LMS

It’s not very often that I choose to work (or get to work with such a non-girly palette).  These are solids from my stash–I’m not sure what they all are–I’ve got Art Gallery solids, Amy Butler Solids, Kona & Bella all mixed in there.  I can tell you that the 2nd from the bottom solid is a Moda Bella solid–I think it might be my favorite aqua ever!–It’s a soft eggshell aqua that I dearly love.

Feathers are all the rage right now & I’ve had this quilt on the back burner for awhile now.  The pattern is one I drafted–an easy little paper pieced number.

I have another fun little paper pieced block that I’ll be adding to my cute little feathers.  These little blocks are the perfect rainy Monday project!

What’s on your agenda for today?

Picture Courtesy of P&B Textiles

I have been working on a big project which is going to be keeping me very busy for the next several months.  However, I did want to pop in and share my Irish Dreams quilt design for P&B Textiles to showcase their Daydreams line of fabric.  This is another free pattern available on their website here.

This quilt, although it has a lot of 2″ pieces, it comes together somewhat quickly–I use the term somewhat rather loosely…although it does go quicker than you might think.  The quilt top is made up of 9 22″ triple irish chain blocks and then the borders….see, 9 blocks isn’t so bad, right! =)

Here it is pictured in Lilly Belle by Bari J. Ackerman for Art Gallery Fabrics.  I love this line of fabric and I am totally going to have to break down and purchase some!

I hope that you have all been able to enjoy the beginning of fall!

After my post yesterday, I had a number of questions about the differences in solids.  With so many choices it can sometimes be overwhelming to decide on the best course of action when choosing a solid..do you go for the perfect color, weight, manufacturer?  Where to start!

I certainly haven’t worked with all of the solids on the market but, I have worked with a lot of them and here are my thoughts.

I’m gonna start with Kona Cotton Solids.

With 243 different colors available, Robert Kaufman’s Kona Cottons certainly has the most color options.  And you may have seen the new Kona Cotton book just released by Stash books:

Robert Kaufman is also releasing a special Bounty of Basics bundle featuring all of the solids used in the new book…pretty cool.

So, aside from the myriad of color choices, what makes Kona Cottons so special?  For me, the pull is definitely in the number of colors available.  I like the color graduations offered–solids with fewer colors available don’t offer the same small jumps in color graduation.  Having small changes in color makes it easier to get that perfect shade that I’m looking for.  Kona Cotton Solids are easy to find online & the color cards are now much easier to purchase than they have been in the past–I highly recommend color cards!  I always keep on hand Kona Cotton in White and Kona Cotton in Snow–I purchase several yards of each during my LQS’s sales.

If you are unfamiliar with Kona Snow, it is that perfect shade of Creamy White–no starkness as with White, but not ivory enough to be off white or cream.  I used Kona snow in these projects:

Now, the not so good thing about Kona Cottons Solids…the dye lots can vary.  I’ve noticed this especially with the darker colors, greys for instance.  So you want to make sure to purchase in the quantities you need.  I’ve never had any trouble with Kona Snow which I purchase a ton of at different times but I have with several greys.

Now, onto Moda Bella Solids. 

I love working with Bella Solids!  Weightwise, they are similiar to Kona Cottons–the Bella Solids are just a bit more lightweight and slightly silkier.

Bella Solids are offered in 157 different colors.

My absolute favorite thing about Bella Solids is that they coordinate perfectly with Moda’s lines of fabric.

This is a screen shot of the Vintage Modern PDF of fabric swatches available online.  Do you see the solids listed on the left?–Those are the solids which perfectly match Vintage Modern.  No need to match them yourself–purchase any of those and they are sure to match–this is especially handy if you are purchasing fabrics online.  Moda has started listing the coordinating solids on all of their online swatch pages….very handy!  If you are working with Moda fabrics you are always going to have a great coordinating solid.

RJR Cotton Supreme Solids

I’ve been working with RJR’s line of solids on several different projects recently.  The weight of these fabrics is beautiful–very similiar to Bella Solids–the RJR solids have a light sheen to them which is so pretty.  Both the Bella Solids and the RJR Solids are “drapier” than the Kona solids.

Cotton Supreme Solids are available in 156 colors.  41 of these colors are solids that coordinate with Robyn Pandolph’s lines of fabric for RJR.  The remaining 115 colors are wonderful–very warm shades which I am always drawn to–lots of sherbety goodness.

I hadn’t worked with Cotton Supreme Solids a lot previously but I will definitely be adding more into my stash of solids.  The weight/hand of these fabrics and the color choices available are wonderful.

