Quilty Inspiration from QuiltCon

Ready for some quilty inspiration?

Take a virtual tour through our QuiltCon booth. Today we'll be featuring the quilts; tomorrow we'll show Amy Barickman's Indygo Junction section of the booth. 

Rich colors, gorgeous fabrics, and a variety of quilting styles...grab a cup of coffee and enjoy!

An overview of the booth:

168 Painter's Palette Solids colors: ready to meet QuiltCon attendees! 

We gave away fat eighths of Painter's Palette Solids. 

You need to feel this fabric to understand how fantastic it is!

Jacquie Gering (@jacquietps) chose a rich red palette of Painter's Palette Solids for her geometric design:

Thanks to Jacquie for holding a book signing in our booth! 

A rainbow of Painter's Palette Solids in Elizabeth Eastmond's Annularity II quilt (@occasionalpiecequilt):

Photo credit: Elizabeth Eastmond

Simone Bradford (@simone.g.b.) shows off her Gumdrops quilt (a free quilt pattern!) featuring her new On Your Mark fabrics--a modern quilter's dream collection!

Tania Denyer's (@iamgingerq) Donut quilt (happily, no one tried to take a bite!) featuring Painter's Palette Solids:

Maria Shell's (@mariashellart) Mosh Pit at the Golden featuring Painter's Palette Solids--we could look at this quilt forever! 

Thanks to Maria for signing her Improv Patchwork book in our booth during the show.

A sneak peek at Hoodie Crescent's Ring Ring collection. Hoodie made this clever office organizer to hang in the booth. 

Two more solid beauties!

Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill  (@wholecirclestudio) with her Sun Salutation quilt. Love this palette of Painter's Palette Solids! 

Stephanie Ruyle (@spontaneousthreads) plays with value using Painter's Palette Solids. Love the machine quilting!

Valerie Funk's The Lion and the Paintbrush made with Painter's Palette Solids:

One of the best photos of the show: Simone Bradford in the air with her Influx quilt (made with, of course, Painter's Palette Solids)

Are you hungry yet?

One of the most mouth-watering quilts in our QuiltCon booth is Tania Denyer's Donut quilt made from our Painter's Palette Solids. If you're at QuiltCon, stop by booth #905 and see it in person. If you're not, no problem! We're bringing the donut quilt to you, as Ginger Quilts designer Tania Denyer talks about her sugary treat. 

The donut quilt is a hit at QuiltCon!

Q. How do your designs go from idea to finished quilt?

TD: I’ll see something, draw it, and then think about what it’s going to look like in fabric. I'll do a little test--usually a 12" block--to see how it looks, and then if looks good, I'll make it bigger. I make my own patterns. People (non quilters) have a preconception with quilting. I like to show people that it can be something really different than traditional quilting.

Q. Why do you work with solids?

TD: Right now, I’m working all in solids. For me, prints distracts from the graphic nature of whatever I’m creating. I love that there are so many amazing solids. Solids go back to the Amish quilt tradition, but they also punch up the graphic impact of a quilt.

Q. Tell us about the donuts in your hometown of Hamilton.

TD: We have a lot of great bakeries in Hamilton. It’s known for donuts. Tim Horton’s Bake Shop chain actually started here. I’m working with one bakery called Cake and Loaf here—I’ve made some things for them.

Q. How did you assemble this quilt?

TD: The first thing I did was make the background—the checkerboard—and quilted it completely, before even adding the donut. I’d done a similar style quilt before and I know it can be a little wonky if you quilt last. Then I put the donut on and quilted that, and then fused the sprinkles and quilted over them.

Q. How did you decide on the background design?

TD: Most of the designs I create have a checkerboard background. It’s simple, but there’s a little more too it than a solid background. When I started Ginger Quilts, I was using a lot of orange. Then I realized I liked turquoise—it draws me back to the 70s, when I grew up. By using two different shades, if your piecing doesn’t match perfectly, it won’t jump out.

Q. We love the sprinkles!

TD: I love sprinkle donuts. If I have a bad day, a sprinkle donut is always something I will go for. When I designed that quilt, I realized that in Canada we use circle sprinkles and the US has the long ones. Since I was making it for the American market, I wanted it to be more familiar. I chose the colors by cutting up a color card and pretending those little pieces were sprinkles. The colors go so well together!

The sprinkles are about ¾” wide by 3” or 4” long. I started cutting out sprinkles and throwing them on the donut to see what the scale needed to be.  I believe there are 96 of them. They’re fused on.  

Q. What’s your favorite part of the quilt?

TD: The sprinkles!

Disclaimer: It's not our fault if you find yourself heading to a donut shop this afternoon...

See more of Tania's work on her website and Instagram (@iamgingerq)

Tania used our Painter's Palette Solids for her donut quilt. See all 168 colors here.

 Say hello to Tania's cat Dewey, posed perfectly in the donut center! 

A New Kind of Winter Blues

What if "winter blues" was something cozy and comforting you could wrap yourself in,
rather than a dreary mid-February feeling? 

We'd like to introduce you to Kelli Fannin's "Blues Traveler" quilt, featured in the February/March 2018 issue of McCall's Quick Quilts.

"Blues Traveler" was designed by Kelli Fannin and quilted by Pat Roche;
 it's featured in McCall's Quick Quilts Feb/March 2018

This graphic, monochromatic design is perfect for couch snuggles all year long! 

Kelli used five shades of blue from our Painter's Palette Solids collection, paired with white, to create a quilt that ripples with an optical illusion. 

Below, Kelli shares more about her quilt design. 

