My Happy Place

Cherry Guidry has found her happy place...what's yours? 
Her new fabric line for Contempo is all about her sewing studio, and it's called, appropriately, My Happy Place. 

What inspired the idea for My Happy Place?

I created an exclusive class project a few years ago that was a little sewing machine. When I made it, I was wishing I had fabric that went with it and knew that one day, I wanted a sewing machine fabric line.

Can you walk us through the panel?

The panel is it’s own sewing studio. It’s great as a standalone quilt for your sewing space—you can just stitch it in the ditch and bind it and hang it in your sewing space. The aqua on the background is the exact color of the walls in my studio. I do love the little signs in the panel.

Tell us about the Sew Wordy print.

These squares are so fun! They’re 5”, so you can pair them with precuts to make a quick quilt, or you could make them into pincushions or mug rugs. They’re sewing sayings that you commonly see. One of my favorites is Thread Queen—I consider myself a thread queen. Whether I’m sewing or not, there’s always thread on me!

Let’s talk about the coordinates in the collection.

This little sewing machines are one of my favorites as well. So many of the elements in the panel are in the coordinates—machines, spools of thread, buttons. I love the stripe. I love using stripes, because they look great in borders and bindings, and this one includes little sayings as well.

The text print includes sewing wisdom words—I love text prints—and the little sewing machine. It comes in five different colors and white.

The larger button print was inspired by actual antique buttons, especially the one that looks like a pinwheel. The smaller button print is really cute, and looks like dots as well.

Click here to see the entire My Happy Place collection.
Click here to visit Cherry's website.

Stop back tomorrow for a virtual trunk show of Cherry's patterns! 

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Cat-I-Tude 2 Virtual Trunk Show

Cat-I-Tude 2: Purr-Fect Together made quite a splash at Quilt Market, and it's shipping to quilt stores now. Check out Ann's virtual quilt show for ideas on what to sew with these purr-fect prints. 

The star of the show in the booth at Quilt Market: the paisley chair! The white pillow on the chair features designs from the upcoming OESD embroidery collection.

We loved Ann's jacket, made by Delberta Zimmerman using the Little Something Jacket pattern. She embellished it with cut out cats and hand painted gold scrolls. It's beautiful! (And check out the Oh My Stars! quilt in the background!)

Ready for some cat quilts? Here we go!

Oh My Stars!

"There are actually two different stars in this quilt--the purple star with the checkerboard through it and the larger white stars. And then of course the cat blocks. The three different values of blenders create a great gradation effect in the pieced border, which I love."

Click here for the Oh My Stars! kit.

Something Special
"This quilt features straight-line piecing that gives the illusion of circles. It uses a half-rectangle ruler in the secondary block. The border really showcases that wonderful stripe as well."

Click here for the Something Special kit. 

Afternoon Delight
"This is one of my most popular patterns, and it's perfect for use with the cat prints!" 

Click here to purchase the Afternoon Delight kit.

Free Fall
"Try out a bargello design with the various values of prints in Free Fall. These prints have so much movement, which definitely translates into the design. A great wall hanging!"

Click here to purchase the Free Fall kit.

Line Dance
"Line Dance combines fussy-cut cats with large squares of other cat prints and coordinates. This design is also really nice for showing off the paisley print and paisley border."

Click here to purchase the Line Dance kit.

Aristocrats
"This design is great for using the panel and surrounding it with pieced borders. Depending on how big you want the quilt, you can choose from a few different border options. It's classy and easy."

Click here to purchase the Aristocrats kit.

Did you see our interview with Ann about Cat-I-Tude 2? Click here to read it.
Click here to see the entire Cat-I-tude 2 collection.
Click here to visit Ann's website. 

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Cat-I-Tude 2: Purr-Fect Together

The cats are back! Cat-I-Tude was so popular that Ann Lauer created Cat-I-Tude 2: Purr-Fect Together. These cat prints prove that two heads are better than one! 

Like the original collection, Cat-I-tude 2 features stylized cats that look like painted porcelain. Keep reading as Ann walks us through the collection. 

This collection starts with a panel of different sized blocks.

Yes. This time there's an 18" square in the middle, which is great for bags, jackets and pillows. The four blocks around it work for 8", 9" or 10" squares like the first collection. There are gold scrolls around the cats, which creates a really delicate texture in the background.

Tell us about the large cats.

These cats have realistic poses like the first collection, and I love the two cats snuggling together. They're dsigned to fit a 9" or 10" block. So with a 12" cut of fabric, you'll get three different cats. There are six cats total. 