Michael Miller Cotton Couture Solids

I just picked up a Cotton Couture Color Card a couple weeks ago which you may remember.

Cotton Couture Solids are lightweight and even more drapey than either the Cotton Supreme Solids or the Bella Solids.  If you have worked with Sandi Henderson’s Secret Garden Fabrics or even Art Gallery Fabrics, that is the weight of these solids.

Cotton Couture Solids come in 85 colors–and the colors are like a little jewelry box of shades.  I found a perfect Watermelon shade which I had been looking for–I love when I can find the color in my head translated onto fabric.

I haven’t had a chance to work with these solids that much.  I did use one of the shades of white for my French Roses Quilt:

The weight of that quilt is fantastic–Cotton Couture solids scream summer time.

FYI, Color Cards for Kona, Bella, & Cotton Couture can all be found at Fat Quarter Shop.

Art Gallery Pure Elements Solids

I love these solids!

These are lightweight solids just like the Cotton Couture Solids–very drapey–with a beautiful sheen.

They mix beautifully with the Art Gallery Prints and are of the same weight.  While, there are only 33 colors of Pure Elements Solids, the colors offered are fantastic–no primary colors–just beautiful jewel tones.

 Free Spirit also has a great line of solids.

This is a mix of Kona/Bella/Free Spirit Solids.

I haven’t used the Free Spirit solids as often as the other solids.  But, they are equally great and have 100 different colors to choose from.  These solids will coordinate with many of your favorite Free Spirit lines of fabric.  Hawthorne Threads carries a color card of these solids.

Whew!  I hope that answers some of your questions about solids!  These are the solids that I use most often.  I’ve been very happy with all of them.  With the rise of solids being used in quilts(as opposed to tone on tones) I am sure that we will be seeing larger solids collections and more fabric companies expanding the solids offered.  The right solid color choice can certainly make or break your quilt so I really can’t say enough about purchasing the color cards available.  It makes choosing the right solid so much easier!

I am so excited to finally be able to share with you my Triangle Toss Quilt in McCall’s Quilting May/June 2012 issue.  I thoroughly love this quilt. =)  Don’t be intimidated by all of those triangles–this quilt comes together very easily.

For my Triangle Toss Quilt I used a fun mix of Art Gallery Pure Elements fabrics.  Now, I know that you have heard me wax poetic about these solids before, but seriously guys…they are amazing…the hand, the depth of color…I could go on.

Photo Courtesy of McCalls Quilting

 Angela quilted this quilt for me and she did another amazing job!

 The pattern is available in the issue just now hitting stores–the May/June 2012 issue.  Kits for this quilt are also available here.

I have had such fun playing with Pat Bravo’s new Summerlove collection.  This summer-like week was the perfect time to work with these beautiful fabrics.  I moved my sewing machine beside my porch doors and opened them wide and all that fresh warm spring air breezed on by as I was sewing….cheesy, I know, but it really was a great sewing day. =)

I received this wonderful stack of fabric to play with from–the fabrics are Summerlove, new Pure Elements, new Oval Elements–all Art Gallery Fabrics.  This fabric:

along with the fabulous way Art Gallery Displays the pictures of their fabric lines was the basis for my quilt design.

I chose 12 of my favorite prints from Summerlove and added in two Oval Elements prints to make this quilt which features {12} 16″ appliqued blocks.

I used Superior MonoPoly invisible thread for the straight stitch raw edge applique.  This was the first time I used invisible thread for applique–I am happy with the results.  I opted not to use it in my bobbin–which worked fine–I found I didn’t even need to adjust my tension.

Summerlove should be hitting stores any day now–I noticed both Fat Quarter Shop & Hawthorne Threads will be getting in yardage of this line.

Yesterday, my mom and I made the trek to Fabric Shack.  It’s almost 3 hours from my house, a bit of a drive, but well worth it in my opinion if you love fabric.  My goal when I left yesterday was to stay under $50–that’s not to say I wouldn’t have gone over my budget if I “needed” to, but I was really hoping to stay under that number…and I did. =)  And I still ended up with a great bundle of fabrics.

Echo Fabrics

I picked up my favorite Echo prints (I already have the other mustard “dandelion” print).  I really like all of the prints in this line but, realistically, because of their larger scale I knew they weren’t going to be ones I was reaching for no matter how pretty they are.  So, I talked myself down. =p

Dear Stella--Yard Sale

I’ve had my eye on this Dear Stella print since it came out–I think it’ll mix perfectly with my vintage sheets.

