A New Grown-up Quilt For My Cousin

One of my very special cousins lives in Chicago with her British husband, who makes me laugh in person, or when I read his fb posts. They have a son, Matthew who is in 4th grade, a daughter, Hannah, who is in 2nd grade, another son, Andrew, who just turned 1, and a large poodle, Dixie.

Of course all the children got baby quilts when they were born. Recently we were skyping. Matthew and Hannah spontaneously showed me their quilts, and told me how much they still love them. And they still sleep with them and put them on top of their blankets. Did I get that heartfelt warm and fuzzy feeling? Did I tear up? You bet I did. I never expected this, and I am so happy they are still enjoying them.

I decided that I would like to make each of them a single bed quilt that is age appropriate and larger. They can use the new quilt as they grow up, until they graduate high school,and bring to college if they want.

Today I am asking my readers for their opinion, and I am going to post the two options on The Late Night Quilters fb page too.

I’ve decided that I am going to use Aloha Girl, by Fig Tree Quilts for Moda Fabrics for Hannah’s quilt. But I haven’t decided on a pattern yet.

For Matthew’s quilt I have two thoughts in mind. The first option is to use Heather Givens Succulents collection, with the Turning Twenty pattern.

Or I will use the Connect Four pattern from Country Girl Modern: 11 Modern-Traditional Quilts from the Junction, by Jo Kramer and Kelli Hanken.

I love the simplicity of this quilt. It has a timeless, versatile style. 

So, please comment in the comment box below. Tell me which of the two you would make, and why. Thank you for your thoughts.

On a another note, I still haven’t heard from Joycita, the winner of reader appreciation week, and she didn’t list her e-mail or link it to her photo box in the comments section of this blog. If I don’t hear from her by tomorrow, my husband will pick a random number, and I will announce another winner on this blog, and hopefully reach you by e-mail. Yummy chocolate is the prize.

Happy Quilting!! 

Building Your Fabric Stash Without Breaking Your Budget – Part 4

Building fabric stash is fun. It seems that most quilters love quilting because of the fabric, or it becomes one of their favorite parts of the quilting process. 

There are large prints, small prints, blenders, tone on tone, text, geometrics, and solids. I have always been attracted to small prints. The example in the photo below is typical of the fabrics I would buy, as is the yellows below that, It’s one of those personal preferences. Now with modern quilting and vintage modern quilting, I am slowly beginning to buy more modern prints, and solids, because my eye is getting used to them. 

I still tend to shy away from geometrics and large prints. I am venturing into  some large rose prints I recently discovered by Stephanie Ryan, a new designer at Moda, and Kate Sprain because I love flowers. I am experimenting with them as well as with some geometrics, and my old style is beginning to evolve into something new.

The other part of the fabric journey, that you’ll notice is that you will tend to purchase more of your favorite colors. In my case that is yellow, and purple as a close second. Those are my go-to colors, and over time I have filled in with the entire wheel of color choices.

In part 5 of this series, I am going to focus on fabric stash building with backing fabrics, and part 6 with border and binding fabrics. I have a  few strategies I’d like to share about how to build those, especially during fabric sales. 

A few posts ago in this series, I wrote about stretching your dollars. For example at http://www.connectingthreads.com/Quilting.cfm there is a great sale on batting right now. Of course I stocked up, and hope I won’t need anymore until this time next year.

Quilting Trends Fall 2013

Every season I like to see what trends are showing up in Brick & Mortar, online stores, blogs, and in the hands of other quilters. There are always lots of predictions, but seeing what shows up in quilting projects is a whole other matter. 

I love checking the Pantone 2013 home dec report, above, which usually is published at least 6 months in advance. So what am I observing? The pantone colors are showing up in fabrics, particularly in the solids. 

Prints that are popular are including animals, letters, numbers, sheet music, even a scrabble print. I’ve been seeing a lot more cats than in years past. Also a lot of hexagons, geometric shapes and chevrons, and not only in fabric, but quilt block designs. 

Blenders seem to be tone on tone, which are really pretty and versatile. See http://www.cottonpatchquiltshop.com/shop/Whats-New/White-on-White-and-Black-on-Blacks.htm from the Cotton Patch Quilt Shop. Also take note of their very cool sale. 

I will say that one of my favorite new lines is from Patrick Loose, called Dazzle, http://patricklose.blogspot.com/These bright tones with simple designs on them are beautiful and fun. 

Search the web and blogs and let me know what you are seeing in quilt and fabric trends.

Biscuit, Emma and Quilting

Well, what can I say?  These are 2 of my biggest inspirations.  They often follow me around our home, sit on quilts, fabric, and of course Emma’s favorite spot, on top of my sewing box. The handsome cat sprawled across the table is Biscuit, who has a heart of gold.  He has a quilt dedicated to him which I hand quilted while recuperating from hip surgery last year.  Emma’s is “in progress” at the hand quilting stage. The fabric on the back of her quilt is very special. Actually one of the fabrics in his quilt has special significance too.
I will upload them this week.  Right now I am working on the bear kit quilt.

I have to mention another blogger and her amazing blog http://www.incolororder.com/‎
Jeni Baker has done an amazing job of explain the color wheel.