Sure, it’s February and the silly groundhog just predicted an early spring, but as far as I’m concerned, Christmas has finally arrived! In the past few days we not only got our first solid snow of the year, but I also received my Christmas gift from Santa–fat quarter bundles of Alison Glass‘s full Sun Prints 2016 collection for Andover. I’m so glad I had the foresight (and patience) to preorder these Sun Prints, since even though I didn’t have them to unwrap under the tree, they are well worth the wait.
The Sun Prints 2016 collection includes new lines Sphere, Grow, and Endpaper. It probably comes as no surprise that I love them all.
I took them all out into the fresh snow for a photo shoot with a new camera lens, a 50mm 1.8f lens that was a Christmas present from my awesome husband. While I love this lens, I definitely should have taken these photos with a deeper depth of field. I’m still getting a feel for it. For now, here are the way up close, pinpoint focal point photos of these gorgeous fabrics.
I’m not typically a polka dot fan, but there’s something about Sphere that grabs me. Perhaps it’s the fact that these dynamic little bulbs remind me of the earth with latitude and longitudinal lines. Perhaps it’s the fact that the sphere colors help blend the fabric lines together subtly and flawlessly. Either way, it joined the ranks in my AG stash.
Grow is a design that also appears in Abacus, with charcoal on white. It was one of the first Abacus prints I bought and I cannot wait to embroider on it. The Grow Sun Prints let us use the gorgeously sketched botanical design in a full spectrum of colors.
Endpaper is the epitome of my favorite types of fabrics. I love tone on tone blenders, and endpaper nails those categories. The colors are rich and deep, and include my favorite tertiary colors.
These three new collections blend beautifully together when combined. I love the subtle flow that emerges between fabrics and colors. Every time I finish another rainbow project, I think maybe it’s time I explored other color combinations. But really, how could I not create with these? I have a feeling you will be seeing quite a few more rainbows in the not too distant future!
I also recently saw that my local quilt shop Fiddlehead Artisan Supply is stocking the full Sun Prints 2016 collection, and has it all shelved with some of Alison’s older Sun Prints and other fabric lines. It’s glorious! If you’re local (or an online shopper), you can get your rainbow fill, too! I’m sharing a screenshot I took of Fiddlehead’s Instagram feed so that you can revel in the rainbow gradient beauty, too. Sooo good.
I’m linking up with Molli’s Sunday Stash. It’s been a while, but I have a lot of stash additions to share. It seemed only right to begin with the newest and most gorgeous fabrics!
I’ve been trying to stretch out of my comfort zone lately and create with color palettes other than rainbow order. With that goal in mind, I put together another blogger bundle for Fiddlehead Artisan Supply in Belfast, Maine, including some of my favorite autumnal colors. To play with the Summer Nights bundle I curated in August, this one is called Autumn Dusk. To double the fun, I have a bundle to give away, too!
This color palette feels peaceful to me, with the soft purples, burgundy, magenta, mauvey peach, and a pop of turquoise. I’ve been working on a project using my bundle and I admit, it feels weird to be working with a non-rainbow color palette with no low volumes or black/charcoal neutrals…. but I like it!
Tomorrow I’ll be sharing a tutorial for the project I’m making with this bundle, so if you want to add these fabrics to your stash and immediately put them to use (fabric added to the stash doesn’t count if it’s immediately created into something beautiful, right?), you can with ease.
These fabrics are all great stash additions, and help bolster my weak purple collection a bit. They are consistent with my love of tone on tones and blenders, which means my scraps will surely make their way into a rainbow somehow.
