Holiday Block Challenge Winner!

Today we're sharing the winner of the Holiday Block Challenge!

It's this block, made by Kristen King.

Kristen used Heidi's pieced Christmas Tree block with some bright children's prints. We loved seeing how this block looked in non-holiday fabrics! She chose two prints from the Two by Two collection and accented them with two dotted prints from the Graphix collection.

We asked Kristen a few questions about her block. Here's what she had to say:

Q. How did you decide what fabrics to use?

Kristen: I had gone online to pick out some fabrics for the challenge, but time got away from me and the deadline was approaching. I ran to my local quilt store and had 15 minutes to find fabrics before they closed. I love anything Noah's Ark, and the dot fabrics were just fun. I took home a bunch of fat quarters and started playing.

Q. Did you know which prints you wanted to put in the different block areas?

Kristen: I knew I wanted to use the orange in the points. I love how the orange makes the octopus in the middle print stand out. I loved the animal print and wanted it to be the large square in the center.

Q. Tell us a bit about yourself.

Kristen: I've been quilting for almost 25 years. I took a sewing class when I was young and started making quilts for other people—I gave them all away. Finally I decided I needed to start making some for me, as well! Last year I made a block a day from a ''365 Quilt Blocks a Year'' calendar and blogged about it. I loved it! It was kind of a challenge, and now I have a 2-1/2-foot tall pile of blocks that it's time to design some quilts to make from them.

Kristen's pile of 366 blocks, made one a day during 2012

(You can find Kristen's blog here.)

Congratulations, Kristen! Your prize is in the mail. 

Thanks to everyone who entered blocks in our Holiday Challenge!

Marblehead Block Winner!

 Back at Quilt Market in October, we handed out packs of twenty-six 3'' Marblehead squares to people waiting in line at Sample Spree. The challenge: stitch a 12'' block from these fun, bright squares and send it us. 

We selected the winning block below, a nine-patch of tiny kaleidoscope units with two borders (keep in mind the entire block is only 12" square!). This vibrant, detailed block was definitely a winner in our eyes. Designer Bonnie Moates received a Marblehead Global Brights fat quarter pack. 

Congratulations, Bonnie!

A chemical engineer by day, Bonnie also quilts, sews, embroiders, makes bags, sews costumes, and owns a quilting retreat. She estimates that she's made about 460 quilts in the last 12 years. Her friend, who owns the Red Stick Quilt Shop in Baton Rouge, LA, brought back the Marblehead swatches for Bonnie to play with. And play she did. Bonnie was also kind enough to share a bit about her block with our blog.

Q. Where did you come up with the design idea?

Bonnie: I had really been wanting to do a kaleidoscope. I'd even printed out a couple pictures and bought a book or two. I kept looking at all those colors (the 3'' squares), and that's where the kaleidoscope idea came in. It's something that'll use a lot of colors and have a lot of pieces.

Q. How did you choose what other fabrics to use in the block?

Bonnie: Many of the swatches read as ''medium''—all the same value. As quilters, we know that you need a light, dark and medium to make your quilt pop. By bringing in black as a secondary color, I'd be able to set off the colors. I wanted to bring in a little more color, and I had a batik that looked really good with all of the Marblehead colors.

Q. How did you decide on color placement?

Bonnie: I wanted to use every fabric swatch I was given. I think I got two kaleidoscope pieces out of each square. I tried to break out of the box and not put the colors in rainbow order. It put me out of my comfort zone!

Thanks for sharing, Bonnie! After admiring your block, we can't wait to see what you make with the Global Brights fat quarters!

Friends of Fabri-Quilt Gallery

Wouldn't baking cookies be three times as fun with these adorable kitchen helpers? 

Fabri-Quilt friend Judy Glover bought one Cook's Helper apron panel when Judy Hansen spoke at the Racing Fingers Quilt Guild in Ormond Beach, FL, this past fall. (The Guild's name comes from the group's proximity to the Daytona Speedway!)
A self-described "baby quilter" who has been quilting for just a few years, Judy then decided she needed to make aprons for two friends' little girls, in addition to her own granddaughter. So she bought two more panels. One of Judy's quilting friends recommended that she line the aprons, so she did. She gave the girls the aprons for Christmas.
Pictured are Judy's granddaughter Mia (in the middle) and her two little friends, Hayden and Ava. It looks like all three girls are aspiring cooks and hopefully sewers as well!
Judy says that now all of her friends with granddaughters are asking her to make aprons for them. She's willing to show them how, but will leave the sewing to them!

Have you made a project using Fabri-Quilt fabric? Send a photo and your contact information to fabriquiltblog (at) gmail.com and we may feature you on the blog!

The Neon Trend: Nite Lites

Did the title of this post give you a quick flashback to the 80s? 
Big hair, layers of blue eye shadow, and clothes in day-glo colors?

Image: http://www.amazon.com/Womens-Love-The-80s-Shirt/dp/B0041EOTJO/ref=pd_sbs_a_1

Well, we're here to tell you that neon is making a run again! That's right, we're not just a fabric-loving blog, we're also up on what's new and hot in the world of style. Don't believe us? Take the word of Andrea, the former fashion industry professional turned style blogger over at For the Love of...
She first blogged about Neon Week last spring, followed up with a post called Real Women Wear Neon Too, and has been incorporating neon into her holiday decor (think pumpkins with neon accents on the Thanksgiving table, a white and "brite" nursery for her youngest son, and neon Christmas decor) ever since. 

