Meet Benny! (and a contest!)

Waiting for the flight to leave

We would like to introduce you to Benny! He is our mascot for Spring Market 2013. Benny has made the long journey from New York City to Portland and is looking forward to his first market experience. He's also looking forward to helping you win fabric! 

 

Almost there! One leg of the trip left.

Finally! Quilt Market!

That 3-hour time change is rough. Jet lag is for the dogs!

Starting Thursday, May 16,  Benny will appear in one picture of our booth each day, both on Facebook and here on the blog (since we know not everyone follows both). When you find Benny in a picture send us an e-mail (socialmedia23 (at) gmail.com) with the subject line “I FOUND BENNY!” In the body of your e-mail please include the number of the picture that you found him in, as well as your full name and mailing address. 

On Tuesday, May 21^st, we will randomly choose 5 names from all of the entries to win a fabulous fat quarter bundle of one of our newest fabric lines. Please send a separate e-mail for each picture of Benny.

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A Peek Inside...

Quilt Market is this weekend in Portland, Oregon!

(Quilt Market is the semi-annual industry show for the quilt world, where we debut our new lines and quilt shop owners come to order fabric to carry in their stores.)

As you can imagine, we've been just a bit busy getting ready for it. 

But we couldn't resist sharing some sneak peeks at what's to come. 

Like this box...

Full of fat quarter fabric bundles for Sample Spree--a special preview night with great deals! 

Who would have thought there are so many different (and clever) ways to wrap a bundle of fat quarters? Our staff clearly had fun putting these together. If you're going to be at Sample Spree or Quilt Market, stop by and say hello! If you aren't, keep an eye here on the blog and on our Facebook page, as we've got some fun things planned for everyone else!

A few peeks at some new Kanvas lines, all wrapped up pretty and ready for Sample Spree:

Let's Tweet

Mixxoni, Zest and Cosmos

Maine Attraction, Cafe Au Lait and Baker's Delight

Watch for some more sneak peeks on our Facebook page!

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Interlude Three Ways

We're back with some more project inspiration to get you sewing, this time featuring Michele D'Amore's Interlude collection! 

Take-Along Tote

First up, as we approach summer, it's definitely tote season. From a tote to carry supplies to a quilting class to a beach bag, you can never have too many big bags! One of Melanie's favorite totes had seen better days, so Joanie made the bag below, a similar size but with more structure. 

"Take-Along Tote" designed by Melanie Greseth and Joanie Holton;
featured in Simple Quilts Spring 2013

Find the project kit here.
Find Simple Quilts & Sewing here.

Sweet Interlude

The "Sweet Interlude" quilt, also designed by Melanie and Joanie, features six-patch rows mixed with large cuts of floral fabric. Joanie says that "though this line has a modern flavor, it also has a sweet, peaceful feel to it..." which shines through in this welcoming quilt.

"Sweet Interlude" designed by Melanie Greseth and Joanie Holton;
featured in The Quilter magazine, April/May 2013.

Find the quilt kit here.
Find The Quilter Magazine here. 

Hearth & Home

This quilt has a surprisingly modern feel for something inspired by the old brickwork in Melanie's bedroom fireplace (how cool to have a fireplace in your bedroom!). Melanie challenged Joanie to figure out the pattern, and the results are right on the pages of Quilt magazine. 

Find the project kit here.

Find Quilt magazine here.

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What's old is new...Chevrons circa 2013

From their first appearance on pottery and rock carvings in 1800 BC to coats of arms in the Middle Ages to the sleeves of letterman's jackets in the late 20th century, chevrons have been, shall we say, around the block. 

They've been popping up all over the quilt industry for the last few years, but we've never seen chevrons quite like in this quilt pattern. 

One jumbo (the quilt measures 57" x 71"!) echoing chevron, using the Manhattan Modern fabric collection. Big prints at home in a big design.

"Sketchbook" designed by Joanie Holton and Melanie Greseth,
made by Vicki Swanson and machine quilted by Naomi Polzin;
featured in McCall's Quilting May/June 2013

Joanie and Melanie gave us the inside scoop on their super-sized design.

How did you come up with the idea for this design?

We were asked to design "modern quilts" with the Manhattan Modern line… we love the modern look but are also a fan of angles.           

  

What do you like best about the quilt? 

We love that it isn’t made up of your traditional square blocks--the angles give it some attitude and flair.

What are the solid-looking prints in the quilt?

We originally designed it with Broadway Textures in the solid areas but made the quilt with Benartex Home linens….just to try something different. We liked the look of linen, but cotton worked better with the angled piecing, so the kits include cotton instead. 

See the entire Manhattan Modern collection here and Broadway Textures here.

Find the kit for this project (and learn more about designers Melanie and Joanie) here.

Find McCall's Quilting here.

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Out of This World

What do you think makes a great kids' fabric line?

Here's what we look for:

A bright, bold color palette.

A kid-friendly theme. 

Not too cutesy--could work for a 2-year-old or a 12-year-old.

