Cherry Blossoms; Finally Finished

Way back in 2014 I started a quilt. Here it is 2019 and I can finally say it's finished.

Cherry Blossoms was one of 4 quilts I made during early explorations and development of a pattern called Interweave. While this was the first quilt I made of the design, it ended up being the last one to get finished. It was quilted at the same time as the others but I just never got around to binding it. Then I simply forgot. Can you relate? A project gets tucked away and you forget about it.

Credit goes to the BoulderMQG UFO challenge for motivating me to finally finish Cherry Blossoms. The guild challenge for 2019 was to list 6 projects and specify what we wanted to accomplish. We were encouraged to have a variety of goals from simple to more involved. This was certainly an easier one and far overdue. But then I guess all UFOs are overdue aren't they? Of course I have far more than 6 UFOs. Way more! But at least I'm making the effort and things are getting done. Done is good!

The colors are spot on for 2019 with Pantone's Color of the Year, Living Coral and Kona's Color of the Year, Splash. I've loved this color scheme for a long time. Most of the fabrics are from older Amy Butler fabric lines like Love, Cameo, and Soul Blossoms. I've been a fan of her fabrics for years and will certainly miss her lines now that she has moved away from fabric design. : (

The colors feel very summery and make me think of swimming pools and flower gardens in the tropics which probably isn't reflected in the quilt name. I chose the name Cherry Blossoms because my favorite fabric in the quilt is of the cherry trees in bloom. I hope to get a good photo in the wild once summer arrives and things are little more colorful outside.

When I design a pattern, choosing which fabrics to feature as the main cover quilt can be one of the hardest decisions in the whole process. Since the pattern is designed to showcase large scale prints, I chose a range of Kaffe Fassett blues for the cover quilt.

Another variation of the pattern features a single Amy Butler fabric for the main horizontal sections.

The last version (and my personal favorite) is this smaller black and white with warm floral accent strips.

One of the best parts of pattern design is exploring all the different versions and looks that can come from the same design. I know some people make something once and then they're done. I find it really fun to make something again and again to explore new looks. What about you? Do you make the same design more than once or is once enough?

I haven't joined a linky party in a long long time so thought I'd join in the fun again. I'm linking up with Cheryl's Favorite Finish Link Up because I finally have a finish. WaHoo! Go check out what some other quilters finished this month.

If you're interested in the Interweave pattern you can learn more about it here.

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Spring Colors in Full Bloom

Spring has finally made a real appearance around here. Things are getting green . . . flowers are starting to bloom . . .  rainbows are making an appearance along with a little much needed rain.  Color is showing up all around after a dull gray winter. So it just seemed like a good time to spring my latest new quilt designs on you too. These three designs have actually been works in progress for far far too long. I'm still working on the finishing touches. Two more to bind . . . one more small one to sew.

First up are two quilts I've made using 2 1/2" strips in cheery spring colors . . .

Next up is a fat quarter friendly design using cool crisp colors to refresh on those hot days to come. . .

And another fat quarter design bursting with rainbow brights  . . . awaiting binding. I have the fabrics cut for another version in wonderful blue/green stripes too.

All three quilts will be be published next month as PDF patterns. There are also other versions and optional ideas that I'll be sharing soon too. Stay tuned to the blog for the big release and sale.

I'm linking up today with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced. Hop over and see all the creativity going on out there. It's very inspiring.

To Market To Market . . .

I'm going to Quilt Market for the very first time later this week and am soooo excited!  Just to be there to see all the new fabrics and quilts and fabrics and quilts . . .  and fabrics is going to be so much fun.

One of the quilts I will get to see is my very own "Rhythm & Blues" which was accepted as part of the Modern Quilt Guild Showcase. I feel very honored that it was chosen to hang along side all the other creative quilts that modern quilters are making all around the world. The whole Modern movement is really making headway into more traditional venues and best of all is introducing many new people to the joy of quilting.

At the last minute I decided to make a market tote bag, a business card holder and a lanyard.

