Changing Lanes: A Dreamscape quilt

We all love a gorgeous quilt where the fabric does all the work! The Changing Lanes quilt, designed by Stephanie Sheridan of Stitched Together Studios, uses a cool palette of our Dreamscape collection in a simple yet stunning design. The Changing Lanes quilt is featured in the April/May 2017 issue of McCall's Quick Quilts. Read on to learn more about it.

"Changing Lanes" by Stephanie Sheridan; machine quilted by Linda Leathersich;
featured in McCall's Quick Quilts April/May 2017

What attracted you the Dreamscape collection?

I love the soft mottled quality of this line - all of the colors just flow and blend, and the actual fabric print is understated.

How did you choose your palette from the wide variety of colors of the Dreamscape print?

Given the choice, I always tend towards a palette of cool ocean colors - blues, greens, turquoise, aqua and my personal favorite - purple! I actually also colored this design in a rainbow and a warm color version with Dreamscapes and a neutral color version using Nature'sPearl, but the cool colors became my favorite.

How did this design come to be?

My inspiration for this design concept was a bar code - I was thinking of it as a modern monochromatic quilt. When the editors asked me to try it out in colors I couldn't believe how great it looked!

Why does the Dreamscape line work well in this quilt?

First - it had the right amounts of lights and darks (you need 4 of each)! It also is a good blend-y line, so the colors are the star, rather than the actual fabric print. The flow of the fabric plays well with the straight lines of the design.

What do you like best about this quilt?

The way that the flow of the fabric design plays well with the straight lines of the quilt design.

Tell us about the quilting.

As always, Mom's quilting perfectly complements the quilt design. She used straight lines making open boxy shapes.

p.s. Lori Baker from McCall's shared a blog post about making the Changing Lanes quilt. She added rows to make it queen size, and created a beautiful pieced back. Click here to read her post. 

Click here to see the entire Dreamscape collection.

Click here to visit Stitched Together Studios' website.

Click here to find McCall's Quick Quilts.

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March Madness: Final Four, Game 2

Which quilts will be in the championship game? We need your vote! 

You can vote three different ways:

Leave a comment below with your votes for this game (choose Fortune or Vintage Tango). One comment per person, please. You can also vote a second time on our Facebook Group – Sew Interesting. And new, this round, you can vote a third time on Instagram. Leave a comment under the photo of the two quilts indicating which quilt you're voting for. 

Voting for these this game is open through Friday, March 31 at 9:29 am EDT.

Voting for this game is now closed. 
Watch for our Championship game announcement Friday at noon!

Today's game: 

Vintage Tango by Heidi Pridemore featuring Nature's Pearl

vs.

Fortune by Linda Leathersich and Stephanie Sheridan featuring Kismet

Happy voting!

Catch up on our bracket! 

Click here to see all of the quilts in the original Sweet Sixteen

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March Madness: Round 2, Day 3

Welcome to our Fan Favorite March Madness Bracket! 

Voting this week helps to narrow the Elite Eight to Final Four. 

Today's Game:
Voting for this game is now closed. 
Check back Monday to see our Final Four! 

Vintage Tango by Heidi Pridemore featuring Nature's Pearl

vs.

Capri by Linda Leathersich and Stephanie Sheridan featuring Chelsea

Remember, you can vote two different ways:

Leave a comment below with your votes for this game (choose Vintage Tango or Capri). One comment per person, please. You can also vote a second time on our Facebook Group – Sew Interesting. 

Voting for these this game is open through Thursday, March 23 at 9:29 am EDT.

Catch up on our bracket! 

Click here to find the original Sweet Sixteen and 

click here to find the Elite Eight. 

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March Madness: Round 1, Day 3

Welcome to Day 3 of our quilt-themed March Madness!

Here are today's games:
Voting for these games is now closed. 
Click here to find the Day 4 voting.

Game 1:

Vintage Tango by Heidi Pridemore featuring Nature's Pearl

vs. 

Simple Beauty by the Benartex Studio featuring Simply Chic

Game 2:

Shimmering Afterglow by Linda Leathersich and Stephanie Sheridan featuring Twilight

vs.

Capri by Linda Leathersich and Stephanie Sheridan featuring Chelsea

Leave a comment below with your votes for these two games (choose Vintage Tango or Simple Beauty for Game 1 AND Shimmering Afterglow or Capri for Game 2). One comment per person, please. You can also vote a second time on our Facebook Group – Sew Interesting and a third time on our Pinterest board. 

