BERNINA University and NEW FABRIC Recap 2019!

Posted on June 26, 2019June 26, 2019 by Amanda Murphy — 2 Comments

Hi everyone,

Are you excited for some summer sewing? It has been SOOOO hard to keep secrets these last few months so thank goodness I can finally show what I have been working on. My newest fabric lines for Benartex and Contempo or Benartex were just featured at BERNINA University a week ago and I’m so excited to show you!

If you’d rather watch a video showing all the patterns and fabrics you can find one here:

Pictures speak louder than words so let’s get started! The new line inspired by the features of my favorite BERNINA machines is called “Celestial Lights”. It will start shipping in July and is beautifully printed by Benartex with details delineated in pearl inks.

There are a variety of shot-cotton prints perfect for embroidered embellishment, including a pearl-on-white not pictured here.

The first Celestial Lights pattern is called Stardust. It features twelve star embroideries – each with a different blackwork pattern – from the coordinating BERNINA-Exclusive Celestial Lights Collection. The Embroidery Collection also features the quilting files for this quilt digitized for both longarms and domestic embroidery machines. There are directions for both a blue and a red color story. We’ll be giving tips and tricks for sewing this over on BERNINA’s blog this fall!

Again with red and blue options, is my new piecing pattern – Constellations! It uses a half yard of twelve fabrics. Lots of pieces but I REALLY love this one!

And super-fun to piece is Hometown, in a combination of red and blue!

Next up is Floret, a fun appliqué pattern that includes a download code for SVG files. There is going to be an Aurifil thread box for this one, so you’ll have an easy way to locate the 28 wt. thread I like to use for the blanket stitch and the 12 wt. thread I like to use for the triple-stitched vines. Also a July ship date.

The fabric collection features five different panels: two ruler panels, two quilting panels, and one embroidery panel.

Shown in the first row: Endless Quilting yardage and the embroidery panel. Shown in the second row: two ruler panels. The Endless Quilting yardage has no divisions between the repeats and extra fabric near the selvage for seams so you can practice quilting to your heart’s content on a project of any size!

The Celestial Lights Embroidery Panel Project Guide shows you how to make that panel into a pillow, table runner, wall hanging, and quilt!

The Celestial Lights Ruler Panel Guide in conjunction with the ruler panels show you how to use my new Good Measure Every Oval Ruler set in a myriad of different ways. You’ll love this set I promise and guess what? Hot on its heels will come another new ruler set – RIBBON CANDY!

Next up are my Market lines. With all the BERNINA University prep I never wrote a blog post for them so I apologize for this being a bit late. The patterns for the patterns below one will be ready in a few weeks.

Silver Jubilee is an elegant sophisticated line in silvers and charcoals, accented with a rich plum.

Because of the traditional nature of the paisley feature print, with patterns I went more modern in feel. Here is my favorite… Amethyst Jubilee! (And yes, it is paper-pieced but with just one block and its mirror image.)

Following on its heels in the modern category is Linked. It is fat-quarter friendly so is super easy to kit!

Then we have Mirror, Mirror. My goal here was to develop a 10’’ square-friendly pattern that was dynamic and different.

Since Silver Jubilee was modeled after the original gold Jubilee line, I had time to draw another collection. This one is close to my heart as it arrived in my head pretty much fully formed and that hardly ever happens. I just love the rich tones in this collection and the birds… even though I’m scared of birds in real life. Nightingale is very subtly detailed in just a little bit of pearl.

For patterns we have a large-block quilt called Salt Water Taffy…

And Sunrise, which is such fun to quilt with a straight line ruler and simple loops. (I have a video of the quilting somewhere that I’ll have to dig up to show.) You can use quarter yard cuts or fat quarters for this one.

And then we have my favorite to make because each block was such fun – Night Garden! This is fat-quarter friendly too.

All patterns include SKU information and will ship in late July; I’ll let you know as soon as they are available. In the meantime if you love any or all of these lines please ask your local shop to order them through Benartex! Thanks so much and happy quilting!