Finished the tote bag today and love how it turned out. I used this tutorial by Monica Solorio-Snow of Happy Zombie. It's a great bag with 6 pockets on the outside. I altered it a little to fit my needs by making it bigger. Figured I would need more space for all the lovelies I hope to fill it with at Sample Spree. Now if only I could fill it with extra $$$ first so I could buy more.  : )

Tonight I plan to make a business card holder for all these. I finally got real, official business cards printed up. They arrived yesterday and I'm pretty happy with how well they turned out although they are very very slick. I splurged and had a photo of my Cascade quilt printed on the back. This pattern is my best seller and still one of my personal favorites.

We'll see if I get the lanyard done. Jennifer at Ellison Lane recently had a nice little tutorial on making a double sided version that prompted me to think about it.

So these are my main WIPs for this week. Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday.

While I'm at Market, I plan to soak in all the inspiration. I'm prepared to be totally overwhelmed. And I hope my new comfort shoes will actually be comfortable.  haha . . . I can hope right?

If you're going to Market, I'd love to meet you. I'll be at the Modern Quilt Guild Meet Up Saturday evening. If not, I'll be posting next week about my Market experience. Stay tuned.

Snappy Quilts

There is a wonderful little quilt shop here in the Denver metro area that I want to tell you about. It's called Snappy Quilts and it's a great shop full of modern fabrics.

Their tagline is Modern Fabrics, Fresh Ideas and I think that sums up the shop quite well.

They have a large selection of Kaffe Fassett fabrics so that makes them an instant winner in my book. There's also a large selection of Art Gallery Fabrics along with Amy Butler and many other modern lines. It's eye candy everywhere you look. Go to their website for a peak at the shop and all the fabulous fabrics. Get directions and store hours too. They are open late on Thursdays which I love.

Snappy Quilts is one of the first shops to carry my patterns which is a big thrill for me. Plus they are hosting my very first trunk show!  Here are a few photos of the day I delivered the quilts.

Cascade quilt pattern

Facets quilt pattern

That's owner Nancy Boyd, aka "Snappy" on the right. Her bio says she's been called Snappy for years.

If you're ever in the Denver area, I highly recommend a stop at Snappy Quilts. It's well worth the visit. They're on the south side of town not too far from Ikea and Park Meadows mall. When you're there, say hi to Nancy, Janice and the rest of the staff and tell them Anne at SpringLeaf Studios sent you.

Pattern Survey

I'm deep in the midst of working up my next patterns and would love your opinion on a few things.
I'd really appreciate it if you'd take a moment to comment on the following questions. I value your input and really want your experience with my patterns to be the best it can be.

1. Do you prefer paper or digital patterns?
2. If you buy a digital pattern, do you use it by viewing on screen or do you print it?
3. If you buy paper, do you prefer loose sheet format or a stapled booklet format?
4. Do you buy a pattern with the intention of making the cover quilt pretty much as shown with the same or nearly the same fabrics?
5. Would you like alternative ideas on how the pattern can be used included in the pattern like those shown below?

Thanks for taking the time to comment. I appreciate each little bit of info you're willing to share.

Hope you had a very relaxing weekend and wonderful, safe 4th of July if you live in the States.

WIP Wednesday/Bee Block

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for another WIP Wednesday.

Here it is the end of the month and about time I get my Mid Century Modern Bee block done for Debbie at A Quilter's Table. She asked for a low volume block based on the tutorial over at Little Miss Shabby's blog. It was a fairly simple block to make but I'm not sure about the best way to press. The seams where the gray strips meet seem a little bulky.

I really like many of the low volume/light value quilts that are showing up online. I've even been playing around with an idea of my own but it hasn't made it past the designing stage yet. When Debbie requested this type of fabric I was excited to give it a try and to see what everyone else came up with too.

Pulling fabric from my stash made me realize I don't have a big selection of low volume or light value fabrics. Like many quilters, I have tons of mid values and few true lights and darks. Here is where I started. Several colored dots on white, a handful of leafy and bird related prints, and miscellaneous other prints. I can definitely see an excuse for fabric shopping . . . hehe. Just don't tell my husband.

It was hard to decide what to use for Debbie's block but I eventually settled on mostly grays with some blues and greens thrown in. It turned out a bit darker than I thought it would but hopefully it will work with the rest of the blocks she gets. After all, you need a lot of variety with scrappy quilts right?