Voting for these two games is open through Thursday, March 16 at 11:59 am EDT.

Click here to see the entire Sweet Sixteen bracket.

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Introducing Modern by the Yard: Issue #3

Ready for some modern inspiration? Today we're launching the third issue of Modern by the Yard magazine. You can browse through this e-zine from the comfort of your own computer/tablet/smart phone, or you can download it to your device for easy reference whenever you like. We have four projects featuring some of our favorite modern lines, plus a bonus--Debby Kratovil shares the pattern for the wall quilt she made in her Modern with a Twist column! We've also included a gallery of fabric art from Paula Nadelstern, and a fabric gallery showing more new collections we think you'll love! 

To view the third issue, click the box below. 

We hope you enjoy every page! 

In case you missed our sneak peek on Friday, here's a look at some of the pages:

by Kristen Danis

Modern with a Twist column by Debby Kratovil

X Marks the Spot by Stephanie Kendron

Table Art by Jayne Willis

by Lisa Swenson Ruble

If you missed our first two issues, find #1 here and #2 here.


********************************************************
Thanks to everyone who followed along in our Dreamscape Block Blog Hop the last two weeks! Here are our randomly drawn winners:
Day 1: Rochelle
Day 2: OhioLori
Day 3: AmyScrapSpot
Day 4: Gene Black
Day 5: Miss Pat
Day 6: Sandy Allen
Day 7: BizyStitches

Winners, we are emailing you today for your mailing address. Congratulations!

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Mug Rug Blog Hop: Day 3

This week we're hosting the Mug Rug Blog Hop!
In celebration of fall, a season filled with mugs of apple cider, tea, and even hot cocoa, we have four different bloggers sharing a mug rug design they've created with one of our new fabric lines. 

BYOM (bring your own mug), but we'll provide the mug rug inspiration, as well as fabric giveaways! 

Today we're featuring the intriguing Nature's Pearl collection from Kanvas. These fabrics have pearlescent accents that create an almost luminous effect. They're gorgeous, and the prints are so fun to work with--dotted spirals, dandelion puffs, leaves and a wavy stripe. We're showing two different methods (fusible and topstitch) to make a similar looking mug rug that plays off of the soft, wavy designs that appear in the fabric. Enjoy the tutorial and at the bottom find out how you can enter to win a fat quarter bundle of Nature's Pearl. 

A look at the fabrics we're working with--a nice variety of values and prints

You'll need: 
2-5 fat quarters
12" square of black solid (for the fusible technique only)
Two 2-1/4" x 42" strips for binding
12" square of backing fabric
12" square of batting
Fusible web (for the fusible technique only)

Making Mug Rug #1 (fusible technique)
1. From each fat quarter, cut a 6" x 12" piece. Cut an equal number of 6" x 12" fusible web pieces. Apply the fusible web to the back side of each piece. 

2. Trim the black square to measure approximately 9-1/2" x 11-1/2" (our finished mug rug is 8-1/2" x 10-1/2"; if you'd like yours to be smaller, start with a smaller black piece that is approximately 1" larger than your desired finished size).

3. With your rotary cutter, freehand cut gentle curved strips from the fused fabric pieces. Try to vary the shape of the curves and the width of the strips. You'll want between 8-12 strips total. Cut one strip with a straight edge to position at the bottom of the mug rug. 

4. Lay the first strip on the black background. 

5. Begin adding additional strips, experimenting with placement. Don't fuse anything in place yet. 

6. Notice how we let the black background show through in places. 

7. When you are satisfied with your strip placement, fuse the strips in place. 

8. Layer the fused top, batting, and backing piece. Quilt as desired (we free motion quilted wavy lines). Try to stitch close to each raw edge to help secure. Trim to desired finished size.

9. Use the binding strips to find the mug rug. Enjoy!

Making Mug Rug #2: (topstitch technique)
1. Choose a fabric for the background and cut a 12" square. Cut 4" x 12" strips from the remaining fabrics. 
2. Layer a 6" x 12" strip under the bottom edge of the background fabric so the two overlap slightly. With your rotary cutter, freehand cut a gentle curve. Remove the two scrap pieces. 

3. Turn one of the cut pieces over and press the curved edge 1/4" to the wrong side. 

4. Pin in place on the background fabric, just above the cut curved line. Topstitch to secure. 

 5. In the same way, lay another strip on the background fabric, leaving a gap so the background shows through. Cut a wavy line, remove the scraps, and then press and stitch the new strip in place. 

