Log Cabin Day

Did you know that today is Log Cabin Day? 

 The Log Cabin is a fantastic block because you can use it in so many ways--it's one of our favorites! In honor of this minor holiday, we're showcasing a few Log Cabin quilt patterns featuring Benartex fabrics.

This one's a sneak peek from Jackie's new fabric line: 

Lilac Baskets by Jackie Robinson; featuring the Lilacs in Bloom collection

Click here to purchase this quilt pattern.

A modern, minimalist take on a classic box: 

Paint Box by Benartex Studio, featuring the Shadow Blush basics collection

Click here to download the free quilt pattern.

Quarter Log Cabin blocks in cheery prints: 

Puzzle Box by Heidi Pridemore, featuring Nancy Halvorsen's Bree collection

Click here to download the free quilt pattern.

It's all about fabric placement:

Midnight Sky by Jackie Robinson; featuring the Hydrangea Blue collection

Click here to purchase Jackie's pattern.

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Feels like Spring: Life in Full Bloom

We're featuring a second quilt showcasing Nancy Halvorsen's Bree collection today. This quilt, designed by Nancy herself, is featured in the March/April issue of McCall's Quilting. The quilt, called "Live Life in Full," is certainly full of whimsical charm! 

Read below to find out what Nancy has to say about her quilt. Read below to learn what Nancy has to say about her quilt.

"Life in Full Bloom" designed by Nancy Halvorsen
and machine quilted by Catherine Timmons;
featured in McCall's Quilting March/April 2018

Can you tell us about the quilt’s message?

I knew this issue would come out in spring, so I was trying to think of something to do with flowers and spring time. I love to come up with positive uplifting messages. I thought “Live life in full bloom” would be a fun, happy idea that I could mix in with the flower blocks.

The flower blocks go well with the style of the text.

I actually designed this block years ago and reworked it for this quilt, adding the white centers to the petals. The white keeps it bright and fresh without detracting from the center block.

I gave the flowers a scrappy look because I love to give things texture—it’s more interesting than just using one fabric. I tried to use as many prints as possible because they’re so fun together.

Photos: McCall's Quilting

Did you have fun making the letters?

Yes! I wanted the letters to look like a garden—lots of different colors. The second “O” in bloom is a flower with a stem. I’ve been doing that type of thing for years—I love to take letters in a word and turn them into what the word is talking about.

What do you like best about this quilt?

I love how bright and cheerful and uplifting it is. To me, it’s a perfect lead-in to spring. Spring always makes me feel happy after slogging through winter.

Can you tell us about the machine quilting?

Catherine Timmons is is so awesome. She does all of my quilting for me. She does the cutest things. Sometimes I will give her direction but this time I just said “do your beautifulness.” And she did.

Click here to see Nancy's entire Bree collection.
Click here to see more of Nancy's work.
Click here to purchase the digital pattern.
Click here to find McCall's Quilting magazine.

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Feels like Spring: Pinwheels & Rails

We're helping usher in spring with a couple bright and cheerful quilts this week!

First ups is the Pinwheels & Rails quilt designed by Melanie Greseth and Joanie Holton of Tailormade by Design, featured in Quilter's World magazine. They used a curated palette of prints from Nancy Halvorsen's Bree collection to create Pinwheels & Rails, a quilt that absolutely "sings spring." We asked Joanie to talk about the quilt design.

"Pinwheels & Rails" designed by Tailormade by Design
and machine quilted by Naomi Polzin;
featured in the Spring 2018 issue of Quilter's World magazine

How did you choose this more limited palette from Nancy’s collection?

We chose the pastel palette purposefully. Nancy’s pastels aren’t baby pastels—they’re still vibrant, and we wanted to highlight that. For the rail fence blocks, we chose four prints—light to dark—from each of four colors.

Tell us about the two different styles of rail fence rows.

Traditionally, a rail fence design is stacked to create a zig zag effect. We didn’t want that to distract from the pinwheels and applique rows, so we added a neutral lattice to separate some of the blocks.