Fiddlehead Artisan Supply is generously offering an Autumn Dusk fat quarter bundle to one of my readers. The bundle includes fat quarters of the following six fabrics (clockwise from Tula’s ponies):
Pony Play from Fox Field by Tula Pink (Free Spirit)
Leaves in Turquoise from In the Bloom by Valori Wells (Robert Kaufman)
Full Circle in Petal Pink from Shape of Spring by Eloise Renouf (Cloud 9)
Bike Paths in Lilac by Alison Glass (Andover)
Twinkle Twinkle in Burgundy from Natural History by Lizzy House (Andover)
Jewels in Purple from Hello Pilgrim by Lizzy House (Andover)
To enter the giveaway today, visit Fiddlehead’s online shop and tell me your favorite quilting print from their online offerings (click here for a direct link). Leave a comment and make sure I’m able to get ahold of you if you win. If you’re a follower of Night Quilter, leave a second comment telling me how you follow for a second entry. ‘Like’ Fiddlehead Artisan Supply on Facebook or subscribe to their newsletter and tell me how you followed them in a third comment for a third entry. That’s three separate comments for three entries to win.
This giveaway is open to US and international participants. The giveaway will be open until 8pm Sunday 12/6 when I’ll select the winner randomly with random.org. Good luck!This giveaway has ended. Congratulations to Linda!
Fiddlehead is also having a big online sale through tomorrow (Monday 11/30) so you can get 15% off your entire online order with the code Thanks2015. That’s as good a reason as any to bolster your stash, don’t you think? *wink*
I’m linking up with Molli’s Sunday Stash. I’ve been quiet in the stash building department lately, but I have a few fun new stash additions I’ll be sharing in the coming weeks! I’m gathering fabric to last me through the snowy season; after all, winter is coming.
Once again, your comments were my absolute favorite part about the giveaway. To enter the giveaway, I asked you to share what you think of when you hear “summer nights”. Many of you immediately thought of the song from Grease, which honestly had not even entered my mind. Here is just a tiny sampling of some of the other gorgeous images you shared. Honestly, you’re poets!:
starry skies and campfires, s’mores and songs – Jenn
a glass of wine in the garden in the evening looking at the moon, with my husband sitting beside me – Helen
A cold drink and good conversation on the patio with friends. Staying up late, talking late into the night. – Amanda
Star gazing and fireflies – Monique B.
I remember back when we used to arrive at the beach after dark and you could hear and smell the ocean, but not see the waves washing up on the shore. It held the promise of warm days on the sand and wading in the water to cool off. Happy times. – Amelia V,
Summer nights… trees, black silhouettes against deepening dark blues of the sky… Soft breezes bringing a cool freshening, chasing the day’s heat… A cacophony of frogs, joined by the insistent chirping of crickets… Mystical, magical periodic blinking of fireflies (“lightening bugs”)… The scent of summer blossoms and growing, ripening gardens all around, lulling and delighting with every breath taken… “Day’s end, and all is right”, now, in this moment of time… – Pat T.
and finally, my favorite, which really should be published somewhere awesome:
Summer nights of my long ago childhood includes the wonderful memories of visiting my cousins in rural South Eastern Oklahoma. We would be playing as dusk started settling in. Dinner would have been enjoyed by the crowd of extended family. Always enough, always super tasty, never fancy. Then the adults would settle into their metal lawn chairs as we children raced around the yard. I can remember the low buzzing of their conversation as we played. They were talking about times before us and so we went about creating our own memories, not really sharing theirs. The light would fade and fade until it was almost completely dark around us, the porch light left on, but it’s beam barely reaching into the darkness. Beyond its beam, hidden in the dusk the adults would still carry on with their reminiscing, the murmuring and occasional sound of laughter a constant backdrop to our continued play. And this is when the magic happened. The magic of fireflies. First just a few, then finally a full chorus of them in the dark. Somehow jars would magically appear in our hands. The game was on! Cousins and I dashed as we tried to catch the elusive insects, nothing like the brash ugly insects bashing themselves around the back light porch! These were silent and graceful, taking all your skill to try to catch one as its light flickered on and off and on and off, teasing us to catch it.
So, that’s what I think of when summer nights are mentioned. I hope there are children still out there chasing fireflies and letting them go, barely hearing the history of their people as it’s murmured from lawn chairs that still sit under the clump of trees. It has been years and years since I have seen a firefly. Are they still out there? – magistra13
You probably want to know who won, though, right? Mr. Random chose number 74, which was Linda.
