I Finally Started the Home Town Quilt (And Here’s What Happened)
There’s a quilt kit that has been sitting on my shelf since 2024. Every time I walked past it, I’d give it a little smile — a quiet, slightly guilty smile — and keep walking. You know exactly what I mean, don’t you? 😛
Well, friends. It has finally happened. I have officially started Lori Holt’s Home Town Quilt, and I have so much to share with you.
The Kit That Started It All
I first fell in love with Lori Holt’s whimsical, story-filled quilts the way most of us do — one Instagram scroll at a time. The houses, the gardens, the tiny little details in every block. I was completely mesmerized, and in 2024 I finally took the plunge and purchased the Home Town Quilt Kit from Fat Quarter Shop. The kit is no longer available, but FQS carries lots of fun quilt kit which you can check out HERE>
The kit comes with the gorgeous bundle of Riley Blake fabrics, called Hometown designed by Lori Holt. Along with the fabrics, you also get the Home Town Sew Along Guide and the Sew Simple Shapes: Home Town template set— 63 acrylic templates designed specifically for the blocks in this quilt.
And then it sat there. For months.
Read on…
A Confession: New Quilting Skill Anxiety Is Very Real
I want to be honest with you here, because I know some of you are sitting in the same spot I was.
I have never made a full-sized appliqué quilt before. I’ve done smaller projects with appliqué elements, but this — a whole quilt built around appliqué blocks — felt like a completely different thing. Every time I thought about starting, I’d feel this quiet little wave of anxiety: What if I cut all those tiny pieces and then they just sit in a pile, unfinished? What if I get it wrong?
So I’d close the box and go work on something simpler.
What changed? A couple of things, honestly. First, I saw a few quilters sharing their Home Town progress on YouTube like Rachel & Tamsin , and watching real people work through it in real time made it feel so much more approachable. Second — and this might make you laugh — I desperately wanted to buy Lori Holt’s newest kit, the Honey Bee Garden Quilt. And I made myself a deal: no new kits until this one is started.
Reader, it worked.
Isn’t this applique quilt beautiful too? Who knows, there might still be some kits left when I am done with my Hometown quilt. I’ll purchase it then.
How I Decided to Start (Spoiler: I Ignored the Instructions)
The pattern is written so that you cut and prep all your pieces across the entire quilt before you begin sewing. I mean, there are 13 pages of just cutting instructions! Surely was intimidating.
Now, I completely understand the logic of that approach — it’s systematic, organized, and very Lori Holt. But for me? That felt like the very thing that would send me back to the shelf.
I didn’t want a hundred little cut pieces with no blocks to show for it.
So I made a decision: I would start with just one block.
I did need to find all the cutting instruction for a single block in the cutting instructions (which are spread across twelve pages), prep just those pieces, and see how it felt. A test run, with no pressure.
Why the Bee House Block First?
Because of the Honey Bee Garden kit, of course! 🐝
I chose the Bee House block as my first simply because bees are on my mind lately. It felt like a little wink at the kit I really want to buy — a way to stay motivated. And honestly, it was the perfect block to start with. Enough pieces to feel like you’ve actually learned something, but not so overwhelming that you want to close everything back up.
Making the scrappy beehive gave me a whimsical feeling!!
My Appliqué Method: HeatBond + Machine Appliqué
Here’s where I decided to go a little different from Lori’s method, and I want to share why in case it helps some of you too.
Lori Holt teaches a beautiful needle-turn appliqué technique where you turn the edges of each piece under and hand sew or machine sew them down. You can watch her process here on her Youtube channel. It produces a gorgeous result — no question. But I personally find all that turning quite tedious for small pieces, and I knew it would slow me down enough that I might give up.
Instead, I’m using HeatBond Lite Appliqué Paper — a fusible webbing that you iron onto the back of your fabric before cutting. Once fused and cut, the pieces become like fabric stickers: you peel the backing, position them on your background, and press with your iron to hold everything in place.
No pins, no turning, no sliding around. Just press and done.
Then I’m finishing each piece with a small blanket stitch on my machine using matching thread colors. Not every thread in my collection is a perfect match — but close enough is good enough, and frankly, that variety gives the quilt even more character. (Also: it means I finally have a reason to use some of those colourful spools that have been sitting in my notions drawer! One step closer to a thread rabbit hole… you know how it goes.)
Photo
What I Learned About This Quilt: It’s All About Organization
Here’s the thing about Lori Holt patterns: they are incredibly well-organized. The instructions, the templates, the block-by-block structure — everything is thought through. And working on the Bee House block, I started to understand that the key to enjoying this quilt is leaning into that organization rather than trying to shortcut around it.
Since there were so many templates, I decided to organize them by tens and clip them temporarily using the Quilty Clippies.
Each block has many pieces. Some of those pieces are pieced before you appliqué them — like the strip-pieced background sections you can see in my photos. The Sew Simple Shapes templates are incredibly helpful here; once I got into a rhythm with them, the cutting felt satisfying rather than daunting.
I also used my 2024 Home Town Calendar while working on my block — it has large, beautiful images of the quilt using the exact fabrics in the kit, so you can see exactly where each piece goes before you commit. Such a clever resource, and I’m so glad I have it! Of course it’s sold out and out of print since it was a 2024 calendar.
The Turning Point
By the time I finished prepping the Bee House block and started fusing the appliqué pieces into place, something shifted. I slowed down. I started really looking at the block — at how the little pieces are so much fun and delightful, the little clashing patterns and yet so cute together. I felt magical whimsical, fun all at the same time.
I remembered why I bought this kit in the first place. It was surely just a joy to play and simply enjoy the process.
And by the end of that first session, my mind was made up: I’m going all in. I’m going to prep all the blocks, work through this quilt block by block, and enjoy every single step of it. The cutting and prepping will take time — probably a lot of time — but I think it’s the right approach for a quilt this complex and this beautiful.
What’s Coming Next
Now that I’ve broken through the starting line, here’s my plan going forward:
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Work through the cutting all at once
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Fusing prep block by block (so I always have something to show for my cutting sessions)
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Sew each block before prepping the next — or prep in small batches if I’m in the mood
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Document the whole journey here on the blog and share tips as I figure them out.
I would love to know — have any of you started the Home Town Quilt, or are you in the same “admiring it from across the room” stage I was? Drop me a note in the comments or send me an email. I read every single one!
Tools & Supplies I’m Using
All of these are affiliate links and I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only share tools I genuinely use and love!
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My Sewing Machine: Janome Horizon QCP8200
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This giant Wool Mat
Currently Available Lori Holt Quilt Kits
Well since this kit is already out of stock, you can check out other Lori’s Quilt Kit HERE> and I recommend getting from FQS as they provide plenty of fabrics and there’ll be room for a mistake here or there.
Until next time — happy sewing, friends! 🧵
Amira
[P.S. — If you’ve been sitting on a project that’s intimidating you, this is your sign. Start with just one block. Just one. You might surprise yourself.]
