Designer Sampler Block #9

We're celebrating National Quilting Month with a Sampler Quilt created using blocks by many of our fabric designers. Throughout the month, we'll share a block made by each of the designers listed below and featuring their newest fabric line, along with directions to sew that block. Come sew with us!

Block #9
Today we're featuring Bill Kerr and Weeks Ringle's Jawbreaker block featuring their Warp & Weft collection. 

Cutting

From gray & white check 6601Y-08, cut:

            2—6½"×6½" squares

From gray gingham 6607Y-08, cut:

            2—6½"×6½" squares*

Cut 1—5½" diameter a circle from each:

            Orange windowpane plaid 6604Y-10*

            Magenta double plaid 6610Y-62*

            Blue stripe 6612Y-50*

            Green tiny plaid 6608Y-40*

Cut 1—4½" diameter b circle from:

            Orange-yellow mini gingham 6609Y-22*

Cut 1—4" diameter c circle from each:

            Orange-yellow mini gingham 6609Y-22*

            Blue-green check 6603Y-48*

Cut 1—3½" diameter d circle from each:

            Aqua multi-stripe 6605Y-24*

            Green windowpane 6604Y-40*

Cut 1—2½" diameter e circle from:

            Hot pink multi-plaid 6606Y-02*

Make the Block:

1. Press edges of the circles under ¼". Working one quadrant at a time, appliqué the circles to the base square, starting with the bottom-most circle and working up. 

2. Sew the four quadrants together to make the finished block. 

*Note: If you’d rather fuse or raw-edge appliqué the circles, reduce their diameters by ½”.

Click here to see the Warp & Weft collection. 
Click here to visit the Modern Quilt Studio website.

Follow along with our National Quilting Month Designer Sampler!

Introduction

Block #1: Jackie Robinson - A Festival of Roses

Block #2: Paula Nadelstern - Piece & Joy

Block #3: Amanda Murphy - Thankful

Block #4: Christa Watson - Abstract Garden

Block #5: Nancy Halvorsen - Home Grown

Block #6: Ann Lauer - Cat-I-Tude Christmas

Block #7: Cheryl Haynes - Harvest Berry

Block #8: Cherry Guidry - Hearty the Snowman

Block #9: Modern Quilt Studio - Warp & Weft

Assembly

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Modern Quilt Studio's Warp & Weft Premium Yarn Dyes

If you're like us, you're always eager to see what Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr come up with next. These Modern Quilt Studio designers are back with a new collection: Warp & Weft Premium Yarn Dyes. These woven prints are richly delicious--their touch, their pattern variety, and, of course, the colors! You'll have a hard time choosing a favorite. Enjoy the eye candy below and keep reading to learn more about this unique collection. 

What attracted you to the idea of a yarn-dye collection?

We’re always looking for the next thing, and we often reimagine things people have written off, or think of them in a new way. Who says that yarn dyes, which are so iconic to American quilting, have to represent just one era of quilting? They’re typically dark and Civil War era. Why can’t they be bright and fun?

Tell us about the design process.

What’s so awesome about yarn dyes is that each thread is dyed and the pattern is woven, rather than everybody starting out with the same white cloth and printing on it. The uniqueness of yarn dyes is also the challenge for the designer. We would send in specific patterns—such as four threads of yellow, two threads of orange—and it becomes more of a collaboration with the weaver. It’s a different experience that requires more flexibility and experience. But we were excited to do it, and excited that Benartex was willing to do it.

Tell us about the name of the collection.

Warp and weft refer to the horizontal and vertical lines in the weaving process. When you are loading up a loom with the threads that are parallel to the selvedge, that’s the warping. The perpedincular threads are the weft. “Premium Yarn Dyes” is because we were very specific about the quality of these fabrics. We gave Benartex antique swatches we’d collected over the years of different weaves, weights and finishes. We wanted the fabric to be a weight that quilters would be happy sewing with.

Was it difficult to achieve the colors you envisioned?

It was a challenge to get the colors just right. The mill would dye the thread and then weave it. You can’t just tweak the color and reprint; you have to dye more thread, wait for it to dry, and then weave it again. We’re much more interested in classic colors than trendy, and we wanted these prints to really look different. Jewel tones are a comfortable palette for us, and since so few yarn dyes are available, we wanted to have a full spectrum of colors, so people had more options for mixing with prints and solids in their stash.

