Fall Quilt Market 2016

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Hi guys!  I’m sorry to say this is a quick recap of a post I wrote a couple of weeks ago.  We had some major tech issues here and had to do a blog restore and I lost all the data for the past couple months.  Tears.  Just trying to recap here so you don’t miss anything!  

Well, Fall Quilt Quilt Market came and went in a blink of an eye once again and I’m just now getting to sharing my new things on the blog.  So without further ado here is Nordic Holiday, my new line for Benartex…

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Some “Nordic Holiday” prints

 

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And more Nordic Holiday prints…

Our Contempo booth won second place!  You can see it below. Cherry Guidry’s Mulberry Lane is on the left of the tree and my Nordic Holiday line is on the right.)

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The Contempo booth at Quilt Market

And here are close-ups of the prints in the collection – my favorite thing about them is that they are more of winter focus, so can be kept out all winter long.  I’m so excited to see what you guys sew with them!  (And please don’t forget to tag me on so that I can see them @amandamurphydesign on Instagram!)

The quilt that inspired the collection was my Nordic Row Sampler.  The Nordic Row Sampler is shown hanging is in red and aqua. There is a red and green version too. This quilt pieced entirely from strip sets! 

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“Nordic Row Sampler”

I wanted my other large quilt to be quite different.  Here is a softer Starry Night Starry Night in blues and greens. Matching runner and placemat directions are included in the pattern.  

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“Starry Night”

Next up is Northern Lights… a set of minis similar to my pattern that can also be finished as pillows.

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“Northern Lights”

And Starstruck is back, making an encore appearance because the graphic stars make this 2-1/2” strip quilt just perfect for this collection.

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“Starstruck”, surrounded by pillows made from Nordic Row Sampler blocks.

We made Christmas ornaments in our hotel room the night before.  These were super easy!   Just take an embroidery hoop and remove the screw, spray the outer hoop white, put the screw back in and insert batting and fabric.  Then trim the fabric flush with the back of the hoop.

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Patterns will come as soon as yardage is here so everything can be proofed.  Northern Lights and Starstruck are already at the printer and the larger project directions will ship in first quarter of next year.  The Nordic Holiday fabric line ships in April and the embroidery collection is already here and can be ordered at your local shop.  

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Some Nordic Holiday embroidery designs, available from OESD.

 

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More Nordic Holiday embroidery designs, available from OESD.

If you love the line please ask them to order it from Contempo, by Benartex.  Thanks, guys!

Happy quilting!

Amanda

 

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Sewing Room Sampler Accessory Finishing Instructions

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Hi everyone!

Well, I finally finished the alternate finishing instructions if you are interested in finishing the Sewing Room Sampler blocks (featuring my Sewing Room line for Benartex/Contempo) as accessories and they can be delivered to your inbox by clicking the links on my downloads page.  The finishing instructions are free but to make the blocks you’ll need to purchase the sampler instructions at your local shop or here.

So without further ado, these are the accessories…

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Month 6: Sewing Machine Cover

 

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Month 5: Hanging Organizer

 

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Month 4: Cutting Mat Carrier

 

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Month 4: Cutting Mat Carrier (interior)
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Month 3: Ironing Board Cover

 

Month 2: Thread Bin
Month 2: Thread Bin

 

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Month 1: Button Pillow

Have a lovely week and happy quilting!

Amanda

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Sewing Room Fabric-Trimmed Towels – Complimentary Tutorial

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Hi everyone,

I hope you have been having a lovely Labor Day weekend.  I’ve been trying to catch up on things over the past couple of days and one of the things I’ve been wanting to do is write up a tutorial for how to make these simple, fabric-trimmed files featuring my Sewing Room collection for Benartex and my coordinating embroidery collection for OESD.  Of course, these instructions will work for any collection/fabric combination, but these are near and dear to my heart, of course!

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These make great fits for your sewing friends and are really simple to make.  Ready to get started?  (There is a PDF link at the bottom of this post for your convenience.)

You’ll need:

  • Dish Towel – I like ones with a smooth texture so that the embroidery pops!  I got mine from a great store in Brentwood, TN called BERNINA Sewing Machine Station.
  • Fabric Trim – 1 fat quarter or even less (see instructions below)
  • Stabilizer – Cut-away for a lightweight towel or tear-away for a heavier weight towel
  • Cotton Thread 50 wt. to match fabric
  • Edgestitching Foot – Optional but highly recommended
  • Embroidery Thread and Temporary Spray Adhesive.

Preparing the Fabric Trim

Wash and dry your towel as you would for every day use. Press well. Measure your towel. (After washing mine was about 17-1/2’’ x 25-1/2’’.)

Decide how wide you would like the band of fabric trim to be. (In these examples mine were 3’’ wide.) Multiply this width times 2 and add in 1/2’’ for seam allowance. This measurement will be the height of the fabric rectangle. Add 1’’ to the width of the towel width. This measurement will be the width of the fabric rectangle. Cut the fabric rectangle using the measurements above.. (My fabric rectangles were 18-1/2’’ s 6-1/2’’.) If you have a directional fabric, make sure to orient it when cutting in the manner you like best. Join the long edges of the fabric rectangle right sides together using a 1/4’’ seam allowance and back-stitching at each end. Press the seam open. Turn the tube right side out and press again so that the seam is centered somewhere on the back of the strip and the motifs you like best are in the front.

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Embroidery

Next, prepare your towel for embroidery by marking the embroidery’s center point. In this example, I placed three of the Sewing Room dress embroideries side by side on my BERNINA 780, spacing them evenly. Converting the mm size given to inches I found that my embroideries would measure approximately 6-1/2’’ in width x 3-1/2’’ in height. To find the vertical center of the embroideries on the towel, divide their height in half and add in the height of your fabric band (shown by the white dashed line below) and 1-1/2’’ of buffer space (shown by the green dashed line below). Use your quilting ruler to mark that measurement from the towels bottom edge (shown by the teal line below). You really don’t need to make the green or white lines – they are just shown for your information. Make the vertical center of the towel.

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Hoop your stabilizer. Spray the back of your towel with a bit of temporary spray adhesive and use the grid that came with your hoop to align the cross hairs you’ve drawn on the towel with the center of the hoop.

Attach the hoop onto the machine and make any necessary placement adjustments to make sure the cross hairs are right in the center of your design. Direct the machine to run a basting stitch around the design area and embroider a the Sewing Room design onto the towel.

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Unhoop and cut or tear away the stabilizer. If you used a water-soluble marking pen to mark the center be sure to remove the marks before ironing the towel!!! (Ask me how I know!)

Fabric Trim Application

Turn edges of the fabric trim tube in so that the tube exactly fits with width of the towel. Press. Pin onto the towel. Use an edge stitching or piping foot and matching thread to top-stitch the fabric trim to the bottom of the towel.

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edgestitch foot

That’s it! You can find a link to a PDF version of this tutorial right here or on my downloads page.

Have a lovely Labor Day!

Amanda

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