Spring 2009 Issue
| Patterns | |
| Renaissance Tiles The inspiration behind Renaissance Menagerie came from one of the richest periods in design history, the Renaissance. This cultural movement spanned the 14th through 17th centuries and is best known for its artistic developments. Bethany Reynolds, whose name is synonymous with Stack-n-Whack® quilts, was intrigued by the animal illustrations from this historic era, which are both elegant and whimsical. Using these as a focal point, she added an intricate symmetrical print, an embossed tile panel, and a coordinating border stripe, making the fabrics ideal for selective cutting and Stack-n-Whack® designs. Perfect for both the novice and experienced quilter, Renaissance Tiles is fun to cut and piece. NTERMEDIATE |
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Cookies & Cream During the 1920s, manufacturers of farm and food packaging discovered that many women, due to tough economic times, were re-using the packaging, or feedsacks, for household needs. Before long, companies began printing cheery, colorful patterns on the sacks so that they could be used to make personal clothing, aprons, quilts, and other items. Today, quilters are reclaiming a little bit of history by using original or reproduction feedsack prints in their own sewing projects. The polka dots, geometrics, plaids, and florals in Windham's Feedsacks V collection remind us of a time when nothing was taken for granted—the true meaning of recycling. BEGINNER |
| Wild Irises Ro Gregg has been designing fabric, identifying trends, and winning awards for her fabric collections for over twenty years. This elegant bed ensemble features Ro's latest vintage collection, which was inspired by her passion for antique quilts. The iris, delicate and classic in appearance, is shown off beautifully amidst the surrounding trellis and mini-florals. The colors are soft and muted, suitable to a vintage reproduction look, while the textured tonal shades give the whole collection depth and serenity. Vintage Iris is timeless in grace and beauty—a wonderful collection to welcome the coming of spring. ADVANCED Quilt Kit Ordering Information CLICK HERE FOR BONUS FREE PROJECT! |
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Cotton Candy From "peeling wallpaper" to "the way things rust" or "lichen grows," Melissa Averinos sees beauty in the world around her and captures those images to create exuberant, extraordinary art. As a designer and artist, Melissa wears many hats—making jewelry, painting, sewing, designing fabric—and takes lots of pictures to use for all her creative endeavors. Her Sugar Snap fabrics are a collection of innovative prints inspired by the unexpected combinations and movements in nature. Both colorways, the earthy/spicy tones and the brighter, fresher colors can be mixed and matched to create colorful clothing and personal accessories, as well as trendy quilts and home décor. INTERMEDIATE CLICK HERE FOR BONUS FREE PROJECT! |
Child's Play It's a kids life! From playing in a tent, on a playground, in the water, sand, or snow, Kathy Brown's Play Date collection represents playtime from January through December. The panel includes twelve seasonal prints in bright primary colors. The coordinating fabrics in bold swirls, dots, and stars highlight the panel scenes and allow for lots of creative projects and accessories. This carefree, fun collection is just the thing for a class activity, a birthday gift, or to decorate a play room. Make quilt time playtime—have a child personalize his or her block with a name, hand print, or artwork. BEGINNER |
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Rhapsody in Color Almost eighteen years ago, Ricky Tims, pianist, composer, and conductor, combined his lifelong passion for music with a newfound hobby—sewing and quilting. Being exuberant about both, fabric designing was the inevitable next step. The five new textures in his latest Rhapsodie Colorée III collection were inspired by images from a recent trip to Japan and carry on the beautiful tonal textures from his first two Rhapsodie Colorée groups. Buddha hands, spirals, scrolls, bamboo grass, and rings on subtle, multicolored backgrounds in this third line allow all three collections to blend beautifully together. Rhapsodie Colorées are appealing to both traditional and contemporary quilters alike. BEGINNER |
| Scent of Spring Decorating with artful accents can be unique and stylish with Princess Mirah batiks. Scent of Spring uses three tone-on-tone prints in different shades of vibrant beach glass green to achieve the blended, yet varied, background. The rich, color-saturated batiks are created using a traditional hand-made, wax-resist dying technique along with a modern stamping method. Princess Mirah's goal has always been to preserve the ancient art form of batik-making while offering fabric with versatility and beautiful color, so quilters can also function as designers. INTERMEDIATE |
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Framed Butterflies True to her love for flowers and gardens, Danhui Nai brings us the first breath of spring in her latest collection. Awakened Pleasures captures the relaxing, simple style of cottage charm with a delightful assortment of beautiful butterflies and delicate flowers, each in a pre-printed frame. The soft blend of sage green, buttermilk yellow, rose pink, and lavender in the coordinating prints has a fresh, natural feel, while the small-scale floral stripe is perfect for borders and sashings. This collection is an excellent choice to use for decorative accessories and will add a bit of al fresco beauty to any room. BEGINNER |
Dogwood Blossoms With over twelve years of experience in the garment industry, Michelle Engel Bencsko is now utilizing her creative sensibility and graphic skills to design fabric. From Michelle's love of gardening, natural abstract forms, and earthly colors comes her premier quilt collection, Dogwood. This lighthearted, soft mix of pale yellow, pink, and blue petals tossed with a touch of olive and copper accents was inspired by a combination of mid-century modern and art nouveau styles. Dogwood meshes all of this with splashes of white in a delightfully fresh way. INTERMEDIATE |
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Little Darling Fabric doesn't come any sweeter than this! Soft and sophisticated—that's the classic beauty of Annabelle, a pastel palette of delicate bouquets, intricate medallions, and a charming stripe meandering along a floral trellis. This 23-piece collection is offered in three colorways, each palette blending beautifully with the next, for unlimited possibilities. Give your surroundings a gentle, calming ambiance with quilts and home decorating projects that use simply sweet Annabelle fabric! BEGINNER/INTERMEDIATE |
Mosaic Medallion When it comes to quilts and all that surround them, Alex Anderson just can't be contained! Her love affair with quilting began over thirty years ago while she was making a quilt to complete her fiber and graphic design degree. From then on, quilting and designing became a life-long passion. Whisperings, her latest fabric collection, is sure to get one's creative juices flowing. Subtle, flora-inspired patterns drenched in rich, jewel-toned colors make a strong visual impact. The bright yellow/green palette sparkles against the darker colors. This mostly tonal collection combines past years' color trends with current hues-creating stunning results. BEGINNER/INTERMEDIATE |
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Home Sweet Home Lynette Jensen introduces a totally new spectrum of basics with Flying Colors. A slight diversion from the traditional Thimbleberries palette, her new fabrics come in a wide array of darker and brighter shades to reflect current color trends in quilting. The collection name appropriately means "colors that are flying out of the store." With such a wide variety of shades from which to choose, Flying Colors harmonizes beautifully on its own, but can also be used to supplement or expand all previous Thimbleberries collections. INTERMEDIATE Quilt Kit Ordering Information
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Garden Party Capture the best of contemporary trends by pairing shades of soft periwinkle, mauve, melon, and olive with a mix of lively florals, giant paisleys, heart medallions, and beaded stripes. The result will be a fresh, dynamic look that translates fabulously into quilts, home décor, fashion, and accessories. Such a wide variety of color and prints, which all blend together beautifully, results in a INTERMEDIATE |
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