Dreaming of...an evening in Paris

What is at the top of your dream vacation list? 

An all-inclusive resort with a sandy white beach and aquamarine ocean?

A shopping spree at a destination quilt shop, with someone else footing the bill?

Or maybe...a week in Paris?

We may not be able to make your dreams for #1 or #2 come true, but we can give you a glimpse of #3: An Evening in Paris.

Michele Crawford of Flower Box Quilts designed "An Evening in Paris" for The Quilter magazine using Michele D'Amore's Left Bank collection. The Jacobean florals have such a Parisian feel, don't they? Read on as Michele talks about her design and the fabrics she chose.

Featured in The Quilter October-November issue:
"An Evening in Paris" designed by Michele Crawford

What do you like best about the quilt?

I love the fabric and I believe that my design showcases it well. I love the use of the different tonal print in various colors! I used the teal to "pull" the 2 blocks together, and to make the design "pop" by using it as a border and binding. I am a symmetrical designer so I like to use the colors or prints within the blocks and "pull" the color through the quilt. I used the dark floral in the outer border to balance the quilt design. It would have looked entirely different if the cream floral had been used in the outer border.

Where do you start when it comes to selecting fabrics?

I basically look at a fabric collection and see what works well together, color-wise, for the time of year of the specific magazine issue, and how much contrast I can offer with specific fabrics within a collection. I chose the two main prints first, and then picked prints, solids, and tonals to highlight and contrast the main prints.

Can you talk about the block you chose? Why did you decide to make the block in two different color combinations?

With the two strong main prints I wanted to use the same block, Criss Cross, but change the position of those main prints within the block.

What prompted you to use sashing in the quilt?

I felt that with the two main prints in the blocks, the quilt needed a "resting" place for the eye; that the quilt would have been too busy if the blocks had been sewn directly together. Also, if the blocks had been sewn together there would have been a LOT of seams to match!

Tell us about the machine quilting.

I pieced the quilt, and my machine quilter, Kay Kimball, did an excellent job choosing the right threads and design. She emphasized a simple floral design in the blocks and chose to only stitch in the ditch on the sashing plus the green and teal borders. I like to make the fabric and design pop first, and have the machine quilting as the subtle icing on the cake.

Note: Michele used the cream large floral on the back of her quilt; we wanted to show you a few other interesting options from the collection. Both of these prints would make beautiful backings or could be fussy-cut and used in a quilt top.

See the entire Left Bank collection here.

Find the kit for the Evening in Paris quilt here.

Find The Quilter magazine here.

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Sew in love with Sun-Kissed

If you've seen the cover of the April-May issue of The Quilter magazine, you've seen Michele D'Amore's Sun-Kissed collection in a fresh (and gorgeous!) quilt. This lap-size beauty was designed, stitched and quilted by Julie Lynch, who shares a bit of her design process with us below.

About the Trip Around the World design:

Julie: I tried a traditional Trip Around the World design first, but it didn't have the same appeal as the on-point version you see below. I had a stack of squares from each fabric, and I just played. I'd agonize—and if I didn't like how the colors looked next to each other, I picked up the squares and tried again until it worked. I don't have a design wall, so it's all done on the floor.

About the Sun-Kissed fabrics:

Julie: This quilt was really fun to make. To me, the fabrics had a 60s vibe. I loved the graphic prints. They were fun. The collection has a great mix of light, medium and dark, and size variation. The solids (from the Colors for Quilters line) were perfect because the prints needed a quiet place to rest your eye.

Details matter:

Julie: I purposely oriented the striped squares (3^rd print out from the center) as you see them to create a zigzag illusion. I used the large circular print in two very different ways in the quilt. The cream background version is chopped up into squares in the quilt. But the design needed a bigger statement, so I used the darker brown version I a big border to help hold the quilt together, visually. I really liked the boldness of this border print.

Isn't a Trip Around the World usually square?

Julie: It didn't look right being plain old square to me. I thought it needed to be elongated a bit. I added in the olive-y green and the blue print squares as additional rows on the top and bottom to create a rectangle

Design tip:

Julie: When you have a quilt top laid out, step away from it overnight, and take a photo of it as well. Coming back to it with a fresh eye, as well as seeing it on a camera screen, helps you see your design with a more impartial eye.

Fun fact:

Julie: I don't use a computer. I've been sewing quilts for Benartex for more than 25 years. They send me a collection—it's always a surprise when it arrives and I start playing around, working with what they've sent. If I don't have an idea immediately when I see the fabric, I often just start cutting and playing with the prints on the floor.

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p.s. Have you nominated a fabric collection for our March Madness Fan Favorite bracket yet? Maybe it's Sun-Kissed, featured on The Quilter's cover, or maybe it's a different line. Read more about the bracket here and nominate your favorites in the comment sections here or here, on our Facebook page. 

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