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.

Meet Our Cover Girl! {and a giveaway!}

Joan Shay designed this fall-themed wall hanging for Quilt Trends magazine using her Appli-Bond© technique and our Marblehead fabrics.

Don't you love the dark brown marble fabric creates such a rich background for the quilt?

Harvest Home by Joan Shay, 36" square

About the quilt:

''Since the quilt was for a fall issue, I started thinking about what was representative of the season: leaves, corn husks, pumpkins," Joan says. "The pieces are all attached with some sort of embroidery stitch. For machine quilting, I basically outlined the sashing strips."

''My favorite part is the cornstalk—a real challenge. I wanted to make it look round and dimensional, and I think I was able to achieve that with layering."

About the fabric:

''The Marblehead fabric worked perfectly for it all. I never use solids, because the objects I'm making are not one solid color in nature. There were wonderful variations in the colors, from dulls to brights."

About the technique:

To create these 3-D results, Joan fuses two pieces of fabric together using HeatnBond® Ultra Hold Iron-On Adhesive. Then she traces and cuts out her shape, and stitches it to the background fabric. The adhesive prevents fraying because all the fibers will be glued together, and it also allows pieces to be curled and shaped. ''It's a great segue for people who are afraid of appliqué,'' Joan says. ''And you can shape the pieces so that they're very dimensional, by reheating them and holding in them in place until they cool."

About the designer:

Joan came up with this idea after a dream one night, back in 1997. Her first quilt using this technique was a Nantucket basket filled with blue hydrangeas. She just finished writing her fourth book with AQS, and the technique she developed for flowers and leaves has expanded to birds, dragonflies, fish, and even mermaids. Visit her website, Petal Play.

And…great news for fans of Joan's work. She'll have a winter-themed wall hanging made from Marblehead in the next issue of Quilt Trends!

Order the Fall 2012 issue of QuiltTrends here.

Order a kit for Joan's Harvest Home quilt here.

Giveaway!
The giveaway is now closed.

In celebration of our cover quilt, we are offering a kit to make Joan's project, including the issue of Quilt Trends containing the pattern. To enter to win this kit, leave a comment on this post telling us how you are a follower (Google Friend Connect or via email), and then tell us your favorite Fabri-Quilt fabric collection. The giveaway will be open through Thursday, September 27 at 11:59 pm EST. Check the blog on Friday to see if you won!

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