Sew in Love {with Fabric}: Sweetie Pie: Soft and...Sweet

As fabric lovers, one of our favorite things is seeing how two different people choose to use the same fabric line. A certain print or colorway grabs one designer's fancy, while another goes in the opposite direction. In the following posts we'll show you two perfect examples of this concept, both featuring Michele D'Amore's Sweetie Pie collection.

This quilt, featured in the August-September 2013 issue of The Quilter, uses the soft, delicate florals from the line. Designer Michele Crawford, a pink, blue and white lover, picked her favorite prints to stitch an easy-to-stitch quilt that shows off the medium tones of the fabric. Michele talked to us about how she designed the quilt below.

What attracted you to the Sweetie Pie fabrics?

I am very traditional and love florals! I thought this would be a perfect collection for a summertime quilt. It reminds me of happily waking up under a quilt in grandma's house with a breeze coming through white Cape Cod curtains. I can also see myself cuddled under this quilt on a porch swing on a cool summer night.

What is your favorite print in the collection?

The main blue floral used in the outer border. I LOVE pink, blue and white together.

Why did you decide to pair the prints with a white on white tonal?

Using a white on white tonal [instead of a solid] gives a softer look to the quilt in person. I like contrast in my quilts and thought the white tonal would also keep it looking fresh and "summery."

How did you come up with the block design?

I am inspired by the fabric first, and then design the quilt to feature the fabric in the best possible way. I have been viewing a lot of modern quilts on Pinterest lately, and wanted something traditional yet modern and simplistic.

What do you like best about the quilt?

I had imagined this quilt on a white wicker chair or rocker on a porch. The editor liked my vision and I was happy that that's the way it was photographed.

Talk about how the machine quilting.

The only machine quilting that I do myself is to "stitch in the ditch" so the "fancy quilting" as I call it is done by my professional quilter, Kay Kimball who uses a Gamill with a Statler. Kay is the one who truly determines how my quilts are quilted. Sweetie Pie is quilted with white thread. The center of the blocks are cross hatched while there is a "loopy" stitch used in the white and striped borders, and the outer border feature a meandering leaf pattern.

Anything else you'd like to share?

I love the double wedding ring fabric from this collection and used it on the back of the quilt.