How did you choose the scales and patterns in the collection?

We thought about how people were going to use these and created a variety of scales. We wanted both different scales and different weaving patterns so people could use the fabrics adjacent to each other and not worry about lining things up. Large-scale yarn dyes are very similar to large-scale prints—you want to be careful how you use them, and avoid having a bunch of seams. Smaller scale prints are small enough that the pattern doesn’t show up dramatically and you don’t have to worry about aligning the pattern.

Can you name a few favorites?

The multi stripe aqua is a cool breeze. The big gray and white check can transform any quilt and make it fun, just because of the scale.The chunky blue-green plaid is really fun, and the magenta is killer.  The mini ginghams serve as tone-on-tones. They’re not high maintenance, and they make everything else look great. 

Click here to see the entire Warp & Weft collection.
Visit Weeks and Bill's website. 
Come back each day this week for more Warp & Weft inspiration! 

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Printology: Virtual Trunk Show

You've had the opportunity to soak in the fabulous prints from Modern Quilt Studio's Printology collection this week, and now we have some quilty goodness to share! Bill Kerr and Weeks Ringle centered issue #13 of their magazine, Modern Quilts Illustrated, around Printology, and we're showing you those quilts today. 

Click here to order this issue.

You'll find four quilts in the issue, and a fifth quilt is available as a free quilt pattern on our website. Enjoy Bill and Weeks' virtual trunk show of their Printology quilts! 

Queen of Diamonds

36” x 48”

Weeks: We wanted a quilt with a bit of depth. We liked the idea of having the diamond pattern, but also having those horizontal bands behind it. The gray checkerboard fabric is critical to making those bands appear.

Bill: The range of value in the line comes to play here. You can’t achieve those transparency effects without it.

Dress Up

55” x 80”

Click here for the Dress Up kit.

Weeks: I wanted a quilt that really showed off all the prints, and I also wanted to find a fun role for the little red checkerboard. It’s the tiny ½” square at the end of alternating rows and the center of the opposite rows.

Bill: Weeks freehanded the quilting on Dress Up. It has such wonderful texture that plays so well with the drawings in the fabrics themselves.

Click here to order Modern Quilts Illustrated #13, featuring four of Bill and Weeks' Printology quilt patterns. 

Billiards

49” x 85”

Click here for the Billiards kit.

Weeks: We both adore this quilt. It’s my favorite since On the Dot. It shows the little checkerboard prints can be used in big chunks even though they’re a small scale pattern.

Bill: Without a doubt, this is my favorite in the magazine. I pulled out a design I made a decade ago; Weeks made two changes to it and came together. We finished it with a French pillowcase binding technique (so you don’t see the binding on the front).

Framed

53” x 87”

Click here for the Framed kit.

Bill: I love sewing strips together. We combined Printology with Benartex’s Shadow Blush collection (which reads as solids). It’s a matter of just sewing yardage and using it in large chunks. The angles in it are really dynamic—you have giant mitered corners from two different strip sets, so there’s no matching of seams—it’s really forgiving. What I love about a quilt like this is that no two will ever be the same.

Weeks: You get a scrappy look within the fabric line. Plus the sewing of all those seams will help you learn how to control fabric under the foot, which is everything in quilting to me.

Bill and Weeks also designed a free quilt pattern for Printology. 

Click here to download the free pattern.

Follow the Leader

54” x 78”

Click here for the Follow the Leader kit.

Weeks: This is such a versatile quilt to show off medium to large scale prints. The little black and white checkerboard quilt looks awesome between the blocks—exactly the way we envisioned it, as a fun accent that contrasts wonderfully with the rest of the line.

Make sure to see all three projects featuring Printology this week!
Tuesday: Heather  @ Quilt-achusetts; @quiltachusetts
Wednesday: Alison @ Little Bunny Quilts
Thursday: Jayne @ Twiggy and Opal; @twiggyandopal

More Printology: 

Click here to see the entire Printology collection. 

Click here to visit Modern Quilt Studio's website. 

Click here to read the interview with Bill and Weeks about Printology.

Stop by next week to see one more quilt designed by Bill and Weeks featured in our new issue of Modern by the Yard!

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