Monday, May 30, 2016

A Memorial Day thank you

On this Memorial Day, we'd like to pause to honor military personnel who died while serving in the Armed Forces for our country. We remember you and your sacrifice. 



Find the pattern for this American flag quilt here.

Friday, May 27, 2016

Take a tour of our booth - part 2!

Welcome back! 
We're continuing the virtual tour of our Quilt Market booth today. 
If you missed part 1 of our booth tour, find it here

You'll notice each of these vignettes includes two lengths of our Painter's Palette Solids. With 80+ colors, we've got one to match just about everything. We selected a couple to show off with each of our fabric lines in case you're looking for solid coordinates. 

 The Cityscapes collection: 
Neutral landscape and sketched city prints


The Montego Bay collection, showcased in the Paisley Paradise quilt by Maria Pate:
Paisleys, florals, and a lattice print in blues or pinks
See this quilt design in a second colorway and download the free quilt pattern here.
 The Vintage 30's Ruby's Treasures collection 
by Barbara J. Eikmeier in conjunction with McKim Studios:
Classic 30's prints + preprinted embroidery panels
Find the free quilt pattern for Barb's Ruby's Treasures quilt (hanging) here.
Sweet bonnets from the new "Designs Worth Doing" club. 
(More on exciting new club this soon!)

More from Vintage 30's Ruby's Treasures: a quilt featuring the printed embroidery blocks, an apron, a bag and a sundress, plus an updated Sunbonnet Sue (small projects are all from Designs Worth Doing). 

Barb showing off her fabrics!


The Opposites Attract collection:
Black, white and red all over. Love the two bags and the tuffet as well! 
Find the free pattern for the Opposites Attract quilt by Pine Tree Country Quilts here.

The Spring Romance collection: 
Soft pastels and florals create a romantic mood
Find the free quilt pattern for the Spring Romance quilt by Morning Glory Designs here.

The Dryad collection by Shannon Brinkley:
We love this modern line!
Find the free quilt pattern for theDrifting Leaves quilt by Shannon Brinkley here

The Leather collection:
This is our designated Row by Row Experience line: great tonal texture in 40+ colors!
Read more about the Home Sweet Home concept quilt here.

See the other half of our Quilt Market booth tour here

Thursday, May 26, 2016

Take a tour of our booth!

We have so much to show you from International Quilt Market in Salt Lake City last weekend! So much, in fact, that we're breaking up our tour into more than one post. 
At Quilt Market, we show our new fabric lines to quilt shops so they can decide which lines to carry in their shops. We pack our booth full of as much inspiration as possible, showing off these new lines in fantastic quilts.

Our booth set-up is new this year as well--light and airy, and perfect for showing off quilts. 


So many pops of color in the booth!

Happy by Linda Frost; featuring the Happy collection (and some beautiful appliques!)

"Starry Compass Rose" by Elizabeth Eastmond and machine quilted by Denise Marieno, featuring our Painter's Palette Solids collection.


Another Painter's Palette Solids quilt, which you've seen before, but we love it enough to show it again! "A Flutter of Color" by Linda Frost. This quilt pattern is available as a free download on our website


"Windfall" by Reeze Hanson featuring our Windfall collection


The Paintbrush University Quilt created by Maria Pate. This is an exciting program for quilt shops using our Painter's Palette Solids.


"Shattered" by Maria Pate, using our Batiks


Garden Rendezvous by Liz Granberg, made using Ro Gregg's Garden Rendezvous collection. 

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

From our Quilt Market Booth: Home is where you make it

One of the quilts featured in our booth at Quilt Market was our concept quilt for the Row by Row Experience. This year's theme is "Home Sweet Home," and we couldn't resist having a quilt made in our Leather collection fabrics that followed the theme. 

Here are some close-ups and a little more information about our Home Sweet Home quilt, "Home Is Where You Make It," designed by Lisa Swenson Ruble and machine quilted by Diane Oakes.



Q. Where did the idea for this quilt come from?
Lisa: When Paintbrush Studio approached me about designing a row by row quilt concept, they asked for a quilt with a story that moved from row to row. They also suggested a few ideas, including thinking about campers and snowbirds. So many quilters are snowbirds, and I latched onto that as my story--the idea that your home is wherever you are and however you make it. 

And that became the "quote" that runs across the top and bottom borders.

Q. Tell us about the storyline. 
Lisa: The storyline runs through all five rows. In the first row, you see the happy little neighborhood, including the cute camper. In the second row, winter arrives, everything is covered in snow, and the camper is ready to leave town. The third row is the journey--up and down hills, across winding roads, heading for the beach. In the fourth row, the camper is set up near the beach--home away from home. You see some repeating motifs there--the gnome, the flowers, the quilt on the clothesline, the birdhouse. And in the fifth row, relaxing on the beach!

Row 1:


Row 2:

Row 3:


Row 4:


Row 5:


Q. How did you design the quilt?
Lisa: I sketched out the idea for each row on pencil and paper and had a friend, Linda Smoker, create the digital quilt in Adobe Illustrator from my sketches. My sketches weren't even to scale--they were concepts more than anything--and she did a wonderful job transforming them! Then I printed out her digital designs at full size (9" x 36" rows!) at the copy store and traced the various pieces onto fusible web. 

