A Taste of Thanksgiving

How do you like your Thanksgiving meal? All the classic fixings and sides, or do you try something new every year?

Thanksgiving seems to evoke strong opinions...from using Grandma's secret stuffing recipe to the love/hate relationship with Brussel sprouts. What's non-negotiable on your holiday list?

We've compiled a Thanksgiving-themed Pinterest board with some great recipes, tips, and fun decorating ideas. Below are a few sneak peeks, but you can see the entire board here.

Find best apple pie tips here.

See how to make the Thanksgiving meal (a little bit?) healthy here.

Great idea for sharing what you're thankful for here. 

Holiday decor reminding us of the reason for the season here.

How do you like your pumpkin pie? Traditional, or with a bit of flair, like this maple-pumpkin pie with salted pecan brittle?

A quick-to-piece table decoration, using Fall Tapestry:

Find the kit for Autumn Tapestry here.

See the entire Fall Tapestry collection here.Find The Quilter magazine here.

And just for fun, there's this:

Baby Fever

There must be something in the water!

It's one of those things people say when it seems like everyone they know is pregnant. And as a quilter, when someone (or several someones) is pregnant, what do you do? Make a quilt, of course! Because there's nothing better than snuggling a baby in a quilt. The key, of course, is finding the perfect fabric for those baby quilts.

We can help! 

Introducing....

Baby Talk

With 60+ prints in the collection, you're sure to find the right fabrics for just about any new baby! The fabrics range from sweet baby-themed prints to stars, ducks, elephants and a huge array of dots.

Here are a few of our favorites; you can see the entire collection here.

Marblehead Challenge Entries

We are so excited to share with you the Marblehead Challenge entries for voting! Thanks to everyone who entered.

Here's how the voting works:
Check out all the entries below (shown in alphabetical order), and then send an email to fabriquiltblog (at) gmail.com telling us your favorite two entries. Note: Feel free to leave a comment below this post as well, but only emails will count as votes. Invite your friends to enter as well--this is your chance to be quilt judge for a day! 

One email per person, please. Voting is open through through Wednesday, November 20th at 11:59 EST. 

As a thank you for voting, we'll randomly choose two email entries and send those people a fabric prize.

Bella Breeze Jacket

Field Greens

Floating Stars

Kaleidoscope Garden

Marble Lobby

Ocean of Hawaiian Turtles

Rainbow Squares

Shazam

Shooting Stars

Stack and Whack

Don't forget to vote! Send us an email with your favorite two entries.

Quilt Market Recap

Twice a year, the quilt industry gathers for Quilt Market. As a fabric company, it's an opportunity for us to show our new collections to quilt shop owners who come to the show to purchase for their shops. This fall, our booth in Houston showed off some of our favorite new fabric lines through gorgeous quilts:

Marblehead in action. 

The quilt on the left, "Rockin'," was featured in Quilt Trends magazine. 

Read more about it here.

A cover-up made from Marblehead Global Brights and Rock Around the Block

The "fall" corner: quilts made using Fall Tapestry (find the free pattern for the background quilt here) and Imperial Garden

Point of pride: a quilted American flag

What's new? A tote made from leather and Royal Paisley. Stay tuned for more info.

Our favorite fun line for kids and kids at heart: Nite Owls
(quilt on the left: free pattern here; quilt on the right, featured in The Quilter)

Rio and Black Tie Affair

Calling all designers!

If you're a frequent visitor to our blog, you've heard us say over and over again that one of our favorite parts of working for a fabric company is seeing what people make from our fabrics, such as Cathy Perlmutter's "Eat Farm Fresh" quilt and potholders, which featured this week on the blog.

We hinted at this last week, and now it's time for the official announcement.

Do you have an idea for an original project you'd like to make?

Have you found a fabric line on our website that you love?

Can you put together text and photos for a tutorial?

Send us an email for a chance to be part of 

Designed By You

Here's what you need to do:

1. Choose a current* fabric line from our website, either the Fabri-Quilt or Paintbrush Studio collections. 

*Collection should have 2013 listed under its name on our website. The one exception to this is Marblehead, which is also available for use.

2. Develop an original design--tote, table runner, quilt, etc.--to make with this fabric collection.

3. Email us with your fabric line selection and a digital image, sketch or brief description of your idea, as well as a little information about yourself.

