Tacha's Fat Quarterly Fabric Pack

I have been eagerly waiting for my turn to have a go at the fabric stack game! Picking and auditioning fabrics has to be one of my most favourite parts of the quilting process. Imagining all the projects that could be from each stack – unfortunately just not enough time in the day to make all of the projects I would like!

I went virtual shopping at Lola Pink Fabrics and I could have bought everything! But I was drawn to this print:


Pat Bravo’s Paradise Double Bloom in Ivory

Just love the mix of grey, purple, green blue and splashes of yellow.

So next I looked for co-ordinates to really showcase those colours.

1. Central Park Seneca Reservoir 2. Metro Living Geometric Grass 3. Aviary Geometric Lilac 4. Central Park Cobblestone Reservoir 5. Metro Living Circles Grey 6. Central Park Cobblestones Lawn 7. Kona Crocus 8. Paradise Double Bloom Ivory 9. Metro Living Circles Pewter 10. Daisies and Dots Chain Dots Turquoise 11. Metro Living Circles Green 12. Kona Aqua 13. Central Park Cobblestone Sunshine 14. Sunkissed Life Defined Limeade 15. Kona Chartreuse 16. Kona Charcoal 17. Circa 60 Beach Mod Medium Dot Mineral 18. Central Park Cherry Hill Plaza 19. Kona Ash 20. Central Park Bridlepath Reservoir

Now I would buy ALL of these if I had the choice! I love making quilts with a lot of different fabrics in them. I think it gives them more depth.

But sometimes the wallet just won’t stretch that far so I forced myself to be a bit more selective….

1. Metro Living Geometric Grass 2. Aviary Geometric Lilac 3. Metro Living Circles Grey 4. Kona Crocus 5. Pat Bravo’s Paradise Double Bloom in Ivory
6. Kona Charcoal 7. Kona Aqua 8. Central Park Cobblestone Sunshine 9. Sunkissed Life Defined Limeade

Although to be honest I think I would have to get these as well.... ;-)


1. Metro Living Circles Pewter 2. Daisies and Dots Chain Dots Turquoise 3. Kona Ash 4. Kona Chartreuse
If you also like this selection then head over to Lola Pink Fabrics and snap them up quickly.

Fat Quarterly Fabric Pack

Hi all! John here with this fortnight's installment of the Fat Quarterly Fabric Pack. I was SO EXCITED to work on this project, because mixing & matching fabrics is my absolute favorite part of the quilt-making process. For this fabric pack I teamed up with Cathy at Wish Upon a Quilt, whose large selection of great fabrics made it really difficult for me to decide on a 9-fabric bundle.

In fact, in my first pass I wound up with 25 fabrics in my bundle:

Greens & yellows comprise a fun, springtime garden-type mix, with touches of brown and red for some interest. But I knew a bundle of 25 fat quarters would be a tough thing for most quilters to commit to, so I began the process of winnowing it down ...

I first cut it down to 16:

Then 12:

And, finally, a more manageable bundle of 9 fat quarters:

This fabric assortment really got its hooks into my brain, and I just had to see it and play with it in person to make sure it "sung" before I recommended it to you all! So I drove over to Wish Upon a Quilt (it's my local shop!), picked up a bunch of fat quarters, and -- over the course of last Friday night and Saturday afternoon -- cut everything up into 8.5" squares and made a simple patchwork quilt.

And you know what? I LOVE it!!

Note: I did pick up cuts of all of the original 25 prints, plus a few extras and some prints I had in my stash.

So what do you think? Do you like my selection? If so, the fat quarter bundle is available here. Swing on over to Wish Upon a Quilt and tell Cathy I said "hi"!

Beetle Bugs by Saffron Craig

Saffron Craig has dropped by today to tell us a little about her latest range 'Beetle Bugs', this one is so cute, you're gonna love it we're sure!

My new range "Beetle Bugs" was designed with boys in mind. The inspiration came when my 5 year old daughter and her best friend were drawing snails and bugs they'd collected from my back yard and I saw their fascination with these little creatures.

The collection presents itself with 6 designs in a harmonious palette of leafy greens, earthy creams and greys accented by vibrant orange and deep reds. Fabrics are printed on 100% light-weight cotton.