The quilt is also on the cover:

Q. How did you choose the palette of blues?

KF: I didn’t have a color palette in mind when I drew the design. The program I was using had graduated blues to work with, so I plugged in the different shades just to see if the design had depth. It looked really cool in blue, so I stuck with it.

Q. How did you come up with the design?

KF: This was my first foray into a log cabin type of design. It’s fun to take a simple block and make it look more complicated. I like depth in quilt designs—making things look like they’re three dimensional. I wanted to come up with a design that looked like it tunneled.

Q. Did you design change as you worked on it?

KF: I was originally going to use only one block, but it didn’t look right, so I added the second block. I thought that if I reversed the color order, one block would look like it’s going in and one would look like it’s sticking out.

Photo credit: McCall's Quick Quilts

Q. What’s one thing we might not notice about this quilt at first glance?

KF: The width of the strips isn’t uniform on both blocks, and that helps to enhance the dimensional effect. The white strips are positioned differently in both blocks for the same effect.

Q. The machine quilting really adds to the design.

KF: Pat Roche does amazing work. She always has a good eye for making the design stand out and I usually leave the decision up to her. She’s never disappointed me!

Q. What is your favorite part of the quilt?

KF: I think it’s the graduating colors. I was never a fan of blue, and it was probably the color I used the least. When I saw it in this quilt, it converted me to being a fan of blue! I'd love to see it in a rainbow palette as well.

What color palette would you choose for this quilt? 

If you love the blues Kelli chose, you can make your own! Purchase the kit here.
Purchase the individual Blues Traveler pattern here.
See all 168 Painter's Palette Solids colors here.
Find McCall's Quilt Quilts magazine here.

FREE Download! Star of the Table Topper

We're swooning over this "Star of the Table" topper shown in our Freeform 2 prints!  

 Used with permission from American Patchwork & Quilting® magazine. 

©2018 Meredith Corporation. All Rights Reserved. 

American Patchwork & Quilting pattern tester Sharon McConnell created this asymmetrical topper as a modern (and smaller) version of the "Star Attraction" quilt featured in the April 2018 issue.

Add this small quilt to your hand-piecing to-do list! You can download the free quilt pattern from AP&Q here.

Love the Freeform 2 prints? 

See them all here and ask for them at your local quilt shop.

See all of the quilts from American Patchwork & Quilting's special 25th Anniversary April 2018 issue here.

What else can you make using Freeform 2? 

Download a FREE lap-size quilt pattern here. 

Check out our pillow trio tutorials here.

Say hello at QuiltCon! Booth #905

February 22-25th, we'll be in sunny Pasadena for QuiltCon 2018.

Fabulous quilted eye candy (including a giant donut!), 168 silky smooth Painter’s Palette Solids colors to touch and a chance to win prizes…what could be better? Stop by Booth #905 to see it all! 

If you haven't met our Painter's Palette Solids yet, come to our booth to feel them and soak in all 168 vibrant colors. We're giving away a free fat eighth to show attendees (while supplies last).

 Pineapple Fabrics is selling Painter's Palette Solids
(and color cards) in booth #517!

Here's what's happening at the show:

We're sponsoring demonstrations on the big stage, so mark your calendars

Saturday, February 24th: 4:15 - 4:45

Sewing Inspiration with Amy Barickman

Learn tips and techniques for both hand sewing and a new sewing machine method. Use Painter’s Palette Solids pre-cuts and showcase your favorite fabrics. Amy will share quick and easy projects for using scraps and treasured textiles and inspire you with ideas for embroidery, bead and button embellishment.

Friday, February 23rd: 2:45 - 3:15 AND Sunday, February 25th: 11:00-11:30

Improv Applique with Elizabeth Eastmond

Carry some creative work around in your purse using Painter's Palette Solids mini-charm packs and improv applique techniques. Elizabeth will teach you how to applique without patterns or paper pieces, and you'll use your imagination and a few folds to create designs. Sewing kit included- just show up and be prepared to stitch.

See our newest fabric collections

On the Mark by Simone Bradford

Sketchbook designs on fabric--exclamation marks, crosshatch circles, clamshells and ink spots--a fabulous new modern collection (take a peek here)! Simone's palette mixes bright fuchsia, sunshine yellow, and blue with a variety of low-volume prints. See her Gumdrop quilt in the booth.

Ring Ring by Hoodie Crescent

Geek out with telephone, text, pencil and ink pen prints in Hoodie’s new collection (take a peek here). These prints have a retro feel in a cool modern palette. Available May 2018. See Hoodie’s Wall Organizer in the booth.

Book signings in the booth

Saturday, February 24th: 12:30 - 1:00 

Jacquie Gering will be signing copies of her latest book, Walk. 

Learn more about Walk here.

Thursday, February 22nd: 10:00 - 12:00

Maria Shell will be signing copies of her book, Improv Patchwork. 

Learn more about Improv Patchwork here.

Grab a giveaway in our booth

Sign up for our email list to receive:

FREE Painter's Palette Solid fat eighth (while supplies last)

A chance to win fabric prizes, books, and more

Plus: 

IG and Win!

Follow us on IG and win! Stop by the booth and snap a selfie in front of Sheri Cifaldi Morrill’s Kona Sunset quilt. 

1. Follow us (@pbstudiofabrics)

2. Follow Sheri (@wholecirclestudio)

3. post your photo with the hashtag #sherisunsetpbs

Entries must be posted by Sunday February 25 at 4 pm. We’ll randomly draw three winners to each receive Sheri's Sun Saluation pattern and a fat quarter bundle of selected colors.

We can't wait to see you in booth #905! 
(And if you're not going to QuiltCon, don't worry! We'll be sharing photos here on the blog, on Facebook, and on Instagram.)

Need all the QuiltCon details? Find them here.