If you've seen Ro Gregg's Marblehead Global Brights, you know that we are fans of the neon trend as well. If you haven't seen these vibrant fabrics yet, here you go:

Paired with a rich black background, these bright beauties really sparkle in the "Nite Lites" quilt, designed by Terry Albers and featured in the February-March 2013 issue of McCall's Quick Quilts magazine.

"Nite Lites" by Terry Albers

Terry talked about her latest quilt design with us.

Q. How did you come up with the design idea? And why did you choose black as the background?

Terry: This quilt began in a play session. Irene [a quilter friend] and I were laying out blocks on her design wall. She had a project going that we thought might be too busy. When I suggested the alternate blocks, we tried it with black to make the bright colors pop. It wasn't until I added the cornerstones that the sparkle happened.

Q. Where did the name for the quilt come from?

Terry: I had seen footage from a night dive where the sea lights up with bio-luminescence (creatures that create their own light in the deep) and chose ''Nite Lites'' for the name of the new quilt.

Q. How did you choose what brights to use?

Terry: Ro Gregg's line, Marblehead Global Brights, contains all the luminescent colors I was looking for. Each piece has so much depth of color that they really do sparkle against the black.

Q. How did you come up the idea for the machine quilting?

Terry: I planned the quilting into the negative space as I was designing. I knew I wanted a swirly effect using the variegated threads to echo the colors and increase the watery feel. Sandy knew just how to get the look I wanted.

Q. What are your plans for this quilt?

Terry: This quilt doesn't have its forever home yet but I'm dreaming up some new color combinations...all with lots of movement in the negative space. Maybe it will be a springboard into a new design for Ro Gregg's upcoming "Pleasing Pastels!"

Click here to learn more about designer Terry Albers of Hedgehog Quilts.
Click here to purchase a kit for this project.
Click here to download the pattern for a wall size version of Terry's quilt. (The quilt patterned in the magazine is lap size.)
Click here to find the February/March issue of McCall's Quick Quilts.

Hello, 2013!

How did you spend your New Year's Eve? Did you get together with friends or family? Go out? Stay home and sew?

Did you stay up until midnight to officially ring in the new year?

Here's to a new year filled with inspiration, fun, and fabric!

We wish you a happy and healthy 2013!

Perfect Harmony (on the wall!)

Asian prints have a sophisticated elegance to them, and Ro Gregg's Dancing Cranes collection fits this description perfectly, highlighted with metallic gold accents. Designers Sue Harvey and Sandy Boobar of Pine Tree Country Quilts framed the collection's panel with a unique design of pieced blocks that integrate seamlessly--as Sue says, "we definitely do not do just plain borders around a panel!"

"Perfect Harmony" featured in the Feb-March issue of Quilt magazine

Q.  What attracted you to the fabric line?

Sue: We have always loved the lush florals of Oriental-style fabrics. And the panel in this collection is really beautiful.

Q. How did you decide what type of piecing to put around the panel?

Sue: We wanted the panel to become part of the piecing. Fortunately one of the fabrics in the collection is the same as the background of the panel so by using this fabric in the piecing directly around the panel, the straight edges of the panel disappear. By using rectangular blocks, we could accommodate the “twice as long as wide” problem of the panel while still adding distinctly angular lines to offset all the flowing lines of the panel and the outer border fabric.

Q. What do you like about working with Asian-inspired designs?

Sue: The rich colors of the fabrics, and that they almost always include black. We tend to use black to set off color or the design in many of our quilts. It’s the one basic fabric that we keep in stock (actually bolts of it in stock) at all times!

Q. What do you like best about this quilt?

Sue: When all was said and done....its size! We think it really does show off the fabric in a good way. The scale of the prints is fairly small and the motifs in the panel are quite delicate. The challenge of making a small quilt was a good thing. We had only enough room to add a little piecing so the prints of the fabric were not overwhelmed. It’s funny ... the designs we do with limits are often the ones that we end up liking the best!

See the entire Dancing Cranes collection here.
Order the kit for this project and learn more about Pine Tree Country Quilts here.
To find the February/March issue of Quilt, click here.

A Gift for Yourself

When you own a quilt shop, what's the next step? (Well, besides more fabric, because we all know you can never have too much of that!) A bigger place to sew, of course. Preferably with other quilters. 

Theresa Bringardner, owner of The Quilt Place in Rockledge, Florida, has done just that, opening a retreat center just 3-1/2 miles from her shop. The retreat is located on the picturesque Indian River in Cocoa, FL. 

It seats 25 people to quilt and can sleep 15—just large enough to make some new friends, yet small enough to feel personal and cozy. In addition to its proximity to the shop for fabric or notions needs (with 12,000 bolts, The Quilt Place is one of Florida's largest quilt shops), the center is also close to a quaint little restored shopping area in Cocoa. Did we mention the retreat also includes a heated pool?

The next retreat scheduled is January 25-27, 2013, with classes by Phyllis Anderson—a perfect cure for mid-winter blahs! As Teresa says, ''no cooking, no cleaning, no interruptions!" You come, you quilt, you swim, relax, and make friends (or come with friends!), and they'll take care of the rest (including meals!).

Visit The Quilt Place website for more details and to find out future retreat dates. 

p.s. Sending you warm wishes for a joyous holiday season and happy and healthy new year, filled with all the sewing you would wish for!