Introducing Sparkle!

Posted on October 29, 2015November 2, 2015 by Amanda Murphy — 88 Comments

Note: This giveaway is now closed. The lucky winners (by random number) are Ruth B who liked the red/blue/green snowflakes on white and Alicia Key, who like the stripes! Congratulations, ladies! Please send me your emails. For more a chance to win The Free-Motion Quilting Idea Book, follow along with the blog hop November 2nd – 12th!

Hi everyone!

I just returned from a very wet Market (record rains in Houston) where I shared the Contempo portion of the Benartex booth with my good friend Cherry Guidry.

Contempo Fall 2015 Market Booth — Contempo Fall Market Booth 2015 – Cherry’s designs are on the left, mine are on the right around the tree. Sarah Vedeler’s fabric is in the front on the left and Michele D’Amore’s is on the right.

Despite the weather, we had a lovely time and really enjoyed catching up with all the creative people at Market. This Market was pretty exciting for me because I had three new books debuting with C&T Publishing, as well as the BERNINA panel, new patterns and embroidery collections, and a fabric line with Benartex!

Today I wanted to introduce, Sparkle, my newest line for Benartex. It is called Sparkle and is a crisp and bright holiday line.

SparkleFabric01_1542 — The original prints that inspired the Sparkle collection – the light tossed snowflakes and the wreaths. I think the red wreath might be my favorite print in the collection right now – but I like the softness of the blue wreath too!

SparkleFabric02 — These ornament prints were developed later on in the process, but they also function as feature prints. And I found while sewing it was quite nice to have the darker shade of blue with which to work.

SparkleFabric03_1544 — These are the supporting prints that gave “Sparkle” its name. They are fun to play with, vivid, and make FANTASTIC binding!

SparkleFabric04_1549 — … and here are the coordinates. They are great for appliqué or to contrast with the feature prints. Note there are three swirly leaf prints and three petal prints – the third being barely visible as the white background white light blue line work. I always think it is so useful to have low volume prints.

SparkleFabric05_1550 — And last but not least a fun stripe print. It makes a great binding too!

There are four new patterns for the Sparkle collection and they should be available in about three weeks. I’ll talk more about them then, but here is a sneak peek…

There is also a panel print for the Sparkle collection. (I designed two complimentary patterns to work with this panel, but I’ll save them to show another day.)

OESD has already digitized embroidery for Sparkle. It is available now so you can ask your local shop to order it. Writing a complimentary pattern to make these gift bags is on my to-do list this weekend.

SparkleEmbroidery__1535_SM — More Sparkle Embroidery

SparkleEmbroidery_1539_SM — Sparkle “redwork”

I’ve already talked about the Free-Motion Quilting Idea Book and Quilted Celebrations, but my coloring book for C&T, Modern Elegance, arrived on my doorstep while I was at Market, so all three books are now in my shop.

Is anyone (but my mom) still with me? If you are it is time for the giveaway! Benartex gave me a stack of 10” squares and a stack of 5” squares to give to you guys and I’m throwing in Modern Elegance too. We’ll have two winners – one wins the 10” squares and one the 5” and both win coloring books. To enter leave a comment telling me what Sparkle print you like best and please leave your contact info. One entry per person please. The deadline will be this Monday, which is actually the kickoff for my Free-Motion Quilting Idea Book blog hop over at C&T. (There will be giveaways of that book on different blogs for two weeks.)

I really hope you like Sparkle! Have a lovely weekend!

Amanda

Sundance Sampler – revitalized

Posted on September 1, 2015 by Amanda Murphy — 7 Comments

A question on The Free-Motion Idea Book/Sampler Facebook Group yesterday that I had not posted that BERNINA is bringing back my Sundance Sampler that I designed exclusively for them. They asked me ro revise the SKUs using Carina, which is in stores now, and these SKUs, as well as the directions, are available to U.S. BERNINA dealers. And (hint, hint) there might just be something to go along with all of this when automation for the Q 24 comes out!

Anyway, I’ve planned out three color stories this time.

I’m normally partial to aqua, but I think I’ll sew the pink this time for a change . What do you think?

Thanks for letting me share!

Happy quilting!

Amanda

The Free-Motion Idea Sampler

Posted on August 8, 2015August 8, 2015 by Amanda Murphy — 5 Comments

HI everyone,

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 quilted many of the allover patterns from The Free-Motion Quilting Idea Book in the borders.

FMQIdeaSampler_1307_SM

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.