Tour our booth!

If your Facebook feed for the last few days has been filled with mentions of Quilt Market* and so-and-so's booth, and you're wishing that you could have attended the show, we can help! We've just returned from Houston and we're ready to share!

Your tour today: A look at our Fall Quilt Market booth in Houston, as well as the fabric lines and quilts/projects showcased in it.

A view of one side of the booth:

And the other:

And now the close-ups!

Left: "Indigo Stars" quilt designed by Tammy Silvers of Tamarinis using Bella Casa (download the free pattern here)

Right: "Bella Rosa" quilt designed by Terry Albers of Hedgehog Quilts using Bella by Ro Gregg (pattern available for purchase on Hedgehog Quilts website)

On the table in front, left: "Circles and Squares" quilt designed by Airborne Heirlooms using Cosmopolitan (download the free pattern here)

On the table in front, right: "Fabulous Frames" quilt designed by Airborne Heirlooms using the Elemental Lines collection (download the free pattern here)

"A Walk in the Park" quilt designed by Pine Tree Country Quilts using Ro Gregg's A Walk in the Park collection (download the free pattern here)

"Mesmerize" quilt embroidery design by Jayme Crow of Bella Nona using Fabri-Quilt batiks and Magnifico threads by Superior Threads (quilted by Marlene Oddie of KISSed Quilts) 

"Flags Forever" quilt designed by Airborne Heirlooms using the Bella Casa snack pack (download the free quilt pattern here). 

(Notice the jersey displayed by this quilt--displaying some hometown baseball pride as our Kansas City Royals played in the World Series during Quilt Market!)

"Bella Garden Stroll" quilt by Mara Quilt Designs using Ro Gregg's Bella collection (download the free quilt pattern here)

"Romance in Flight" designed by Larene Smith of the Quilted Button using the Who's Who collection by Ro Gregg (Check our website soon to download this free pattern!) 

"Windsor Woods Block of the Month" quilt designed by Pine Tree Country Quilts using Ro Gregg's Windsor Woods collection (ask for it at your local quilt shop)

"Monkey Wrenches" quilt designed by Airborne Heirlooms using the Shadows snack pack (download the free quilt pattern here)

"Asian Fans" quilt designed by Terry Albers of Hedgehog Quilts using Ro Gregg's Asian Fanfare collection (download the free quilt pattern here)

"Stonewall" designed by Donna Lynn Thomas using Marblehead by Ro Gregg (pattern available for purchase on Donna Lynn Thomas' website)

 A booth sample quilt made by our own Sue Linam using our Cuddle Prints Flannel, chenille style!

Birds in a nest! (Download the patterns here)

Meet our Magic Trees!
We wanted to create an organic, softly whimsical, magical garden feeling with these trees, so we had tiny birds and lights adorning the branches. We even had one nest with eggs in one of the trees. The idea continued through the booth with hanging birdhouses and stuffed birds in nests on the table (see below). The tree bases are wrapped with tubes covered in ruffles, and then we used ruffles on the thicker branches of the trees as well, and wrapped thinner branches with strips of fabric. 

And there's our booth! Thanks for coming along on the tour; keep an eye on the blog for more information about our new fabrics and patterns that debuted at Quilt Market!

*If you're wondering what Market is, twice a year Quilts Inc. holds industry-only shows for all things quilt related, and quilt shop owners see what's new and make purchases for their stores. The show floor is full of peeks at new fabric lines, quilting tools and machines, patterns, samples, and more...and don't forget a gallery section of show-stopping quilts on display!

Pillowcase bundle winners

Thanks to everyone who commented on our post celebrating the One Million Pillowcase Challenge Sew-a-thon! If you sewed pillowcases this weekend (or at any point) for the Challenge, thank you! Every case gets the community closer to the big 1,000,000 goal!

Here are the winners of our 3 pillowcase fabric kits! 

Winner #1:

Winner #2:

Winner #3:

***Winners, please email us at fabriquiltblog (at) gmail.com with your mailing address, as well as your order of preference for the fabric kits (see them at the bottom of this post). We'll match up kit preference with winners on a first-come, first-served basis.*** 

To learn more about the One Million Pillowcase Challenge, click here. 

Looking for a little inspiration? Here are the two most recent pillowcase patterns offered by AP&Q, shown in some of our fabrics:

Fabric: Cosmopolitan; photo: allpeoplequilt.com

Fabric: Imagine This; photo: allpeoplequilt.com

Find these two patterns (and more!) here.

Attention Getter!

