Hi everyone,

Hope you are having a great week!  I wanted to take a moment to introduce Cafe Mocha.  She was originally published in Quiltmaker, but was popular enough to bring back as a pattern in my line. 

I think this is because she is a great vehicle for scraps of feature prints.  Sometimes it is hard to know what to do with large-scale prints, especially when you have less than a quarter yard of them.  The rectangle blocks here are work wonderfully for those – so scour your house for those modern scraps!

I used a dark background with light horizontal bars, but you could do the opposite as well.

This pattern is also deceptively simple because it is assembled in columns.  If you follow the pressing directions all the seams lock and it looks like the blocks are interwoven!

atterns should arrive in the mail today or tomorrow and I’m so excited.  To make Cafe Mocha, you will need:

• Accent Rectangles – 2-1/2 yards total from an assortment of fabrics
• Background – 2-7/8 yards dark brown fabric
• Horizontal Bands and Middle Border – 1-3/4 yards cream fabric
• Inner Border – 1/2 yard caramel fabric
• Outer Border and Binding – 2 yards yard dark blue fabric
• Backing – 6 yards

As an aside, the folks over at Robert Kaufman are mourning the loss of Saul Kaufman, who ran the company for years.  Many employees have written about him on the Robert Kaufman blog.  Gosh – we should all have such nice things said about us at the end of our lives.  I never actually met him, but after reading those comments I wish I had.

Enjoy making a project for someone special in your life.

And if you get a chance, hop on over to Caroline Simas’ blog.  She found some wonderful vintage linens and is looking for advice for how to use them.

Happy sewing!
Amanda

Hi everyone!  Hope you had a lovely weekend. 

We have had a busy one.  And have I mentioned the fact that our living room is the current repository for literally hundreds of yards of fabric that I am washing and ironing because I’m crazy?  It is chaos here.

I wanted to take a moment to introduce you to the fifth new pattern in my line – Caramel and Cocoa.  (Actually, “reintroduce” would be more accurate since she was previously published by APQ.  I have had so many inquiries about back issue availability that I added her to the line.)  She is a REALLY simple, modern take on a bargello quilt.

The blocks are 9″ wide.  There are no seams to align.  There are no borders to put on.  She couldn’t be simpler, really.

She is lap-sized – 63-1/2″ x 86″ – and was originally sewn in the Swiss Chocolate in the chocolate color palette.

She also looked good in mocha.  I had a hard time choosing.

But she works with bright colors too.  (This is where I really can’t wait to see what you all make.)  Here she is in Veranda.

She is fun.  Really fun to sew.

You can dress her up or down, try her in novelty fabrics or batiks – she is like a little black dress.  (Someone made her in black and white fabrics, actually, and sent me the link months ago and I can’t find it…. ARGHHHH!)

To make her you will need:

• Bargello Blocks – 5/8 yard of 7 fabrics
• Light Fabric – 1-7/8 yards
• Dark Fabric – 1-7/8 yards
• Binding – 5/8 yard for straight grain binding or 1 yard for bias binding
• Backing – 5-1/2 yards

I hope that you like her!

Incidentally, all these patterns are currently being in the process of making their way through distributor channels.  Orders will be going out soon.  Your local quilt shop can order directly through me or they can order through Checker, E.E. Schenck, or United Notions.  And if you are looking for an online retail source, Fat Quarter Shop has already ordered them all so will have them soon.  If you are a shop that carries my line through a distributor, contact me and I’ll add a link to you on the sidebar of my blog!

Happy sewing!
Amanda