Snails and Ladders: this is a large repeat design at 64 cm with lovely detail in red, orange, warm grey and green.

Bug Spot: Little bugs are caught on a spot and are blowing in the wind defying gravity. Light green spots with mid grey bugs on a warm cream background.

Bug Wings: The geometric and textural design of the range. The bug wings form a dense spot-like pattern in a light green with a tiny splash of a red dot on a light background.

Beetle Bug: the namesake on the range. Bold and vibrant bugs are caught inside bubbles and being tossed and turned in the breeze. We've already seen this fabric turn up as hats, dresses and bean bags.

Running Bugs: Saffron loves a running stitch, so she thought she might take a pun with this one! Little Beetle Bugs are crawling along the running stitches to create a stripe. The parallel lines decorate the fabric all over the cloth and the repeat is 64cm. The dashed lines are dark red on cream coloured fabric.

Bug party: a super dazzling fun fabric playing with the idea of bugs having a great time. Some are flying, while some are caught in a breeze holding onto a leaf as they fly. Other bug's are chasing each other playing games. Dark red with bright red and a lovely orangy yellow.

Thanks so much Saffron for introducing us to Beetle Bugs & sharing the inspiration behind this fun design.

Beetle Bugs is available to purchase online from Saffron's Web Store , so scurry along there :)

Fat Quarterly Fabric Pack

This fortnight's fabric pack has been put together by Katy. I am sure you will be just as taken with this pack as we are - gorgeous!

This pack can be purchased at Pink Chalk Fabrics

Featured Sponsor - Clever Quilter

Welcome to one our newest Sponsors, Jean from the fabric store, Clever Quilter!
Jean has dropped my FQ HQ today to tell us a little about her store and more!

FQ: Tell us a little about how 'Clever Quilter' came to open its virtual doors.

CQ: Before I become “one of us” I was “one of them”. My life involved cubicles, “business attire”, financial reports, board meetings, and worse yet, a bunch of “suits” with little imagination! When the company I was with merged, I had the opportunity to re-prioritize my life goals and really think about what I truly enjoyed. It took about a year for me to transition to “one of us”. Business, computers and fabric: I just added a bit of chocolate and voila! CleverQuilter.com was born.

FQ : Do you have a team of helpers at your store who are clever quilters?

CQ: I believe *everyone* is a Clever Quilter. Our goal is to help quilters realize their “Clever” potential through offering easy but lovely patterns, kits and ideas. The projects are fast, portable and totally doable. You can stop in our shop here or read about various projects I’ve got going on at the Clever Quilter blog. We also gab a lot on facebook – look for us and friend us as at Clever Quilter.

FQ: You are also the creator of the intriguing & interactive site, “Quilting Is Murder”. Can you describe to us what it’s all about?

CQ: Certainly. Imagine a fun murder mystery mini-series for quilters complete with prizes and a search for clues. That’s the general idea of the project. Readers can simply enjoy the story a it unfolds over an 8 week period or join in the fun by registering as a “Quilt Detective”. We’re working with Killer Shops (quilt shops) and Deadly Sponsors who provide specials and prizes our detectives learn about throughout the promotion. Quilting Is Murder runs through 3/4/2011 with two new stories planned later in 2011. Come & join in the fun here! Catch up on our blog for updates! We’ve lined up a half dozen *real life* mystery authors to blog as the mystery unfolds. Cool!!

FQ: With 2 busy websites to maintain and all this mystery solving, do you find time to sew for yourself? If so, what’s your favorite item to sew?

CQ: I’ve been doing a lot of fusible appliqué work recently. The Last Rose and Guy the Giraffe are two projects you can read about on our blog. Fusible appliqué is fun, fast and oh so satisfying! I can start and finish a project (except final quilting) in a few evenings. Creating art quilts like this, is my chocolate fix: I grab one, work on it and am instantly gratified. We’ve been focusing on kitting more art quilts in the shop so I’ve been in heaven lately!! Oh and I can’t forget to mention these kits usually involve BATIKS. Lovely BATIKS. I purr when boxes of them arrive in the shop…..

FQ: Do you plan to start more interactive websites in the future? Can you give us any clues as to what those plans might entail…?

