Make Home Decor Hues Work for You

Neutrals are always high on the list of home decor hues, but how do you make them sparkle?

The key is a fabulous quilt design, such as the Elements quilt designed by the ladies of The Quilting Hen and featured in Quilt Trends magazine. The rich coppers, silvers and chocolate browns play off a creamy background in this multi-block design.

"Elements" by Diane Arganbright and Patricia Sue Nelson; machine quilted by Shawna Crawford;
featured in Quilt Trends summer 2014

Q. What attracted you to the Elemental Lines fabrics? Why do you think it works so well for a bed quilt?

Patty Sue: The rich, earthy tones of this collection immediately made me think of my Mom, who loves browns, and my Grandma, who loved gray. It is truly a collection that captures both of their personalities and fabric preferences. The elegant yet rustic look of these fabrics definitely belong in a quilt on a bed in a cabin or on a wood four-corner poster bed.

Q. How many different blocks are in this quilt? How did you come up with the layout?

Patty Sue: There are two blocks in this quilt. One of them is pieced as a half block and added to the sides of another block. This adds a new twist to a standard quilt block pattern. The border blocks are a smaller version of the blocks in the quilt center.

Q. What do you like best about the design?

Patty Sue: I like the combination of the pieced blocks and the whole fabric squares. This is a very nice size twin/full quilt that can easily be converted to queen by adding the block border to the sides of the center, making this a very versatile pattern.

Q. What was the most challenging part of designing or making this quilt?

Patty Sue: Designing this quilt was fun. The most challenging part of this quilt was the 36 hour deadline to get it cut out and pieced for the magazine!

Q. Can you tell us about the coordinating pillows?

Patty Sue: The pillows are the large and medium size of the same block pattern from the center of the quilt. I just used scraps from the top to make them and followed the block cutting and piecing directions from the quilt top.

Q. How is it machine quilted?

Patty Sue: The quilting is very elegant and ornate, which adds a nice classy touch to the quilt. The large feathers in the center cream are an eyecatching and very pleasing touch. Our long arm quilter, Shawna Crawford, did and outstanding job, as usual.

See the entire Elemental Lines collection here.

Find the kit for this quilt project here.

Find this issue of Quilt Trends here.

Brighten up a bed with Calypso Goldfish

Can't get Ro Gregg's cheery, summery Calypso Goldfish prints out of your mind? Quilt Trends magazine just featured this eye-catching runner using these prints, made by The Quilting Hen. Keep reading to learn more about it!

Calypso Bed Runner by The Quilting Hen; featured in Quilt Trends summer 2014

Q. What did you find appealing about the Calypso Goldfish fabric?

Patricia Sue: I love any fabric that has to do with fish or the ocean. This collection especially appealed to me because of the bright colors--I love the cheerfulness, and just looking at them makes me happy! I love pink, and love how it is used as an accent color in this collection. The masterful blend of contrast and matching colors make it easy to use any two pieces next to each other.

Q. What makes a bed runner such a great project?

Patricia Sue: Bed runners are great for using fabrics that you love, but don't necessarily want to decorate your entire room in. They allow you to have seasonal changes in decor or add a splash of color to a room that you do not want to completely change, but need a new look for a time. They allow you to try different techniques without having to creating an entire quilt. If you have a special or light color bed spread, a bed runner is a nice way to protect the end of the bed covering. They are also a must for those who live in cooler climates and need the extra layer on their feet at night!

Q. How did you construct the blocks?

Patricia Sue: The blocks are all applique. I used steam-a-seam™ just on the edges of the appliqué so that the quilter would not have to go through multiple layers of adhesive. I know what a challenge it is to try and quilt through that many layers of adhesive--nearly impossible! Since bed runners do not need to be washed as often, a raw edge appliqué will hold up well enough.

Q. How did you come up with the design?

Patricia Sue: I was going for an interpretive design that could read like a lily pad. The colorful fish on these fabrics look like they should be in an outdoor pond with lily pads and frogs. The blue wave was chosen to represent water and the yellow gives the appliqués a "floating" effect.

Q. What made you decide to use four borders?

Patricia Sue:  I loved all the pieces in this collection and I could not decide on one to eliminate, so multiple borders were a must-do. The dimensional pink border is an added texture that I like to put in my "fun" quilts. Kids especially like this added texture, and these fabrics could easily be suited to a child's room.

