Mayflower Quilt Block: Bare Roots with a Churn Dash Twist

I sat down with my Bare Roots pattern, and it clicked. Bare Roots combines two classic blocks, the Churn Dash and the Mayflower, into one design that feels both familiar and fresh. It’s the kind of modern traditional quilt that takes blocks your grandma would recognize and gives them room to breathe with smart layout choices and negative space. Pairing that block combination with this earthy, roots-inspired palette felt like the project I’d been saving the fabric for all along.

I’ve had Maureen Cracknell’s Roots Of Nature collection sitting in my stash for longer than I want to admit. Every time I pulled it out to plan something else, I’d put it back, waiting for the right pattern to come along. There’s something about those deep rusts, sage greens, and warm creams that just feels like fall in fabric form, and I didn’t want to waste it on just anything.

How the Quilt Came Together

The Bare Roots pattern is block-based, which makes it a really satisfying project to work through. You’re building your Churn Dash and Mayflower blocks individually, pressing as you go, and then watching the layout take shape once they’re all laid out together. I love that the pattern gives you a few different layout options, so even though everyone’s working from the same blocks, no two quilts end up looking quite the same.

For this version, I leaned into the Roots Of Nature prints for the blocks themselves, letting the deeper tones do most of the talking, and used lighter cream and tan fabrics for the background spaces. That contrast is what gives the quilt its modern feel even though the blocks themselves are pretty traditional.

For the binding, I went totally scrappy by using 2.5″ strips of left over pieces from my fat quarter bundle. It’s one of my favorite ways to finish a quilt because it adds a little surprise around the edges, and it’s a great way to use up those leftover fabrics and keep your scrap bin in check.

I backed the quilt in a simple tan woven fabric, which kept the focus on the pieced top and let the quilting really shine. It gets softer and softer each time I wash it.

The Quilting

I sent this one off to Kelly Borns for custom quilting, and she did such a beautiful job bringing out the texture in the negative space. Custom quilting like this is one of those things that can completely transform a quilt top, especially when you’ve got larger background areas like you do in Bare Roots. If you’ve never tried sending a quilt out to a longarm quilter, it’s worth looking into, especially for a pattern like this one where the quilting design can really become part of the overall look.

A Tip for Your Mayflower Quilt Blocks

If you’re working with a fabric collection like Roots Of Nature, take some time before you start cutting to sort your prints by value, meaning how light or dark they read from a distance. Lay everything out and squint at it. This pattern relies on that light and dark contrast to make the Churn Dash and Mayflower blocks pop, so a little sorting upfront goes a long way toward making sure your blocks read clearly once they’re sewn together.

Give Bare Roots a Try

If you’ve been wanting to try a block-based quilt that feels both classic and current, I’d love for you to give Bare Roots a try. You can grab the Bare Roots PDF pattern here and start digging through your own stash for the perfect fabric pairing. I’d love to see what you come up with, especially if you pick a totally different color palette than mine. That’s part of the fun with this pattern: the blocks stay the same, but the personality of the quilt changes completely depending on what you put into it.

Happy quilting, friends!