Coming Soon...

An Accu-Quilt Go-Baby give-away!  Along with some other fun give-aways the next few weeks.   Stay tuned...Before that particular brand of summer fun happens, though, Accuquilt is giving away 22 free patterns to people who sign up for their email newsletter, so hop over and sign up!

And they have some special offers through July 5th as well...

Happy sewing!
Amanda

Bubbles

And finally, here is the last of the quilt patterns to debut at Market - Bubbles!

 

Don't you love the little zigzag quilting on the sashing that Deborah Norris did?  Reminds me of ricrac.  And the little swirls in the bubbles themselves?  Yum!  I love Bubbles because it is REALLY fun to make and is a great vehicle to show off those great modern fabrics.

I used a thick, contrasting 12 wt. Sulky cotton for the applique, and love how it looks.  A few shop owners have remarked that this would be good to use for an embroidery class.  One sewer remarked that she was planning on using all the specialty stitches on her machine to attach the circles.  Why didn't I think of that?  I guess I'll have to make another quilt...  Another quilt- that is definitely what every girl needs, don't you think?

It is so fun to arrange each block a little differently.  I used fusible applique, but you could just as easily use freezer paper templates for a more traditional finish.

I used the Sorbet color story of Veranda, which ships in August, but Bubbles would make an excellent scrap quilt as well.

My friend Mary test-quilted Bubbles for me using Central Park by Kate Spain. She used "Bubbles" in some of the blocks and left others plain. She also mitered corners for the first time, but I'll let her tell you about it.
I posted my tutorial for mitering corners online recently, but it is also included in the Bubbles pattern.

I just found out this week that my pattern line is being picked up by two big distributors - hooray!  I'm very excited about that.

Hope you have a happy weekend filled with lots of sewing!
Amanda

Village Green

Hi everyone!  I hope you have been having a great beginning to your summer.

I still have two patterns to "officially" introduce and one of them is Village Green. (Incidentally, Kimberly has them all available to order now at Fat Quarter Shop.)  At 84" x 102", it is the largest quilt in my line and is perfect for a bed. It uses up 2 roll-ups/jell-rolls completely. We wouldn't want to waste a bit of fabric!

This is a great scrappy quilt as well.  The directions call for flowers, constructed out of coordinating solids, to be appliquéd to the center of each block; you could vary flower colors or even fussy cut motifs from your favorite feature fabric and appliqué them on instead... That would be particularly fun for a child's quilt. Imagine airplanes or cars appliquéd to the center of each square for a little boy's room... Fun!

The fantastically talented Deborah Norris, of Deborah's Quilting, did her magic for me on this one as well.  I love her feathers and swirly vines!  (She just started blogging, so if some of you out there visit and leave comments, I'm sure that would surprise her and make her day!)

My friend Lisa tested this pattern for me.  Hop on over to her blog to see pictures of her beautiful garden as well.  Luckily I had a lot of 2-1/2" scraps leftover from making Veranda quilts.  She appliqued lovely purple blossoms in the center of each block for a different look.

I have some accessories in the works for this line too that will be coming out on blogs this summer, and some giveaways so go along with them, so be sure to check back occassionally.

Hope you are having a wonderful summer - happy sewing!
Amanda

Mitered Border Tutorial

As promised, here is a tutorial for mitering borders.  I included specific directions for this in my Bubbles pattern, but there wasn't enough room in the others so I am including it here.  (It's also on the side bar.)

My friend, Pat Hopkins, mitered the corners on her version of Town Square.  Didn't she line up the stripes nicely?  (I am not that patient so I'm glad you sewed this one, Pat.)  Please excuse the out of focus photo but I was focusing elsewhere on the quilt and don't have it back yet to stage a re-shoot.
 

Mitered borders really aren't that hard.  In fact, they can actually be a time-saver when you have a number of borders to apply to a quilt.  My friend Mary tried it when she tested Bubbles, and she was surprised how easy it was.

Happy sewing!
Amanda

My pattern line is shipping!

So they should start arriving at shops within a few days.  Interested shops can email me; as shops order my patterns I will be adding them to my webpage.  If you choose to buy the patterns from a distributor, please email me to let me know you carry them and I'll add you to the list.

In response to inquiries, I do not carry my fabrics - I leave that to Robert Kaufman.  You can order "Veranda", the fabric line that I used for all the patterns, now for August delivery.  Please make sure to order ahead of time to ensure you get the fabrics.

Thanks everyone!
Amanda

P.S.  If anyone is in the area of Manassas, Virginia, I'll be speaking at the Manassas Quilt Guild on Monday night...

Jewels of My Garden

Guess what came in the mail today? 

The July/August issue of Quiltmaker.  I turned to page 40 and saw...

..."Jewels of My Garden", the very first quilt I made out of Veranda.  This is a really fun bed-sized quilt.    It is so easy to make, with just flying geese, squares, and rectangles making up the blocks.  I used the pink paisley feature print for the border to bring everything together.  I used a bright Kona yellow for the square centers, but you really could pull any color from the accent prints.

Kimberly, of Fat Quarter Shop, will be offering kits for this "Jewels of My Garden" when Veranda ships in August.

Happy sewing!
Amanda