Q. What do you like best about the runner?

Patricia Sue: The little dragon flies are my favorite. I did not realize that the dragonflies were even there until I was piecing the quilt. I was admiring the fish and frogs so much that initially I missed them. They are a nice added splash to an already spectacular design.

Q. How is it machine quilted?

Patricia Sue: The "lily pads" are free hand echo quilted. The block backgrounds, setting triangles, and borders are quilted with a combination swirl and wave design. Our long arm quilter, Shawna Crawford, always seems to know just what to put on the quilt to make it a complete look.

Q. Tell us about the coordinating pillow (shown in the photo).

Patricia Sue: The pillow was made using scraps from the runner. The templates for the appliqué frogs and dragon flies are included in our kits. You can put them on the runner, pillowcase, or throw pillow as desired. The appliqués were made with scrap fabrics from the runner also.

Read more about Ro's Calypso Goldfish collection here and see the entire line here.
Purchase the kit for this bed runner here.
Find Quilt Trends magazine here.

Cosmos in style

With so many gorgeous large-scale prints available, designs that show off these fabrics are a hot commodity. That's why we think you'll love Terry Albers' Cosmos quilt, featured in the spring 2014 issue of Quilt Trends magazine. Terry used our Cosmopolitan collection, highlighting the large leaf print in the border and in a few of the snowball blocks, all of which pop off the white background. Below, Terry talks about how she used EQ7 to design the quilt, and then shares the same quilt with a black background--talk about drama!

"Cosmos" by Terry Albers; machine quilted by Sandy Schilawski
featured in Quilt Trends magazine spring 2014

Q. What appealed to you about the Cosmopolitan fabric collection?

Terry: It was definitely the big leaf print that grabbed me right away! The greens, white and black on gray make the look both contemporary and soothing. The rest of the pieces complimented that main print beautifully both in color and scale.

Q. Why did you decide to use/showcase such large pieces of fabric?

Terry: I felt that the pieces would lose some of the drama if I cut them up too much. Each one is pretty enough to stand on its own but then the large print pulls them all together.

Q. This is such a neat variation on the traditional snowball block. How did you come up with the idea of setting on point and having the "floating" lime squares?

Terry: I have to thank the editors of EQ7 for giving me the simple tools to test out my blocks on a straight or on-point setting very quickly. I admit that I often test my designs in both, never knowing what might take my fancy. In this case, by having the snowball corners, the sashing and the setting triangles in a single color, the blocks appear to float. When I added the green cornerstones, they seemed to twinkle…all very Zen.

Q. Do you have a favorite print in the collection?

Terry: Oh, yes…definitely the big print but I love how the bright green brings everything alive.

Q. Can you tell us about the sashing squares?  

Terry: Once again, thanks to EQ7, I can quickly add sashing, change the sizes and switch out the colors. I usually have a pretty good idea about what I want to do with a fabric line before I go to the computer. It just speeds up my ability to test other combinations.

Q. Can you talk about your border choices?

Terry: I began the design around using the big print as a wide border. Once I had the layout including all the other pieces that I wanted to use, the first green border was an easy choice to match the cornerstones. But then I wanted one last separation between the outer border and the rest of the quilt. My friends jokingly call me the “flange lady” because I use them so often…to pull out a specific color, to separate colors and as an extra layer of texture. Also called a “flat piping”, the flange is an easy way to add extra detail and easy enough for a beginner to do.

Q. Can you tell us about how it was machine quilted?

Terry: Sandy kept it simple with a loose, loopy leaf design. I like how it echoes the leaves in the border without distraction.

Q. How fun to see this quilt with two different colored backgrounds! How did the black background come to be?

Terry: I actually started with the black background. But the editor of Quilt Trends Magazine wanted to see it in white, too.  And we both liked it even better. I’m so glad she found a way to use both in the magazine. It shows how one simple change from white to black can be so dramatic.

See the entire Cosmopolitan collection here.

Find out more about Terry Albers here.

Find the kit for the Cosmos project here.

Find Quilt Trends magazine here.

Come rock with us!

One of the most inspiring parts of being in the fabric business is seeing how designers use our products. We love seeing what their creativity leads to, and "Rockin'," by Terry Albers, is no exception. Look at how she used Ro Gregg's Rock Around the Block prints combined with Marblehead Global Brights in this cool quilt!