CQ: Yes, I can tell you but then I’d have to kill you… My uncle was an intelligence officer in the army and I remember he’d use that line all the time when he didn’t want to answer a question. It wasn’t until I was older that I realized, hey, he might just be serous… LOLOL!! Anyway, you’ll just have to sit tight and wait and see. Keep on eye on Quilting Is Murder’s Facebook page, CleverQuilter.com and QuiltingIsMurder.com are keeping me on my toes right now. What’s up next is a ….mystery!

Thanks so much Jean for joining us today!

Jean has generously offered to give away a fat quarter pack of Thimbleberries fabric in Dark to one lucky reader! For a chance to win tell us about a sewing mystery you've experienced (missing fabric, ufo's that mysteriously pile up in the corner of your sewing room, baffling techniques you just can't work out.......you get the idea ;) ) & please go and like Clever Quilter on facebook!

We'll randomly select a winner & announce them here on 5th Feb. Good luck!

Fat Quarterly Fabric Pack

This fortnights Fat Quarterly Fabric pack has been selected by Nova.

A fun selection of Timeless Treasure's organic cotton Daisies, Kei Honeycomb Dots & Quilters Linen....


This fabric pack is available at Fabricworm

Fat Quarterly Fabric Pack

Each fortnight a Fat Quarterly team member will put together a bundle of fabric that we think will make a fantastic quilt.

First up, is a lovely selection of fabric put together by Kate.

This bundle can be purcashed from the Fat Quarter Shop, here.

Featured Sponsor - Aunt Bea's Fabric

Maya from Aunt Bea's Fabric has popped in today for a chat....


FQ:Tell us a little about how 'Aunt Bea's Fabric' came to open its virtual doors?

AB: Bea started about 5 years ago, from an overflowing sewing room that turned into an EBay store, and then an online shop of her own. She asked me (Maya) to come in and be on call, if she needed to go out of town, or had a really busy day at the shop... and before long we were working side by side. Now I do the ordering, focusing on Japanese and user friendly apparel fabrics (denim, knits, lawn, and double gauze, oh my!).
We believe that everyone has someone who they learned to sew from (an Aunt, Grandma, or teacher) and these people are all 'Aunt Bea's'. I taught my 12 year old sister how to paper piece hexagons last winter while we watched 'Glee' and had the thought that I was an 'Aunt Bea'!

FQ:Do you have a team of helpers?

AB: We do! The ladies you see writing for the blog are all part of our "store team". Maya, Bea, Jean, Sara and Samantha! We have lots of different areas of interest and skill levels, but all share a total love of fabric and sewing. I love that if I have a sewing question I can take it in to the shop and ask and get 4 different thoughts on how to solve my problem.

FQ:What has been the best thing about having an online fabric store?

AB: I love being able to work with prints and color and be around inspiring materials all day. I'm so happy knowing that I'm sending out a package that will inspire someone to create. I love that it is part of my job to read a million sewing blogs and see what people are making.
I am also amazed by the kindness of the people we send fabric out to. I love hearing about charity projects they are working on, it is so inspiring and wonderful to use your skill to make something to comfort a stranger. It warms my heart!

FQ: You stock a wonderful array of both quilting and apparel fabrics ~ is it hard deciding which lines to stock?

AB: I usually go with my gut! I read lots of blogs and try to see what people seem excited about, and I make sure that I am excited about it. We can't carry everything, but we can carry lots of beautiful prints I am excited to send out in to the world to be made into beautiful things.

FQ: Do you have a favourite fabric designer?

AB:I adore Naomi Ito's prints. I love how her collections have similar themes each year (floral, dots, stripes) and play with scale and color. I think they look like watercolors and sometimes like they were drawn with a marker. So dreamy!

FQ: It must be sew tempting being surrounded by so much fabric yumminess - do you find time to sew for yourself?

AB: I just moved into a new house with 1,000 windows, so that is what I'm sewing these days: curtains. When the leaves start turning I get excited to do some hand quilting and get cozy. I love this time of year for sewing.

FQ: Does your passion lay in garment sewing, small project sewing (like bags & pillows for example) or quilts? or everything!?

AB: I usually have a little bit of each going on :). I have an amazing piece of (heavy!) vintage silk I am going to make a dress out of, a few alteration projects, a tote bag, and 3 quilts that just got pulled out to start working on again. Is that normal, to have 7 projects on the horizon?

