2015 Designer Mystery Blog Hop

Hi, everyone! I'm so happy to be amongst the group of Moda designers participating in the Fat Quarter Shop's 2015 Designer Block of the Month. The fabric used this time is Snowman Gatherings II by Lisa Bongean of Primitive Gatherings. It's a wonderful, wintery collection that fits the snow-covered village scene that Lisa envisioned for the finished quilt. You can read more about it here. Here are a couple sneak peeks:

Cute, huh!? And for a sneakier sneak peek, you can even take this fun quiz to find out which Designer Mystery Quilt block fits your personality! I got the "Apartments" quilt block. How about you?

For this blog hop, we were asked to answer the question, "Out of all the places you've visited, which is your favorite?" For me, it kinda changes depending on the season. Right now, since we've had soooo much of this (yes, this was on Monday and there's even more to come this week)...

...i'd have to say one of my favorite trips that Pete and i took was to St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Can you blame me??

How about you? What's your favorite place to visit?

Before i drift off in a daydream about warm tropical breezes and crystal waters, i should let you know that you can sign up to participate in the Mystery Block of the Month over at Fat Quarter Shop!

Don't forget to visit all the other designers who are blogging today:

Bonnie & Camille

Me and My Sister Designs

Primitive Gatherings

V& Co. 

Bunny Hill Designs

Pieces of My Heart

Minick and Simpson

Pat Sloan

Sweetwater

Laundry Basket Quilts

Fig Tree Quilts

Have fun!

Celebrating Five Years With Moda Fabrics: A Horizon Giveaway! Sponsored by Fat Quarter Shop

To celebrate the fifth anniversary of my working with Moda Fabrics and the arrival of my 15^th line for Moda – Horizon – we’re teaming up with our friends at Fat Quarter Shop for a giveaway!

The prize: A fat quarter bundle of Horizon.

I’m throwing in a downloadable quilt pattern – winner’s choice of one of these three ocean-themed patterns.

Fig Tree & Co’s BOARDWALK  

Thimble Blossoms’ SALTWATER

A Quilting Life Designs’ SEASHORE DRIVE

To enter today's giveaway:

Just head over to the Designer Tidbits entry on the Jolly Jabber and follow their guidelines to enter! The winner and his/her comment will be announced on the Jolly Jabber on Friday September 26th.

Wait, there's more to celebrate! Additionally,

is today launching a new and exciting customer-appreciation giveaway on their blog, the Jolly Jabber.

Overview: For those purchasing a yard or more of Horizon fabric or a Horizon jelly roll, layer cake, fat eighth bundle, or fat quarter bundle at FQS between now and October 15, 2014, your review matters! Specifically, your video review of your new Horizon fabrics or precuts matters.

Hop on over to the the Jolly Jabber blog today to learn how to enter to win a $100 FQS gift certificate for your video review of Horizon.

Good luck everyone!!

xo,

kate

Fat Quarter Fizz

Hello everyone! Thanks so much for swinging by my blog today. I'm thrilled to be posting along with some of my quilting friends to kick off Fat Quarter Shop's newest Shortcut Quilt video, the Fat Quarter Fizz. You can download the free pattern here, and be sure to watch Kimberly in action on the FQS YouTube channel. If you don't subscribe, you should! There are fabulous video tutorials, free patterns and lots of ideas all for you.

I really love this series because these quilts feature precuts and the projects are super simple to make. If you are a beginner quilter, or if you want to teach someone how to quilt, these patterns are a perfect place to start. Plus, i always learn some clever little piecing tip from Kimberly. Bonus!

For Fat Quarter Fizz, i chose to use Solstice, my newest Christmas fabric collection for Moda (in shops now). The pattern gives you options for whatever size quilt you'd like to make. I decided on the large lap quilt that uses 20 fat quarters (10 light, 10 dark). Despite it being August, and 80 degrees with 85% humidity, this quilt went together quickly and was fun to make!

I really should try to make a design wall in my little studio, because as soon as i hung this up i could see a few blocks i would have rearranged. C'est la vie! To get some of the palest greens to "work" with the rest of the light colored fabrics, i flipped the print over so the back side was facing up. I was surprised at how well nicely they fit in to the mix.

Here is a small detail. When you zoom in and crop an image like this, it kind of gives you ideas for another quilt block design, doesn't it?

And for the backing, i kept things super simple and pieced it in large striped bands:

Here's another detail of the backing with only touch of red in the binding fabric.

The white sashing strip is a white-on-white tonal snowflake print. I always try to work something like this in to my holiday collections because it adds a beautifully subtle texture to an ordinary white. Oh, and i took this photo out on our picnic table because despite having one less Christmas present to buy, it's still summer!

Thanks again for visiting, and enjoy all the other stops on the blog tour:

Barb & Mary of Me and My Sister Designs

Sherri from A Quilting Life

Melissa of Happy Quilting

Shruti from 13Woodhouse

Pam from Pam Kitty Morning

John from Quilt Dad

Jane from Quilt Jane

Michele from Quilting Gallery

Caroline from Sew Can She

Vickie from Spun Sugar Quilts

Tonya from the Crafty Mummy

Have a beautiful day!

xo,

kate 

Joyful Julie

Hello and Happy Friday! Today i'm so excited to be included as part of Fat Quarter Shop's 2014 Designer Mystery Block of the Month blog hop. Just like the name says, it's a mystery! So while i can't show you what my block design looks like, here are some teaser peeks:

The beautiful fabric is called Snowbird and was designed by Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts.

