A tale of two fat quarter bundles

Recently, while working on some Farmer's Wife Sampler quilt blocks (note to self: share pictures of new blocks on blog soon!), I pulled together some small bundles of fabric and immediately fell in love with the color combinations. Both began with some favorite prints from the Terrain (Kate Spain) and Prince Charming (Tula Pink) collections.

The first bundle combined shades of blue, red, and purple, resulting in what I believe to be a very rich and warm palette.

Here's the Farmer's Wife block I made from the bundle:

Block #4, "Basket Weave"

The second assortment was a bit more unusual and unexpected. One of the colorways of Prince Charming features gorgeous tones of teal and honey. I paired them with another of Kate Spain's leaf prints and another shade of houndstooth. The solid was a complete fluke, but I love the earthy stone color that somehow grounds the palette.

I even made mention of this color combination over on the GenQ blog today!

Here's the Farmer's Wife block I made with this bundle:

Block #73, "Rainbow Flowers"

Well, after making both blocks, I was still itchy. I wanted to play with these fabric bundles even more. It just so happens we were working on issue 7 of Fat Quarterly at the time, and I decided to draw up a pair of mini quilt patterns to showcase the fabric assortments. After all, the entire issue is all about color! I decided to name my project "Duet".

Issue 7 of Fat Quarterly, the color issue, is now available for purchase.

HIJACKED!! Sew to Swap Blog Swap

Oh no -- my blog's been hijacked! Actually, I'm just swapping blog posts today with my friend & fellow blogger Heather; read on to find out why we're swapping today ...

--

hey there kids! my name is Heather or { House } of A La Mode or trouble maker or one of Johnny's partner's in crime, you can decide! ;) we did a little project together last year that has just recently been published and released for your buying pleasure...

Sew to Swap by Chrissie Grace

(ps ... F+W Media is offering to any of our blog readers a special discount during the blog tour if you'd like to purchase the book. Just use promo code SEW2SWAP to get the book for $14.99 -- that's $10 off of the cover price.)

we thought we'd be clever and swap blogs, since this was a book about friends, swaps & swapping! are you amazed yet...??? yeah... we are really THAT good! LOL

me & johnny boy at quilt market, houston 2010

You can check out all our other fabulous friends that contributed to this book here!! It was quite the party!

November 7 - Lovely Little Handmades

November 8 - Stitches & Scissors

November 9 - Cluck Cluck Sew

November 10 - My Three Sons

November 11 - Twin Fibers

November 12 - Stitchy Quilt Stuff

November 13 - The Creative Juices of Ariel

November 14 - Texas Freckles

November 15 - Quilt Dad <----- YOU ARE HERE!

November 16 - Artsy-Craftsy Babe

November 17 - Little Miss Shabby

November 18 - A Cuppa and a Catch Up

November 19 - A Quilt is Nice

November 20 - A Little Sweetness

November 21 - { House } of A La Mode <----- You may find John here. Just sayin'.

November 22 - I’m Just a Guy Who Quilts

November 23 - Little Bit Funky

November 27 - In His Grace

Thanks John for letting me come by your blog for a visit!! :)

X, Heather

Desperate Housewife's Quilt | SpinOut Block Tutorial

Welcome to all of the Desperate Housewives!

Today I'm offering up a block tutorial as a guest blogger in QuiltJane's Desperate Housewife's Quilt project. Unfamiliar with the Desperate Housewife's Quilt? Jane is offering 100 8" block tutorials -- 50 of her own + 50 from guest bloggers -- over the course of 50 weeks. Quilters from around the world can choose to make all -- or just some -- of the many blocks. It's shaping up to be a wonderful resource for a wide variety of quilt block designs.

I'm calling my block SpinOut, and I made mine with two prints from Sarah Fielke's new line for Lecien Fabrics, St. Ives, along with a buttery yellow Bella solid. Ready to get started?

• From a solid background fabric, cut 4 - 2 1/2" squares and 2 - 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangles.

• From print 1, cut 4 - 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangles.
• From print 2, cut 4 - 2 1/2" squares.

• Place a solid square atop the right side of a print 1 rectangle with edges aligned as shown above. Stitch a line from the top left corner to the bottom right corner of the solid square, as shown. (If you prefer, you can first draw a faint pencil line from corner to corner to ensure a straight seam.)
• Repeat with your remaining print 1 rectangles and solid squares.

• Trim the corners off of your sewn units, leaving a 1/4" seam allowance. Press your seam towards the solid square. Repeat for all 4 units.

• Set these units aside.
• Repeat these same steps, but with your solid color rectangles and print 2 squares.

• Pair each of your print 1 rectangle units with a solid color rectangle unit. Sew the units together as shown above, creating the four quadrants of your block.

• Lay out your four quadrants and sew together as shown above, first creating the top half and then the bottom half of your block, and then sewing the two halves together.
• Press well and square up to 8.5".

I hope you enjoyed the SpinOut block pattern! If you make one, I'd love to see it. Be sure to add it to my Quilt Dad is my Homeboy Flickr group.