FQ: Aunt Bea's Blog 'Make It Sew' is full of helpful tips, techniques and tutes - what do you enjoy most about blogging?

We have blog meetings where everyone brings a project they are working on and sit and have food, chat, show and tell, and plan our next few months of blogs out (very loosely- if inspiration strikes, we follow it!). Jean teaches a beginning sewing class and has been sewing for over 45 years. She helped me figure out that my vintage silk is indeed silk with a lighter and a corner of my fabric! Sara is learning all about garment sewing and has an amazing enthusiasm that I enjoy reading, and has some fantastic plans for vintage sewing patterns. Samantha has a no fear sewing and knitting style, trying projects with and without patterns, and she has a great eye. Bea is always weaving personal stories in with her blog entries, and is wonderful at pointing us toward new blogs.
I love to make simple projects that show off prints, and I recently showed off some family made quilts that I was excited to share about. Seeing the blog grow has been one of my favorite recent additions to Aunt Bea's.

Thanks for chatting with us today Maya!

Aunt Bea’s Fabric are offering FQ readers a first time buyer 10% off coupon, with the code FQPub3. Happy Shopping!

So Fun Fabrics Offer!

The team at So Fun Fabrics are generously offering up at $20 gift voucher to one lucky reader!

All you need to do is leave a comment on this post to go into the draw. A winner will be drawn on Thursday 18th November.

But that's not all! So Fun Fabrics have set up an exclusive offer for Fat Quarterly readers.

Tisha from So Fun Fabric: 'The code for your readers is “FQ10” and it’s good for 10% off their order, excluding sale and clearance items, from 11/15-11/18.  They can “redeem” it a couple different ways.  If they purchase existing listings, they can enter FQ10 in the Notes to Seller section and receive a refund.  Or if they would like us to set up a custom listing with accurate charges, they just need to include the code in their request email to us.'

So, what are you waiting for! Get yourselves over to So Fun Fabrics and take advantage of the savings!

Wish Upon A Quilt

Cathy from 'Wish Upon a Quilt' took some time out today to chat with us about her creative life.

FQ: Tell us a little bit about how you came to have a fabric store?

I have always loved fabric and sewing. A few years ago, while I was crazy busy traveling with my corporate job, I tried to take some time out of each trip to visit a local quilt shop. At the time, these visits felt like my only respite from a hectic life. I noticed that the people working in these stores seemed so relaxed and happy. Something I was definitely not at the time. 

The fabric was definitely calling me, so I started taking a small cutting mat and fabric with me on my trips and cut out a king size quilt a little bit at a time. I spent my time at home sewing and realized how relaxed I was while I was sewing. I couldn’t get enough!


In 2007, I decided that I needed to do something different. As I was pondering this one day, I finally made it out to a local quilt shop, Wish Upon A Quilt. I walked in the door and was shocked that it had ALL of the fabrics that I loved! I was so impressed that I asked to speak to the owner to tell her how much I loved her store. I was told that she was allergic to the fabric and didn’t come into the store. Bummer! The thought clicked “opportunity” and I sent an email to see if she was interested in selling the store. She was! I couldn’t believe my luck –we struck a deal and the rest is history. 

While the store was primarily an online store at the time, we were open to the public on a very limited basis. That has changed over the past couple of years, we are now a full service quilt shop both online and store front. I found that I really wanted to create a place for people to come in, relax and have fun. Just like I did on all those business trips!


Although I have been quilting for 11 years, I do not get much time these days to work on my own projects. I’m usually sewing samples for the store, and I’m not complaining! I get to work with the latest fabrics and hope to inspire people with the work I do.


FQ: What does a normal day entail?

Well, since I’m a go with the flow kind of person, I’m not sure I have a “normal” day. I work in the store some days where I get to see customers and gorgeous quilts! I would do this all of the time if I could - this is my favorite part of the business. However, if I was in the store all of the time, the behind the scenes would not be done and we would not have much in the store!

I have a fantastic staff so I’m in the store a couple of days a week and spend the balance of the time at my home office. I order fabric, plan promotions, write the newsletter, research all of the new fabrics coming out and the worst part – pay the bills.