This year, the theme of the quilt is all about stars. Each designer was asked to design a star block and to name it after someone who is a "star" in our lives. Since this is also about quilting, that made it really easy for me to decide who to choose. My block is called Joyful Julie and is named for my Aunt Julie.

See that smile? It's something i am lucky to have known since i was a little girl and when i think of Julie, her smile and the sound of her laugh are the first things that come to mind. A multitude of other things come next, including how incredibly talented she is. Several years ago, she mentioned that she had started taking botanical drawing classes in New York City. She has always loved growing orchids and houseplants so it sounded like a natural fit for her. And then ... after asking "how are things going with your class?" she very casually sent along a few pictures of the drawings she had been working on ... and they totally blew me away!

Here are a few...

Merlot Grapes

Saucer Magnolia

Frittilaria

Incredible. Something i came to learn about these drawings is that not only are they beautiful, they're also botanically accurate...meaning that the scale and proportions of the petals, leaves, buds, stems, everything(!) have been measured and drawn with absolute precision. Amazing! I don't know how she does it...or this:

Garlic in graphite

I also didn't know something else about Julie until just a few years ago, around the time i began designing fabric for Moda. She is a quilter! She has been for many years and i had no idea. Sheesh, you think you know someone well and then...surprise! Soon we were going to quilt stores, shows and museums together and sharing our love for this craft. Here are some of Julie's hand-made and hand-quilted quilts. This bow tie quilt was made using actual bow ties that belonged to Julie's father (my grandfather), Jack:

She used only the materials from the bow ties to make this, and the white background is one of Jack's old dress shirts. The corners are embellished with tie adjustors and shirt buttons and the black sashing/binding is from the tie lining:

I love how sweet and personal this quilt is.

Here's another fun one that Julie calls, The Great Pumpkin ...

How cute is that!? Here's a detail of her hand-quilting/embroidery ...

...  and a tiny monarch she embroidered and appliquéd.

Of her sewing life, Julie shared this with me:

"I started sewing when I was about 10 years old, cross stitch embroidery in the summer at Granny's.  My mom had a sewing machine, and I used it to increase my skirt wardrobe in college -- we had school uniforms in high school and very few out-of-uniform clothes since they were unnecessary. Briefly taught myself quilting in the 1970's but gave up because it was so labor intensive, using cardboard templates to cut each individual piece -- hoorah for the rotary cutter and other tools of today!  Picked up quilting again in 1990's when my kids were in high school -- I needed something for distraction when they stayed out  late with their friends!  I am more a "process" person than an "end result" person, i.e. I love the challenge of original designs for my wall hangings.  I love my sewing machine and have made many full-size winter quilts for beds with it (sent each child off to college with a quilt made from their flannel pjs and other recycled stuff) but mostly I am motivated by fabulous fabrics and small scale handwork in constructing my original wall hangings.

Slow is Beautiful."

That mantra must have guided her along as she made these — all by hand — long before she learned paper-piecing techniques ...

Fireworks

Sparklers

This one was made from an old yo-yo quilt that was given to Julie. She cut the yo-yos into blocks and then sewed them onto the ground fabric/sashing ...

... then embellished the blocks with cute old buttons. 

 This kimono wall hanging was Julie's first attempt at paper-piecing after a wonderful class she took at City Quilter in NYC.

And this one is called, In the Swim. I just love these colors and composition.

And finally, Julie even made her daughter Molly's wedding gown ...

Molly and her Dad

... with the "help" of her skilled assistant (of course).

I doubt i'll be taking up botanical drawing or hand-quilting any time soon, but Julie will always remind me that so many of the joys of life can be found in the details if you slow down, tune in and focus long enough to discover them. I love her lots, and she will always shine like a star to me ... maybe most of all because she keeps creating ... and smiling.

an orchid that Julie gave me long ago that is blooming right this very moment

Also posting today are:

Minick & Simpson

V & Co.

And don't forget to head over to the Jolly Jabber to enter to win a $75 gift certificate to Fat Quarter Shop. Good luck and thank you so much for stopping by today!
Have a beautiful weekend.

xo,

kate

Seeing Stars

Hi, everyone! Hope you had a wonderful weekend. Just wanted to pop in to let you know that Fat Quarter Shop is kicking off enrollment in their 7th annual Designer Mystery Block of the Month with a fun blog hop! Learn more about it here.

The hop started on Friday and will continue for the next couple weeks. Here's the schedule so you can follow along:

3.7.14

Laundry Basket Quilts

Pieces from My Heart

Sweetwater

Bonnie & Camille

3.14.14

Minick & Simpson

V & Co.

Me!