"Rockin'" designed by Terry Albers and machine quilted by Sandy Schilawski;
featured in Quilt Trends fall 2013

Q. What attracted you to the Rock Around the Block fabric?

Terry: I think it was the rather wonky shapes that first appealed to me…along with Ro’s Marblehead Brights.

This fabric does all the "heavy lifting" to make Terry's quilt so neat!

Q. How did you come up with the design idea?

Terry: I designed this quilt from the outside in.  I started with Ro’s print as a wide border. I wanted blocks to repeat the feel of her design without taking away from it.  That is when I chose the layered bull’s eye block. I have always loved the raggy bull's-eye technique. The blocks are easy to make and quilt has double snuggle factor after it is washed and the edges of the circles fluff up.

Q. Tell us about the bull's-eye circles.

Terry: I started with a main print square, two different Marblehead circles and added the top circle with a centered motif. I was looking for an opposite of this for an alternate block, so I used a Marblehead square, print circle and then two Marblehead circles. Then I took it one step further; sewing sets of circles together, cutting them in fourths, mixing them up and sewing them back together. This worked best by anchoring the pieced circles to just one color for the squares. The trickiest part was organizing the cutting to write the pattern!

Q. What do you like best about this quilt?

Terry: Another easy question…I love Ro’s bright colors.  I like that it’s bright and busy but orderly; the sashing and Marblehead borders give your eyes a place to rest and contain the busy-ness of the blocks. 

Q. The cornerstones have such a neat look! Did you plan to use the print from the beginning, or did you try tonals for those squares first?

Terry:  Yes, I did audition the regular Marbleheads but they didn’t add anything to the quilt. I also tried fussy-cutting the cornerstones but, in the end, random cuts worked better.

Q. Can you talk about the machine quilting decisions?

Terry: I asked Sandy to quilt everything but the bull's eye circles.  Then I put on my free motion foot and quilted the circles, spiraling out from the center.  (I often plan to fine-tune the quilting to highlight certain areas or components of my quilts.)

Q. What do you envision this quilt being used for?

Terry: Wouldn’t it make a great tween or dorm quilt? This one is earmarked for my granddaughter who loves bright colors. I also think this quilt would be great fun made up in black and white prints with the Marblehead accents, especially reds, oranges & yellows with black.

Find Rock Around the Block here and Marblehead Global Brights here.

Learn more about Terry and her designs here. 

Find the kit for this quilt here.

Find Quilt Trends magazine here. 

You can never have too many...

Fill in the blank:

You can never have too many ____________.

Chocolate desserts?

Shoes?

Baby quilt patterns?

While we'd love to send a box of chocolates or some new Jimmy Choos your way, we're in the fabric business, so we'll stick to what we know, so baby quilt pattern it is! 

We love showing off quilts made from our fabrics here on the blog, and this one has an added bonus--it's a free pattern, courtesy of Quilt Trends magazine. Designers Sue Harvey and Sandy Boobar of Pine Tree Country Quilts created this sweet baby or child's quilt using Mystic Forest. 

"Hopscotch" designed by Pine Tree Country Quilts

They chose the monkey print, as the main fabric, but you can use elephant or bear prints and change the palette as you like. 

Find the free pattern for the "Hopscotch" quilt here.
See the entire Mystic Forest collection here.
Find the kit for the "Hopscotch" quilt here.
See Quilt Trends magazine here.

Like Mystic Forest?

Check out some other projects made with these adorable children's prints.

PUL snack bags

Ruffled edge growth chart

Our spring Quilt Market booth photos

10 irresistible baby ideas

4 Ways to Make a Dimensional Quilt

Joan Shay recently finished up a year's worth of designs for Quilt Trends magazine, all using her Appli-bond technique to create dimensional features, and of course, our fabrics. We're excited to share all four with you here on the blog, along with Joan's thoughts about her designs!

 Cape Cod Memories

The Idea

We used to live on Cape Cod, an area known for these flowers. To me, summer is hydrangeas. It's been a bit of a family flower—our daughter even carried in them in her wedding. Creating three-dimensional hydrangeas is what started my whole style of quilting, actually. There was no question the summer project would have hydrangeas in it. The geese on the borders represent seagulls on the Cape, and the scallop shells and starfish in the corners signify the Cape as well. They are embellished with hand stitching: stem stitches and French knots.

The Technique

I wanted to put the flowers on a straw wreath, so I drew the wreath shape on a piece of water-soluble stabilizer, layered my scraps, and added another piece of stabilizer on top. After zigzag stitching all over the wreath, I washed the stabilizer away. I made clusters of pink, blue and purple flowers on the wreath, using my Appli-Bond technique.

