Sunday, December 15, 2013

Watch the Modern Holiday episode of The Quilt Show for free just for this week!

We learn to bind irregular corners (like on the Garland Tree Skirt), apply pom-pom trim, and make tree blocks... in historic Charleston!

Hop on over to The Quilt Show using this link - you can watch through the 22nd.


Don't forget, to subscribe to The Quilt Show use code 238744193687 to get a $5 discount!

Happy holidays, everyone!
Amanda

Labels: ,

Friday, December 6, 2013

Modern Holiday… not just for the holidays (and a preview of The Quilt Show!)

I was going through my files this week when I came upon these comp files.  They are from my original pitch for Modern Holiday.  At the time we were talking about doing two versions of all the quilts (crazy, I know) - in holiday and non-holiday projects.  Eventually this idea was abandoned in favor of including more projects, but I thought you all might be interested in seeing the pictures.  Even though most of the fabrics aren't available anymore, these picts might inspire you to make some Holiday non-holiday quilts of your own!

The final Holiday Squares, in various Christmas prints by Michael Miller.

A larger version of Holiday Squares in "Heirloom", by Joel Dewberry for  FreeSpirit,

Holiday Squares in another color story of "Heirloom", by Joel Dewberry for  FreeSpirit,

The final version of Crossroads, in various red and aqua fabrics by Michael Miller,

Crossroads in various Christmas Fabrics by Robert Kaufman

Modern Madness, in "Flurry" by Kate Spain for Moda.

Modern Madness in "It's a Boy Thing" by Michael Miller.
I SO want to make this one!

The final version of Snowfall, in Brrr by Laurie Wisbrun for Robert Kaufman.

A non-seasonal version of Snowfall on a dark background.
This one is in Kumari Garden by Dena Designs for FreeSpirit.

A lighter version of Snowfall,
also in Kumari Garden by Dena Designs for FreeSpirit.

My favorite design at the moment -
the final version of "Trimming the Tree".

Trimming the tree set a little differently.
Large spring blooms in Flora by Lauren and Jessie Jung for Moda.

Another floral version of Trimming the Tree.
This one is in Sweetwater's Circa 1934 collection for Moda.

This was yet another way of setting the ornaments/flowers in Trimming the Tree.
I know this is Robert Kaufman Fabric.  I think it might be Laurie Wisbrun too!


Another version of the Ornaments in holiday fabrics by Robert Kaufman.


The ornament pillows as featured in Modern Holiday,
in Riley Blake fabrics by Doodlebug Designs.

Pillows made with the same setting I used for the floral version of Trimming the Tree,
inspired by the Ornament Pillows in Modern Holiday.
In Veranda, by me!

Holiday Wreaths as pictured in the book - in beautiful polka dot prints by Robert Kaufman.
One can never have enough of those!

The Holiday Wreaths quilt sans bows, showing Kate Spain's  "Terrain" collection for Moda.
It looks like spring!  
The final version of Bloom, also in Kate Spain prints.
This collection is "Joy" for  Moda.

A springtime version of Joy in Veranda by me!

Modern Ornament Runner, in various Michael Miller Christmas prints.

Modern Ornament Runner, in Circa 1934 by Sweetwater for Moda.

The final version of the Garland Tree Skirt,
in "Christmas Candy" by Doodlebug Designs for Riley Blake.

And a version in Kate Spain's "Flurry" collection for Moda!


Also, back in March I filmed a segment of The Quilt Show in historic Charleston at the Old Exchange.  I talk about the book, quilting, designing, etc.  It was so fun!  And I really had to pinch myself talking to Alexa Anderson and Ricky Tims!  If you hop on over you can see a preview.  In this segment I gave pointers for making the quilt on the cover and for making and binding the garland tree skirt.  That segment will launch on Monday and they have given me a discount code that I can share with you all then so check back.  In the meantime you can see a trailer here.

