Shabby Lavender SUNSPRITE

A call for a lavender baby quilt prompted this SUNSPRITE from the Rachel Ashwell's Garden Rose Collection for Treasures by Shabby Chic.  The pattern is a traditional style that I thought suited the classic roses.  Plus with the colors all so very soft, using a pattern that places the fabrics in a line makes them stronger.  A more random pattern might just mush all together.  At least that is my theory, and I am sticking to it, because I think it works. 

I added two borders to make this quilt more of a crib size.  Got a bit carried away, but I like the look.  The first border is cut 1 1/2".  The second border is cut 7"--I really wanted that stripe to show.  

OPENING NIGHT Again and Again

OPENING NIGHT is still our go-to pattern when we have a great theme.  The six fat quarters are usually easy to coordinate, and we're off and running for about $40 and 4 hours of sewing (at most!)

Gallery Fiori from P&B Textiles has been our best seller this year, and this kit was no exception.

And then we have another P&B group, Tribute by Pat Sloan.  It's a great throw size for your Service Quilts.

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Last one, I think.  I want to use 8 Fat Quarter bundles more, so I geared this quilt for that.  The block is one I have been playing with for months, mostly in a larger 5" size.  For a smaller Fat Quarter bundle, this 3 1/2" x 6 1/2" piece worked out better math-wise.  And for prints that are not super big, this looks better, too. 

The cutting left some remaining strips, so I added a pieced border to use these and add a little zip to the look of the quilt.  With the additional 1 3/8 yd for borders, the quilt finishes 46"x 55".

The cover girl is an Anna Griffin Christmas group.  I loved how the stripe cut up for the center of half of the blocks.  I had people begging for the kits and fabric when they saw it made up. 

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SNOW RUBY, take 3.  Yet another way to use the block/unit from this quilt.  I wanted to use a little 6 Fat Quarter bundle and make it as scrappy random looking as possible.

As it turns out, with only 6 Fabrics, you can't get too, too random.  But with a little layout plan, I was able to keep some of the same fabric pieces away from each other. Besides with a plan, I don't have to lay it out on the floor--just go and sew.  With only 6 half-strip sets, this little one is a blast to make.

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It doesn't get much simpler than this--but with great fabrics, the results are lovely.  Our 1-2-3 Polka is 3  2 1/2" strips sew together with a wider background to create a Rail Fence pattern.  The cover girl is a blendy background to go with the blendy Sangria Bali Pop.   A high contrast or light background should also create a great effect.

The fabric requirements call for 36  2 1/2"Strips and 1 1/2 yd for the Background/Large Rail.  Any Jelly Roll-Bali Pop-Tonga Strips, etc will work.  It finishes 57"x 76".

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So we are not actually previews anymore, since Market has come and gone--but I still want to share the newest releases.

This is my personal favorite.  Partly because I love Amy Butler's Soul Blossoms, and partly because I thought this was so clever.  This pattern/block/unit is the same one as SNOW RUBY.  I was looking at the red in it, and thought--what if this was background and the rest scrappy?  Would the scrappy pieces kind of dance up and down?  And they did!

It uses 12 Fat Quarters and a yard of Background to make a 54"x 70" throw.  There are a few prints pieces left over, but it does use the fabric efficiently. 

For our cover girl, I wanted the white to contrast strongly with the prints and have a fresh, modern look.  I also made up this other model, with Soul Blossoms again, and a blendy apricot batik--it kind of melts in your mouth like sherbet. 

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Another "doubled" pattern--this time PERFECT MOMENT.   I wanted to double this one because it uses a Layer Cake or any bundle of 40  10" Squares or my favorite 20 Fat Sixths (12"x 22").  With the addition of just 2 yards of fabric, it makes a 63"x 79" quilt top.

I like to feature the fabrics from a group.   Our cover model uses Rachel Ashwell's Garden Rose Collection from her Treasures by Shabby Chic.  I chose to use the same snow white background solid for both the Spacers and Row Sashing to keep those lovely prints airy and floating.  The PERFECT MOMENT model has dots for Spacers and diagonal stripe for Row Sashing.

The first quilt I made using this pattern idea was done in Amy Butler's Soul Blossoms.   For this one I used 2 sets of 33 Sample Slices--my exclusive 5"x 9 1/2" cuts of the entire line.  It is one row shorter, because I had 66 instead of 77 Slices, so I cut the Spacers 1 1/2" instead of the 2".  I did not want this quilt to be too square.