Appropriately named, Dawn Stewart's "Attention Getter" bed runner is featured in the October 2014 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting magazine. This patchwork runner can transform a room with a zen-like palette of limes, grays, blacks and whites from our chic Cosmopolitan collection. See what Dawn has to say about her cool runner:

 

(Photo used with permission from American Patchwork & Quilting  2014 Meredith Corp. All Rights Reserved.)

Q. What motivated you to make a bed runner?

Dawn: I've been inspired by some pretty bed runners that I've seen in hotels, and wanted to make one for our spare bedroom. I thought it'd be fun to do for something a little different.

Q. Can you talk about how you made the focal print pop?

Dawn: I love the large focal print in this collection, so I wanted to feature it as the centerpiece of the runner as a large, uncut piece. Framing it with the lime inner border and the black border with the lime circles helps to pop the color in the large print.

 

Q. Can you talk about how your design evolved?

Dawn: The inspiration that I drew on for the design is from the Japanese room dividers that are kind of opaque.  I started with that in mind, and built it out in "panes" in the outer border.

 

(Photo used with permission from American Patchwork & Quilting  2014 Meredith Corp. All Rights Reserved.)

Q. How about your color choices/placement?

Dawn: My intent was to play with the gray to black tones in this collection, and pop in the lime green. 

Q. What's your favorite print from the collection?

Dawn: You gotta love that large central focal print, but I also really like the white print with the rounded squares in the outer border.  I think it's just fresh and modern.

Q. What do you like best about the runner?

Dawn: I think it will play well with any neutral bedding that I put it over :)

Q. Can you talk about the machine quilting on the runner?

Dawn:  I machine quilted it on my Handi Quilter long arm with all over large stylized leaves to play on the center focal fabric.

Q. What makes this project so fun?

Dawn: I love to play with modern/funky prints and use them in traditional ways.  I like the combination of the boxy "panes" mixed with the fun movement of the stylized fabric prints in this project.  And it's easy to make!

See the entire Cosmopolitan collection here.

Find the kit for Dawn's bed runner here.

Find American Patchwork & Quilting magazine here.

 

Pillowcase Friday!

We love being part of the 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge, put on by American Patchwork & Quilting. Each quarter, APQ shares two new pillowcase designs and then makes samples using fabric from the initiative's sponsors.

The official pillowcase count is 562, 223 as of today's post--over halfway to the 1,000,000 goal--great job APQ and quilters across the world! You can find more out about the 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge, including 24-Hour Sew-athon details in September, here. Of course, we'll also share a little eye candy with you here!

Pattern #42 is "Hey Cupcake!" shown here using our Cosmopolitan collection. 

Find the pdf pattern for this pillowcase here.

Photo: AllPeopleQuilt.com

Pattern #43 is "Pyramid Band" featuring Linda Carlson and Diana Henage's Imagine This collection. Find the pdf pattern for this pillowcase here.

Inspired? Head over to AllPeopleQuilt.com to check out all the pillowcase patterns, tips and tricks and make some to donate in your town. 

Come tour our booth!

Welcome to our little virtual tour of the Fabri-Quilt/Paintbrush Studio booth from Spring Quilt Market in Pittsburgh! 

We'll give you an overview and then get in close at some of the details so you can see the fabric and quilts featured.

From the aisle:

The chair covers are made from Imagine This! fabric. If you look closely, you can see the paint palette-shaped tables, echoing the Paintbrush Studio logo.

 A view from the opposite side. That's the Fabulous Frames quilt featuring the Elemental Lines collection right in the middle--you can find the free pattern here.

A view from the corner--love the ruffled skirt made out of the indigo prints from Bella Casa!

That's the Circles and Squares quilt using the Cosmopolitan collection on the back wall (find the free pattern here!).

And hanging off the top edge? A tote made using green cowhide with a touch of Cosmopolitan. And the yellow behind the tote? that's cowhide too! More on the cowhide to come...you'll love it!

The Designing Duo's Imagine This! played prominently in the booth--in addition to the chair covers, you can see one of Linda Carlson's quilts using the fabrics draped over the table here.

And a few more hanging on the wall, as well as some bags and purses. 

 A good look at the free pattern quilt, also named "Imagine This."

Rolls of our vibrant batiks displayed on the wall. Have you seen them? Check out all 70+ colors and designs here!

Remember Piccadilly from this post? Here it's used in a trendy patchwork vest.

We even had a garden growing--our "Snack Packs": packages of pre-cut 2-1/2" wide strips. What a bouquet those would make!

And finally, we introduced a program we're really excited about: an upcoming Block of the Month club featuring the new Windsor Woods collection.

Here's a photo of the BOM quilt; make sure you ask about it at your local quilt shop!

We hope you enjoyed this brief tour of our Quilt Market booth!

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.