Amanda

“Thankful” fabric and patterns are now shipping! (Info on where to find them and a giveaway!)

Posted on March 24, 2019March 31, 2019 by Amanda Murphy — 209 Comments

NOTE: The winner of this giveaway (chosen by random number) is Brenda Ackerman. Congratulations, Brenda! Please send me your snail mail address.

We’ll have a giveaway for Christmas Magic soon!

Hi everyone!

I have some exciting news to share! My Thankful patterns and fabrics from Contempo of Benartex are both now shipping! Perhaps you remember seeing sneak peeks of this line from Fall Quilt Market?

The “Thankful” portion of my Quilt Market booth.

The panel that goes with “Thankful”. This is one of my favorite panels I’ve designed.

There are two patterns that I designed specifically for this line. The first is a pieced pattern called “Autumn Leaves” – it is quick and really fun to piece.

The second is called “Plenty” and includes instructions to make a pillow, a bed runner, and a table runner. It includes a download for SVG files of course.

You can order these patterns from your local shop or, if you aren’t lucky enough to have a local shop, from my website.

There is also a free pattern for a lap quilt and pillow using the Thankful panel on the downloads page of my website.

I don’t stock fabric, but I asked Benartex to put together a list of shops that ordered the fabrics. (This is not a complete list, as if shops buy from distributors I don’t have that information. If you are one of those shops or you just have Thankful and are not listed for any reason I am happy to add you to this list if you contact me!)

ARIZONA
BERNINA Connection
The French Seam

COLORADO
eQuilter.com

FLORIDA
Once Upon A Quilt
The Sewing Garret

GEORGIA
Fabric.com
Augusta & Atlanta Sewing Centers

INDIANA
Rossville Quilts

LOUISIANA
Allbrands.com

MICHIGAN
Kean’s Store Company

MONTANA
Back Porch Quilts
Bernina Sewing & Fabric Center

NEW MEXICO
Gathering Stitches

NORTH CAROLINA
Sew Much Fun!

NORTH DAKOTA
Bismarck Sewing & Quilting

PENNSYLVANIA
Pine Tree Quilt Shop

SOUTH CAROLINA
Bernina Sewing Center

TENNESSEE
Stitcher’s Playhouse

TEXAS
Cupcake Quilts
Quilt Country
Stitchin’ Heaven

Ok – now for a giveaway! I have a bundle of Thankful fat quarters to give away., courtesy of Benartex! To enter comment below telling what you’d make with them. One entry per person and the winner will be chosen by random number generator. The deadline is end of day Saturday March 30th. (International entries are welcome if you are willing to pay the difference in shipping.)

Happy spring and happy quilting!

Amanda

Introducing JUBILEE!!!

Posted on July 25, 2018July 25, 2018 by Amanda Murphy — Leave a comment

Some secrets are really hard to keep! And professionally I don’t think I have ever had a bigger one than what I have been working on this past year. As many of you now know, it was my honor to design Jubilee, a fabric collection and set of projects designed to commemorate BERNINA’s 125th Anniversary. And now everything is back from the printer so I can share the information with you. But first let me say, “HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, BERNINA!”

When BERNINA approached me last summer to do creative work for their 125th campaign I honestly couldn’t believe it. I’m still pinching myself and words cannot adequately describe how honored I was (and am) to be involved with all this. Thank you, BERNINA! It was my goal to design fabric, embroidery, and projects that reflect the elegance, beauty, and innovation of the BERNINA brand. All of the projects debuted just a few weeks ago at BERNINA University and now I get to share them with you here!

The feature print fo the collection was built the BERNINA paisley motif from their 125 Anniversary campaign. Of course, I drew many more motifs to round out the the print.

4 of the 6 paisley prints in the Jubilee collection printed by Benartex. The others are a cream tonal and a black tonal.

