It's a Big Number!

503,666

That's the number, at least as of the time this post went live. American Patchwork & Quilting's One Million Pillowcase Challenge has inspired 503,666 pillowcases to be made. 
That's fantastic!
It's also just a little over halfway to their bold 1,000,000 goal. 

To celebrate reaching the halfway point, AP&Q is hosting a contest on Pinterest. They've chosen 20 of their favorite pillowcases and are asking readers to choose one and repin it on their own board. The pillowcase pattern with the most repins by July 31 will win. 

So, head over to AP&Q's Pinterest board and repin your favorite!
(And if you need help deciding which to vote for...ahem, cough, cough...this one below, featuring our Rockets & Robots collection by Blue Sky Studios, is ours.)

We at Benartex are thrilled to be a sponsor for the One Million Pillowcase Challenge. We love the concept--quilters and sewers making and donating a pillowcase to a local charity, making a difference in their own community. We love how easy it is--you can make a pillowcase in an hour! 

Find more details about the One Million Pillowcase Challenge, including free patterns for pillowcases, a list of charities, and the official counter keeping track of donations, here.

One more thing we love about the Challenge--seeing all the different ways our fabrics can be used to make bright, cheery pillows. Check out some of the samples made by American Patchwork & Quilting:

Lili-fied chevron pillowcase

Manhattan Modern  crazy rail fence pillowcase

Cabana uneven hourglass pillowcase

Interlude spool pillowcase

Tree Frog train pillowcase

Find the free patterns for all of these pillowcases here.

And don't forget to head over to Pinterest and repin your favorite! After the winning pillowcase has been selected, we'll be remaking it in some of our newest fabric and joining in the One Million Pillowcase Challenge blog hop!

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Super Fussy-Cutting Shortcut!

The beauty of a medallion print? You can create a complex-looking quilt with much less work, with just a little fussy cutting. Diane Nagle did just that, making Lili-fied's medallions the star of her quilt, Mandy's Garden, which is featured in the June/July 2013 issue of McCall's Quick Quilts.

"Mandy's Garden" by Diane Nagle;
featured in McCall's Quick Quilts June/July 2013

Diane combined the warm and cool colorways of Greta Lynn's contemporary collection for Kanvas to make an eye-catching design that even beginner quilters can make. Keep reading to learn more about Diane's quilt.

What attracted you to the Lili-fied fabric collection?

I love color!  Blues/greens and pink/corals are among my favorites.  It was a contemporary, happy fabric line.

Why did you decide to mix the two colorways? 

I've always loved to combine warm and cool colors together.  I didn't realize that I was doing it so much until someone pointed it out to me.  I think they balance each other well.

How did you come up with the design?

The large medallion print was begging to be the focus of the quilt; I just couldn't cut through those beautiful images. By fussy-cutting the medallions (shown below), I could keep them whole and use them for the best advantage. I tried to keep the beginner quilter in mind when I designed it as well.  The medallion print meant it could look difficult, even though it was easy enough for a true beginner!

How did you decide on the size/type/color of borders to use?

I wanted to bring in the large pink print, and repeat the darker blue that bordered the five center medallions.  It also gave a nice boundary between the pink and the outer border, which was my favorite print in the line, as well as helped tie the outer border to the center of the quilt.

How did you machine quilt it? 

I am a long arm quilter, and I could have custom quilted this quilt, but the fabrics were so busy on their own, that you would never have seen the quilting. Sometimes an overall pattern keeps the focus on the quilt design better.

See the entire Lili-fied collection by Greta Lynn for Kanvas here.

See more of Diane's work here.

Find another quilt pattern Diane made using Lili-fied here.

Find the kit for this project here.

Find McCall's Quick Quilts here.

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Spotlight on our Elite Eight

We've hope you've been enjoying our version of March Madness as much as we have! The decisions have been tough, and the voting has been close, but you've narrowed the field from our original 16 fabric lines down to eight. 

Let's take a closer look at the remaining eight contenders, in alphabetical order.

Antoinette

Classic Jacobean designs by Michele D'Amore in a gorgeous chocolate and pink color combination. Don't miss the pencil stripes, tattersall plaid, and the double and triple print fabrics, perfect for borders and more.

