Behind the Scenes: Amanda Murphy’s Frolic in the Rain Quilt-Along

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Sometimes, life can get a bit surreal for me. One day, I’m in my pajamas at home, practicing free motion quilting with one of Amanda Murphy’s books of free motion designs open at my side. The next day, I’m filming a quilt-along with Amanda Murphy herself in the Quilting Daily video studios, learning to both piece and quilt her Frolic in the Rain quilt. And, trust me, I learned a lot!

Amanda Murphy is pattern and fabric designer, book author, Bernina educator, quilting expert, and trend-setter in free motion and ruler work. She does ALL the things!

So when you have a quilt designed by someone like Amanda Murphy—whose mind operates at every level of quilting—you have something pretty amazing.

Amanda Murphy designed these spring-fresh quilt blocks to maximize your play with fabric and quilting!

The Frolic in the Rain quilt is a breath of fresh air! Amanda designed the quilt to play with all the sweet prints within her Frolic collection collection from Contempo of Benartex, so the butterflies flit across one row, sporting two-toned wings in pinks, blues, greens, and purples. The Primrose blocks balance large-scale prints and small-scale prints, and even play with directional prints. The simple raindrops are cleverly off-set, giving the design some playful energy.

The Frolic in the Rain quilt is a breath of fresh air, with quilt blocks that I know I’ll be making again and again!

As a row quilt, it’s actually extraordinarily quick to pull together, while still giving you the fun of a sampler! (Row quilts are especially suited for group projects!)

Amanda’s piecing know-how means this quilt comes together quickly. Each piecing episode opened my eyes to sewing, pressing, and cutting methods I hadn’t considered.

And ‘quick’ is good, because you’re going to want to start quilting it right away! Amanda’s blocks create an amazing space to play with quilting. Simple ruler work and slightly more complex ruler work, free-motion feathers and loops, border designs and stippling fillers—how to quilt the blocks is definitely as much fun as piecing the blocks!

Quilting these blocks is as much fun as piecing. Who knew free-motion feathers could be fun?

I also appreciated how much practical information Amanda provides on quilting. You learn about stitching the designs, of course, but I was drinking in as much as I could about methods for starting and stopping stitches, where to baste or stitch-in-the-ditch, how to hold your ruler (whether you’re quilting on a frame or at a sit-down machine), different thread weights that work bets for quilting, and even posture.

Top Secret Tip! If Amanda’s quilting wobbles out of place, she’ll sometimes conceal it by coloring the thread with a Fabrico fabric marker!

Her top-secret tip for covering up little lines that wavered out of the ditch actually made me laugh. Practical…and surprising!

This is a great series for learning how to quilt your quilt. If you’re looking to quilt for competitions, this isn’t for you. If you want advice on getting started and choosing designs for the space, this video series is amazing!

How often do you encounter master-class style quilting instruction—in ruler work and free motion—in a quilt-along? And who else could teach it?

The Frolic in the Rain quilt-along is absolutely free if you sign up before December 8, 2021. You’ll get the quilt pattern and the videos, of course, but you’ll also be entered to win a prize package from Bernina, Benartex, and Brewer. After December 10, the Frolic in the Rain Quilt-Along will only be available to Quilting Daily TV subscribers as part of the streaming subscription.