Congratulations, Linda! Your bundle will be mailed out tomorrow. Enjoy stitching with watermelon juice running down your chin! For those of you who didn’t win this one, you can buy this bundle from Fiddlehead Artisan Supply’s online shop (or in person) until they sell out!
It’s a big stash building day, since not only am I bolstering Linda’s stash, but I am also sharing a few new fabric bits that I bought at Maine Quilts for my own English Paper Piecing (EPP) stash. I love tone on tones, but meticulous cutting (also known as fussy cutting) is best with busier prints with lots going on.
Here is my full haul, from windswept kids to flowers (what!? I bought floral prints!?) to awesome sloths.
These first three fabrics were purchased from Alewives Fabrics, and are intended to work together in a currently unplanned future EPP project. From top to bottom, I bought:
1/2 yard of Zephyr by Rashida Coleman Hale for Cotton & Steel
1/4 yard of Picnic by Melody Miller for Cotton & Steel
1 yard of Moon Shine by Tula Pink for Free Spirit Fabrics
I typically don’t buy (or like, for that matter) floral prints, but that Moon Shine just drew me in and made me say uncle. I think the bold black background with the bright red, lime green, and turquoise combo just begs to be cut up and sewn back together in a fun geometric EPP way. I decided to add in a bit of the red Picnic and a generous splash of the limey green Zephyr, and there we have a solid beginning to a new project.
I also bought 1/2 yard of this Floral Bazzar in Orchid by Joel Dewberry for Free Spirit Fabrics. Again, it’s far more floral than I typically buy, but the diverse and detailed print just begs to be meticulously cut and pieced back together. I loved the color combination of the bright navy blue, coral, magenta, and grey and so bought this as a feature fabric for yet another not-yet-planned future EPP project. Just look at all of the variation in this one print!
Same fabric, different perspective, and an entirely new look, which means this will be FUN to chop!
Finally, these sloths!! Seriously, how could I NOT buy some of this fabric?! This is the epic sloth fabric, Sketches & Memories from Costa Rica from Honeymoon by Sarah Watts for Cotton & Steel. I bought 1/2 yard of this fabric from Fiddlehead Artisan Supply‘s booth at Maine Quilts. I don’t know what I’m going to make with it yet, but I just couldn’t resist. I surely will need to buy more, and might make a sloth bag just so that I can tote these guys around everywhere.
Did you know that I have a degree in Environmental science and saw sloths in Costa Rica while there for a Tropical Biology class? It wasn’t my honeymoon–maybe we should have gone to Costa Rica–but it sure is a memory, and I’m pretty sure I have a sketch (or at least a photograph) somewhere!
Does fabric ever talk to you, grab your wrist, and refuse to let you go without buying some? And then snuggle you the whole way home? Okay, good. I’m not weird.
I’m linking up with Molli Sparkles’ Sunday Stash, where he shows us the finer points of the not-so-floral Liberty prints.
I did it! 17 days after Finn’s birth, I finally turned on the sewing machine and did some machine stitching. That sure beats the six weeks I waited after Max was born before realizing that I could make progress in tiny baby steps. Beginning is the hardest part, so hopefully now that I’ve begun, I will be able to sew for 10-20 minutes per day (or more likely, night). Of course I began a new project while I was at it.
After seeing my kiddos curled up under Maddie’s Rainbow Jellyroll Quilt, I decided that my boys really need quilts of their own. I knew I wanted to keep it simple and use a rainbow of color (why not? I love rainbows; kids love rainbows; my stash is a rainbow… perfect!), and inspiration struck in the form of a sneak peek Instagram post of a mini quilt made by Kim at _glass_half_full.
I sketched out some ideas for enlarging the quilt, decided on a 7×7 grid of 9″ blocks for a 63″ square finished quilt size, and then came the fun part: fabric pull! I pulled out all of my low volumes for the background, and decided to put the gorgeous rainbow fat eighths bundle I won from Pile O’ Fabric back in April to good use.