The pinwheel blocks add playfulness to your design.

We alternated placement of the stronger and lighter colors in the pinwheel blocks to add variety. We also used half blocks on each end. Instead of having everything so symmetrical, the half blocks throw in a little twist. People are afraid of half blocks and they don’t need to be!

  

Photos: Quilter's World

Your flower appliques are adorable!

Thanks! We wanted a simple applique in a few different sizes that had the feel of the fabric line. These petals are accessible for all quilters—easy to do—but also cute.

With so many fun prints to choose from, how did you pick the border fabric?

Choosing that was fun. It was actually a challenge—deciding how we wanted the quilt to feel. We tried blue, and orange, but the green did the best job of framing the quilt center without overpowering the rest of the design.

What do you like best about the quilt?

What I ended up liking best is how it came together. It’s a soft quilt, but it’s not a baby quilt. The colors are saturated. It’s really lovely. It really sings spring.

Click here to see Nancy's entire Bree collection.
Click here to find Quilter's World magazine.

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Love those scrappy brights!

We've got another quilt to chase away those dreary winter days! This fun scrappy quilt by Joanie Holton and Melanie Greseth uses Nancy Halvorsen's Bree collection and was featured in Quilting Quickly magazine. 

"Brianne" designed by Joanie Holton and Melanie Greseth;
featured in the November/December 2017 issue of Quilting Quickly magazine.

We asked Joanie to tell us about the Brianne quilt. 

Do you love Nancy Halvorsen’s Bree collection as much as we do?

Yes! It’s so bright and cheery; it was really fun to play with.

Do you have a favorite print in the collection?

I am most drawn to the two-color fan print. I like the effect it has.

Tell us about this quilt.

We went for a scrappy look with hourglass blocks. With Nancy’s line, there are so many great prints to use, and they all go together. We paired fabrics and made sets of colors. We wanted the hourglasses to play nicely together, and we wanted each block to have one print that was a little heavier to create contrast.

The stripes look great in the hourglass block.

They do! People are often afraid to chop up stripes, but it can make a really cool effect if you just go for it.

How did you choose border fabrics?

We chose not to use a focal print and instead went with a three border treatment. With such a scrappy quilt, it’s easy to pick out almost any color for the border—the quilt center is such a smorgasboard of color! I’m always drawn to greens and blues, and that makes it a little more gender neutral as well. I think the borders bring all the colors together.

What do you like best about this quilt?

It’s a nostalgic quilt that makes me remember my grandma. I love that about it.

Click here to see the entire Bree collection.
Click here to purchase the quilt pattern.
Click here to find November/December 2017 issue of Quilting Quickly magazine.

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A new issue of Modern by the Yard!

Hello, modern quilters (and all quilt lovers)! Today we're proud to introduce the latest issue of our modern e-zine, Modern by the Yard.

How does it work? 
Easy! Just click on the button below, and you'll be taken to the e-zine. Once there, you can use your mouse to "turn" the pages and read the entire magazine. You can also save the pdf to your computer and print pages for future reference. We hope you enjoy the issue!

Here's a little sneak peek to entice you: 

The cover

Projects: 

by Sandra Walker; featuring the Bree collection by Nancy Halvorsen

by Sarah Goer; featuring the Fleurish collection from Kanvas

by Amy Friend; featuring her Improv collection

 

by Lisa Swenson Ruble; featuring the All's Wool that Ends Wool collection

Debby Kratovil's Modern with a Twist column:

The issue also includes a profile on modern designer Amy Friend, a fabric gallery, a free project gallery, and more! Check it out!

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Bree Blog Hop: Day 4

Welcome to our Bree blog hop! We're excited to show you what four different designers have created with the Nancy Halvorsen's gorgeous new fabric collection! If you missed our introduction to Bree, find it here.

The bright and cheery colors of Bree fit beautifully with these sunny August days! With so many aquas and navies in the collection, a sailboat wall hanging seemed like the perfect seasonal project. The Bree by the Sea wall hanging combines an improv-pieced background with applique--two fun techniques to play with! 

