Fabric | Storts Market

Welcome to the Minis Blog Tour hosted by Pat Bravo of Art Gallery Fabrics

I am happy to be a part of this mini quilt blog tour hosted by Pat Bravo of Art Gallery Fabrics. Being given beautiful fabric and asked to create a quilt is one of my favorite activities. My take aways from this project are:

»»»A reminder of why I enjoy Art Gallery Fabrics
»»»Challenging myself with a new quilt block

If you have not had the opportunity to sew with Art Gallery Fabrics, I would encourage you to get some and treat yourself. Art Gallery Fabrics have a distinct feel to them, very soft with a gentle drape. As a member of the tour, I received a bundle of fabrics from Pat Bravo’s new lines Essential II and Dare. I chose to use five of the fabrics to make my mini quilt:

My Bundle of Fabrics

If I had to use one word to describe my 5 fabrics together it would be eclectic. At first glance, I was not sure they would work, but I like the end result. I named my quilt Daring Edge because of the Dare fabrics and all blade edges from the different pinwheels. A favorite aesthetic details about the quilt is the Hula Hoops in Azure background around the perimeter and how it reminds me of water.

For inspiration in creating the quilt block, I used the book 1000 Great Quilt Blocks by Maggi McCormick Gordon. Using the Double Pinwheel III block as a starting point, I resized it from her original and modified the block to tailor it to my fabrics. I like a challenge and enjoy learning with every quilt I make. My big lesson with this quilt was in creating half-square rectangles. Online tutorials helped, but I had a lot of testing with scrap fabrics to get the size just right. And learning how to mark and line them up was a bit of a lesson in math, but now that I understand it, I’m looking forward to future quilts with this versatile and interesting technique.

Marked and Pinned

Sewn and Cut

Ironed

Being a part of this tour has been enjoyable. The other quilters involved are so talented and creative and I enjoy seeing all of their beautiful creations using the Dare and Essentials II fabrics. If you would like to see their work and get some inspiration for yourself, check out Pat Bravo’s Blog and the following links:

Laura Piland
Instagram: @sliceofpilife
http://sliceofpiquilts.blogspot.com

Courtney Zadik
Instagram: @wholesomemama
www.thewholesomemama.com

Katie Skoog
Instagram: @slpco
www.TheSimpleLifeCompany.com/BLOG

Stacey Gibson
Instagram: @edens_accessories

Amanda Woodruff
Instagram: @acraftyfox_amanda
acraftyfox.net

Jessica Stewart
Instagram: @izzynivydesigns
http://snickerdoodlestew.com/

Erin Cox
Instagram: @whynotsewquilts
www.whynotsew.blogspot.com

Anjeanette Klinder
Instagram: @anjeanetteklinder
http://anjeanettek.com/

Aimee Leptick
Instagram: @lilbirddesign
www.thelittlebirddesigns.com

Sharla Krenzel
Instagram: @thistlethicketstudio
www.thistlethicketstudio.com

Christine Blessing
Instagram: cblessing0

Cat Noonan
Instagram:@tincat13

Sarah Overton
Instagram: @mycrowdednest
Mycrowdednest.wordpress.com

Jyoti Haeusle
Instagram: @jyotihaeusler
www.sewnmoderncrafts.com

Faith Essenburg
Instagram: @faithessenburg
www.saranaave.wordpress.com

Lesley Storts (That’s ME!)
Instagram: @lesleystorts
StortsMarket.com

Ellen Ault – May 5
Instagram: @handmade3d
www.Handmade3D.me

Michelle Bartholomew – May 5
Instagram: @michellebartholomew
michellebartholomew.com

Kate Basti – May 6
Instagram: @katebasti

Kate Lyons – May 6
Instagram: @modernmakerie

Cindy Guch – May 9
Instagram: @cindyraspberrysunshine
http://raspberrysunshine.com

Lucy – May 9
Instagram: @skinnymalinkyquilts
www.skinnymalinkyquilts.com

Marija Vujcic – May 10
Instagram: @mvquilts
http://marijasfabricreations.blogspot.com/

Isabel Kelly – May 10
Instagram: @lambandwolfie
www.lambandwolfie.com

Samantha Green – May 11
Instagram: @fortheloveoffabric

Tara Curtis – May 11
Instagram: @t_jaye
https://www.tjaye.com/blog/

Samantha Dorn – May 12
Instagram: @aqua_paisley
aquapaisleystudio.com

Maja Wlusek – May 12
Instagram: @betyipiernaty
https://betyipiernaty.wordpress.com

Jemima Flendt – May 13
Instagram: @tiedwitharibbon
www.blog.tiedwitharibbon.com

Kerry Smith – May 13
Instagram: @thatssewkerry
www.thatssewkerry.blogspot.co.uk

Creative inspiration can be found at the Essentials II Lookbook and the Dare LookBook. If you happen to be in Columbus, Ohio, you can stop by one of my favorite local quilting stores, Sew To Speak, and check out their beautiful selection from various Art Gallery Fabric designers.

Daring Edge Quilt Back

Daring Edge Quilt Specs:
20″ x 20″
4 blocks total
56 pieces in each block
224 total pieces
5 fabrics from Art Gallery Fabrics, Essentials II and Dare collection
Quilt Back in Art Gallery Fabrics Pure Elements in Icy Mint
Aurifil Thread 2600 (a light silvery grey) used for piecing and quilting

Happy Quilting! ▶︎ ▶︎ ▶︎

Saltcellar Pincushion made with Carolyn Friedlander’s Dentals in Green.

It has been almost a year since I began hunting for saltcellars and making pincushions. Lucy, one of my daughters, has been instrumental in helping perfect this little pieces of art. And as we have learned and grown in making these, an interesting thing has happened- I have come to appreciate fabric and the patterns in a different way. There is a need to focus on small areas and what they have to offer in a saltcellar. The diameter of most saltcellars we use is about 1 1/4 – 1 1/2 inches. Some of the dishes are a little bigger, but generally they are small. This means that we have to maximize where we cut.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I love the color green and adore this fabric by Anna Maria Horner called Minutes in Glen. I was excited to use it in a pincushion and took special care to cut it so that I was able show an interesting part of the fabric.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Another beautiful and interesting fabric we’ve used is Tula Pink’s Bats in the Belfry in Plum. Depending on what you wanted to highlight with this fabric would depend on where you cut for the pincushion. This fabric offers many choices that would work well. Lucy made this pincushion and wanted to make sure to include blue so that it stood out.

I love quilt making and will continue making quilts. I do appreciate though, the opportunity to look at fabric in a different way and that has come through making pincushions.