Winter Elegance

Q. What do you get when you combine two traditional block designs with an collection of Oriental prints in an updated palette? 

A. A quilt worthy of a magazine cover, rich in texture, detail, and color

"Winter Elegance" by Diane Arganbright and Patricia Sue Nelson, featured in the Winter 2014 issue of Quilt Trens magazine, pairs our unique Cherry Blossoms collection with coordinating Marblehead prints to create a stunning design. 

Keep reading to learn more about it.

Q. What attracted you to the Cherry Blossoms collection?

Diane: The colors and design of the Cherry Blossoms collection were both big draws for us. Pink and purple are not traditionally the colors of Oriental fabrics, which made this collection fun to work with. We always love oriental designs.

Q. Why did you decide to use purple as the main color?

Diane: Purple seemed to be the best color choice to accent the focus fabric without taking away from it.

Q. How did you choose which blocks to feature?

Diane: We wanted to do a traditional quilting design with oriental fabrics. The colors of the Cherry Blossoms collection blend so well together that a log cabin block seemed to be a good choice to use with them.  The stars were added to break up the melting colors.

Q. Can you talk about why you added in Marblehead fabrics as well?

Diane: The blending qualities of the Marblehead collection were the perfect addition to the log cabin blocks to fill in otherwise missing gradient colors. The natural-colored Marblehead used in the background lends a softening touch to the quilt. We felt that a more solid fabric would have been too stark for the desired effect.

Q. What is your favorite part about the quilt?

Diane: The log cabin blocks are my favorite part of the quilt. Patricia Meek and Denise Combs did an amazing job of cutting and piecing this quilt in less than two weeks to meet a deadline!

Q. Tell us about the machine quilting.

Diane: Our long arm quilter, Shawna Crawford, did an outstanding job of combining swirls and feathers to create a unique quilting pattern for this quilt.  The quilting truly enhances the design without taking away from the beautiful fabrics. 

See the entire Cherry Blossoms collection here and Marblehead here.
Find the kit for Winter Elegance here.
Find Quilt Trends magazine here.