 Fig Tree Quilts

3.21.14

Kansas Troubles Quilters

Bunny Hill Designs

Me & My Sister Designs

I was thrilled to be asked to participate...especially when i found out the fabric that will be used is Edyta's beautiful collection called, Snowbird. I so enjoyed designing one of the blocks and can't wait to see the completed quilt someday. It's even a mystery to me! All i can tell you is that each designer was asked to design a star block and to name it after someone who is a "star" in our lives. The stories posted so far have been heartwarming. As you follow along, think about the stars in your own lives and celebrate each of them!

xo,

kate

Layer Cake Lemonade Quilt

Today i'm sharing a really fast, fun and free quilt pattern from my favorite Kimberly at Fat Quarter Shop. It's called Layer Cake Lemonade, and i'm not even kidding you can make this cute quilt top in about an hour. It uses one Moda Layer Cake with a little leftover that you could use as part of the backing. Here's an instructional video from Kimberly and the crew!

I decided to make mine using a layer cake of Sunnyside.

Though this quilt is so simple, there are lots of possibilities for how to arrange fabrics. In the video, Kimberly shows one variation in which she separates the prints into lights and darks and uses the darks for the large squares and the lights for the small rectangles. Here are some other variations in which you can see how Kimberly reversed the arrangement of lights and darks to create a different effect:

When i made my quilt, i decided to switch things up a bit and separated the fabrics into cool and warm colors. My hope was that it would look like dappled sunshine. Here's how it turned out: 

And here it is outside in the morning light. With long-arm shadows from my expert helper ;) 

I definitely plan on finishing this up and making a few more for Christmas gifts! If you'd like to make one too (beware, they're addictive), you can download the free pattern. And then guess what? Kimberly is generously offering a sale on all Layer Cakes this week!

**UPDATE** Have a look at Amy's version of this same pattern and in Sunnyside too — i like her arrangement much more than mine!**

photo used with permission

Happy Monday!

xo,

kate

2013 Designer Mystery Blog Hop: Week 2

Wow, what a weekend! We had a whopping 34" of snow here in CT and got quite a workout shoveling our way out. The roads are a *little* better after a bulldozer and plow finally came through last night, but schools are closed until Wednesday! Here are a few pictures from our house (there are many more on my Instagram feed):

Ok, onto some brighter, warmer, fun stuff!

Welcome, welcome to Week 2 of Fat Quarter Shop's Designer Mystery Blog Hop! This year, the fabric collection that was chosen is called Avalon by Fig Tree Quilts. The fabric is light, a little whimsical and grounded with a bit of navy, which you’ll find sprinkled through the quilt.  If you sign up for the BOM, as a little treat from FQS, you will receive a mini Charm Pack of Avalon with the first month’s block! A taste of the fabric before the club kicks into full gear. Each of the twelve sampler blocks in the quilt is designed by a different Moda designer and feature rows of baskets, stars, flowers and houses.

Joanna's collections and quilt patterns are always so beautiful and timeless. I've had the true privilege of getting to know Joanna over the years and the passion and expertise that she brings to her work is made visible in everything she does. Joanna is a star to me, so i was honored and delighted to be asked to participate in this block of the month by contributing a star-themed block design to one row of the quilt. How lucky i am to share the row with a constellation of other wonderful Moda designers: Bonnie & Camille and V and Co.. (don't forget to visit their blogs today, too!).

When designing my block, i had so much fun playing around with Avalon and seeing Joanna's creative eye and aesthetic at work encouraging and engaging me all the way. And you know what I learned? No matter which patterns or colors i combined, they always looked beautiful together! Here's a sneak peek of only part of the finished quilt — the rest is a mystery!

For some extra "star fun", FQS asked us to tell you about our favorite celebrity. Though he's no longer with us, i would have to say mine is Paul Newman.

Not just because of those striking good looks, heart-melting eyes or these...

...or these...

...or even this... 

...well those are good too, but i admire him most for his vision and dedication to humanitarian and social causes. An impressive 100% of the proceeds from his Newman's Own food products go to educational and charitable organizations through the Newman Foundation. Which of course gives us a good reason to buy lots and lots of these!

Mr. Newman lived in Westport, CT— just a couple towns over from where we live now. Thanks to his progressive influence and generous funding our area has a community movie theater that is run by high school students (including kids with disabilities), a local farmer's market, a field-to-table restaurant that supports local farms, and CT has one of 14 Hole in the Wall Gang camps for children with serious illnesses. In fact they're celebrating their 25th Anniversary this year! Mr. Newman is a star whose light continues to shine on.

Thanks for stopping by and reading along. Be sure to swing by the Jolly Jabber to enter their giveaway! Here's the schedule again incase you missed it. You can hop forward or backward and enter once each week for a chance to win!

2.04: Fig Tree Quilts, Pieces from My Heart, Laundry Basket Quilts

2/11/13: Bonnie & Camille, V & Co., Kate Spain

2.18: Kansas Troubles Quilters, Primitive Gatherings, Minick & Simpson

2.25: Bunny Hill Designs, Me & My Sister Designs, Sweetwater

3.01: Winners Post - Fat Quarter Shop

Good luck everyone! Have fun.

xo,

kate