Pooches & Pickups Winner

Congratulations to the winner of the Pooches & Pickups fat quarter bundle! Special thanks to Laurie Wisbrun and Robert Kaufman fabrics for providing the prize.

The winner is #54, Reen, who blogs at Laney Family Crafts.

Reen said... 54

I have two grandsons who would love these fabrics! I like the gray/blue/green combination and would add a stripe, and a "green light" block to your darling quilt.

October 25, 2011 10:49 AM

Congratulations! I'll look forward to seeing what you make for your grandsons! Please contact me with your mailing address and I'll get your prize out to you ASAP.

Hope you're all having a fantastic day!

Quiltmaker 100 Blocks Blog Tour

I'm so excited to share the news that one of my original block designs is featured in the newest issue of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks from today's top designers magazine! I've been a loyal customer of this magazine since its first issue because of the many unique and interesting block designs that it offers. Not only would each block make for a spectacular quilt on its own, but the magazine is perfect for someone like me who participates in a lot of online quilting bees and block swaps, because it really broadens your options for fun & interesting quilt block designs.


It completely made my day when I saw the cover of the magazine because, not only is my block included inside, but it even appears on the cover!! If you look at the image above, it's the first block in the second row of 4 blocks (right under the colorful "x"-looking block.)

Here's a better photo of my block:


It's a pretty simple block to construct but creates a really cool graphic effect, especially when you start to play with light and dark tones to create contrast and shadow-like effects. I also love that it can be oriented either vertically or horizontally, and pieced in rows or columns. It's also a great block to show off some favorite prints. (And for those of you who think it looks a little familiar ... it was the process of designing this block that inspired my Ziggity Mug Rug -- a nod to how versatile this design can be.)

For my block, I used an interesting Asian-inspired line called Olympus by Clothworks. You can't really tell from the picture, but many of these prints also have a lot of texture to them, with raised stitches and interesting weaves. I'm currently making a full quilt inspired by my block -- stay tuned for that soon.

To celebrate my first (but hopefully not last) entry into Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks magazine, I'm sending a copy of issue 4 to one Quilt Dad reader. Simply leave a comment on this post and let me know if you've purchased an earlier issue of 100 Blocks and where / how you've used the block patterns. I'm looking forward to seeing some inspirational photos!

August & September Quilting Bee Blocks

It's been a while since I blogged about the bee blocks I've been making over the past couple of months. October's will be posted soon -- I'm still working on hand sewing some hexagons, which isn't really my forte -- but in the meantime, let's catch up on August & September!

August was Amy's month in the Bee Tweet group, and she helped us all get into the holiday spirit a bit early by requesting Christmas-themed blocks. One of the ideas on Amy's wish list for a block was little Christmas houses, and I was more than happy to oblige:

The August block for the Comfort circle over in the do. Good Stitches charity bee was the Greek Cross block, made in blues, greens, and greys. Here are the two I made:

Back in the Bee Tweet group, Rachel sent out her stash of Bliss and requested log cabin / square-in-square blocks -- my favorite! I was able to make two blocks for Rachel, though the second block is shy just one log on the bottom to make it square:

And finally, Jennifer coordinated September's do. Good Stitches quilt and requested blocks made from Alissa's fantastic tutorial for July in the Modern Block of the Month, found on Sew Mama Sew! Because Jennifer was making two small quilts -- one for a boy and one for a girl -- she requested one block in pink, orange, and yellow, and the other in blue, green, and grey:

These blocks look really warped in the photo, but I promise they were straight and square!

Have you guys been having fun in your quilting bees lately?

Back from market

So, I'm back from market a week now, and with being thrown right into a crazy (rainy) Halloween with the kids and then a crazy work week at the day job, I haven't had time to stop for a moment and even think about it, much less blog about it.

And here's the thing: I didn't take any pictures. Not a single one. I didn't even bring my camera. Go ahead, call for my blogger card to be revoked.

That's OK though, because Katy is doing a FABULOUS job blogging all about Quilt Market. Besides, she's cooler, smarter, and wittier than I am -- not to mention her kick-ass camera that takes way better pictures than mine -- so her posts are sure to be more entertaining than anything I could write. And since she and I were pretty much joined at the hip (along with our other Fat Quarterly partner in crime, Tacha), Katy's stories and observations are pretty much the same things that I would write anyway.

So go ahead, check out Katy's posts -- it'll be like you were there, hanging out with us the whole time:

quilt market - schoolhouse sessions

quilt market - the booths (part one)

quilt market - the booths (part two)

quilt market - the booths (part three)

... with more to come, I believe.

I will leave you all with a picture of something I was able to grab at sample spree. My bags came home noticeably lighter than from prior markets -- my stash simply can't handle much more until I actually start sewing with some of what I have -- but I couldn't resist this fat quarter bundle of Salt Air, a new fabric collection by Cosmo Cricket for Moda. I love it. I really, really do.

Here is a picture of some of the quilts that Moda had hanging in their booth, made from the line:

Photo by Katy, of course.

My only other acquisition from sample spree was a fat eighth bundle of Aneela's new line, A Walk in the Woods. It's fantastic. Foxes -- gah! Photos soon.