Happy sewing!
Amanda

P.S.  Kim of Chatterbox Quilts wrote a review of Modern Holiday and Christa of Christa Quilts! wrote a review of Color Essentials recently, so if you are looking for more information on either book check them out!

Labels: , ,

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Holiday Bouquet Quilts popping up!

My day - actually "days"- were made this week when I received two emails to beautiful Holiday Bouquet projects.  It is so gratifying as a designer to see people take your fabric and make something beautiful and personal!

The first quilt is from Jodi Nelson of A Pleasant Home.  I love how clean and fresh this baby-sized quilt looks!




It is just so pretty!  Best of all, Jodi has a tutorial for the block she used on her blog so be sure to check it out!

Next, Linda Hoover emailed me a picture of a Holiday Forest quilt from my book, Modern Holiday, sewn in my Holiday Bouquet fabric line.  Now I have to make one of these for myself!


Thanks so much for sharing, both of you!

I love seeing what everyone makes - it is so fun!

Happy sewing!
Amanda

Labels: ,

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Holiday Bouquet Sampler and Holiday Wreaths Pillow in Quilts and More

Guess what Quilts and More dropped off at my Market booth?


I'm excited to have two projects in this issue - it will be popping up on newsstands in about a week.  The first project is my Holiday Bouquet Sampler done in my line from Blend Fabrics by the same name.

Holiday Bouquet Sampler in Quilts and More's Winter issue

It looks hard but it isn't.  I just used my ornament print and outlined each ornament and stippled in between.  There is a little bit of applique in the center with small yo-yo berries.  The cream print in the applique background can be challenging to find at this point but you can substitute any cream print. (I get multiple emails a day about that print and wish there was more.  I don't see sales reports that show which shops buy which line so your best bet if you are looking for which shop might carry the line in your area is to call the number listed on Blend's site.) Many of the SKUs for this line are sold out but you can still find bolts in shops.

The second project is a Holiday Wreaths pillow.  It coordinates with my Holiday Wreaths quilt in Modern Holiday.

"Holiday Wreaths" pillow in Quilts and More's Winter issue

"Holiday Wreaths" quilt in Modern Holiday

It is really fun to raid your stash for this one...

And thanks so much to all of you who voted for me in Craftsy's Blogger Awards.  I won runner-up in the Embroidery category and am thrilled.  Made my week!

Runner Up in Craftsy's Blogger Awards!

I hope everyone is having a great week and gets to fit in at least a bit of quilting.

Happy sewing!
Amanda

Labels: , , , ,

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Holiday Forest in with a touch of red!

This morning my friend Cherry, of Cherry Blossoms Quilting Studio, sent me a photo that made my day!  She made Holiday Forest, from Modern Holiday with a touch of red and it is hanging in her local library.  I love it!

Isn't it cheerful?  Some other exciting news... I'm about to go film a class with Craftsy!  Can't wait to tell you more about that!

Hope everyone has a great week - happy sewing!
Amanda

Labels:

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Modern Holiday Blog Tour Day 5

In just a few hours Fat Quarterly's time to blog about Christmas in July in my Modern Holiday blog tour.  Brioni from Fat Quarterly stopped by my booth at Market and was interested in doing a book review so of course I asked her to help out on this tour too.  Make sure to stop by the Fat Quarterly blog for another chance to win!

Happy sewing
Amanda

Labels: ,

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Modern Holiday Blog Tour Day 3

Next up on the Modern Holiday Blog Tour is Sara at Sew Sweetness.  I've known Sara online for years (she tested some patterns for me when I was just starting out) and she such a nice person!  She makes the most fantastic bags (and bag patterns) and is working on a book too!  When I saw her at Market in Portland I recognized her immediately because she was wearing one of her fantastic dresses.

So, if you aren't familiar with Sew Sweetness make sure to check it out and if you are familiar with it, make sure you hop on over for another chance to enter to win a copy of Modern Holiday.