The metallics are beautifully printed by Benartex and they are set off by some eye-catching pearl prints as well.

Jubilee features an elegant palette of black, gold, and cream, with a touch of sparkle!

I really strove to feature a modern aesthetic, but with a firm grounding in tradition – just like BERNINA itself.

Of course we had to include the BERNINA red!

The red and creams of Jubilee also make a dynamic palette on their own!

The first quilt I designed with this collection was the 125th Anniversary quilt itself. We’ll be doing this as a quilt-along this fall on their blog We All Sew and kits will be available at your local BERNINA dealer. I’ll have more information on this as time goes on, but wanted to give you a peek!

I really hope you all love it! Have you heard? The new 125th Anniversary machines are coming with a special bundle that includes the kit for this quilt! You’ll also be able to purchase kits from your local BERNINA dealer.

Since we kept the palette to gold and cream, I wanted to explore other variations in my pattern line. All of the following patterns can be ordered at your local shop. I do have links included in this post as well for those of you who don’t have local shops, but if you are lucky enough to have one please support them!

First up is Diamond Jubilee. After the 125th Anniversary Quilt, this one might be my favorite this time. Normally I am not into paper piecing but this was definitely worth it! (Plus it is an easy pattern by paper-piecing standards since there are just two templates.) The pearlized background fabric is really spectacular. I wish that you could see it in person!

A close-up of the quilting on Diamond Jubilee.

Next up is Platinum Jubilee. This is a pieced quilt, but the piecing is in the sashing rather than the blocks. This pattern is 10”-square friendly, but I chose to use yardage instead because I just wanted to use the golds and creams for the blocks. SKU info is in the pattern, as always.

Detail of Platinum Jubilee – can you see how the print glow?

And of course I needed to do a take-off on a traditional red and white quilt. So Ruby Jubilee HAD to happen.

Detail of Ruby Jubilee. The gold gives it an unexpected twist.

Some of you may have heard the rulers that I have quilting rulers. I DO and they are with Brewer Sewing and are branded as Good Measure! They will be shipping at the end of summer so more on that in a later post but I wanted to tell you the surprise hit of the show for me was my Hanging Ruler Organizer. This is a really simple pattern – I can’t stress that enough. This is a pattern for people like me who are intimidated by bags and want to basically quilt flat piece of fabric, attach zippers by sewing them right on the fabric, and then just bind. Nothing fancy here but the neat thing is that you can hang it in your studio and you can also fold it up for easy transport to class!

My Hanging Ruler Organizer in Jubilee fabric. (You can see a peek of the rulers if you look closely!)

I also have a set of three rulers with BERNINA (dealers – you order these from BERNINA). They are for the 125th Anniversary quilt but I also designed a ruler panel to go with the collection. There is a Jubilee Ruler Panel Guide available to learn how to use the rulers on the panel, and how to use them on your own quilts in the process. The panel makes a great set of pillows, or a runner or bag. There is also a free pattern called Star Jubilee that features a block from the panel in its center.

The Jubilee Ruler Panel Guide. Even a practice panel should be pretty!

BERNINA Jubilee Ruler Set used in the 125th Anniversary Quilt and the BERNINA Ruler Panel.

Ok… on finding the fabrics. Most of you know but I don’t stock fabric so as to not to compete with quilt shops. This fabric is exclusive to BERNINA shops through the summer and into the fall, but many SKUs were sold out at BU, and everything is backordered and being reprinted right now. So check with your shop to be sure it is on order, but be patient with them because it might be September before they get it in. But it is coming if it isn’t there already. Everyone is working in overdrive to make that happen!

There is also a Jubilee BERNINA embroidery collection that is beautifully digitized by OESD, so check that out too. I did a free bolster pillow pattern that is included!

If you made it to the bottom of this post congratulations! I hope you love the Jubilee projects. BERNINA wanted this anniversary to be about you all – so thank you!

Happy sewing, piecing, embroidery, AND quilting!

Amanda