Summer Sewing 2018

I've been doing a lot of sewing the past few weeks.  Most of the projects are under contract to a publisher or another company, which prohibits me from sharing them publicly until the on-sale date.

But the contracts don't say that I can't share the fabrics with you :) 

For magazines, I'm working on Spring and Summer 2019 right now.  The colors I'm using are fresh, bright - but not too bright, and gray is the new white. 

For one of my designs, I'm using fabrics from Timeless Treasures Fabric Company.  These fabrics are a mix of their Studio Basics blender collection and Solid-ish Basic by Kimberly Einmo.  I love the depth of color saturation.  

I like to use fabrics that are referred to as blenders, basics or tonals in a lot of my designs because that gives the design more longevity.  Even if the specific fabric that I used isn't available a year or two years from now, you can still find another fabric that is very close in the same color and texture.

In another project, I'm using the Garden Club collection by Brenda Ratliff from RJR fabrics.  

I like to design patterns that work well with fat quarter bundles.  After all, who doesn't love to buy fat quarter bundles and we can't keep all of them for studio décor …. or can we? :) 

Here is what the fabric looks like un-bundled and pressed.  Again gray is the new white and I'm using the lightest gray for the background fabric.

Earlier in the week, I shared with you the fun pillow and bed runner I made using Christa Watson's new Fandangle line from Benartex fabrics.   I used layouts from my The Simple Sampler book to make them. 

By now you are probably seeing a trend in the fabrics that I like to use in my designs … and that's a good thing!  Gray is the new neutral - instead of white and bright, fun, fresh, colors with a bit of pattern.  This is Fandangle's collection card and you can sew how much fabric each fabric is. 

As an Ambassador for the Island Batik company, I'm stitching monthly with their fabrics.  Island Batik has some of the most unique designs for their batiks.  I'm totally in love with these Paisley Dots. They are the perfect combination between a blender and a print! 

So this blog post has become much longer than I thought it would!  If you want to keep up with all my stitching, be sure to follow this blog, like me on Facebook at Masterpiece Quilting or on IG: @masterpiecequilting. 

And as a disclaimer...  I am not receiving monetary compensation to write this blog post nor am I receiving affiliate commission on any purchases you make.  The opinions of the fabrics are my own personal opinions.  The fabric companies listed did provide complimentary material for me to use in each of the mentioned projects and those companies will receive full promotional credit in print and in video at the time of publication.