Last week I spoke with a wonderful bunch of ladies at the Beaufort, South Carolina quilt guild.  While there, the kids, my mom, and I took a walking tour of the picturesque town and, I have to say, I don’t think there could have been a more appropriate place to talk about Veranda, because we were surrounded by them.

Beautiful!

While I was gone Robert Kaufman sent me some of their Radiance silk to play with.  It is gorgeous and ironable!  I tried a bunsh of different things with it: Drunkard’s Path, fusible applique, needle-turned applique (not so easy!), flying geese, bias tape making, until I finally tried paper-piecing. 

Radiance has a lovely sheen, but it is slippery.  Sewing on top of the paper stabilizes the silk, prevents the seams from being pulled into the machine, and gives a much cleaner result.  (The paper-pieced portion is the long triangles in the lower left.  You can see how much crisper that area is.)

Now I just need to get some more colors (a light aqua would be lovely!) and design a new project!

Happy sewing!
Amanda

I’m sure some of you have heard about the fantastic giveaway going on every day at Sew We Quilt.  Madame Samm has graciously hosted a giveaway every day of the week for THREE WHOLE MONTHS for both Want To Be Quilters (on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) and Quilters (on Tuesday and Thursday). 

Today I am guest blogging over at Sew We Quilt showing how to make this…

A lampshade covered with fabric!  No sewing this time, but we all love to accessorize.

The folks at Robert Kaufman have donated 1/2 yard cuts of Veranda for the giveaway so make sure you hop on over today and enter!  There are 2 bundles of 6 yard totals to win!  And Madame Samm has thrown a Colonial basket full of different goodies AND Famore Applique scissors too!  I know…  Just become a follower and leave a comment here and also at Madame Samm’s fabulous blog and you will be set to enter.  (If you beat me to it and left a comment on the previous post that is okay – I’m internet-challenged this week and apologize for my lateness.)  And don’t forget to check in at Sew We Quilt each day for the next 3 months for more giveaways!

Note:  If you have trouble seeing my follower button on my sidebar try refreshing the screen a couple of times.
Thanks Madame Samm!
Amanda

I’m so excited to report that Veranda is now starting to ship!  For each collection, I design a complimentary pattern.

Introducing Topiary Tiles!  It uses one 10-square, 1 roll-up, plus sashing and border fabric.

It is so fun to explore the ways the different fabrics can work together in each block…

Thanks to my friend Pat Hopkins who sewed the sample.

I hope you enjoy Topiary Tiles.  And if any of you are going to be in the vicinity of Beaufort, SC, I’m excited about speaking about the development of this collection and my pattern line at the Sea Island Quilt Guild this Thursday.

Happy sewing!
Amanda