After reviewing the ideas we receive, we'll choose a few designers, send them fabric, and post their tutorials here on the blog.

Emails with ideas are due by November 15th, 2013.

We can't wait to see what you come up with! 

An antidote to all that Halloween candy...

A while back, quilter Cathy Perlmutter contacted us, wanting to create a design with a message. She'd seen (and loved) our Farmer John fruit and veggie collections, and had an idea to stitch a project promoting healthy eating. She came up with several: two potholder (or small wall hanging) variations, which we are sharing her tutorial for today...

And a pattern for a larger wall hanging version of the same concept, called "Eat Farm Fresh."

You can see more details about Cathy's "Eat Farm Fresh" quilt on her blog, as well as purchase the pattern. 

Thanks Cathy! What a colorful and "quilty" way to celebrate healthy eating!

Click here to download the free pdf for the potholder pattern.

And, because we can't resist, here are a few swatches of our favorite Farmer John prints! Which one is your favorite?

For a chance to win a fat quarter bundle of fruit and veggie fabric, leave a comment below letting us know how you follow our blog (and if you're new, sign up to follow by email or through Bloglovin' in the right hand sidebar) and then tell us what your favorite fruit/veggie print fabric is from the Farmer John's Garden collection (see them all here). The giveaway will close Saturday, November 9th at 11:59 EST and we'll announce the winner next week.

Northwoods Man

The holidays are fast approaching, and chances are there's a special guy on your list who would love a quilt. The trick is finding the right fabric and pattern. May we offer a suggestion?

Check out Terry Albers' "Northwoods Man" quilt, a bonus pattern in the November/December 2013 issue of Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting. 

Northwoods Man by Terry Albers of Hedgehog Quilts and quilted by Diana Napier;
featured in Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting Nov/Dec 2013

We asked Terry to share the thoughts behind her design. Did you know she used a Marblehead pre-printed stripe in the blocks and second border? Great results with less piecing! Keep reading to find out more.

Q. What are the challenges of creating a "manly" quilt?

Terry: I’d have to say that the biggest challenge for me is using medium-dark neutrals without being boring. I like to have light and movement in my quilts but the men in my life prefer darker, earthy colors. Ro Gregg’s Marblehead Northern Woods fabrics have so much depth of color that they almost glow.

Q. Why did you choose to work with the Marblehead stripe?
Terry:  I knew right away that I could get the light and movement I was looking for without piecing elements of light colors into the blocks.

I started out using the stripe to see what kind of results I could get with the illusion of piecing strips together.  I got less bulk in lots less time. I love the way the stripes look so different as block components than they do as a border.

Q. Any tips about successfully using a fairly monochromatic color scheme?
Terry: I think that movement is the key here. The multi color stripe in the blocks keeps your eye moving. I used the black with stars to emphasize the separation of the areas. This keeps the colors from mushing together. 

Q. Can you talk about how you came up with the design and why you decided to set it on point?
Terry: The stripe was the source for this design. I tried this block in a straight set but it looked more like a rail fence without enough contrast. When I dropped the block into an on-point setting, the blocks seemed to spin just a little. Then I set them onto the trees background by using the trees as sashing and setting triangles.  It makes the blocks seem to float – not quite but almost – 3D.

Q. What's your favorite part about this quilt?
Terry: I love the fabric!  I also thought it was fun to start with the glowing center and add interesting borders to bring it up to the size I would need for my 6’3” son. The stripe border is my favorite element.

Q. Why was the swirly machine quilting design chosen?
Terry: We have lots of wind through the trees in our part of the country. It swirls the leaves in the fall and the snow in the winter.  So the swirls represent the wind and also provide more movement.

Q. What types of fabric attract you?

Terry: I love to work with Ro Gregg’s fabric lines.  She usually has lots of pieces and the colors flow well with each other. If I’m in the mood for dark or light or calm or busy…I can probably find it in the line. I don’t have to worry about hues that aren’t quite right.

Download the free pattern for Northwoods Man here.

See the entire Northern Woods Marblehead fabric collection here and the Marblehead collection (where you'll find the stripe) here.

Find the kit for this project here.

Learn more about Terry and her designs here.

Find Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting here.