Moda Layer Cake Give Away

jill here...Many companies have been generous in sharing fabric samples.  Earlier this year, Moda Fabrics sent us some darling Layer Cake kids prints in the "Oink A Doodle Moo" collection by Jenn Ski and "Snap Pop" by Sandy Gervais.  We want to share them while they are still current!

Snap Pop by Sandy Gervais

Oink a Doodle Moo by Jenn Ski

You will be eligible to win one of these Layer Cakes (from our random generated drawing) by answering a few questions:

• What size of baby quilt do you like to make?

• If you have completed a baby quilt in the past year, what color scheme inspired you?  If you haven't had a chance to complete one, what color scheme would you choose.

• When making a baby quilt do you make the design of your choice or do you let the "mom" request the design and/or fabric?

Entries end at 5 pm Central Time Monday, June 3rd, 2013.  The two winners will be announced next Tuesday.

Till then...

Baby Bites Free Modern Baby Quilt Pattern

Marny here...Using the Random Number generator we declare the winner of a copy of Lunch Boxes is Char!  Send us an email Char and we will arrange getting your pattern to you.    

Surprise!! Here is Baby Bites, a free modern baby quilt pattern.  We promised that we would share this a few weeks back.  It was part of our submission to the Online Quilt Magazine published in Australia.  We love this little quilt.  Maybe you remember the quilt backing tutorial Jill did a long time ago.  True to our mission, Baby Bites is a simply sophisticated design that reflects a modern aesthetic.  Asymmetry, exaggerated scale of simple shapes and negative space are all parts of that aesthetic.  

Click on this link to get to an easily printable version of the pattern.  Below is a complete set of directions as well.

Baby Bites from Modern Quilt Relish

Baby Bites is a quick and easy baby quilt any modern baby/mom would love receiving.  It measures 38” x 48”.  Simple geometric shapes are set asymmetrically on negative space. The somewhat oversized large squares feature a high contrast fabric.  These squares are clearly the focus of the quilt not only because of their size and placement, but also because of fabric selection.  The fabric is more saturated (intense) and more complex in motif design than the neighboring backgrounds. Merging the two different valued backgrounds between the squares both isolates the squares and makes them appear to float above the surface.  This added depth gives the quilt interest and an element of the unexpected.  

Fabric Requirements:  we give suggested yardage.  It is possible to piece the large background areas and save yardage, but if you purchase the suggested amounts and cut as directed you will have enough remaining to complete the back of your baby quilt.  LOF=length of fabric.  WOF=width of fabric.

Squares-Floral Focus...⅓ yard…cut an 8” WOF strip…sub cut this strip into five 8” squares.

Left Background-Medium Blue…1 ½ yards, sub cut this into:  one 22 ½” LOF strip  (will be cut later to 22 ½” x 48” or the length of your quilt) and one 3” LOF strip (sub cut this 3” strip into four 3” x 4 ¼” rectangles).

  

Right Background-Light Yellow…1 ½ yards, sub cut this into: one 9” LOF strip (will be cut later to 9” x 48” or the length of your quilt) and one 3” LOF strip (sub cut this 3” strip into four 3” x 4 ¼” rectangles).

Binding…1/2 yard (you are only using 12 ½” so perhaps you can get by with 3/8 yard)…cut five 2 ½” WOF strips.

Piecing Instructions:  Refer to the photos.  ¼” seams throughout.  Press seams open for a flat finished look.  Remove selvages.

Step 1.  Piece a 3” x 4 ¼” rectangle of Left Background and a 3” x 4 ¼” rectangle of Right Background together along their shorter edge.  Repeat three times for a total of four Step 1 units.

Step 2.  Checking the orientation in the photographs, piece a Step 1 unit to the lower edge of four of the 8" Squares.

Baby Bites full view from Modern Quilt Relish

Step 3.  Again following the photographs, piece four Step 2 units into a column.

Step 4.  Add the fifth 8” Square to the lower edge of this column.

      

Step 5.  Measure the length of your completed column.  Either cut the 22 ½” x LOF piece of Left Background appropriately and then add it to the left side of the quilt, or add first and then trim to fit.

     

Step 6.  Either cut the 9” x LOF piece of Right Background appropriately and then add it to the right side of the quilt, or add first and then trim to fit.  

