Rubans pour les cheveux

... which, thanks to the ever-trusty Google Translate tool and my online pal Cara (thanks, Cara!), I know means "hair ribbons".

It's also the name I decided to give the quilt I designed and made using Tula Pink's new line, Parisville. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Allow me to step back a few months ...

Back in August, I was asked by Tula herself and the nice people at Free Spirit / Westminster if I would be interested in designing and making a quilt featuring the Parisville line. The quilt would hang at Quilt Market in Houston to showcase the line, and the pattern would be made available as a free pattern to accompany the line on the Free Spirit site.

It took me all of about two seconds (just enough time to pick my jaw up off of the floor) to say "yes!" A chance to play with the as-yet unreleased Parisville? And have something actually on display at market?! Duh.

My mind began thinking of a bunch of different directions I could go in with my design. I was a bit overwhelmed and anxious about it, to be honest. It wasn't until I actually spoke to Tula on the phone about the project that my idea really started to come together. You see, she told me a little more about the line itself and her thinking and design process in pulling it all together. The thing that stuck most in my mind was a single comment that Tula said: "it's really ALL about the hair."

Hence, an idea was born -- a quilt pattern depicting hair ribbons & bows! Hey, I thought it had more mass appeal than my other idea: a quilt featuring guillotines in honor of Marie Antoinette. I wasn't sure how that would go over with the quilt market crowd. (Tula, I'm still going to make you a mini quilt based on that idea!)

I sketched out some ideas on graph paper, and realized that the ribbons could be assembled from some of the most basic of quilt blocks: simple squares and rectangles, half-square triangles, and flying geese.

By this point I had the precious cuts of fabric in hand and headed over to my local shop (Wish Upon a Quilt) to pick out some coordinating fabrics. (Here's a tip for anyone who has purchased the Mist colorway: the Free Spirit solids in ICE, ORCHID, CREAM, & OLIVE (an Amy Butler solid) coordinate wonderfully with the prints. I can provide the FS#'s if you want them.) I couldn't decide on a single solid to use, so I decided to use all of them. I created a rugby stripe-like effect with the four different colors.

And here are some photos that I took along the way ...

A close-up of some of the ribbons (and a hair bow!) after I had finished piecing the top:

The entire quilt top laid out on my living room rug:

Here's a shot taken on my back deck in the sun. The quilt had just come home from the quilter:

And now, some beauty shots of the quilting. Once again, I collaborated with Bethany (of bethanyquilts.com) to work on a design that would really highlight the quilt pattern and prints. Bethany really delivered the goods!

Bethany alternated between two different quilting designs -- one in the blue and cream layers, and one in the purple and green layers. They remind me of intricate lacework, and the dense quilting on the solid portions of the quilt really allowed the ribbons featuring Tula's masterful design work to pop.

Some more shots of the quilting ...

And what it was all leading up to ... on display at Quilt Market in Houston!!

I was so fortunate not only to have my quilt hanging at market, but to be able to attend and see it in person. It was really a big moment for me, for which I am very, very grateful.

The quilt was hanging in the Free Spirit / Westminster row, where the company reps were holding all of their customer meetings. Every new line was showcased by a single quilt.

By the way, I also designed and made a second quilt for market that was also hanging in this row! It was a last minute request because some yardage of David Walker's new line, "Baby Talk", had become available. Here's a picture of that quilt on display:

I'm calling this one "ABC Menagerie":

I'll post on that quilt separately, but let me just tell you -- the line features both unicorns and narwhals. That's a sure sign of a winner in my book.

But I digress. Back to my Parisville quilt ...

I received the most wonderful feedback on the quilt from Tula herself, the folks from Free Spirit / Westminster, and my many quilt market buddies. The one comment I heard over and over again was that it was just so original and "didn't look like anything else". And I take that as the highest compliment.

Neither of the two patterns ("Rubans de cheveux" nor "ABC Menagerie") have been posted to the Free Spirit site yet. I will be sure to let you all know when they do. Or, let me know if you see them first!

Here's a picture of me and the woman herself, Tula Pink. It was great to finally get to meet her in person after striking up an online friendship so long ago when I first posted my Full Moon Forest quilt blocks. I only wish we could have hung out more ... but there's always Salt Lake City!

Tula's booth at market was absolutely stunning, and I am ecstatic that Parisville is finally hitting the stores so that all of you can have as much fun playing with it as I did.

And no post about Tula would be complete without a picture of my puppy (also named Tula!) She's getting SO big -- way bigger than I ever expected her to get. She's a GREAT dog. We really lucked out.