New Patterns for 2013 Spring Market!

Hi everyone!  Don't you love seeing all the new things that came out at Quilt Market?  They are some of my favorite blog posts to read.  I put out five new patterns at Market and I really hope you like them!

Because I was showing an embroidery collection this Market, Modern Blossoms, a Brewer Sewing exclusive digitized by OESD, all of my new patterns feature optional use of embroidered motifs.  Of course, you don't need to use my embroidery collection to make these patterns.  You can use another embroidery collection or you can also use feature prints instead of embroidery, but I wanted to design pattern in which you COULD use a light amount of embroidery for added interest and texture if you chose to do so.  I used my new Bonjour, Mon Ami collection with Blend Fabrics for four out of the five patterns.  I also used Kona cotton for all five designs.  (Ordering info is at the bottom of this post.)

First up is Soda Pop!  This pattern is a Brewer exclusive designed to celebrate Modern Blossoms' debut with Brewer Sewing and I had so much fun making it.  Brewer put their version of this design, sewn in solids, on the cover of the embroidery collection - you can see it at the bottom of this post.

Soda Pop has free form circles that are either cut out of feature prints or feature embroidery.  And it is so much fun to applique them in contrasting thread!

Next is Whirl.  It is sewn out of Bella along with Kona Cottons and some Vanessa Christenson prints.  It is super simple to piece since you sew strip sets, cut them into Kaleidescope blocks, and place them on point.  Embroidery is just used as little cornerstone accents, but you can also use a feature print.

Then we have Manhattan.  It is a 2-1/2'' strip friendly quilt that is super-easy to put together.  Again, the sample is sewn with Bonjour, Mon Ami.  And you could use embroidery for the square accents or you could fussy-cut a panel or feature print.  There are lots of possibilities.

All three new quilts were quilted by Jenn Reeve of Honu Quilting and she did a great job - thanks Jenn!

I designed a couple of smaller project as well this time.  They are great for little gifts with feature prints or just if you want to do a little project to experiment with the embroidery features of your machine.  In fact, if you embroider a test for a larger quilt don't throw it out!  Set it aside to use for a small project.

This is my fat-quarter-friendly On the Go zippered pouch.  Yes, I did say zippered but it is so easy!!!  You quilt a rectangle of fabric used for the bag body, attach the pocket, and then insert the zipper while the bag is still flat!  You literally just sew right down the middle of the zipper tape.  Then you sew up the two sides and you are done.

Our daughter has claimed the aqua and brown version.  That's my favorite too!  (Secretly that brown Bonjour, Mon Ami print is my favorite in the collection.)

Brewer markets a Bosal fusible base for both placemats and a table runner so they asked me to design a pattern for those products.  Of course, you can also use regular batting so this is just one option.  Again, I wanted to make things scrappy but feature optional areas for feature prints or embroidery.  Here is A Modern Table.

I hope you like the new patterns!

And then, of course, I was also showing Modern Holiday and Modern Blossoms in my booth....

A number of people wrote me requesting to see the back of the case so that they could see all the motifs.  My scan isn't great but here is is.

If you live near a local shop and would like to purchase my books, patterns, or embroidery CD please support them and request that they order my products for you.  It is really important that we support our local shops!  If, on the other hand, you can't seem to locate my products I do have some exciting news.  Lots of people have written to me asking where they can find one specific pattern and I don't always know because most of my patterns are sold through distributors.  So now I have opened a shop where you can purchase my products.  Hop on over and see what you think.

I'm expecting advance copies of Modern Holiday,  Modern Blossoms  and all five new patterns the first week in June.  So they aren't available yet but you can place pre-orders if you would like and yours will be the first to ship.  All pattterns that were already in my line are available.  I'm currently shipping to the US and Canada and shipping in the US is free.

Hope you enjoy the new patterns!

Happy sewing!
Amanda

Good Fortune

We tell our kids to always try their best and their hard work will be rewarded, but sometimes life gets in the way and things don't work out like we planned.  More often, the work we did provides benefits in ways we do not expect.  It is like learning a new sewing technique and using that technique years later in the "perfect project" that you would have never envisioned at the time.

I have a funny (and exciting) story that I just can't wait to share!  You all know that I'm a HUGE Bernina fan so I was delighted when, last summer, they asked me and several other designers to take their new 780 machine for a spin and then use as much social media as we could to talk about our experiences.  We'd get to try PaintWork, CutWork, and CrystalWork, and in the end one of us would win a 780!  So, last fall, I spent two crazy weeks creating a variety of projects that would show off the truly spectacular features of the 780.

Harlequin Table Runner with trapunto and CutWork embellishments

Medallion Pillow with embroidery

Improvisational Photo Album Cover with CutWork embellishment, embroidery,
couching, and free motion quilting with the Bernina Stitch Regulator.

Fizz Pillow with CrystalWork embellishment

Christmas Mantlepiece Decoration combining embroidery and PaintWork.

