This is just a quick note to say that our Free-Motion Quilting Idea Sampler Facebook group is up and running! We will be sewing and quilting a few blocks each week this fall. This is a super-easy sew (for goodness sake the wedding ring is appliqué) that will get you practicing free-motion fast, so it is really fun! People are sewing in all sorts of fabrics – I’m sewing mine in Carina. SKU info is in the group feed.
My good friend Cherry Guidry, of Cherry Blossoms Quilting Studios, is sewing along with us using her Soul Blossoms fabrics. I love sewing with friends!
I hope you are having a great weekend! I’ve been waiting to share a new release – The Free-Motion Quilting Idea Sampler! It is a companion piece to the Free-Motion Quilting Idea Book and the piecing directions for the sampler are now available as a download from C&T. The sampler includes piecing directions for every block in the book, so it is a fabulous practice piece if you are looking to improve your quilting skills. (And to make it a quicker sew, there are master cutting instructions included, so you can cut everything at once and then get sewing!) I hope you all will piece it and quilt it along with me this fall on Facebook!
I quilted this on the BERNINA Q 24 and pieced it on my BERNINA 780. To quilt each block, I chose a random pattern from the book – no rules – just whatever I felt like quilting each day. I used Benartex’s Color Weave fabric and Aurifil 50 wt. thread for piecing and Aurifil monofilment (with 50 wt. in the bobbin) for quilting. (There are suggested quilting plans organized by block in The Free-Motion Quilting Idea Book.)
I used Benartex Color Weave for the example and the SKUs are included in the pattern. I’ll be sewing it again starting this September in Carina. I’ve created a special Facebook group for this piece so we can share our progress. I hope you’ll join me if you are quilting along.
It seems like I have been waiting for this day – the day I can share new pattern information – forever! They are back from the printer and all the distributor and Market orders have been sent. They are also up over in my shop.
I hope you like these new designs! Here they are…
First Crush is a fat-quarter friendly, twin-sized quilt that is actually a deceptively simple quilt made from just one block!
The interlocking hearts form a secondary design so it is really fun to watch it come together!
Of course, by choosing a different border fabric you can dramatically alter the look of the design…
First Crush with the original aqua borderFirst Crush with a teal borderFirst Crush with a deep pink borderFirst Crush with the green border
By the way, all these quits feature Carina, my first line for Benartex. I couldn’t be more excited about it and I’ll be blogging more specifically about the fabric when it ships in August/September of this year.
Next up, Bouquet, which is a really graphic lap-sized piece. Basically made up of squares, rectangles, and half-square triangles, it is super-easy to piece with just a touch of appliqué.
This was actually my first quilt that I quilted on the BERNINA Q 24, so it was thrilling! (Some of you might have seen sneak peeks over on Instagram.)
Next up is Romance – a really quick but elegant 22” table runner…
I couldn’t stop making this one – it was fun to play with the colors in the collection. I used 28 wt. Aurifil thread for the appliqué – my favorite!
It is my new block-of-the-month style quilt. The pattern itself is chock-full of full color diagrams to guide you. You start in the center with a heart shaped bargello design and work outward, adding borders as you go. This was also quilted on the Q 24, this time with Aurifil monofilament thread, which was trouble-free. It worked so well and saved a ton of time not having to change colors since I started quilting this two days before Market!
Do you like them? I hope so! Do you have a favorite?
So… if you are still reading (sorry for the amount of images – it is hard to choose) they are all over in my newly-revamped shop. Speaking of which, I redid my shop so I can ship internationally. I think the design is better too and hope you agree. (I ship USPS everywhere.)
Also, a popular request has been a discount for a whole group of new patterns so I created something called “The Carina Collection” which includes all four patterns. You can get them at a discount here.
Thanks for reading and I hope you have a wonderful week with lots of sewing!