Q. What did you like about the Leather fabrics?
Lisa: They have so much texture! They really added depth to the landscape and even the border. I am glad the palette was narrowed down to just ten, because there are so many different great colors to choose from. 

Q. What is your favorite part of the quilt? 
Lisa: I absolutely love the quilting that Diane Oakes did--I handed her the quilt top and said "do whatever you think works" and she did a fantastic job adding so much texture. I also really like the little gnome. :) 


Thanks, Lisa!

Are you interested in participating in the Row by Row Experience this summer? Find out more details about it here, and see our Leather collection fabric palette here
See the entire Leather collection here and ask for it at your local quilt shop. 
Read Lisa's blog post about this quilt here

**Please note--the "Home Is Where You Make It" quilt is not a pattern--it's simply a concept quilt that we've designed for fun. Watch for Home Sweet Home row patterns at your local quilt shop this summer!

Thursday, May 19, 2016

Garden Rendezvous

Here's a quick look at Ro Gregg's gorgeous Garden Rendezvous collection. Decadent irises, an intricate floral stripe, a panel print, and a soft spring colorway. After Market we'll be sharing Ro's thoughts on this collection, as well as an incredible quilt made using fussy-cut hexies. Stay tuned for more!



The panel, with a lovely lattice border--the perfect entrance to a garden full of irises!


And of course there's a free pattern for using this panel: 
"Garden Rendezvous" quilt by Dawn Stewart
Find the free quilt pattern for this quilt here

This line also includes two different pre-quilted combinations:


Aren't these rich colors so appealing? 

See the entire Garden Rendezvous collection here and ask for it at your local quilt shop.
Find the free quilt pattern here.

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Opposites Attract

We're on our way to Salt Lake City for Quilt Market, but will be giving you a few sneak peeks of what we'll be showing to quilt shop owners during this industry-only show. (And what we're sharing will be arriving in your local quilt shops soon, so watch for them!)

Last week we showed you Barbara J. Eikmeier's new collection, Vintage 30's Ruby's Treasures. Today we're sharing another new line that we're super excited about--Opposites Attract. These fabrics have so many possibilities! 

Opposites Attract


Like red, black and white together, like in this Opposites Attract quilt designed by Pine Tree Country Quilts? Done. Check out our free quilt pattern below for this cool Log Cabin variation quilt. 
Find the free quilt pattern here.


Prefer just black and white, or just red and white? This collection has plenty of choices! 

See the entire Opposites Attract collection here and ask for it at your local quilt shop. 
Find the free quilt pattern here.

Friday, May 13, 2016

Introducing...Vintage 30's Ruby's Treasures!

We've been talking around it all week, and today's the day to share it! Next week at Quilt Market we'll be debuting Barbara J. Eikmeier's Vintage 30's Ruby's Treasures collection, created in conjunction with McKim Studios. This fabric line pairs popular 30s-style prints with the embroidery designs of Ruby Short McKim. 


And the panels:



Q. Where did the inspiration for these fabrics come from?
Barb: We started with fabric that was in Ruby’s archives. We found these little kits that had actual fabrics in them and we ended up using three—the pink diagonal plaid with little flowers on it is my favorite. We also used the blue and yellow tulips, and the stripe.






Q. Where else did you find fabric inspiration?
Barb: There are two scattered little dot prints. I have a stuffed Scottie dog my grandmother made me out of 2” squares. The dot print came from the dog.


The little flower sprigs came from Sunbonnet Sue blocks that my 97-year-old friend’s sister had made.

I also “shopped” my friend’s 1930s DWR quilt, and chose a print from there.


The other prints came from 1930s scrap bags that I have bought at estate sales over the years.


Q. Tell us about the embroidery panels.
Barb: Because 2016 is the 100th anniversary of Ruby’s first pattern being published, her granddaughter Merrily wanted to do a big celebration. When we first started talking, I thought it would be nice to include some of the panels. I personally like preprinted panels—don’t have to trace. In the McKim Studio Revival, these two (farm life and flower garden) were the most popular. The blocks are 8-1/2” square between the dotted lines and are printed on a solid antique white. I’m really excited about all the opportunities to use these panels!

Q. And how do the Painter’s Palette Solids fit in?
Barb: We selected nine solids from the Painter’s Palette collection that coordinate beautifully with the 30s prints. You’ll see these solids in upcoming projects featuring Vintage 30’s Ruby’s Treasures.
 
From upper left: 121-005 Bright Yellow, 121-024 Orchid, 121-025 River, 121-032 Waterfall, 121-039 Jade, 121-049 Coral, 121-069 Carnation, 121-078 Bubble Gum, 099 Rice Paper

See the entire Vintage 30's Ruby's Treasures collection here and ask for it at your local quilt shop.

p.s. Don't forget our free pattern! Barb designed the Ruby's Treasures quilt and you can download it from our website. 
Download "Ruby's Treasures" by Barbara J. Eikmeier here.