Are there more cats in this collection?

Yes--in addition to the panel and large cats, there are prints in multiple sizes.These Sweetheart cats are more portrait-like--they're such sweet, snuggly faces.

That paisley is fantastic!
Thanks! It has a great black and white check look in it, which makes it really playful. The paisley shows up again in the stripe, which is perfect for fussy cutting.

Can you tell us about the palette? 
It includes deeper reds, blues, and greens, along with the purple. The coordinates come in different values. There's the gold-accented paisley, and the squares on point, which also shows up in the background of some of the cat prints. The lightest coordinate is just outlines of the squares on point.

Later this week, we'll be sharing quilts and projects using Ann's Cat-I-Tude 2 collection. 

Click here to see the entire Cat-I-tude 2 collection.
Click here to visit Ann's website. 

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By Hand Design Challenge

Ready for a challenge? Amy Friend has paired up with Electric Quilt for a Design Challenge and Giveaway! Design a quilt using EQ software and Amy's By Hand collection. Submit it to the contest by November 30, 2018. You'll have a chance to win the fabrics to make your quilt and the EQ8 books! 

Create your quilt design using the digital swatches from By Hand:

Click here to read all the Design Challenge details.
Click here to see Amy's entire By Hand collection.

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Tour the Kanvas Booth: Quilt Market

Take a virtual tour of our booths at Quilt Market! Today we're sharing the Kanvas section of the booth. See the Benartex section here and the Contempo section here.

We can't wait to introduce Dragonfly Dance; gorgeously detailed insects, flowers, foliage and more.

Field of Dreams are floral prints at their best. Beautiful wildflowers and butterflies, bursting with realism.

Faboolous Fun - Be ready for next halloween with these spooktacular glow-in-the-dark prints!

Yellow, black and gray geometric and floral prints bring sheer elegance in the Limoncello collection.

Metallic Mixers is just what it sounds like: metallic basics with cream and white! You see gold below, but the collection also comes in silver. 

Our pearlescent prints have been so popular that we've created another collection. Pearl Essentials combines soft blue and yellow prints with a cool pearl effect. 

Check out the icy blues in our Winter's Pearl collection! 

Click here to see the Benartex section of our booth.
Click here to see the Contempo section of our booth.

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Tour the Contempo Booth: Quilt Market

Take a virtual tour of our booths at Quilt Market! Today we're sharing the Contempo section of the booth; next up will be Kanvas. See the Benartex section here.

Amanda's Jubilee collection, celebrating Bernina's 125th anniversary.

Amanda's been busy! Her second Market collection is Thankful.

And a preview for next holiday season (available in shops in spring): Amanda's Christmas Magic collection.

Amanda stands between her fall and holiday collections.

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We can't wait to touch the new collection from Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr of Modern Quilt Studio: Warp & Weft Premium Yarn Dyes.

Bill is sporting a bowtie made from his fabric.

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Sew much sewing machine fun in Cherry Guidry's new My Happy Place collection!

My Happy Place quilts.

Cherry's second collection from Market is Hearty the Snowman (also available in spring).

See the stuffed "Hearty" behind Cherry?

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These bright quilts are made from Christa Watson's new collection, Abstract Garden. 

Check out her coordinating apron!

Click here to see the Benartex section of our booth.

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Tour the Benartex Booth: Quilt Market

Take a virtual tour of our booths at Quilt Market! Today we're sharing the Benartex section of the booth; next up will be Contempo and Kanvas. 

We're celebrating 20 years of Paula Nadelstern fabric design! The booth highlighted her new collection, More is More, along with a retrospective of all of her fabric lines.

Thank you, Paula, for 20 years of gorgeous fabric!

A gallery of square quilts made by various designers using Paula's fabric:

An advent calendar with gorgeously detailed ornaments counting down each day.

Fabric and beaded spheres, as well as a dimensional star from Indygo Junction.

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Next up is Nancy Halvorsen's new collection, Home Grown. It includes a panel ready for fussy cutting and plenty of Nancy's whimsical applique designs.

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Ann Lauer brings the cats back with Cat-I-Tude 2: Purr-Fect Together.

She's wearing a jacket made with Cat-I-Tude 2 prints!

Fussy cut cats alternate with star blocks.

We love the furniture!

And a tote bag:

Take a sneak peek at Jackie Robinson's new Christmas collection, A Festive Season 3.

We hope you enjoyed seeing the quilts featured in the Benartex section of our booth. Tomorrow we'll be sharing the Contempo booth, and then the Kanvas booth on Sunday.

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