QuiltCon Recap!

Amber and I just got back from sunny Austin, Texas for the first ever QuiltCon! QuiltCon was a convention open to the public put on by the Modern Quilt Guild. It was awesome! There were workshops, lectures, a marketplace, and of course, quilts! Amber and I took workshops almost the entire time. Here is the lowdown on QuiltCon 2013.

Handmade ribbons awarded to quilts at QuiltCon

My first class was a Patchwork Skirt class with Jay McCarroll! It was soo fun to spend a day sewing with Jay. He was super encouraging and even drafted us up a pattern when the class balked at the task. We patchworked fabric together during the first part of class and then assembled our skirts.

Jay McCarroll drafts a pattern

I made mine out of a crazy Japanese cat print mixed with some neutrals. I managed to finish the skirt just in time and totally impressed Jay!

Jaime and Jay with finished Patchwork Skirt

On day one Amber took Malka Dubrawsky's Color Your Cloth class, where she learned wax resist fabric dyeing techniques.

Malka used a potato masher fro this pattern!

Everything from veggies to cardboard to kitchen tools like potato mashers can be used to print pattern on fabrics!

On day two, Amber and I were lucky enough to take Improvisational Patchwork with Denyse Schmidt together. This class was so inspiring! We sewed as fast as we could and by the end we each had enough improv blocks for about half a queen quilt top - we're almost there!

Denyse was a fantastic teacher and took time to give everyone some critique and encouraging words. All the class put our blocks up onto boards to view and discuss after each round of quilting - it was a great way to spend a day sewing.

Denyse also had about a dozen of her quilts on display at the QuiltCon exhibit. It was so amazing to see all of these works in person.

Some close ups of Denyse Schmidt Quilts and a view of several of her quilts on display.

This is the quilt Denyse actually uses on her bed! ♥

There were tons of people at QuiltCon! Quilters, bloggers, designers, everyone! We ran into quite a few friendly faces while we were in Austin including Alexia Abegg of Green Bee Patterns and Design. I happened to be wearing my Amelia dress designed by Green Bee so of course we had to have a photo.

Jaime and Alexia Abegg of Green Bee Patterns and Design

On day three I took Textile Printing class with Lotta Jansdotter. I have always been a fan of Lotta's designs so it was great to meet her and learn from such a master. We learned both block printing as well as stenciling.

Jaime's practice block prints from Lotta Jansdotter's class

Ms. Jansdotter was the sweetest person and I couldn't resist having a photo with her while I was wearing my dress in her print!

Jaime and Lotta Jansdotter

Amber's day three class was Improv Round Robin with Sherri Lynn Wood. In this amazing fast-paced class, each person started a quilt top and then at a certain point everyone in class passed their quilt along for another person to work on.

Some of the quilts from the Improv Round Robin class. Amber started the top left quilt, but many hands made all of these!

By the end, nine folks had worked on each quilt, and it was so interesting to see how the quilt evolved as each person added to it.

And now for your viewing pleasure are some of our favorite quilts from QuiltCon!

Victoria Findlay Wolfe - Grand Prize Winning Quilt!

Thomas Knauer  |  Latifah Saafir

Ben Darby

Latifah Saafir

Carolyn Friedlander

We can't wait for next year, I hope you can all go!

QuiltCon Sew-a-Thon: Peony Dress

I feel like the luckiest lady because this Friday I get to take Denyse Schmidt's improvisational patchwork class at QuiltCon! Yippee!

In order to show my super-fandom, I whipped up the Colette Peony in Denyse's new Shelburne Falls fabric, in the Circle Square Willow print. I plan to woo Ms. Schmidt to be my new craft friend with my adorable new look.

This is the first time I've made the Peony and I absolutely love this dress! I made it sans cumberbund--since this was a craft crunch situation. I split the difference between short and 3/4 length sleeve options and settled on an elbow length sleeve.

I love the fit of this dress! The high neck with bateau neckline is modestly charming, and the tailored bodice is flattering without being constricting.

I'm already on the lookout for the perfect fabric for my next Peony!

New Fabrics Galore!

Bushels of exciting fabrics are arriving! So much new and inspiring things to sew with--we can't even handle it!

Sarah Watts' Timber & Leaf collection is a fantastic menagerie of forest friends. Caitlin has already whipped up pillowcases for her bed from the fawn in birch print and Melissa has just started a foxy dress as well!

Alexander Henry's Mecca Modern fabrics are bright and retro and so adorable!

Aneela Hoey's sweet as pie Posy collection features darling bunnies and friendly chickens and little girls who love to read.