PaintWork Leaves

I talked about them here, and on Facebook and Twitter, but I knew that Bernina was also interested in videos.  After all, they had sent flipcams for us to document our experiences and I had a twelve-year-old camera man at my side who loves any type of machinery.  But after sending the machine back I realized that my sound really didn't turn out well.  What's a girl to do?  I had made a commitment to Bernina to document everything as best I could, but there was no way the videos made sense without the accompanying sound.

But I had made a commitment and I was DETERMINED to get those videos done.  I was just going to have to take all the footage I had and edit it, adding text and looping music in the background.  The designing and sewing was easy but oh my - the video was hard because I was completely out of my comfort zone.  There were tears.  I almost gave up and abandoned the video aspect, but I knew that, in the case of the 780, seeing is believing so I just kept plugging away.  I'm almost embarrassed to admit it but it took me two weeks to sew the projects and another two weeks just to edit the videos because I was learning how to do it as I went.  Bernina creates such professional videos and I was worried mine wouldn't measure up, and they really don't, but you do get a really good idea of the 780's capabilities by watching them.  With the help of my 12-year-old assistant, we eventually edited them together and then created a YouTube channel to showcase them.  They aren't perfect, but my assistant and I worked really hard on them and the fact that we that we persevered and got to the end meant a lot to us!

So you can imagine my surprise when Bernina emailed me right before Market to let me know that I WON A 780!!!  I was not expecting it AT ALL!  Can you believe it?  Seriously?

So yesterday I went to Sew Much Fun, my local Bernina dealer, to pick up my 780!

My new friend and me.

A view of the left side of Sew Much Fun -
it is huge!

A view of the right side of Sew Much Fun

Here are my assistant and I getting ready to unload the embroidery module from the trunk of our car.  (Thanks, assistant!)

I have it all set up in the front room and am ready to sew.  It has been a pretty exciting week!

Thanks for letting me share my good fortune!  Thank you Bernina!
Happy sewing!

P.S.  For those of your who have been asking about the new patterns, that is my next post... promise!

Spring 2013 Quilt Market

Aren't you enjoying reading all the Market recaps that are out there in Blog World?  It was great being there but it is still fun to look at the pictures because you can't possibly take everything in while there!   I'm working on getting a post ready to show new patterns, etc. but I thought I might give you a sneak peek ahead of time of some of my work by showing pictures of my booth, right across form Blend Fabrics/Anna Griffin.  (Please excuse the picture quality - I'm realizing that the camera on my phone has seen better days.)

This Market I had lots of product to display in a tiny space so I decided to use color to unify the look of the booth... aqua and green were the order of the day.

I debuted my book Modern Holiday... you can see the cover quilt on the back wall and some of the smaller projects on the shelves.  I also debuted two fabric lines with Blend Fabrics - "Bonjour, Mon Ami" and "Holiday Bouquet".  And five new patterns including three quilts, one zippered bag, and one set of a table runner with placemats! Four of my five new patterns were sewn in "Bonjour, Mon Ami" and Kona cotton.  The fifth was sewn in Bella with a few Vanessa Christenson and Kona cottons thrown in.  I'll be working on sewing some of my Modern Holiday projects in Holiday Bouquet this summer and will show some of that here - can't wait!

My fabric lines were also displayed across the way in the Blend Fabrics/Anna Griffin booth.  Thanks to all the people at Blend for doing such a fantastic display.

"Bonjour, Mon Ami"
(The bargello quilt is a free project on the Blend Fabrics website!)

"Holiday Bouquet" sandwiched between
"Spooktacular" by Madue Ashbury
and  "Hip Holiday" by Josephine Kimberling.
The complimentary pattern is on the right - it has Christmas trees
on the bottom and is really cute, so check it out.

Blend Fabrics even made accessories in "Bonjour, Mon Ami" to match!

Because I was also debuting an embroidery collection with Brewer Sewing called Modern Blossoms, all of my project incorporate spaces for just a bit of optional embroidery - nothing heavy.  Of course, you can also use feature prints if you don't have an embroidery machine.

"Soda Pop" in "Bonjour, Mon Ami" featuring my Modern Blossoms embroidery collection.

Oh - and I can't forget my booth-mate!  Cherry Guidry of Cherry Blossoms had the booth next to me.  We also roomed together.  We met through a friend who knew both of our work and thought we'd get along great.  Cherry and I have the same birthday, we order the same food at every meal, and we both think it might be a good idea to start a 5-year Dear Jane quilt together, so I guess we both might be a little crazy, but we are big fans of each other's work.  Look at her cute forks and spoons and her adorable bike quilt!

Soda Pop is a Brewer exclusive quilt that was also displayed in the Brewer Booth specifically designed to showcase the Modern Blossoms embroidery collection.  They showed it in solids and I sewed it in prints - and it was great to have both so that people could see the different possibilities.

Brewer even made up a special tin to house the threads used in the embroidery collection!

I'll be back later in the week to show more detailed pictures of projects and patterns, but I couldn't wait to share.

Happy sewing!
Amanda