BasicGrey fabrics by Moda

I'm in love, love, love with a new fabric line by Moda. Designed by BasicGrey, an industry leader in the world of scrapbooking, these often muted tones carry over perfectly to quilts. Two lines are available, and I recommend them for any beginning to advanced quilter! The prints range from Asian-inspired collage to simple brush-stroke solids.

1. Urban Couture: An ultra-modern collection of orange, gold, browns, deep red, periwinkle and mint that will remind you of autumn. Moda has a fun, paper-pieced PDF quilt pattern to try for free listed on its website.
2. Sultry: A springy collection of roses, greens and browns make up this soft, feminine collection. You can even try out this fun pattern for free. (I've made braided quilts before, and they are fun, fast and easy to do!) It is a PDF file, and may take some time to download.
3. Figgy Pudding: A Christmas collection of traditional colors but contemporary prints: aqua, juniper, brown and burgundy. I get a warm and toasty feeling when I see these prints--I just adore them!

These delicious fabrics are available by the yard, in yard assortments, in fat quarter assortments, in Jelly Rolls, Layer Cakes and charm packs. So far, I've only managed to pick up Urban Couture, and I've started my first quilt using Jelly Rolls. I'm adding silk to my design as well. I can't wait to post my results!

Jay McCarroll's new quilting fabrics by FreeSpirit!

I was browsing through this month's Quilting Arts magazine--my all time favorite quilting magazine--and discovered that Jay McCarroll (check out his cool online store!), the winner of season one from Project Runway (a Bravo TV show that I adore) has officially entered the world of quilting with his own quilting fabrics. I love them!

So far, he is showcasing two lines: 

1. Garden Friends: This cheerful and quirky line of bunnies and birds offers a rainbow of prints that zigzag through our spring garden of goodies.
2. Woodland Wonderland: Another quirky line (that would probably coordinate well with the above line) offers a woody alternative of grays, orange, teal, lime pink and blue, with deer wandering through a forest. The mushroom print is my favorite!

According to the article in Quilting Arts, Jay has more lines in the works--I'm excited to see them. In the meantime, I have my eyes peeled for these fabrics, and am anxious to try them out!

Bargello Christmas Tree Quilt

This is a Christmas quilt I made for a friend of mine, and almost didn't finish in time for Christmas. It was easy, though a bit time-consuming to come up with right fabrics (particularly the large and small scale pine prints), though that might be because I'm picky about my fabric selection. You can download the PDF file for the pattern for free here (it will take time to get it, since it's a full-color PDF file). I should note here: this is an outside link to Timeless Treasures' website, as the free pattern is copyright by Karen Montgomery and Timeless Treasures, complete with fabric recommendations and yardage requirements.

As you can see, I chose slightly different fabrics for a different feel for this quilt. My tree turned out a bit darker than the pattern, and I chose burgundy and lots of metallic prints for a little flair. (I also skipped the nutmeg colored tree shadow at the base of the tree.)

For quilting, I did a free-motion leafy pattern for the tree, and then a stipple pattern for the background. The back of the quilt is a Michael Miller Fairy Frost in dark brown. (I added a personalized label before quilt assembly.)

I also added some iron-on rhinestones for embellishment as a star topper ornament, and also throughout the quilt, after the quilt was complete.

Memory Lane Quilt Shop Specials...

If you're local to the San Diego area, check out Memory Lane in Santee this weekend.  They are having some great specials:

• 25% off all Christmas fabric (fabric on the bolt and panels, also)
• All book are buy one, get one half price (limited to stock on hand, half price item must be lesser value item)
• All patterns are buy one, get one half price (limited to stock on hand, half price item must be lesser value item)

Found a fun quilting blog with great techniques...

Be sure to check out the WackyPac Blog -- They've got some great projects and fun techniques online--so much that I've listed a permanent feed on my blog here.

Rhonda, one of WackyPac's contributors deigned to comment on my last post (thanks for your feedback--I'm so glad you liked it!), so I checked out her profile and found their blog this way.

In particular, there is a terrific Hot Flash quilt in there that is gorgeous red, yellow, orange and pink. Just lovely!