We also have Posy charm packs and mini-charms!

Denyse Schmidt's Shelburne Falls fabrics are here and, once again, Denyse has created a stunning, vintage inspired collection with prints perfect for patchwork and garments. This collection would make a beautiful pyramid quilt!

We have all sorts of precuts in Shelburne Falls for patchwork fun. Charm packs and layer cakes and jelly rolls and fat quarters...

Jaime and I will be attending Quiltcon this month and are thrilled to be taking a class with Denyse herself! You can bet we are already working on some new garments made from Shelburne Falls to wear to class. Stay tuned to see what we learn and make while attending workshops later this month!

Pyramid Pals! Three Chicopee Quilts (+ Tutorial!)

A trifecta of triangle quilts + tutorial! (Tutorial at the end of this post.)

Jaime, Emily and I adore Denyse Schmidt's fabrics-- and when we saw this Pyramid quilt made from her Chicopee line, we were all three smitten. We had to make it for ourselves!

We each cut 3/8 yard of all 26 prints, giving us 5 triangles from each print--enough to make a queen sized quilt top!

Jaime's Quilt

Jaime made a queen sized quilt, and tried her darnedest to be random with the patchwork. It turned out perfectly random and is beautiful!

Emily took a different approach for her queen sized pyramid quilt, and planned out a repeating pattern which created a soft rainbow effect in her patchwork. In order have the right number of certain colors she had to make some triangle trades with Jaime and I. I love the effect of the organized groups of colors!

I went a little smaller with my quilt, wanting a cozy couch quilt. It's 60" x 90", long enough to stretch out under for naps, or wide enough for a two person lap quilt.

Jaime's Rainbow Patchwork Back  |  Amber's Bright Floral Back  |  Emily's Patchworky Stripe Back

We each chose our own adventure for our quilt backs!

Jaime used her Chicopee scraps to make a stripey rainbow, which she then patchworked with some of her favorite tiny gothic Japanese florals.

I was inspired by antique crazy quilts I've seen from the early 1900s, many of which have big, wild florals backing them. I chose an acid yellow rose print from Bari J. and I love it!

Emily chose a yarn-dyed Essex linen cotton for most of her quilt back, but inserted a colorful strip of patchwork down the center.

Basic Pyramid Patchwork Tutorial

To make a queen sized quilt top you will need:

• 3/8 yd each of 26 prints
• Cutting mat
• Rotary cutter
• clear ruler with 60^o marking
• sewing machine and thread

1. With a rotary cutter and ruler, cut all your fabric pieces to 12" strips, selvedge to selvedge.
2. Take one strip and, using your ruler, cut the end of the strip off at 60^o.
3. Rotate your ruler to the other side and finish cutting one triangle by cutting again at 60^o. Save your half triangles from the ends. Repeat cutting for remaining triangles and remaining strips.
4. Place 2 triangles right sides together and seam along one edge at with 1/4" seam allowance.
5. Press open.
6. Place next triangle right sides together with last triangle, letting the point extend past the edge of the triangle below as much as the previous triangle point's seam allowance. Seam and press. Continue until you have 13 triangles sewn together. Seam one half-triangle to each end of your strip.

Repeat until you have 9 strips of triangles.

Lay your strips out to decide what order to piece them together in. Seam strips together.

Tada! You have a totally hot quilt top!

Jaime Takes a Trip to Tova Town

I recently went Tova crazy! I have loved this shirt since I made my first one last February. It is the perfect fall shirt so as soon as the weather turned cold, I decided to whip up a couple more. The Tova pattern by Wiksten is a flattering, but loose fitting shirt with 3/4 length sleeves. It is an advanced beginner pattern - it will be easy for you if you have experience with gathering.

For my first Tova, I choose this beautiful, limited-edition Liberty of London print. This haberdashery print is very vintage-inspired and pairs perfectly with the Tova pattern. I decided I wanted a more demure look for this top, so I finished it with some sweet little black rose buttons. The result is a feminine top that makes me think of Jane Austen, so naturally I love it.

I took my new shirt out to the brand new Humble Pie Store to try some pie during our photo shoot. The results: cute and delicious!

My second Tova is made out of the new Denyse Schmidt Chicopee Corduroy prints. OMG, I love these corduroy's so much! They are a featherwale which means they have the tiniest wales to make the softest, most velvety corduroy. The fabric is fine enough for garment construction and did great even with all the gathering. The result is a cozy and warm Tova, perfect for crisp fall days. I love closures high on my neck so I added some snaps on the inside of the front placket to make the neckline. Result = perfect!

