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Thursday, September 29, 2016

Ocean Sunrise Charity Quilt Show and Tell

Back in the spring, we sponsored the Ocean Sunrise Blog Hop featuring our Painter's Palette Solids. The three hostesses: Yvonne from Quilting Jetgirl, Cheryl from Meadow Mist Designs, and Stephanie from Late Night Quilter, selected this mouth-watering color palette. 


After the hop ended, participants mailed their blocks to the hostesses so they could assemble them into quilts to donate to charity. 


Today we're showing the quilt that Cheryl finished using these blocks:

Beautiful, isn't it?! It's fun to see how all of these different blocks fit together to make an eye-catching quilt, linked by the color palette. 

Cheryl is donating this quilt to the Greenville Hospital System in South Carolina where it will go to a child that was recently taken from their home into protective services.

See Cheryl's post on this finished quilt here.
Find the original hop posts here, here and here.
See all of our Painter's Palette Solids colors here.

You can check out all of the great blocks along with their tutorials on Jayne @ Twiggy and Opal's Pinterest page.

Thanks for sharing, Cheryl!

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

The Cool Serenity of Freeform

Meet our new Freeform collection! 
These prints look like they could be batiks, but they're not--they're full of layered colors and patterns to create rich, gorgeous fabrics. This cool palette of greens and purples creates a soothing aura, perfect for your next cozy lap quilt. Soak into its calming beauty! 

And if you're looking for a new lap quilt to stitch, try the "Freeform" by Pine Tree Country Quilts. It's available as a free download on our website. 


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

Thursday, September 22, 2016

Focus on Fall: Into the Woods

It's mid September and fall is right around the corner! We're sharing our favorite new autumn-themed fabric collections to help get you in the spirit. 
Enjoy while drinking a cozy cup of Pumpkin Spice Latte. 
Mmmmm....fall....

Our final fall collection this week is called Into the Woods. 
You'll feel like you're snuggled up in a cozy fall blanket made from the colors of falling leaves. In addition to the two main leaf prints, you'll find three different tonals in a variety of colors--so much color value to play with!

Into the Woods also includes a pre-quilted fabric option: 


We also have a free quilt pattern that you can download, the Into the Woods quilt designed by Pine Tree Country Quilts. Doesn't it just look like fall!?!
Get the quilt pattern here.

See the Into the Woods collection here and ask for it at your local quilt shop.
Find the free quilt pattern here

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Focus on Fall: Golden Harvest

It's mid September and fall is right around the corner! We're sharing our favorite new autumn-themed fabric collections to help get you in the spirit. 
Enjoy while drinking a cozy cup of Pumpkin Spice Latte. 
Mmmmm....fall....

Thanksgiving is around the corner (how did that happen?!) and these harvest coordinates--sunflowers, acorns, leaves, tonals and our favorite--the pumpkins--are so much fun with the turkey panel. Sew a quick wall hanging or table topper to decorate for Thanksgiving--or even placemats for your holiday dinner! 
Here's the panel featuring the unofficial American bird, the turkey:


Use the panel in our free quilt pattern, "Turkey Trot" designed by Dawn Stewart
Find the free quilt pattern here.
See the entire Golden Harvest collection here and ask for it at your local quilt shop.
Find the free quilt pattern here

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Focus on Fall: Fall Retreat

It's mid September and fall is right around the corner! We're sharing our favorite new autumn-themed fabric collections to help get you in the spirit. 
Enjoy while drinking a cozy cup of Pumpkin Spice Latte. 
Mmmmm....fall....


First up is Fall Retreat--a woodsy, lodge-inspired collection. Wildlife, plaid, woodgrain, and plenty of leaves, all in a harvest palette. 
 Here's a look at larger pieces of the two overall prints in the Fall Retreat collection:


There's a pre-quilted fabric option as well:

Find the Fall Retreat collection here and ask for it at your local quilt shop. 

Friday, September 16, 2016

It's Sew-a-Thon time!

Today's the day! 
Are you ready for the 24-hour Sew-a-Thon? 
American Patchwork & Quilting holds this event each year to help raise awareness for the 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge. We'd like to thank AP&Q for their commitment to this worthy cause and encourage you to make a pillowcase for charity today!

Find the official list of participating shops here.
Find information about everything related to the Sew-a-Thon here.
See our most recent pillowcases here.

p.s. If there isn't a shop near you participating in the Sew-a-Thon, hold your own party! All you need is fabric, a sewing machine, maybe a few friends, and a little chocolate! :) 

Thursday, September 15, 2016

Adding to the family: More Painter's Palette Solids!

