Category: <span>Fabric Designers</span>

Tula Pink, 3 Dog Design Co, and Fons & Porter (OH MY!)

July 1, 2014 by Michael · Leave a Comment

So I have to admit, when it came to fabric designers, I paid no attention. I would go into my LQS and look at all the fabric and pick up what I liked. That was until a year ago, my friend Charisma (who is like the Rain-man of fabrics) started rattling off the different fabrics in a scrappy quilt. “That’s Amy Butler, and there’s some Kaffe and Tula Pink…”

“And Who-la?” I asked. It was Tula pink, and she had the most interesting fabric. We were at quilt market, so we sought out Tula and said hello. Then I put in my pre-order for a yard of each print in her new line. Then 4 yards of a print I liked for the border etc. Not long after that I had received the Fons & Porter Love of quilting. It was the May-June 2013 edition. There was a quilt on the cover, a BEAUTIFUL quilt. The pattern was by 3 Dog Design Co and it was gorgeous!! Colorful and interesting and WAY to difficult for me to make…..but I couldn’t help myself…I wanted it. So I set out, bought all of the fabric and got to work.

My first roadblock….it was a template quilt. So I sent out to have some templates made. Got them back a week or so later and got to work. And BOY was it a lot of work. A LOT of cutting, and more cutting. And cutting on top of that. I believe I was able to get through 3 seasons of “The Good Wife” while I was cutting out this quilt. The picture to the left is a tiny sampling of all of the pieces I had to cut out. I believe this is what I had accomplished the first day.

Once I was done cutting it was time to assemble my first block. And boy howdy, are there a few pieces in this block 50 pieces per block. So there was a little sewing involved with each block. I became a chain piecing FOOL! And I have to admit, many times I thought to myself, just put it all in a plastic tote and save it from another day. But I KNEW that if I did that it would never get pulled out again. All of that lovely fabric would be doomed to live out it’s life stuck in a plastic tote. So I kept going.

And I’m REALLY Happy that I did. It took me almost 3 months, but I completed the top and sent it off to my good friend Charisma to quilt it. Well I have to say all of the work was TOTALLY worth it. This quilt remains my all time favorite quilt. I just LOVE it!! I was really proud of the work I did on this one. (So proud it’s in my logo) So if you’re up for a challenge, this would be a great one. Tula also have a FAB new line coming soon!!!

Filed Under: Fabric Designers, Quilts Tagged With: Fabric Designers, Quilts

Be There, Get your Square – Block #1

June 28, 2014 by Michael · 2 Comments

I decided to start tidying up my sewing room for a few friends who are coming over to start on our BOM (Block of the Month) program. Well tidy turned into noticing some fabric, and then auditioning some fabric, then cutting fabric….well I ended up making the first block. So tomorrow I can start on the 2nd. If you recall from my previous post, this particular BOM is from Kaye England’s book “Voices of the Past II” We are doing the program through our LQS (Local Quilt Shop) Pine Needles Sewing Center.

Anyway I went ahead and decided to go quilter CRAZY! I am MIXING my batiks, large prints, small prints, plaids….so it’s going to be interesting. And I’m hopefully it turns our beautifully….HOPEFULLY!

Filed Under: BOM, Fabric Designers, LQS

Kaye England

June 27, 2014 by Michael · Leave a Comment

One of the best experiences I’ve had was going to a Kaye England retreat. It was called “Kaye’s Quilting College” and while I was there I made her Amelia Earhart quilt. It was the most complicated quilt I had made in my early quilting days.

The whole experience was great, she helped demo all of her Nifty Notions rulers, and was there to answer any questions you had about her pattern. She also infused a lot of humor and energy into the weekend.

A year or so later one of my favorite sites Craftsy announced they had a new class. “Re-Piecing the Past: Civil War Black Then & Now” taught by Kaye England. Well needless to say I immediately wen to Craftsy and signed up.

I downloaded all of the instructions and started looking at the quilt…..WHAT had I gotten myself into? Some of these blocks had 60 small pieces to them (I might be exaggerating a tad). But I had never attempted to create a quilt this difficult, and I was nervous I had just spent money on fabric for a quilt that wasn’t going to turn out.

Enter the Craftsy platform. I was able to watch Kaye put together the blocks, not one THAT, but I could rewind and watch it over and over again. Until I felt comfortable. Also it never expired it’s always there! And it’s not like a DVD that you can lose, scratch, etc. Add all of that to Kaye’s humor….it was a match made in heaven. I chose to do a block a week, and was able to get the quilt finished in no time.

So if you feel like you would like to attempt something a little more advanced but are nervous, this is a WONDERFUL class to do! I have provided a link below to sign up for the class on Craftsy.