The last couple of weeks have seen plenty of behind-the-scene sewing too. Just not things that have shown up on my blog. My new pattern is coming along nicely and I hope to publish next month. Check back often to get the first peek.  I've also submitted a couple of things to magazines and thus can't share.

These cuties are the biggest adjustment I've had going on in my studio. I never realized how easy it really was with our sweet old lady Shadow. She would drive me crazy at times but just as often was content to sleep in the chair while I sewed. No need to worry about her eating threads off the floor, eating pins off the design wall, running with scissors and generally tearing things to pieces . Hmmm . . . life with kittens is interesting, fun and challenging . . . just like human toddlers in the house.

But they are adorable. Opal and Leo (formerly LuLu until she turned out to be a he)
Head back over to Freshly Pieced for more quilty goodness and have a great week of stitching.

Giveaway

I'd like to welcome you to my blog if you are hopping over to visit from the Quilting Gallery as part of the Quilter's Blog Hop Party. Give a shout out to Michele for hosting this great event!  There are some awesome posts and giveaways happening and hopefully you'll be one of the lucky winners. 

While you're visiting please do wander around a little and get a feel for my style. I sometimes go modern and sometimes more traditional, but the one thing you can always count on is lots of color and strong design elements. 

2 lucky readers will win their choice of one of my patterns featured below. The pattern will be emailed in a PDF format.

Both patterns include:

• 2 different versions of the quilt as seen on the cover.
• Size options.
• Additional ideas on how to use the pattern to make different variations.
• Coloring page to envision your own color scheme.
• A bonus pillow project made from the scraps.

Great design is first and foremost in all my patterns. In addition to directions for making the cover quilt, I include a Design Lesson and a Design Exploration page so you can envision optional ways to use the pattern. My hope is that these ideas will inspire you to try your own version based on the basic pattern. A coloring page is also included so you can try out your choice of colors and fabrics.


First up is Cascade. This is a great pattern for large scale prints but is equally at home with solids. It works well with fat quarters and layer cakes. Below are some examples of ways  I have used this pattern. As you can see, there are many possibilities.

This is the Design Explorations page included in the Cascade pattern. 

This bold zigzag baby quilt plus the bonus doll quilt were both made from the Cascade pattern. 

Cascade was also used to make a bright summery tablecloth and matching table runner form the Tradewinds fabric line by Moda

Next up is Facets. This quilt also works well with large scale prints and is the perfect quilt for using up scraps, charm squares or your favorite fabric bundle.

This is the Design Explorations page included in the Facets pattern. 

This is the alternative quilt as seen on the Facets pattern cover.

These two pillows were made as part of the bonus project included in the Facets pattern.

To win your choice of one of these patterns (to be emailed to you in PDF format):

• Become a follower or let me know if you already are.
• Tell me which pattern you like best and why. 
• Please be sure that your comment links to your email. No email = no win. 
• Comments are open through March 15th (MST). Winners will be announced shortly thereafter. Good luck !

Thanks for visiting. Enjoy the rest of the hop.

Tradewinds, a quilt and table runner finished!

I posted earlier about buying a layer cake of the fabric collection called Tradewinds made by Moda. Now I rarely buy a whole line of anything. Not so much because I don't want to, more because my budget just doesn't allow for all my wants. Besides, I keep telling myself I need to work with all the glorious fabrics I already own. But this time I splurged. And then, instead of adding it to my stash, I made the top and actually quilted it! Probably no big deal to many of you but quite out of my norm. I tend to be a topper all too often instead of a true quilter. Working on breaking that bad habit.

I used a variation of my own pattern called Cascade (available here) to make the quilt. The fabric with the lattice design said napkins to me and the triangles in the quilt design made me think of folded napkins tucked under a plate. I bought additional yardage of the lattice prints and used the layer cake squares for the main blocks. Didn't plan on a border when I started but once the blocks were pieced they just wanted to be contained and given a little breathing room to set them off. Plus adding a border made the quilt finish at a better size for a tablecloth. I used a 2-color extra wide binding to echo the colors in the corners of the quilt. A little red check for the backing finished off the summery tablecloth/picnic feel.