If you want to make this shirt, but are intimidated, we are offering it as a class this winter! Check out the deets here.

New Denyse Schmidt Chicopee Fabrics & Precuts!

Sometimes a fabric collection comes to the shop that is so hot, we have to drop everything and start sewing. That's what happened on Friday when Denyse Schmidt's newest collection for Free Spirit arrived, Chicopee. Here is the queen sized quilt top I made this weekend:

As soon as the boxes were unpacked we googled possible quilt options and found this quilt - Emily and Amber and I fell instantly in love. My queen version took 1/3 yd of each of the 26 prints that make up the Chicopee line (all of which are available here at Fancy Tiger). Stay tuned to see how I finish this and how Emily and Amber's quilts turn out.

Denyse Schmidt is a modern quilting genius and her prints are perfectly suited for amazing quilts - good balance of lights and darks, large and small scale, and a lovely spectrum of both bright and muted colors. Beautiful. We also have in stock pre-cuts which will make quilting with these prints that much easier.

Okay, I have to make a quilt back now!

Quilt Market Report Spring 2012

Amber and I just got back from Kansas City for the Spring Quilt Market! This is where we get to shop for all the amazing fabrics and patterns we carry here at the store. We also get to meet and talk to fabric designers, pattern designers, bloggers and other shop owners. It was super amazing and we were really impressed with the strength of the new collections. Here are some highlights:

Amy Butler has a new collection coming out this July, Cameo. Her booth was a beautiful mix of vintage with her bright prints forming a fun contrast.

Anna Maria Horner's newest collection for Free Spirit is Field Study due in August. Natural elements such as feathers, flora and fauna inspire these designs. We loved the life-sized crouching leopard decoupaged with fabric!

Can you believe this quilt?! The pattern for this strip-pieced quilt by Anna Maria Horner will be available as a free pattern for her Field Study fabrics through the Free Spirit website. I can hardly wait to make one - it was stunning.

We really love what's going on over at Cloud 9. This organic fabric company started out so tiny and is growing into the most adorable fabric company of all time. Their current and upcoming collections are awesome, and they keep working with amazing artists. We have Monsterz in stock now so here is some inspiration with these awesome baby quilts.

Seven Seas is another Michele Brummer Everett collection for Cloud 9 coming out this summer. More of her adorable drawings, but this time with a maritime theme. Those little boys shirts are too cute!

We were thrilled that Denyse Schmidt had her first ever booth at quilt market. Her booth was amazing and featured an inspiration wall for her upcoming collection, Chicopee. We went ahead and ordered the full collection so you are all set come August.

We also got to see all of her quilts from her newest book in person - talk about inspiration! Meeting Denyse was awesome - she was lovely and it was so magical to chat with one of our favorite quilters.

The buzz of quilt market was the new Liberty of London quilting cottons. Quilt Market was the debut of this new venture for Liberty and we think it's going to be amazing! Their first collection is called Bloomsbusy Gardens and each of the 11 prints comes in 5 colorways. We ordered a ton of it, so you can quilt with Liberty to your heart's content come late August. The Liberty quilting cottons will be much more affordable than their Tana Lawn counterparts, but you can expect the same great designs and colors.

Melody Miller had a booth! Yay! Her booth was a perfect picture of her unique, vintage-inspired style and highlighted her newest collection for Kokka, Ruby Star Vinyl.

We couldn't resist a photo-op with the lady herself!

Oh Tula Pink. So much awesome fabric and I can't believe this Gem quilt!! Tula Pink has another new collection hitting the shop in July called The Birds and The Bees. We love the bright colors, but mostly I can't wait to get my hands on it so I can make this quilt.

Here we are with Ms. Pink in front of this amazing Gem Quilt. Looks pretty good, right?

And now here are some sneak peeks from the land-of-all-awesome-Japanese-fabric, Seven Islands! There will be a new Echino collection coming out featuring birds and animals, our favorite. I couldn't get over the giraffes and owls in ornate frames and of course the hipster deer-in-glasses polka dot print. The zebras are looking pretty hot too. We ordered all of it and several laminates so don't worry - there will be plenty to choose from.

Fancy Tiger favorite, Nani Iro, has a new collection out as well. She is working with some new and different colors and designs that we are excited about.

Finally we will leave you with this double gauze tunic - we need to make this!

Lots of great stuff is on the way - we didn't even show you the new Lizzy House, Moda, Sarah Jane, Lotta Jansdotter, Bari J., Dear Stella, Blend or Alexander Henry fabrics! OMG so much awesome stuff to sew!