Typically when there’s a bundle or collection of fabrics, I’ll like most of them, but not all. This bundle is an exception, as are many of Alyssa’s bundles at Pile O’ Fabric. I honestly love every. single. print. in this bundle. It’s a collection of 35 fat eighths, five (5) each of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, and pink. They are mostly the color-heavy “basics” that read as one color in particular. It’s ideal for a rainbow quilt, and I’m excited to add these fabrics to my stash.
The blocks sew up very quickly; I’ve already made 6 of the necessary 49 blocks. It doesn’t look like much yet, but I am hoping that as more blocks are added and you can see the design better, it will start to be a bit more exciting. A quilt like this might be best seen either super close so that the fabric details are there, or complete and in full so that the overall aesthetic is there.
I haven’t yet squared up the bottom left red block, since I haven’t decided if the diagonal path of the low volume print will drive me nuts or not, and whether I should re-stitch it with the print parallel to the red strip. What would you do? I’m trying really hard not to micromanage the piecing of this quilt, and to let the somewhat scrappy randomness evolve on its own.
Koi and carrotRed crosshatch and botanics
Baby steps. Even they will result, one day, in a baby quilt. 🙂
I’m linking up with Molli’s Sunday Stash, since I’m finally sharing this gorgeous rainbow fat eighths bundle, as well as Monday Makers & Design Wall.
Over the past few months, I’ve been growing my stash here and there but haven’t had a chance to adequately photograph everything so that I can share it with you. Now that I’ve actually completed all of my pre-baby sewing goals (and still no baby), it’s time to remedy that, and what better way to start than with some winnings! Around my early April birthday this year, I was lucky enough (literally!) to win a few giveaways. One of them was an Instagram giveaway by Renaissance Ribbons, from which I won some of the new Tula Pink ribbons.
I’ve worked with Renaissance ribbons only two times before (I made a zipped pouch, and a thread catcher and pin cushion), and they are SO gorgeous and easy to work with! The colors are bright and bold, you can pin the ribbons during sewing and not a single sign of the pin hole remains once the pin is removed, and they are wonderfully thick and sturdy, not to mention the wide variety of patterns and designs, some of which coordinate with fabric designers’ fabric lines. What’s not to love?
I don’t have a specific project idea in mind yet; what would you make with these gorgeous ribbons?
Some people experience nesting before a baby by feeling the urge to clean and reorganize everything. I wish I felt that way, honestly. It would be wonderful to have that “nesting” drive all the time and to effortlessly have a pristine and organized home. Not being the most enthusiastic cleaner, though, I have been nesting by thinking about small stitching projects I can do a tiny bit at a time for once our little bundle of joy makes his appearance.
I’ve been wanting to try embroidery and figure this may be the perfect time! I am hoping that by having some embroidery floss or thread and a ready-to-go hoop sitting on the table next to the glider, I will have a little creative outlet while nursing and rocking and nursing and rocking (with plenty of breaks to gaze in wonderment at my little boy).
Yes, I’ve been nesting. I bought the Color Wheel Sampler by Rebecca Ringquist of Dropcloth, and a couple of adorable needle minders made by Amanda from What the Bobbin (the little house is one of them!). Alex from Aurifil was kind enough to send me a collection of 12wt embroidery thread–the Splendor 1920 collection by Bari J–to get me started in my embroidery adventures. I’m already in love with the smooth, gorgeous thread and am looking forward to expanding my collection (and it just may encourage me to do some more hand quilting, or even try using 12wt thread with 50wt in the bobbin for machine quilting!).
I’ve been slowly learning the stitches and so far I’ve completed the herringbone stitch section on the color wheel. Embroidery is awfully fun, and quite relaxing.
The Bari J Splendor 1920 collection of 12wt Aurifil thread is such a gorgeous rainbow of silky thread. After using embroidery thread and perle cotton for my initial embroidery attempts, using this 12wt thread is a dream. I love that it doesn’t separate into strands, and it is silky smooth without being twisty like perle cotton. At first, I thought I might need to use two strands, but one strand ended up being ample to cover the guiding lines. I’m definitely looking forward to working 12wt thread into my quilting projects, too.
