra Handmade Custom Quilt - Modern Patchwork, Raleigh, North Carolina

Why I love Custom Quilt projects like this

Custom work always brings something new to the table. It lets me collaborate creatively with clients, experiment with color stories outside of my usual go-tos (not a single hot pink or neon in sight!), and turn someone else’s fabric collection into a cohesive, heirloom-quality piece. This quilt in particular felt joyful to make — grounded in softness, rich in personality, and totally one-of-a-kind.

I haven’t seen this quilt in its natural habitat, but I imagine it fitting in perfectly in an eclectic bohemian maximalist space, maybe thrown atop a rich burgundy velvet Chesterfield tufted sofa. Although it would frankly fit in equally well in a coastal contemporary space, on a rustic canopy bed with a lacy white canopy curtain, perhaps, a white vase filled with dried statice on the nightstand.