A panel block option for quick, graphic quilts.

The basics: a great stripe and a colorful dot.

Introducing Rockets & Robots...a new collection that covers it all!

Looking for ideas for using this line? We've got a link to a Space Blocks Kids Quilt tutorial from Missouri Star Quilt Company on our Facebook page.

and...check out the free quilt pattern, designed by Stitched Together Studios, on our website.

"Blast Off!"

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FFF: Fantastic Fabrique Foursome!

Raise your hand if you love Paula Nadelstern's kaleidoscope-style fabric but feel a little hesitant about cutting into it.

(Okay, we have to ask...did you actually raise your hand even though we couldn't see you?)

Wendy Sheppard's "Fabrique Foursome" design, featured in the Summer 2013 issue of Easy Quilts, has the answer. Check it out:

"Fabrique Foursome" designed and machine quilted by Wendy Sheppard
and pieced by Sherry McConnell;
featured in Easy Quilts summer 2013
Photo courtesy of Fons & Porter

We asked Wendy for some tips on cutting Paula's gorgeous fabric, and she was happy to share, along with some additional photos of her quilt.

We love how you used Paula's Fabrique-istan fabric! Can you talk about how you cut into it and how you figured out how to do that?

When I look at a large fabric print pattern, I try to look to see if there's any symmetry first.  Then, I try to see if I couldn't take advantage of the symmetry and cut in a way that would efficiently use the pattern print.  In this case, I saw a large star print which is symmetrical, and proceeded to quarter the star to be used in constructing a block. 

Did you purposely select each sashing plus sign color to match the fussy cut squares?

Yes, I did.  I used the bright sashing fabrics to counter the black in the fussy cut squares.

Any tips for fussy cutting?

Definitely do a test sample.  Sometimes with fussy cutting, I don't press my fabric before cutting because heat from the iron tends to slightly distort the fabric weave that would make precise fussy cutting a little challenging, especially if I have to rely on straight lines in the print pattern.

Favorite thing about the quilt?

The colors!!!

Favorite thing about the fabric?

The prints and colors that just draw the viewer to want to submerge in all those colors.

Tell us about your decision to add the outer black outline border.

I find black to be the best blender when using a lot of colors in a quilt design. That "black" black fabric seems the perfect choice in "reining" in all the bright and bold colors scattered all throughout the quilt, and seems to provide a nice boundary within which the other colors can show off.

Any advice to quilters out there?

I always try to encourage my quilting friends to try out color palettes that aren't "their" thing necessarily -- sometimes, the effect can be stunningly and strikingly beautiful and out of the ordinary!

See more photos and learn more about this quilt on Wendy's blog.

See the entire Fabrique-istan line here and Extreme Colors line here.

Find the kit for this project here.

Find Easy Quilts here.

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All aboard the nostalgia train

You don't have to be a 2-year-old boy to catch the train obsession. The romance of trains--steam engines, sleeper cars, cross-country travel--speaks to most of us in some way. Add in vintage train images, quilt-friendly coordinates, and a huge panel design, and we think you'll agree that our "Locomotion" collection is a hit!

Have you seen Lori Hein's "All Aboard!" design? It's featured in the June/July issue of Quilt magazine.

"All Aboard!" designed by Lori Hein and machine quilted by Laurie Burgess
featured in Quilt magazine June/July 2013
photo courtesy of Quilt magazine

Lori's quilt works for a train-obsessed child, or a young-at-heart train fan, and big pieces means it sews together quickly. We asked Lori to share a bit with us about her design. 

What drew you to the Locomotion collection?
Three reasons: While I was growing up, my dad was a model train enthusiast. Also, I loved the print that had nostalgic brochures on them.  One of the brochures was titled "Mt. Rainer," which is in Washington state where I live.  

And thirdly, I have fond memories of riding on an open box train in the mountains of Santa Cruz, CA, when I was a child.  The place was called "Roaring Camp."

Talk to us about working with the panel for your design.
The challenge of working with a panel, any panel, is that they aren't always printed straight on the grain of the fabric and so I almost always need to add a fabric "frame" it to correct that. I was delighted that this one was printed pretty straight. I used just one panel in my design, but if you purchased three, you could put train engines in all the large rectangles and use a continuous row of trains in the top and bottom borders. 

Train panel

How did you develop this design?
I'm always asked how I come up with a design.  I'm not sure there is a real answer to that.  I begin with knowing about how big I want the quilt to end up.  Then I doodle on graph paper and try to come up with a balanced design using uneven numbers of panels to make it interesting. I knew I wanted it very geometric and masculine looking.

What do you like best about the quilt?
The old-fashioned, nostalgic feeling of times past that the fabric has. A bygone era that is a part of history.

See the entire Locomotion collection here.
Find the kit for the All Aboard! quilt here.
Learn more about Lori Hein here.
Find Quilt magazine here. 

P.S. Quilt magazine is offering a free pattern to make the coordinating pillow (using the other half of the panel needed for the quilt!) here.

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