For those of you who are seasoned embroiderers, do you have any tips to share with a newbie?
I’m linking up with Monday Makers, Design Wall, and Molli Sparkles’ Sunday Stash, since these are all gorgeous additions to my stash that have not yet been shared, and it seems like this week’s stash theme is thread! As an added fun little tidbit, my baby boy has a good chance of sharing a birthday with Mr. Molli!!
My pink-loving sister-in-law is having a baby girl in June. When I say she’s pink-loving, note that that is a dire understatement. I mean, she loves pink. Pink on pink on pink with an accent of pink is her signature style. As a long-time pink avoider who is just recently embracing the joy that pink conveys, I am planning to work a *little* out of my comfort zone for the sake of making a quilt for her baby girl that she will love. I’m making a pinkalicious Hazel Hedgehog baby quilt, with one giant sized super-pink Hazel.
Hazel will be completely pink, with the lightest pink for her face, the bright pink her body, and the swirly magenta-pink as hair. The majority of you who commented on my last blog post about this project voted for the grey face and body and pink hair. As much as I think the grey face and body would look awesome, too, I just didn’t feel like the resulting giant grey-bodied Hazel would be pinkalicious enough for my sister-in-law. So pink it is. The turquoise Stitch Circle by Michael Miller will be the background, and my aesthetic anchor. I have to admit, I’m quite excited!
My sister-in-law’s baby shower is this coming weekend, which means I’m giving myself a typical time-squeeze goal of completing the quilt top before her shower. This is also my ALYoF goal for April, so it’s a good thing I’m finally getting started on it!
So far I’ve finished cutting for Hazel and her immediate background, which finally gave me a great opportunity to use the numbered pins my husband got for me for Christmas. They are called Marilee’s Numbered Q-Pins (*Amazon affiliate link) and are super useful. They can also be purchased from the Quilting Pins website, and you can visit them on Facebook. (Tell them Kitty aka Night Quilter sent you!) I took the advice of the little sticker on the back of the pins that suggested customizing the backs with letters, colors, etc. if more than numbers were needed. Elizabeth Hartman’s Hazel Hedgehog pattern clearly lays out the cutting and piecing instructions with letters, so the pins were perfect for keeping track of pieces.
With 20 numbered pins, I was able to create letters enough for all the Hazel pieces, while letting the letters correspond to the numbers (1 = A, 2 = B, etc.). This lets my OCD side rest easy knowing that my letters will be as easily organized and found as the numbers.
I also did a TINY bit of fabric buying for this project, so I’ll show you another addition to my stash. While auditioning fabrics, nothing worked better for the background than the little scrap of this Michael Miller Stitch Circle I had remaining from a previous project. I scoured local shops and the internet and finally found some at FreshStash on Etsy. I ordered the 1.5 yards needed for this project, and added in 1 yard of Essex Linen Blend in Smoke.
I love the look of stacked fabric!
I’m hopeful that since this Hazel is ginormous, it will be quick to piece. Quilt top in a week: totally doable, right?
Before heading to QuiltCon, I promised myself I wasn’t going to go crazy with buying tons of fabric and notions, etc. Truly, I stuck to my word–probably more because I simply didn’t have time to browse the vendors as much as I would have liked, but still! The one fabric line that was on my list of “definitely buy” was Alison Glass’s new Sun Prints. I am signed up for the Alison Glass Mini Quilt Swap, so really, I needed to buy some anyway. However, in my mad dash through the vendor booths on Saturday afternoon, I discovered that many booths were getting cleared out. When I arrived at Pile O’ Fabric‘s booth, they had only ONE bundle left of Sun Prints Mercury and Grove, the two that were on my must-buy list. I was planning on seeking out fat eight bundles, but these were, um…. half yard bundles. Close? I bought both, my only non-food purchases the entire trip.
Grove on top, Mercury on bottom: Half yard bundles of Alison Glass’s newest Sunprints from Pile O’ Fabric.