Botanical Garden Balis

Rich, saturated colors in leaf and flower designs. Each fabric features a virtual rainbow of colors for a layered look, from coppers and golds to purples and greens. 

Ellie Ann

Romance is back with Eleanor Burns' collection, inspired by turn of the century English cottages. Delicate roses, wallpaper stripe, Victorian medallions and a patchwork print all come in three colors ways: mango, periwinkle, and classic pink.

 Keepsake Balis

Flowing vines and florals in a soft palette--you don't often see batiks done so well in pastels, perfect for the low-volume quilt craze going on right now! A few brighter colors complete the collection for added contrast.

Lili-fied

These bold and modern prints bring the beach to mind! Choose from an orange and fuchsia colorway, or cool blue and green. You'll love the big florals, stylized medallions, modern paisleys, and coordinating mini prints. 

Savannah

Nature at its finest in sketchbook form. These prints are reminiscent of pen-and-ink sketches and watercolor drawings, with some classic paisleys, florals and damasks mixed in, and don't forget the panel of ready-to-use floral blocks!

Somerset

This eclectic collection has everything from jumbo florals to cool stripes and geometric prints. It's a mixture of contemporary and classic prints that works, plain and simple. 

Sun-Kissed

Cool, colorful and contemporary. Leaves, sprays, florals, and oh-so-fun dotted circles set this collection apart. It's available in brights and black/white, as well as an oceanside spa-inspired palette of aquas, mocha, and green.

Remember, voting begins again on 3/26 on our Facebook page! Tell all your friends and be sure to cast your vote! 

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Houston...or is it the Hamptons?

Our previous post showed a few details from the Kanvas Booth at Fall Quilt Market, where the Lili-fied collection debuted. The show may have been in Houston, but the Kanvas booth, decked out in the pink and orange color story of Lili-fied, sported a vacation feel, mixing bright, contemporary blooms with patio furniture and a hammock! It's easy to imagine yourself relaxing on a cushioned chair, shaded from the sun by a beautiful umbrella, and sipping a cool drink while you admire the view of Long Island Sound.

Meet the creative genius behind Kanvas as they talk about Lili-fied, their Hamptons-inspired booth, and what's coming next!

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Modern Color: Lili-fied

If you're looking for an early glimpse of bold spring color and stylized, modern designs, look no further than Lili-fied, a new Kanvas collection designed by Greta Lynn.

The collection comes in cool, crisp blues and greens:

And sizzling hot pinks and oranges:

Lili-fied filled the Kanvas booth at Quilt Market in October, bringing home a first place award.

The collection has been attracting fans ever since, and it's now available in quilt shops. We asked Greta to talk about her new fabric line and the inspiration behind it.

How did you come up with the idea for Lili-fied?
I am always following the trends for fashion and home furnishings. I love to merge the two together. I was inspired by the color feeling and pattern play of  70's fashion designers. Maria Kalinowski (of Kanvas) and I always love to brainstorm and come up with new themes and ideas, and this was definitely a theme I wanted to do.

Tell us about the color palettes you chose.
I  used two different color stories of bright, fresh and clean colors for this collection. The first uses pinks, fuchsia, orange and an accent of green. I mixed these colors with white to give it a modern look. For the second color story I went for a cool feeling, using turquoise, aqua, blue and lime.

What is your favorite print in the collection?
My favorite print would have to be Bella Flora. It is a large scale floral design with a geometric element added in. It's my favorite because it is very versatile. 
When I was designing the line I pictured quilters and home sewers using it in many different ways. It mixes fashion, home furnishings and quilting, for example:  We made a dress out of it and we used it on the walls of our booth at Quilt Market. 

Bella Flora, one of the prints in Lili-fied,
was the backdrop of the Kanvas booth at Quilt Market.

Which print design did you start with?

I started with Paisley Daze, it is a paisley patchwork and I designed the rest of the group around it.

What do you envision this collection being used for?

I pictured Lili-fied being used not only in quilting, but I could see it being used to make dresses, accessories, beach bags and children's clothing, bedding, etc...endless possibilities.

Lili-fied in pillows!

Are you falling in love with Lili-fied? Wait until you see the free quilt patterns on our website. 
Use one color story at a time in a modern quilt, "Pixie Dust" designed by Stitched Together Studios.

Or mix the two palettes in "Royal Picadilly," designed by Diane Nagle.

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