Red Pepper Quilts: October 2017

Sunday, October 29, 2017

Sunday Stash #408 Alexander Henry Bundle

Mixed bundle of Alexander Henry Fabrics

This mixed fabric bundle is a step outside of my comfort zone; medium to large scale prints and a riot of color and quirky designs. I know these are not what I usually go for when piecing a quilt but I am so drawn to them! All of these prints are by Alexander Henry Fabrics; a premier textile design house known for their cutting edge cotton prints often inspired by art history and runway fashion.

Gotas de Amor in Royal and Tea - De Leon Design Group

Flower Eyes in Natural by De Leon Design Group for Alexander Henry Fabrics

Flower Eyes in Natural - De Leon Design Group 2015

Cactus Flower in Natural - De Leon Design Group

I look at fabrics closely and in particular for their fussy cutting potential. Rather than focusing on whole design, I visually break down the design elements and look for the smaller features; for example the flowers in the above fabric. Unique snippets of fabric can really change the overall look of a quilt.

Frida La Catrina in Dark Marine De Leon Design Group

Acupulco in Black Brite - Alexander Henry De Leon Design 2016 and Cactus Flower De Leon Desing Group 1

Acupulco in Black Brite and Cactus Flower by De Leon Design Group

Alexander Henry Las Golondrinas De Leon Design Group 2013

Las Golondrinas by De Leon Design Group

ALEXANDER HENRY fabric collections available from:
Jones & Vandermeer
Fabric Worm

Bathing Beauties in Brite by De Leon Design Group

SPONSOR NEWS

Expired sales information and coupon codes have been deleted.

Enjoy Sunday!
Rita

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COPYRIGHT and DISCLOSURE: Do not copy or use any content or photos from my blog without my written permission. I have personally selected (and purchased) all featured Sunday Stash fabrics/products, unless clearly stated otherwise. This is original content from www.redpepperquilts.com.

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

A Low Volume Herringbone Quilt

Work in Progress (lots of photos!)

Herringbone Quilt | Modern Quilt Magic | © Red Pepper Quilts 2017

The Herringbone Quilt is a traditional quilt design known for its diagonal "strippy" piecing and sharp angles that form when rows are pieced together. Variations of the Herringbone Quilt are many and include Chevron Quilt, Zig Zag Quilt, and Friendship Braid Quilt designs; all of which I have had on my quilt bucket list for some time.

Modern Quilt Magic:

5 Parlor Tricks to Expand Your Piecing Skills
by Victoria Findlay Wolfe

So when I came across Victoria Findlay's recently released book Modern Quilt Magic I saw it as an opportunity to learn a few parlor tricks, and I was especially keen to learn a simple way to machine piece a Herringbone Quilt.

A snapshot of my quilt in progress -
rows of part sewn patchwork pieces (as pictured on Instagram)

Just like Victoria, when I first saw (and studied) a Herringbone Strip quilt it bent my mind. How is that pieced together? Well, the magic in the book reveals all, and although the notion of lots - and lots - of part sewn seams can dampen my sewing spirit, the instructions provided in the book were clear and easy to follow.

Herringbone Quilt | Work in Progress | © Red Pepper Quilts 2017

Furthermore, the good news is that part-seams are easier to sew than Y-seams or insets seams. You just have to remind yourself that you are still just sewing in a straight line. It does however involve a lot of short seam sewing, stopping and starting, adjusting the quilt top to line up the next seam and the next seam. But it is a task I would do again in a heart beat. I love this quilt top!

Low Volume Herringbone Quilt | Work in Progress | © Red Pepper Quilts 2017

The fabrics used for this quilt top are all from my "low volume" fabric stash ~ prints of varying designs on a white/light background. I spent much time pulling fabrics from stash, cutting up to four strips from each print, and returning fabric to stash. Many of the fabrics were fussy cut to feature a designs like a flower, text, face, animals etc., and I also paid attention to the orientation of the fabric designs when sewing the quilt top together.

QUILT STATS

Low Volume Herringbone Quilt

Quilt top measures 50 inches x 60 inches.

540 patchwork pieces.

(9 vertical "herringbone" rows - each with 60 fabric strips).

Each fabric strips was cut 2" x 4.5".

180+ different low volume fabrics were used to make this quilt top.

Fabrics Include:

Quilting Cotton, Liberty of London, reclaimed vintage fabrics.

Machine piecing instructions from the book:

Modern Quilt Magic by Victoria Findlay Wolfe.

Needless to say, this quilt top took ages to piece together, and there were moments of distress, and more than once I questioned my decision to cut my fabric strips so small. I do love small patchwork pieces and an overall scrappy look, but when trying a technique for the first time it might be worth going with bigger fabric pieces. However, once the quilt top was complete I was super pleased for having persevered, and like I said, I'd do it all again! In fact, I have many fabric strips left over (I prefer to cut too many patchwork pieces for a project, than to have to go back and cut more) and I am planning my next part-seam project.

This quilt is ready for basting and quilting. More soon.

Rita

PS Thank you for scrolling though the many photos!

RELEVANTS LINKS:
The book: Modern Quilt Magic by Victoria Findlay Wolfe
More RPQ Low Volume Quilts:
Modern Half Square Triangle Quilt - May 2016
Low Volume Strip Quilt - September 2013
Low Volume Half Square Triangle Quilt - April 2013
Low Volume Custom Quilt - May 2013

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COPYRIGHT: Do not copy or use any content or photos from my blog without my written permission. This is original content from www.redpepperquilts.com.

Sunday, October 22, 2017

Sunday Stash #407 Basically Basics Bundle

Today I thought I would share with you a bundle of fabric stash basics that have arrived in the last week or more. I love stash basics - stripes, checks, dots, gingham, and small scale designs generally. These prints are used often in my quilts and I do like to keep these prints on hand, in every color of the rainbow and more. This bundle is sure is a mixed bundle!