I love how this gorgeous pile of fabric has a Pile O’ Fabric tag on it. What a great name for a fabric store!
I’ve had my eye on the new Sun Prints since they were released for preorder. The saturated, bright colors and tone on tone nature of this fabric line falls right into the “Kitty must have it loves it” category. I admit I did hesitate before buying both half yard bundles, since it’s the largest one-time fabric purchase I’ve made to date (yes, I’m that frugal when it comes to buying fabric). I KNOW that these fabrics will be loved and used, though, so carpe diem, right?
Mercury: Alison Glass Sun Prints 2015Grove: Alison Glass Sun Prints 2015
With all these gorgeous colors, I had to arrange them in a rainbow for some serious photo shoot yumminess. Mercury, meet Grove. Feast your eyes on these beauties!
I had my usual helper during this photo shoot, and I will be astounded the day he doesn’t want to “help” by being right smack dab in the middle of the photos. As per usual during our sunny day playroom photo shoots, Max took turns taking photos and posing in the photos. In my opinion (and I’m sure in Grandma’s opinion, too), his cute mug just makes the photos that much more perfect.
I seriously love this kid!
And I love the rainbow gorgeousness of these fabrics. Here, I’ll take you for a little stroll down Rainbow Way:
Now that these lovelies are officially part of my stash, I just have to figure out the perfect pattern to make for my mini partner. And then decide what to make with the leftovers!
What pattern would you use to let these gorgeous colors shine?
I’m linking up with Molli Sparkles’ Sunday Stash, since if he can be a bit late, I can, too! Tuesday, Sunday… eh, it’s close enough!
I made it to the post office yesterday five minutes before they closed. Five minutes! It’s a good thing I did, too, because our mailbox has been out of commission due to height and volume of snow, so I had quite a stack of happy mail to pick up. (Including a little something something for a giveaway on Monday… yes, you really want to come back on Monday. Trust me. wink wink)
Anyway, happy mail:
First up was my Fat Quarter Back Sneak purchase from Mariner’s Compass during Superbowl weekend. I’m not much into football and didn’t even watch the game, but I certainly couldn’t resist 10 fat quarters for $15! It’s my first Cotton + Steel bundle: the pink Mustangs by Melody Miller and some Basics.
While I’m really not a fan of the actual Mustangs (please don’t tar and feather me!), I love the arrows and reallylove the basics in pinks and shades of grey. Mariner’s Compass even threw in an extra fat quarter. I guess they were feeling especially generous since the Patriots won. Mariner’s Compass is a quilt shop in Bath, Maine. I met Amanda, the owner of Mariner’s Compass and organizer of the Maine Quilt Shop hop last April during the shop hop. It felt great to support a Maine LQS while also building my stash in an epic way.
I also received my winnings from the #FabricForward event on Instagram: a charm pack of Storybook by Kate & Birdie Paper Co. for Moda. Thank you so much to @simplybekah for this #happymail! (Since the giveaway event was entirely on Instagram, I felt the need to write all of that in @ # IG style. Right? Right.)
It looks like such a darling collection, and perfect for a baby quilt. I love looking at stacks of fabric, don’t you?
What are some of your go-to charm pack quilt patterns? I’m a newbie at using precuts, so I’d love to add some to my arsenal.
I’m linking up with Molli’s Sunday Stash, since he’s “in the future” in Oz so I can link up even in the wee hours of the morn here in Maine, USA.
In my early planning phases for QuiltCon, I didn’t realize how much preparation would go into the trip. Now that February is actually here, reality is hitting. I initially mentally blocked off February as “QuiltCon Prep” thinking it would mostly involve creating and ordering business cards, making a cool bag, and psyching myself up for my first public quilt-world appearance.
I’m registered for two awesome workshops at QuiltCon–Playing with Value with Cheryl Arkison and Off the Grid: Creating Alternate Layouts with Lee Heinrich–not to mention lectures by Carolyn Friedlander, Heather Jones, and Meg Cox, which means that my first quilt conference experience is sure to be amazing, but also that I have a lot of work to do before I head to Austin! So far, I’ve narrowed my QuiltCon to-do list down to:
Make a list of people to meet (let me know if you’re going and want to me added to my “stalk until I meet them” list!)