Happy sewing!
Amanda

P.S.  If you are in the Charlotte area I'll be speaking at the Charlotte Quilt Guild tomorrow night (Wednesday) about embellishment ideas for your holiday projects...

Labels: ,

Monday, July 8, 2013

Modern Holiday Blog Tour Day 2

First up on the Modern Holiday Blog Tour after Stash Books is Madame Samm and her fantastically popular blog Sew We Quilt.  Make sure to hop on over and check out what she has been up to, how she decorates her tree, and get another chance to win another copy of Modern Holiday!

Happy sewing!
Amanda

Labels: ,

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Modern Holiday Blog Tour

Hi everyone! I'm so excited because my Modern Holiday Blog Tour starts in just a few hours right here and over at Stash Books. The theme is Christmas in July and each day one of many great bloggers will have a book to give away! (Winner inside the US will win a hard copy; outside winners will receive a digital copy.) They will all be mailed at the end of July, after the tour wraps up. The theme is Christmas in July and people will be sharing favorite quilts, fabric collections, cookie recipes, etc.

I'd like to start off by talking about the quilt on the cover of the book. It is called Holiday Forest and it is our daughter's favorite.


I love it too but she was really convinced this one would be the cover quilt and she was right! I think the aqua and green color palette looks lovely on the cover, with all the presents in front and the big, fluffy rug on the floor. (For those who are interested, the fabric came from a collection called Ready Set Snow by Me and My Sister Design for Moda, and there are lots of Robert Kaufman blenders in it as well, including some by Patrick Lose.)  This quilt doesn't have to be made in strictly Christmas prints - choose a color palette you love and go for it!



Holiday Forest features three different sizes of trees. The biggest is over 22" in height, which means this quilt is sew-able in a weekend. I don't know if you can tell but the snowflakes are appliqued with metallic thread for a little bit of sparkle. Of course you could use a Cutwork tool for snowflakes if you have one, or you could even cut them out by hand. There are 4 snowflake shapes included in the book.


They are also used in this pillow...

And in these coasters...


You could decorate the trees on the quilt with buttons or trim and keep it out the entire winter! To enter to win for this first day of the blog tour, just leave a comment on this post telling me what whether you would most like to make the quilt, pillow, or coasters and what colors you might make it in. That's it!  One entry per person and the deadline will be this Friday, the 12th, at midnight.

 Don't forget to hop on over to Stash Books tomorrow to enter for another chance to win!

I'll be posting a link to each blogger on their day, but just so you have them all, here is the lineup:

Monday, July 8th


Tuesday, July 9th


Wednesday, July 10th


Thursday, July 11th


Friday, July 12th


Monday, July 15th


Tuesday, July 16th


Wednesday, July 17th


Thursday, July 18th


Friday, July 19th


Monday, July 22nd


Tuesday, July 23rd


Wednesday, July 24th


Thanks so much to all these talented people for helping me out!

 Happy sewing everyone!
Amanda

Labels:

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Summer Travels

Hi everyone,
I hope you are having a wonderful start to your summer!  We are gearing up for summer activities and projects here.  Are you working on something fun?  Maybe starting a new project?  I hope so.

I'm going to be visiting and teaching at lots of shops and guilds this summer... If you are in the Carolinas area please come visit!
Thanks so much to Pat Sloan and APQ radio for having me on yesterday!  The podcast can be downloaded here.

Happy sewing!
Amanda

P.S.  If you pre-ordered the Modern Blossoms embroidery collection, I received my shipment and your copy  is on its way to you as of this morning!




Labels: ,

Saturday, May 25, 2013

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

Labels: , , , , , ,

11 12 13 14 15 16 19 16 19 16 19 16 19 16 19 16 19 16 19 16 19 16 19 16 19 16 19 20 21 22 23

Amanda Murphy Design

24 25 26 30 26 30 26 30 26 30 26 30 26 30 26 30 26 30 26 30 26 30 26 30 31 32