Measures 18-1/2" x 20"

Materials:

1 fat quarter each: aqua dot, aqua berries on white, white/gray dot, white berries on navy, navy dot, green vine, red stripe, orange stripe, gray dot circle, yellow dot circle, and navy/aqua plaid

24" square of backing fabric

24" square of batting

Fusible web

Cutting:

Note: Click here to download the template pages. 

From the aqua dot:

(5) 21" long strips, ranging in width from 1-1/2" to 4" (Note: You'll want wider strips for top and bottom; the three strips in the center can be narrower)

From the aqua berries on white:

(2) 21" long strips, ranging in width from 1-1/2" to 2-1/2"

From the white/gray dot:

(2) 21" long strips, ranging in width from 1-1/2" to 2-1/2"

From the white berries on navy:

(1) 9" x 21" strip (for water; see step 5)

From the navy dot: 

Wave pieces #1-#5*

From the green vine:

Boat* 

From the red stripe:

Large Sail*

From the orange stripe:

Small Sail*

From the gray dot circle:
(1) 1-1/2" x 12" strip

From the yellow dot circle:

Sun

From the navy/aqua plaid:

(5) 2-1/4" x 21" strips for binding

*Trace template pieces onto the paper side of fusible web and cut out loosely around each shape. Fuse to the wrong side of indicated fabric and cut out on the drawn lines.

Make the Wall Hanging:

Note: Piecing the sky uses a relaxed improv method to create a strippy, slightly angled sky. Your sky may look different based on strip width or angles of the strips (i.e. you may need more or fewer strips). Follow the directions below and continue piecing sky strips to cover approximately 16" of the batting, from the top down.

1. Position a wide strip of aqua dot right side up near the top edge of the binding. Position an aqua berry on white strip on top, right sides facing, angling it slightly. 

2. Stitch along the raw edge, following the angle of the white strip, and press open. 

3. Continue adding strips, varying colors and widths, and changing the angle of each new strip.

4. This is what our finished background looked like. (Note the wide piece of aqua dot at the bottom--after you position the water, you can trim this so the water just covers the aqua dot.)

5. Position the water fusible shape on the wrong side of the white berries on navy strip so the wavy edge is near the top edge of the strip. Fuse in place and cut out on the wavy line. Position on the background as desired, trim aqua dot strip if needed, and then fuse the water in place. For reference, our sky section measures about 14" to the water's edge in this photo, the water section measures approximately 9". 

6. Apply fusible web to the wrong side of the 1-1/2" x 12-1/2" dot circle gray strip. From this fused strip, cut out a 1/2" x 11" piece for the mast. 
7. Continue adding applique pieces to the background. Lay out the pieces before fusing in place; you may need to trim the mast (tuck the end under the boat as well). When you're satisfied with placement, fuse in place. 

8. Fuse the five navy dot waves to the water, making sure wave #1 covers the bottom edge of the boat. Use the photo below to help with suggested placement. 

9. If desired, machine stitch the appliqued pieces to secure (We did this as part of the quilting process.) Layer the quilt top (which already includes batting) on the backing. Trim batting to approximately 1" past quilt top edges for easier handling. Machine quilt as desired, outlining applique shapes if you haven't already secured them. 
10. Square up the quilt; ours measures 18-1/2" x 20" (yours may vary slightly--center your design and make sure there's at least 1" background extending past all appliques except waves). 

11. Sew the (5) 2-1/4" x 21" navy/aqua check binding strips short ends together into a long strip and bind as desired. Enjoy!

For a chance to win a bundle of Bree fabrics, leave a comment below letting us know your favorite summer activity. Giveaway is open through Monday, August 14th at 11:59 pm EDT. 

Make sure to follow along on all four days of our Bree hop!

Tuesday: Alison from Little Bunny Quilts

Wednesday: Stephanie from Stitched Together Studios

Thursday: Kristen from KD Quilts

Friday: Benartex blog design team

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