One of the extra features in the Cascade pattern is the use of leftovers to make a second project. I thought I'd use the bonus blocks to make some coordinating napkins but just wasn't feeling any of the layouts. The thing about the bonus blocks is they are a result of the trimmed corners from the larger quilt blocks. Easy peasy to make as you sew the quilt blocks, but what you get is a result of the fabric combinations used for the quilt. Lots of layout options to consider with these extra blocks but I just didn't like them as napkins. When I abandoned the napkins and tried a zigzag layout I knew a small table runner was the answer. Love how the chevron design fell into place.  I decided to skip the border on the runner once I realized it fit perfectly on my side table as is, plus I had just enough leftover quilt backing to back the runner. Gotta love when that works out.  : )

Then my daughter pointed out how well the fabrics went with my colored vase collection. She's got a good eye for design don't you think?

I also posted earlier about the frustration of trying to quilt the top.  : (   Since I envisioned this as a tablecloth, I thought I'd make it lighter weight and thinner than a normal quilt. Didn't quite turn out as I imagined though. I used a piece of flannel instead of batting. Thinner, yes . . . lighter weight, not so much. As a matter of fact, it's rather heavy which was part of my quilting frustration. That and a kitty who wanted to help by sitting on top while I tried to move it around under the needle. The two just do not work well together. But she sure is cute. Meow!

The frustration level went down when kitty left and I had a day to regroup and relax. I quilted a grid on point in the inner red/pink area and then straight lines around the blue/green outer edge. The border got some free motion loops that echoed the design elements from one of the fabric prints. The eclectic bazaar feeling of the prints seems to call for some hand work as well. Now I'm not one to do hand quilting. As a matter of fact I've never done any hand quilting. But there are so many beautiful things being done by some of you that I feel inspired to give it a try. I might try some pearl cotton hand stitching in the borders. What do you think? Red? Blue? Green? Pink? Small pointed half circles between every two loops?

So this about sums up my Tradewinds experience:
Loved the Tradewinds collection and all it's variety.
Will definitely look for more fabric collections to work with.
Won't use flannel instead of batting again unless it's something small.
May try hand quilting but for now other project deadlines take priority.

All in all, I'm very happy with how both these projects turned out. Now it's time for afternoon tea in the backyard. Ta Ta . . .

My First Pattern!

I’m super excited to share my quilt with you here at the Bloggers' Quilt Festival. My festival quilt marks a huge turning point for me and my quilting. 

Last year I finally discovered all you talented, enthusiastic quilters in blogland. A little late arriving, but so glad I finally made it to the party. A quilter for 15 plus years, I’ve never quite felt the connection to other quilters that I feel now as I discover more and more of your inspiring blogs. I’ve been more excited and inspired than I’ve been in years. So this year, I decided to join you and play along. My hat's off to Amy for creating this great online event.

Bloggers' Festival marks the introduction to my newbie blog and my very own quilt business, SpringLeaf Studios. And my festival quilt, Facets, is the very first of my pdf patterns to be released for sale. I have to tell you, it’s super exciting and scary all at the same time. I hope you like my quilt as much as I like looking at all of yours.

I’m a designer at heart and by training, so when I design a new quilt, I’m always exploring all the hidden potential within that design. There’s always more than one way to do something and I love looking at all the options. Simple changes to colors, fabrics and placement can make significant changes to the look of a quilt. One of the goals with my patterns is to share my process and explorations with you so that you can envision more possibilities beyond the featured design. 

The Facets pattern comes with 2 versions, optional sizes, plus 8 additional ideas and a bonus pillow project that's made from the trimmed leftovers. It’s like getting one pattern with endless possibilities. Pattern is available at Craftsy and in my Etsy shop. Check it out.

Lastly, I want to thank you for sharing all your inspiring work with the rest of us. No matter your level of experience, I believe we all have something to offer. You never know when your own little idea might be just what someone needs to give them inspiration to make something beautiful. And nothing is more beautiful and meaningful than something made by hand and with our heart for those we love. That’s what quilting gives to me. The opportunity to share my creativity and make the world more beautiful. : )

Here's a final shot of both quilts. Don't you just love that striped chair? My talented daughter, Emily, redid it last summer for her apartment. Love it!