FQ: What are the best parts about running the store? 

The people! Both customers and staff are so energizing for me. I love to be in the store.

Featured Sponsor - Crafty Girls Workshop

Anna from the Crafty Girls Workshop has popped in today for a chat. Perfect timing really as Anna has some great Jelly Rolls on sale, it is not too late to join the quilt along!

FQ: Tell us a little bit about how you came to have a fabric store?  My shop is online only for now. I hope to eventually open a place where I can teach classes on a full time basis. The focus of the shop will be on learning and teaching.

Mostly the online shop started because I am a fabric-a-holic! I decided to open the shop and open some accounts with wholesale companies (such as Moda and
Michael Miller) and once I was able to buy wholesale I couldn't go back to retail, but I've always wanted to provide high quality fabrics and patterns along with some information about them.

My blog is meant to support the website, if I get something new in the shop and I see a great idea online of what do make with our new items, I'm going to create a post about it and tell my blog readers. I don't want people to just buy fabric to collect it, they should buy it to make beautiful children's clothing and cute tote bags and gorgeous quilts.

Also, since I work full time in a day job, I'm busy so I really LOVE the pre-cut fabrics that Moda offers. Now there are a wide array of patterns to go with them. I also just added a large selection of PDF patterns that will be mailed to you within 12 hours of your payment.

FQ: What does a normal day entail? Usually get up to get ready for work, check my shop e-mail, work at my day job all day, go home, check shop, e-mail and cut fabric and get it ready to ship the next day. My wonderful mom is helping with the shipping department at the moment.

FQ: What are the best parts about running the store? Interacting with new people who love to sew and teaching new people to sew has been awesome. Of course, since I'm online it's slightly difficult to reach through the screen and teach someone to sew but I've started a local group that meets once a month and I'm teaching them to make easy quilts we're going to donate to a local shelter for homeless families. I get so inspired when seeing how people choose their fabrics and put them together.

FQ: Are there any aspects of the job that you don't enjoy? Dealing with shipping problems is very difficult. Luckily we haven't had too many but it's always a debate if the post office loses something and it can't be recovered. Now I've added the option to purchase insurance on your shipping so that should help in the future.

FQ: When do you fit in time to be creative/sew? I guess a lot of my creativity is expressed when I write a blog post or an e-mail newsletter. Unfortunately there aren't enough hours right now to do all
that and sew! I get to sew at my Crafty Girls meeting occasionally. Usually I feel like I need to sew the project before the meeting to have something to show the class. I really want to work in more sewing time in the future though. Maybe when my personal life settles down a little.

The Fat Quarter Shop

This morning we are sitting down with Kimberly from the Fat Quarter Shop.

FQ :Tell us a little bit about how you came to have a fabric store? 'We are an online-only quilt shop, which allows us to connect with customers all around the globe. I’ve been crocheting and cross-stitching most of my life and got into sewing and quilting later on. Quilting became my big passion, and I started Fat Quarter Shop in 2003 as a part-time operation right out of my house while still working a corporate job.

I was frustrated at not being able to find the fabrics I loved, specifically a Moda FQB by 3 Sisters, at local shops, and then I wasn’t very happy with the service I got at online stores either. My goal with Fat Quarter Shop was to have a wide variety of fabrics where you can find everything you want/need, with great customer service and fast shipping. Well, apparently the idea caught on and as business grew, my husband came onboard. Together we’ve been growing Fat Quarter Shop for the past seven years, and now we have tons of fabrics, patterns, notions, and clubs!'

FQ: What does a normal day entail? 'A normal day includes everything. A good part of the day for me is spent answering customer e-mails, answering the phone, planning for kits and clubs and maintaining the store from my desk. You can also find us cutting orders, overseeing the orders and making sure they get out on time. All that adds up to a pretty full work day, then I get to go home and see my three babies! My daughter is three, my twin boys are almost one, and there’s another on the way!'

FQ: What are the best parts about running the store? 'The best part is connecting with other quilters who love fabric as much as I do. I love seeing fabric way before it’s released and coming up with kits and clubs. It’s so cool to see my ideas become reality, like the Designer Mystery BOM club!'