The Fabric

Budding Beauties [by Ro Gregg] is a hydrangea collection—perfect for this quilt. I used the bigger, bolder print for the Flying Geese and smaller flower for the inner border. Purple and lime green are what people are gravitating to right now, so the colors worked well. I really like the color combination of this quilt. I actually made this quilt when I was away on a retreat with my guild, and everyone wanted it!

See the Budding Beauties fabric collection here.

See the Focus collection here.

See the Marblehead prints here.

Find the kit here.

Find the summer 2013 issue of Quilt Trends here.

Spring Fever

The Idea

This quilt isn't intended to be realistic like my others; rather, it's an abstract flower. I saw the border print [from Wildflowers] and worked backwards on this design. I really wanted the quilt to have the vibrant colors of spring. When I found that print, everything came into focus from there.

The Technique

The flowers are just an abstract bloom, but very dimensional. In the corners, I just love doing miniature fans/Dresden plates. Instead of using the traditional quarter circle at the base, I placed one of the abstract flowers there. My favorite part of this quilt is the butterfly. My class on creating a dimensional monarch butterfly is one of the most popular ones I teach. You actually make the butterfly fabric, building it piece by piece.

The Fabric

I used two different green tones from Focus for the background. The darker green sections are longer than the lighter greens, so it's not a typical four-patch. The colors in the flowers, butterfly, and bee help tie the border print in.

See the Wildflowers collection here.

See the Focus collection here.

See the Marblehead prints here.

Find the kit here.

Find the spring 2013 issue of Quilt Trends here.

Winter's Eve

The Idea

I wanted to do an owl, and it all started there. Because it was a winter quilt, I decided to make the background a night sky with a big moon and snow capped tree. The challenging part was that I wanted to do a pieced background that would show the shadows from the moon on the sky.

  

The Technique

I built the dimensional owl first—that's the advantage of my Appli-bond technique—you can have the owl in your hand totally made, built on a foundation of bonded fabric, and place it anywhere you want. I was really pleased with the owl—especially the eyes. They're like Mona Lisa; they follow you were you go.

The Fabric

My style depends on shading more than anything, so I can't use solid prints. Because my quilts are more pictorial, I always try to make my quilts realistic looking. To me, getting the right fabrics is half the battle.

Marbleheads work perfectly for everything I do; this quilt also uses tonals from Focus. Using the lighter and darker blues together was the fun part of doing the quilt.

See the Focus collection here.

See the Marblehead prints here.

Find the kit here.

Find the winter 2013 issue of Quilt Trends here.

Harvest Home 

The quilt that started this four-season series! See our original blog post on Harvest Home here.

Trompe L'Oeil

Trompe l'oeil: French for "deceive the eye," this is how Marinda Stewart describes her kimono quilt, "Shimmering Kimono," made using the Shimmering Bouquets collection. 

Why? Because the quilt looks like the back of an actual kimono spread out, complete with the illusion of depth and a dimensional folded collar.

"Shimmering Kimono" by Marinda Stewart;
featured in Quilt Trends magazine, Summer 2013 issue

Marinda talked to us about her kimono quilt, a concept that she has used in the past for quilts, and one that we think she employed very successfully here!

Q. What inspired you to make this art quilt?

Marinda: I've always liked a kimono as an art object and I thought it'd be interesting to do what looks like a real kimono hung but is actually a 2-D quilt. It's a fun format to play with—you could do a whole series of kimonos.

Q. Talk to us about the Shimmering Bouquets fabrics.

Marinda: Shimmering Bouquets struck me as being kind of an Asian sensibility. With large-scale prints, the last thing you want to do is cut them up. The line has large tropical florals, and then a print that reminded me of a men's ties. Another print with bias curves reminded me of the work of Koos van den Akker. And then there were tonal florals. The kimono idea seemed like a perfect way to pull these prints together into a cohesive design.

Q. What makes the construction of this quilt unique?

Marinda: I prefer projects without templates. In this project, you're freehand drawing serpentine lines, laying one fabric on top of another, turning it under and topstitching. It looks more complicated than it really is. The hardest part is creating the triangular pieces [the ''front'' edges of the kimono]; you just have to align your edges so it looks like a kimono hung from the back with the front edges showing.