6. Continue adding pieces in the same manner until you are satisfied with how it looks. 

7. Layer with backing and batting and quilt as desired. We quilted in wavy lines again. Trim to desired finished size. 

8. Bind and enjoy!

Both of these techniques are fun and easy and create a similar looking result. We made the first mug rug using a greater variety of fabrics so it has a scrappier appearance. For the second mug rug, we used only three fabrics. 

To be entered for a chance to win a fat quarter bundle of Nature's Pearl, leave a comment below telling us if you've ever sewn with curves before. Contest ends Sunday, October 23rd at 11:59 pm EST. 

Make sure to catch all of the tutorials in our Mug Rug Blog Hop!

Tuesday: Chris from made by ChrissieD featuring Sewing Room

Wednesday: Debby from Debby Kratovil Quilts featuring Wings

Thursday: Benartex blog design team featuring Nature's Pearl

Friday: Alison from Little Bunny Quilts featuring Kitchen Love

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It's Blog Hop Week!

Happy Monday! 

We have a full week here on the blog we hope you'll join us! 

This week we'll be hosting the Mug Rug Blog Hop.
In celebration of fall, a season filled with mugs of apple cider, tea, and even hot cocoa, we have four different bloggers sharing a mug rug design they've created with one of our new fabric lines. 

BYOM (bring your own mug), but we'll provide the mug rug inspiration, as well as fabric giveaways! 

Here's the schedule:
Tuesday: Chris from madebyChrissieD featuring Sewing Room
Wednesday: Debby from Debby Kratovil Quilts featuring Wings
Thursday: Benartex blog design team featuring Nature's Pearl
Friday: Alison from Little Bunny Quilts featuring Kitchen Love


Then on Wednesday, we'll have a second post, as we are thrilled to be part of the Piece for Shelter Pets blog hop, helping to promote October as National Adopt-a-Shelter-Dog Month. We'll also be sharing our new Joey the Shop Dog collection--Joey was rescued from a shelter and now happily spends his days in a quilt shop!

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Shimmer and glow with Nature's Pearl

Nature's Pearl--it's all in the name for this new collection from Kanvas. You need to see these fabrics in person to truly appreciate them. They have a sophisticated, pearlized effect, adding texture and shimmer to the designs. Swirls, dandelions, leaves and rings work together beautifully in a muted palette of grays, taupes, creams and blacks.

Use Nature's Pearl to create a subtle yet gorgeous tonal quilt like this "Vintage Tango" design, created by Heidi Pridemore.

Click here to download the free quilt pattern.

Click here to see the entire Nature's Pearl collection.
Click here to find the free quilt pattern.

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Quilt Market Booth Tour: Kanvas

Welcome to day 2 of our three-day Quilt Market booth tour. Last weekend, we were in Salt Lake City sharing our newest fabric collections from Benartex, Kanvas and Contempo with quilt shop owners. Now we're ready to give you a sneak peek so you know what to watch for (and ask for!) at your local quilt shops. 

Today we're taking you on a tour of the Kanvas section of our booth from Quilt Market! The Kanvas booth featured three lines: The Music in Me, Dance of the Dragonfly, and Nature's Pearl.

Here's a look at the entire Kanvas booth:

No, your eyes are not deceiving you! We had a baby grand piano in the booth! It was the perfect scene setter for The Music in Me collection. Prints include piano keys, musical notes, baby grands, and musical words and symbols, all in a classic black, beige and cream palette. 

Click here to see the entire The Music in Me collection.

Next up, the Dance of the Dragonfly collection (there's a sneak peek above in the quilt displayed on the piano!). Beautiful lavenders, greens, and blues, all with a delicate gold accent. The purple colorway is shown here in the booth. 

Dance of the Dragonfly mixed with Nature's Pearl in the background.

Love the detail of these 3-D dragonflies on a backdrop of Nature's Pearl collection quilts. 

Click here to see the entire Dance of the Dragonfly collection.

Lastly, here's the Nature's Pearl collection. Black, gray, and cream prints--dandelions, swirls, dots, leaves and circles--a beautifully subtle line with pearlized accents. 

This quilt echoes the dandelion prints from the collection:

(And check out the monochromatic pillows on the bench below.)

Closer detail on the quilt and the dimensional dandelion puffs, which are made from antique lace.

Fantastic detail on this artsy quilt! 

Click here to see the entire Nature's Pearl collection.

Click here to see the Contempo booth tour. 

Check back tomorrow, when we'll finish our Quilt Market booth tour. 

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