Merry Go Round by American Jane - Stripes | © Red Pepper Quilts 2017

Merry Go Round by American Jane | © Red Pepper Quilts 2017

The above pictured prints are all from the Merry Go Round collection by American Jane for Moda Fabrics. These stripes are narrow (about an 1/8th of an inch wide), the colors are vibrant, and perfect for quilt binding! Also available are a range of small scale dots in the same colorway as the stripe fabrics (not all shown here).

Also just in are these colorful prints called Whirlygig by Kaffe Fassett for Westminster Fibers and two designs from the Blush collection by Dana Willard for Art Gallery Fabrics. These fabrics caught my eye for color as well as their scope for fussy cutting!

And last these two dainty low volume prints from Ann's Arbor collection Minick & Simpson for Moda Fabrics.

AVAILABLE FROM:

Merry Go Round by American Jane Fabrics
The Fat Quarter Shop

Kaffe Fassett Collection by Kaffe Fassett
The Fat Quarter Shop

Blush by Dana Willard
I Love Fabric
The Fat Quarter Shop
Stash Fabrics

Ann's Arbor by Minick & Simpson
The Fat Quarter Shop

SPONSOR NEWS

Expired sales information and coupon codes have been deleted.

Enjoy Sunday!
Rita

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Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Miss Matatabi and a Giveaway!

A sponsored giveaway.

Miss Matatabi is a family owned online fabric store specializing in modern Japanese fabrics, shipped directly from Japan. The store is run by husband and wife, Frances and Yoshihiro. Frances and Yoshihiro have carefully handpicked a selection of gorgeous Japanese textiles and they take joy in being able to share not only the most popular Japanese textile brands such as nani IRO, Kokka, and Cotton + Steel, and popular Japanese designers including Suzuko Koseki and Atsuko Matsuyama, but also unique and hard to find fabrics of the highest quality.

Sienna by Alexia Abegg for Cotton + Steel

In Frances' own words: Having lived in Japan for more than 12 years I have developed a deep appreciation for Japanese craft and design aesthetic and love that handmade is still a valued part of Japanese culture. As a maker, as well as a store owner, taking time to source textiles I not only think you will love but that I also adore to sew with is one of the best parts of my work day. I'm honoured to be able to connect with so many interesting and kind people from all over the world through a shared love of textiles.

Echino - Double Gauze

Most recently Frances was the driving force behind the reprint of the sought after - and one of my all time favorite prints - Kerchief Girls fabric and all seven colorways are currently in stock.

Kerchief Girls by Kei Fabrics

As well as the quilting cotton Miss Matatabi now also have Kerchief Girls fabric in laminate and pre-quilted! Oh, I imagine you could whip up a super cute double sided quilt in a day with this pre-quilted fabric ~

Kerchief Girls ~ Pre-quilted.

I am a regular Miss Matatabi customer and most of my Japanese fabric stash was purchased right here. I love Frances' unique eye for print and color and especially love the variety of substrates available ~ including quilting cotton, linen, linen blends, double gauze, rayon, canvas, knit; something for every maker. I check often to see what is new, and my orders have always been carefully packaged and shipped promptly. I also love(!) that many of the fabrics are available as fat quarter cuts.

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:

Frances and Yoshihiro are giving away a half metre bundle of Kerchief Girls to one one lucky RPQ reader - 7 colorways and a total of 3 1/2 meters of fabric!

To be in the draw please leave a comment on this post - email me if you are not able to leave a comment (redpepperquilts at gmail dot com) and I will leave a comment on your behalf. International entries welcome!

The draw will take place at 10pm on Saturday 21 October 2017 (Australia - EDT), at which time comments to this post will be closed. The winner will be announced the same day by edit to this blog post, and will also be contacted by email.

====================

ENTRY HAS NOW CLOSED

====================

The winner of the Kerchief Girls Half Meter Bundle is:

Congratulations Brenda! Brenda has been contacted by email.

SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE:

10% off their orders with the code RPQ10

Ends Saturday 21 October 2017.

Coupon code can be used:

Miss Matatabi website store or Etsy Store.

.... and an awesome shipping deal!

$15 flat rate international shipping

for orders over $US100

Valid for orders shipping to North America, Oceania, Asia, and Europe.

Only available at shop.missmatatabi.com.
Ends 19 November 2017.

ONLINE STORE :: ETSY STORE

FACEBOOK :: INSTAGRAM

Good luck everyone and thank you for supporting my sponsors.

Rita

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COPYRIGHT: Do not copy or use any content or photos from my blog without my written permission. Images used in this blog post have been provided by Miss Matatabi and are used with permission. This is original content from www.redpepperquilts.com.

Sunday, October 15, 2017

Sunday Stash #406 Chicken Scratch by Kaye England

Chicken Scratch by Kaye England

for Wilmington Prints

I am a huge fan of reproduction prints and therefore could not resist this cute collection of darling small scale prints by Kaye England. The collection is inspired by embroidery and fabrics from the 1930's and features "embroidered" chickens and an excellent range of floral designs in the brightest of colors.

These small scale designs are excellent stash basics and are great for introducing reproduction fabrics into modern projects. I like that you can readily assign a color to each fabric - red, blue, yellow, green etc - which makes it easy to color co-ordinate your fabric selection, and to mix and balance the color palette of your project as you go, regardless of whether the fabric you have chosen for your project is a modern designer fabric or a reproduction fabric.

The collections consists of 11 designs each printed in up to three different colorways - a total of 22 prints plus two "embroidery" fabric panels. My favorite designs would have to be the cone flower print in both the yellow and the red colorway. Of course, the floral gingham print would have to come in as a close second.