Q. What made you choose yellow as the background color?

Marinda: I've always loved gray and yellow—like pussy willows and forsythia. Or birch bark and daffodils—the cool/warm playoff. The yellow lightens and brightens the quilt up.

Q. How do you envision this quilt being displayed?
Marinda: When I designed it, I thought this quilt could be really handsome. I could see it hung in a very modern room as an art piece with a low table and a single orchid plant in bloom, plus a few pieces of mercury glass.

Find the kit for the project here.

See the entire Shimmering Bouquets collection here.

Find Quilt Trends here.

How to Showcase Your Favorite Prints

Have you seen Heidi Pridemore's latest design in the spring 2013 issue of Quilt Trends magazine? We love it and are excited to share it with you!

Tribal Modern designed by Heidi Pridemore
for Quilt Trends spring 2013

Heidi used the bright colorway of Ro Gregg's Tribal Council line to a modern design. We love how she contrasted the vibrant prints (don't you love the giraffes?!) with the solid white narrow sashing so that the block components really pop. Here's the skinny on easy-to-make strip-pieced quilt, straight from Heidi.

Q. How did you come up with the idea for this design?           

Heidi: I wanted to play with rectangles and create a clean look that was easy to make.

Q. What prompted you to use white for the sashing?                       

Heidi: For the longest time I did not like to use white in my quilts, but now I can see the value in the crisp, clean look you get when using white, especially with bright and busy prints. It is like putting a spotlight on each fabric and letting them shine.

Q. What attracted you to the Tribal Council line?                                                           

Heidi: The colors: it is always about the colors for me. The brighter, the better!

                                               

Q. What do you like best about the quilt?                                               

Heidi: I really like the giraffes! They look like they are peeking out from their world into ours, It is almost like a scrapbook page with photos.

Q. How did you choose to machine quilt this?

Heidi: We kept the quilting very simple to accent the look of the quilt. It is all anchored with stitch in the ditch, and then there are doodle vines and leaves in the blocks for added interest.

Q. What's one thing you'd like quilters to know about this design?

Heidi: It is such a wonderful pattern to showcase any collection. Many times my patterns can be fabric specific, but this gem can be made with anything.

Find out more about Heidi here.
Find the kit for this project here.
Click here to find QuiltTrends.

Dreaming of Dancing Cranes

If you've visited our blog before, no doubt you've seen Ro Gregg's rich and elegant Dancing Cranes fabric line. But unless you have a copy of the winter 2013 issue of QuiltTrends, chances are you've never seen a Dancing Cranes quilt like this. 

"Dancing Cranes" quilt designed by Ro Gregg and pieced by Dawn Connery, 

featured in QuiltTrends winter 2013

Fabric designers often say that they like to see what others are inspired to create from their fabric lines. We think it's equally interesting to see how a fabric designer uses her own work. Ro sat down recently to talk about her queen-size bed quilt design.

Q. How did you come up with the design for the quilt?

Ro: I wanted to do something with an Asian fusion look—east meets west, Oriental style mixing with traditional, yet sophisticated. I really wanted to showcase the panel because it looks deceptively complex, but actually it's not. Then I wanted simple borders to go around the panels. After that I wanted to showcase one of the allover prints—the crane—the namesake of the quilt. I came up with a few ideas for patchwork for the outer border so Dawn could highlight the center.

Q. Why did you decide to use three panels?

Ro: In engineering the 3 panels across, I felt that it really gave a beautiful showcase to the quilt. It also allowed me to make a queen-size quilt

Q. What else do you like about the ensemble?

Ro: I used the Chinese ribbons print for coordinating pillowcases. The print really shines on these.

Q. Why did you decide to use the fan blocks? 

Ro: The crane is a symbol in Chinese for eternal youth, happiness, longevity. I wanted another symbol in the quilt and chose the fan. It's a very traditional Chinese symbol that dates back hundreds of years ago in Chinese culture. These blocks also highlighted the colors in the panel.

Q. What do you like best about this quilt?

Ro: I like how the three panels are showcased in the center. 

Q. What do you like about your fabric line? 

Ro: I'm such a bird lover—I always love cranes. We have them down the shore and they fly up to an island across from our house. They are such a beautiful symbol. I love this panel because it can also be cut. The cranes can be cut apart vertically in half, like Patricia Lackey did on this jacket (pictured). It looks like there are two cranes flying, but it's all made from one panel.

Click here to buy a kit for this project.

Click here to find Quilt Trends winter 2013.