FQ: Are there any aspects of the job that you don't enjoy? 'There isn’t much I don’t enjoy about running Fat Quarter Shop. It is tough that we don’t ever get to close, so we’re constantly working nights and weekends. That makes vacation time has been scarce for the Jolly family.'

FQ: When do you fit in time to be creative/sew? 'That’s a tough one. Between projects for the store, it’s really hard to find time to make things for myself. But I love making quilts for my children, so I squeeze in time between store samples, during the children’s naptimes! My latest quilt is a full-size quilt for my daughter’s new “big-girl” bed, from Bliss fabric by Bonnie & Camille, and I’ll blog about it when it comes back from the quilter!'

So go check out the fantastic selection at The Fat Quarter Shop!

And what's more from 18 August until the 25 August 2010 you can get 20% off your purchase (excluding club memberships) by entering the code ‘FatQuarterly’. So quick - what are you waiting for? Go grab a bargain!

Featured Sponsor - Burgundy Buttons

FQ: How did your creative journey start?
BB:'I was always a crafty kid, give me some crayons or glue and I would create a Picasso-
like masterpiece that my parents always displayed proudly about the house. I remember a turning point, however, about 18 years ago. A women my friends affectionately called “Momma Albertsen” and I sat around stacks and stacks of fabric wondering how to make a quilt. 

We scratched our heads, bickered over the instructions
and viewed the pattern from every conceivable angle yet still remained mystified. We painstaking and meticulously cut each piece with a plexi-glass template and a pair of scissors. Relentlessly hovering over a never ending pile of cotton, we completed our first quilt in a mere 3 years!
 
Fast forward several years and Momma Albertsen opened herself up a little quilt shop in Burlington, North Carolina. . Armed with a lot more knowledge of quilting and (thank goodness) ROTARY CUTTING skills she taught all those willing to learn! Admittedly, I was still a bit resistant bitterly recalling the amount of time it took to complete our first project, and didn’t quite have the fabric-fever for several more years!
 
By August of 2008, having developed said fever; I desperately wanted to design my own children’s bedding & quilt collections. With Momma A’s guidance, I ventured into the quilt e-commerce business to start paving my way. I will never forget Peggy; a Physician in Germany; was my first customer. I was immediately international! I even felt a little fancy! I have been so busy ever since that I hardly have time to sew!'

FQ: What does a normal day entail?
BB: 'My normal day starts about 4am! I tend to Burgundy Buttons for about 2 hours in the morning before getting ready for my day in Corporate America. When I get home, I am back at it for another 3 hours or so before hitting the sac. Needless to say, I haven’t watched TV in years!

Saturday mornings I have the limited luxury of spending time in my sewing room before getting out there and being active with my day. I have recently developed quite a fondness for potholders and pillows- as they are actually finish-able in the amount of time I have.'

FQ: What are the best parts about running the store?
BB: 'The best parts are seeing the amazing fabric and “meeting” so many talented people! Julie Herman, Tracey Jacobsen, Rachel Griffith, Vanessa Christensen, the Fat Quarterly Team and so many more never cease to inspire me with their creative ideas. I am so thankful for their blogging as they really have nice projects out there for all levels of quilting.'

FQ: Are there any aspects of the job that you don't enjoy?
BB: 'Owning an e-commerce business does take up an exorbitant amount of time. I do hope to one day make Burgundy Buttons a full time endeavor and put the 14 hour days behind me.'
 
FQ: Do you have a favorite designer?
BB: 'Anyone who has read my blog knows that I am over-the-moon for Kate Spain. Being a scrapbook junkie as well, I can never go wrong with Basic Grey! I received an email once from Kate Spain thanking me for my support by carrying her collections. My friends still like to tell the story about how giddy I was when she signed her email with “Hugs, Kate”! We now often end our emails, texts and IM’s with “Hugs” in her honor.'

FQ: Are there any creative skills that you would like to learn.
BB:'I am always a little embarrassed when people ask for my help with a (non quilting) sewing pattern. I am one of those who can see something and sew it- but put a traditional sewing pattern in front of me and it might as well be in Greek.'

I am honored to have been sponsoring the Fat Quarterly from the beginning. To celebrate for the entire month of August, FatQuarterly readers can save an additional 10% off Burgundy Button's already amazingly low prices.  Use promotion code FQ at checkout to save!