      

Step 7.  Quilt, bind and savor.

  So till next Tuesday!

Process Promises & Pattern Give Away

Lunch Boxes, child size 

jill here....A few weeks ago, before introducing our newest pattern, I alluded to our design and fabric selections.  There are so many wonderful positive and negative fabric patterns on the market so finding ways to use them is a fun experiment.  Graphic blacks and whites with saturated colors create kid-friendly quilts.  And the asymmetrical nine patch is perfect for that intersection of transparency.  In this case, the yellow orange and the red orange intersect to create orange. The colors don't have to make accurate sense:  they could be just three fun colors that define the lines for the "gridded" appearance. Just keep in mind the values and their backgrounds.

With Spring slow to arrive, I was in a bug to create a table runner that was fresh and colorful. I discovered several fabrics from a designer that had special meaning.  At International Quilt Market, three years ago, we were given the book Scatter Joy, written and signed by artist Kathy Davis.  Her fabric line is "Happiness" for Free Spirit.  She creates wonderful water color images, often flowers with geometrics and written graphics.  This more stylized floral appealed to me.

Lunch Boxes corners. 

Lunch Boxes "opposite"... really more of a change
 in value, pattern and scale...a nice accompaniment. 

This is the small scale aqua chosen for the background.
It's directional but the pattern is written to
maintain its vertical orientation.

Mocking up choices is a good test to finalize selections.
The yellow green works well but the" intersection" fabric
and the medium value leading into it are too close in value.

This variegated stripe had just the right saturated colors.

Too many strong patterns and saturation
...took away from the emphasis.

Switched again but the light vertical was just too light.
The aqua near solid was a relief to the eye and brought in
more of the darker tones.

The yellow green vertical was again too strong
for the more subtle look I was aiming for.

Final choice:  Small scaled plaid as the vertical with the aqua
as both the intersection and medium value.  Using the aqua in
both places simplifies and reiterates the darker value.

Stitched in the ditch quilting....more later.

Ready for spring...

Into the yard.  'Till next Tuesday....

To win a copy of our newest pattern, Lunch Boxes leave a spring filled comment!  Drawing will be at 5 pm Central Time, Monday, May 20th.

New Pattern from Modern Quilt Relish

Drumroll please...Here, as promised, is our about to be released, never seen before pattern, Lunch Boxes.  

We love how it turned out.  Hope you do too!

Lunch Boxes pattern from Modern Quilt Relish

The yellow and gray quilt on the cover features a brand new line of fabric from Benartex.  It is called What's the Buzz from the Kanvas designers.  We used five sets of "opposite" fabrics in the blocks, a wonderful directional stripe as the background, and another print fabric that served as the "intersection" of the horizontal and vertical lines running through the quilt.  Such cute names.  Such cute fabric!!! This quilt will be in the Benartex booth at Quilt Market in Portland this month.  Again thank you Benartex!

• Daisy Buzz, the opposite set of Yellow and Black, with Gray being the intersection fabric

This one was a good
 intersection because
 it merges the gray
 vertical with the
yellow horizontal.

• Dotz, the opposite set of Black and Yellow

• Buzz Words, the opposite set of Black and White

• Flower Buzz, the opposite set of Gray and Yellow

• Buzzy Bee, the opposite set of Gray and Yellow

• Styx, as the background in white

• There are also solids in gray and yellow from Benartex

In the yellow version we kept the darker fabrics of the opposite sets at the Lunch Box corners and the lighter fabrics in the Lunch Box middles.  The dark blocks are on a light background.  The dark solid runs vertically in this quilt and the lighter solid runs horizontally through the lighter Lunch Box middles.

The pattern makes four sizes; Table Runner, Baby, Child and Throw.  It is written to take into account the incredible backgrounds you find that are directional fabrics.  Hooray!  If you don't want to use a variety of opposite sets the pattern is also written for all sizes using just one set of opposites as pictured in the Child size quilt on the cover.

We will begin shipping patterns Monday, May 13.  

Next week we'll be discussing the fabrics in the Child size quilt, and why they were chosen.  We always like to learn and teach from our own experimentation.  Not to mention, give away patterns!  Yep, pattern giveaway announced next week.

Till then....