Half Moon Modern

I picked up my favorites from the Half Moon Modern line of fabric.  Again, I stuck with the smaller scale prints–I adore those leafy prints–totally my favorites from the whole line.  The more quilts I make, the more I realize I am reaching for the blender prints–those that can be mixed well with many other fabrics–they might not have the initial panache that a large scale fabric has  but their versatility really makes them my go to fabrics.

Bespoken Fabric

And lastly, I picked up some fabric from Art Gallery’s Bespoken line.  I purchased it thinking how great it will work as binding–I do love a striped binding & this is a palette I work with quite a bit.

And, I made it home in time to enjoy some Skip-bo action with Chloe–I might add my day began with a rowsing game of Skip-bo as well. =p

I finished up my Art Gallery Project Linus quilt.  I used a soft fleece to back the quilt with which makes it super cozy.  As I’ve mentioned before using fleece to back with is one of my current favorite things to use–it’s cozier and not quite as stiff as using batting/cotton backing.  When I use fleece I forgo the batting.

Elonie is a big fan of the fleece–perfect for her date with mommy’s ipod.  On that note, am I the only mommy whose 3 year old wants to use the ipod more often than I do? =p  I don’t know how much she would use it if I didn’t limit her ipod time!

I stippled this quilt which I gotta say I wouldn’t do again with the fleece backing.  Because the fleece is slightly stretchy, stippling just didn’t work as well as I had hoped–it was very difficult to keep a consistent movement–straight line quilting is definitely the way to go(which I’ve done before with fleece and had no trouble).  And I finished it off with a white binding–I think it frames all the bright colors perfectly and it ties in the small bits of white within the quilt.

Now I just need to drop off the quilt at my local Project Linus site.  I’m lucky to have two different quilt shops within 5 miles that are both Project Linus drop off sites.  What a fun project–thanks so much to Pat of Art Gallery fabrics for putting together such a wonderful event!

What looked like this last Wednesday:

is now a completed quilt top. 

The fabrics are all Art Gallery Fabrics and were sent to me by Pat Bravo herself from her amazing scraps and I made it to benefit Project Linus.  I used my Go! Baby to cut the scrap squares into 5″ and 2.5″ squares.  I rotary cut the white 3″ squares(these became the skinny white strips).  And I put my sister Monica and her boyfriend to work on Thanksgiving  marking diagonal lines on the reverse of the smaller squares & my mom did a bit of the sewing on Thursday as well.  I finished up the sewing/pressing/cutting on Friday and Saturday & assembled the quilt yesterday.

When I originally received Pat’s scraps I divided them into 3 different color stories but in the end I decided to use them altogether in a colorful scrap quilt.  For those of you unfamiliar with Project Linus, it’s a charity organization that donates quilts/blankets to children in hospitals.  This quilt is sure to brighten up any hospital room.

When I was designing this quilt I decided to go with X’s & O’s because I wanted a Hugs & Kisses Quilt–I think this fits the bill perfectly.

X Marks the Goose Scrap Winner:

Pillow Winner Fabric Stack

I loved reading all of the entries for my pillow giveaway–Man are you guys creative!  There were so many entries that were just fantastic and it was hard to narrow it down to just one.  However, one entry really inspired me.  I have chosen the fabrics for the pillow–I “had” to order some of Tula Pink’s Prince Charming fabrics for this pillow and they just arrived today (Randi has super fast shipping–thanks Randi!!).  I paired up the prints that I ordered with other fabrics from my stash and came up with the cheery bundle above.  So, do these fabrics fit your entry?….Could the pillow be for you?…You’ll just have to wait and see! =)

I also pulled some fabrics for another tutorial that I plan to work on–I’m still tweaking it–I think it needs a bit more aqua?–and maybe some more grey to tone down the “Christmasy” feel.

An upcoming tutorial

Seeing it there on the computer screen it really does scream Christmas to me. 

A little tip:  If you are ever unsure of how a stack of fabric mixes, take a picture and look at it on your computer screen–you get a different perspective that you don’t get when you see it in person.  I don’t know how many times I have snapped a picture of a stack of fabric and then changed things around after seeing it on the computer–it really does help to get that 2nd perspective. =)

Coquette by Patricia Bravo on Left & Bonjour by Diane Kappa on Right

I have been anxiously awaiting Patricia Bravo’s new line Coquette for awhile–I was pumped to see that Hawthorne Threads had gotten it in.  I’d also been wanting a couple prints from Bonjour so I picked those up at the same time.  I had a great mail day yesterday! =)