New BOM: Vintage Sampler

Yesterday we shared Barb Eikmeier's Vintage Shirtings and Dress Prints collection with you; today we're back with the unveiling of her coordinating Block of the Month quilt. 

This isn't your ordinary BOM...in fact, our favorite description came from Barb's daughter, who called it "a smorgasbord of quilt blocks."

"Vintage Sampler" by Barb Eikmeier
82" x 89"

Wow, right? That's what we said when we saw it! 

We asked Barb to walk us through her Vintage Sampler design. 

I definitely have to talk about the applique because that’s my greatest love in quilting. I know that a lot of quilters don’t love applique so I just put a touch of it and tried to scatter it throughout the quilt—you see the birds and the vines, both of which are a recurring theme throughout. The BOM pattern comes with instructions for fusible applique.

I love basket blocks so I chose a couple of different designs—the one with the handle is actually repeated three times. The basket blocks are sort of scattered throughout as well. Even though there aren’t rows in the quilt, I wanted it to have a feel of uniformity, and I think the repeating blocks do help with that.

Beyond that, I chose blocks I love—churn dash, little bowties, little pinwheels (called turnstiles because of how they're assembled). I included some star blocks because most traditional quilters like star blocks. It was a ton of fun to design.

Believe it or not, there is only one partial seam in the entire quilt!

The BOM program is set up so that you're making more than one block at a time—you'll sew two, sometimes three blocks in a month. If you keep up with the instructions each month, you'll be able to build it as you go, and by the time you get to month twelve, all you'll have to do is sew the sections together and then add the borders! 

Thanks for sharing your Vintage Sampler BOM quilt, Barb! Watch for this BOM in your local quilt shop in fall--we'll be posting updates here on the blog as well so you'll know when to start looking for it!

Missed our post on the brand-new, Made-in-the-USA Vintage Shirtings and Dress Prints collection? Read it here.

Be sure to check out Barb's blog as well for more anecdotes about the fabric collection and what she's making from it! 

See the entire collection here.

Repro Prints Made in the USA!

What's new? 

Reproduction prints from Paintbrush Studio!

We are extremely excited to introduce you to a brand new collection, Vintage Shirtings & Dress Prints 1880-1910 from Barbara J. Eikmeier!

This is a true American collection--the Vintage Shirting and Dress Prints are 100% reproduced in the United States of America. That means the cotton was grown here, the yarn was spun here, the fabric was woven here, and the final goods were printed right here in the USA. (So it's no surprise that the collection features prints in shades of red, white, and blue!)

Meet Barb:

I am a quilter, author (4 books with Martingale), teacher, and designer. My grandmother was a professional dressmaker; I think it's in my genes to sew. I learned how in 4H when I was about nine, so it's always been part of my life.  I am a member of the American Quilt Study Group, The Applique’ Society, and The National Quilting Association, and I have long had an interest in vintage textiles. I have two grown children and I live in Lansing, Kansas with my husband, Dale, and an ever-changing entourage of family pets.
 

Designing a line of reproduction prints was the perfect fit for Barb; she collects old quilts and was able to use fabrics from antique scrap bags and some unfinished blocks and tops to being putting the Vintage Shirtings and Dress Prints collection together. When a friend showed up at a sewing day with a quilt top she'd just picked up at a yard sale, Barb fell in love. "It had indigo fabrics that I'd never seen before, and the pieces in the quilt were large--7" equilateral triangles--so I could really see the details in the fabric."

Working with Fabri-Quilt, Barb narrowed down the time period for the collection to 1880-1910, and added a claret red, cadet blue and black mourning prints from that era to the indigo and white/cream shirting prints. The result?

We asked Barb to share more detail about this historically-based collection.

Q. Can you tell us more about shirting prints?
Barb: They are fabrics with light colored backgrounds--cream or white--with stripes or small scale motifs. They were used for men’s shirts, children’s clothing, women’s shirtwaists. They were marketed in the Sears & Roebuck catalog and called shirtings.

Q. Tell us more about the indigos.
Barb: The women of this era wore silk and wool when they went to town, but around the house they preferred cotton day dresses. When the dress prints first became available, the marketing for them was that they were washable, and they were called "washable dress prints." Some people refer to these indigo blues as washday blues.

Q. And what about the black mourning prints?
Barb: In that era, women wore black for a year after someone died, and they were called black mourning prints. Both the black mourning prints and the claret prints are very specific to the 1880-1910 time frame and I really wanted to include them in this line. When you look at an antique quilt from then, the quilts have lots of different scraps in them, probably made using the leftovers from sewing for the family. The indigo the mourning prints and the claret all show up together with the shirtings.

Q. Can you show us some of your favorite prints from the collection?
Barb: I love the small leaf print--it is appears in three different colors.

These little bouquets always look so cheerful when I'm sewing with them--they came from the antique yard sale quilt and are like nothing I've seen before. 

This is my favorite shirting print out of the whole group:

This mourning print--I love how unique it turned out!

I really like all the deep indigos as well--ask me again tomorrow and I might name three different prints--I like them all!

See the entire Vintage Shirting and Dress Prints collection here; and check back soon--we'll be sharing quilts and projects made with these fabrics as well!
Find out more about Barb, her fabric collection, and her quilts here.

Gemstones, Jewels & Quartz, oh my!

Ro Gregg has done it again with a veritable treasure chest in her newest Marblehead collection, Gemstones, Jewels & Quartz! These rich prints have so much depth and play so nicely together, as well as with her previous Marblehead collections. Take a look and see what Ro has to say about these beauties!

Gemstones

Jewels

Quartz

Q. You’re back with a new collection of Marbleheads.

Ro: These three patterns are coming out as a sequel to the Marblehead story. Again, inspired by nature, specifically the popularity of natural stone. These fabrics are infused with what I call “jewel mania.”

Q. What did you really focus on when designing these prints?

Ro: The most important thing is the jumps of color. Quilters have told me that when they’re selected fabrics they want to see a light, a medium and a dark. The jewel pattern serves as the light pattern. Quartz falls into the medium category. The gemstone pattern sort of punches the color in quilts—it’s dark. It’s a myriad of color, which gives the illusion of depth. 

These prints will also meld with the Original, Global and Pastel Marblehead collections, creating a tremendous basic for quilting.

Q. Looking at these prints is like going to a jewelry store.

Ro: I took inspiration from gems and stayed with a luminous jewel-tone theme—amethyst, aquamarine, garnet, sapphire, emerald, pearl, onyx… The depth of color and saturation of brightness varies through the three patterns.

We're offering a free pattern on our website featuring Gemstones, Jewels & Quartz:

"Marblehead Gems" designed by Pine Tree Country Quilts

See the entire Gemstones, Jewels & Quartz collection here.

Download the free Marblehead Gems quilt pattern here.

Pillowcase Showcase!

In case you're looking for pillowcase inspiration, here's a showcase of the two latest designs released by American Patchwork & Quilting's 1 Million Pillowcase challenge.  (Did we use the word "case" enough?!?!) The Challenge is currently at 622,405 pillowcases, continuing its push to reach one million pillowcases donated to charity. We are proud to be a sponsor in 2015, and love seeing pillowcases made with our new fabric collections!

 #48 Triangle-Square Band; featuring Four Paws 

(this is a sneak peek--this fabric is so new, it's not quite available yet! Watch for it on the blog and in your local quilt shop this summer)

Photo from AllPeopleQuilt.com; download the free pattern here

#49 Stepping Stones Band; featuring Bear Hugs

Photo from AllPeopleQuilt.com; download the free pattern here

Find out more about the Challenge and see all 48 unique pillowcase designs here.