We're thrilled to introduce the newest additions to our Painter's Palette Solids collection! These 40+ colors definitely round our color selection, providing you with more choices for your next project! But besides that, they have fun names! Check them out: 




See our original Painter's Palette Solids collection here
See them all on our website and ask for them at your local quilt shop!

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Painter's Palette Solids in action: Lighthouse Steps

We've been adding to our Painter's Palette Solids collection! Later this week we'll be announcing the new colors here on the blog, but today we wanted to share a new pattern by designer Kate Colleran of Seams Like a Dream. The pattern uses our Bayshore Snack Pack, a carefully curated selection of Painter's Palette Solids colors. 


"Lighthouse Steps" by Kate Colleran
Fun, isn't it?!

Our "Bayshore" Snack Pack of Painter's Palette Solids

We asked Kate to tell us about her Lighthouse Steps pattern.

Q. What appealed to you about the colors in the Bayshore palette?
KC: What I really liked about the Bayshore Snack Pack was the feel the entire group of strips gave me. The name was so appropriate- it reminded me of the beaches back in New England. I thought of the coast of Maine, the shore on the Cape…

Q. Why do you like working with precut strips?
KC: I love putting fabrics together. But for many people, it can hard and stressful. So what I really like about precuts is that someone has done the hard work of putting colors and fabrics together. And the fabric is already cut into useable pieces. Though of course, in this quilt, we cut those strips up!

Q. How did this design idea come about?
KC: Most of my designs evolve. Usually the first few aren’t all that great. But as I play, they change and get better! This was a design I had started without a specific fabric line in mind. But I always knew it was going to use strips. I was just playing around with the strips, using different size pieces. Originally the strips were going to be more random in each row but as I played, I realized the strength in the columns of color.

Q. What prompted you to add the navy section to the quilt?
KC: The quilt would have been fine with just the gradation of colors. And I love white backgrounds. They are just so fresh and clean feeling. But I realized that if I wanted to use some of the lighter strips, I needed a different background. So that section of light strips with the cadet blue background does three things: it breaks up the long line of the quilt, it gives the eye a place to rest and it allows us to use, and see, some of the lighter strips.

Q. What do you like best about this quilt?
KC: The overall movement. I love the straight lines of the design in contrast to the wavy lines of the quilting. Gives a feeling of movement. Waves. The quilting almost makes the quilt look like it is not straight!

Q. Where did the quilt name come from?
KC: The name came from, again, the beach. I sense a theme! I was standing back, looking at the design as a whole and I could see the outline of a lighthouse. Obviously, not a literal outline, but it reminded me of one. And the blue section made me think of the part of a lighthouse just before the top. And I thought about all the steps to the top and each color became a step up the lighthouse. Of course, had I used the other strip pack, New England, with it’s fall colors, I think I might have thought it looked more like a totem pole!

Q.  Is there anything else you’d like our blog readers to know about the quilt?
KC: I pieced this quilt in rows; one color at a time. It worked best for me that way. It helped me to be able to keep all the pieces straight. But it could also be done in sections. Whatever works for you. Play around with the the piecing, play around with the colors, just have fun with it.


Thanks Kate! 

You can purchase the Lighthouse Steps pattern from Kate's website.
Find the Lighthouse Steps pattern here.

Find the entire collection of Painter's Palette Solids (including our new colors, which we'll officially announce here later this week!) here and ask for them at your local quilt shop. 

Friday, September 9, 2016

Fun Fabric Friday!

Sometimes a fabric calls to you just because it's fun. Our new Doo Dads collection is chock full of fun. A little bit of this (lips), a little bit of that (daisies) and a whole lot more (swirls, crows, florals, stripes!) These prints have a coordinating palette so they can work nicely together, but they're plenty of fun on their own--either as a focal print in a quilt pattern or as a fun print for a zippered pouch, a tote bag, a pillowcase, and more! 

See the entire Doo Dads collection here and ask for it at your local quilt shop. 

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

C'est La Vie

Take a mini trip to Paris with our C'est La Vie collection! With a sophisticated palette of coral, dark gray, and taupe, these prints have plenty of French flair! 
We've paired C'est La Vie with six of our Painter's Palette solids to round out the collection for your next quilt. These solids match beautifully! 
Top row: Coral, Aluminum
Middle row: Dust, Silver
Bottom row: Smoke, Ash

Find the entire fabric collection here and ask for it at your local quilt shop.
See our entire Painter's Palette Solids collection here, including the six we showed with C'est La Vie. Ask for them all at your local quilt shop!


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Congratulations to our final Summer of Sewing winner: Karen
We'll contact you for your mailing address.
Thanks to everyone who followed along with our Summer of Sewing series!