As you can see, I’ve crossed a couple things off my list but still have quite a bit to do. For Lee’s Off the Grid workshop, we need to take 5-20 premade quilt blocks in addition to other bits of fabric for sashing and background. I’m wicked excited (pardon my Northeast terminology there), and really want to create something fabulous. I also don’t really have any stray blocks hanging around (a side effect of being a newbie quilter?) which meant one thing: new project!
To put my mind a bit at ease, I snuck in a stop at my local quilt shop (LQS) Fiddlehead Artisan Supply before today’s big snowstorm got going and picked up some half-yards in my color palette of choice.
I’m planning to work out of my white and grey background comfort zone and go with a navy blue background and negative space with these gorgeous pops of color. I probably will add more turquoise and perhaps a bit of light grey as some low volume additions, but I’m going to shop my stash as much as possible for those. I have not yet decided on a block design, although I’m leaning toward making five or more different blocks with this similar color scheme. If you have a favorite block you would suggest, I’m definitely still open to ideas!
from L to R: Alison Glass Sun Print Bike Path in Magenta, Joel Dewberry Bungalow Swallow Study in Lavender, American Jane Pindots in Leaf Green, Alison Glass Sun Print Bike Path in Leaf Green, Cotton and Steel Basics, XOXO in Dandelion, Super Tote pattern by Noodle-head; bottom: FQ of unknown teal thready fabric
I also want to make a Super Tote for carrying all of my crap precious supplies around QuiltCon, so I picked up the pattern while at Fiddlehead. Now that I have the pattern, I can begin to wrap my head around what will be involved in making it. I have not yet decided on what fabric I will use for the bag, but I’m going to try to shop my stash as much as possible for that, too. I want to have a little budget left for shopping at QuiltCon.
What am I missing? Are you going to QuiltCon? Any tips for a first-timer?
I grab a needle and thread once the kids are in bed
The Sun Prints 2016 collection includes new lines Sphere, Grow, and Endpaper. It probably comes as no surprise that I love them all.
I took them all out into the fresh snow for a photo shoot with a new camera lens, a 50mm 1.8f lens that was a Christmas present from my awesome husband. While I love this lens, I definitely should have taken these photos with a deeper depth of field. I’m still getting a feel for it. For now, here are the way up close, pinpoint focal point photos of these gorgeous fabrics.
I’m not typically a polka dot fan, but there’s something about Sphere that grabs me. Perhaps it’s the fact that these dynamic little bulbs remind me of the earth with latitude and longitudinal lines. Perhaps it’s the fact that the sphere colors help blend the fabric lines together subtly and flawlessly. Either way, it joined the ranks in my AG stash.
Grow is a design that also appears in Abacus, with charcoal on white. It was one of the first Abacus prints I bought and I cannot wait to embroider on it. The Grow Sun Prints let us use the gorgeously sketched botanical design in a full spectrum of colors.
Endpaper is the epitome of my favorite types of fabrics. I love tone on tone blenders, and endpaper nails those categories. The colors are rich and deep, and include my favorite tertiary colors.
These three new collections blend beautifully together when combined. I love the subtle flow that emerges between fabrics and colors. Every time I finish another rainbow project, I think maybe it’s time I explored other color combinations. But really, how could I not create with these? I have a feeling you will be seeing quite a few more rainbows in the not too distant future!
I also recently saw that my local quilt shop Fiddlehead Artisan Supply is stocking the full Sun Prints 2016 collection, and has it all shelved with some of Alison’s older Sun Prints and other fabric lines. It’s glorious! If you’re local (or an online shopper), you can get your rainbow fill, too! I’m sharing a screenshot I took of Fiddlehead’s Instagram feed so that you can revel in the rainbow gradient beauty, too. Sooo good.
(*Amazon affiliate link) and are super useful. They can also be purchased from the 
Night Quilter 