Utility-Style Quilts for Everyday Living Blog Tour Recap Part 2

Utility-Style Quilts for Everyday Living Blog Tour Recap Part 2

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The Utility-Style Quilts for Everyday Living book blog tour has felt like a big Christmas present and for 16 days I was surprised by a new and beautiful gift! This tour was so special I had to break up the recap into parts. Part 1 was shared last week and today I will finish the review with Part 2.

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Monday 12/4  Heidi Staples - Fabric Mutt

Tuesday 12/5  Amy Friend - During Quiet Time

Wednesday 12/6  Maureen Cracknell - Maureen Cracknell Handmade

Thursday 12/7  Amber Johnson - Gigi's Thimble

Friday 12/8  Karen O'Connor - Lady K Quilts Designs

Saturday 12/9  Kori Turner-Goodhart - Olive Grace Studios

Sunday 12/10  Silvia Sutters - A Stranger View

Monday 12/11  Sarah Maxwell - Designs by Sarah J

Tuesday 12/12  Jessica Swift - Jessica Swift

Wednesday 12/13  Lisa Ruble - Love to Color My World

Thursday 12/14  Cindy Wiens - Live a Colorfullife

Friday 12/15  Eleri Kerian - Sew and Tell Project

Saturday 12/16  Anjeanette Klinder - Anjeanette K

Sunday 12/17  Stephanie Kendron - Modern Sewciety

Monday 12/18  Christopher Thompson - The Tattooed Quilter

Tuesday 12/19  Susan Playsted - Hopewood Home

Pillow top and photo by Jessica Swift 

Pillow top and photo by Jessica Swift 

The second half of the Utility-Style Quilts for Everyday Living book blog tour starts off on Tuesday, December 12th with Jessica Swift of Jessica Swift. Jessica is the newest designer for Art Gallery Fabrics and launched her Tallinn fabrics this fall in Houston. She is a beginning quilter and really the ideal type of sewer to tell you about her experience with using my book. I think her project choice to make a pillow from the Pixel quilt was not only a good selection for a beginner to make but also a great way to show off scraps left-over from Jessica's new collection. I love the machine quilting she did on her pillow top as well. See the finished pillow on Jessica's blog. 

Quilt and photo by Lisa Ruble 

Quilt and photo by Lisa Ruble 

Wednesday, December 13th my dear friend and former colleague Lisa Ruble of Love to Color My World blogged about her scaled down version of the Midsommar quilt. I love the graphic clean lines of this quilt and especially think Lisa's teal, grey, and pop of coral are stunning. I enjoyed reading Lisa's blog post because she takes us through her process of fabric/color selection for her quilt and how the book pushed her a little out of her comfort zone with mixing the different greys. The result is stunning and the baby that will receive this quilt will have a modern looking quilt that will stand the test of time. 

Quilt and photo by Cindy Wiens 

Quilt and photo by Cindy Wiens 

Thursday, December 14th the talented Cindy Wiens of Live a Colorfullife shared her tour make with us. This quilt may seem ordinary but in fact it's a very special quilt. The fabrics Cindy used are her father's repurposed shirts. Cindy chose the Comfort quilt pattern and opted not to include the small triangle corners to the blocks. The utility of this quilt shines through from the "Workday Blues" shirtings and the repurposing of materials into a quilt Cindy can now wrap herself in like a big hug. Read more about this quilt on her blog post and see the clever pillow Cindy made from leftover squares.

Quilt and photo by Eleri Kerian

Quilt and photo by Eleri Kerian

Friday, December 15th was the day Eleri Kerian of Sew and Tell Project posted about her stunning Night and Day quilt. Eleri is a garment sewer that is new to quilting. She really just picked patchwork up during the Sewcial Bee Sampler virtual sew along earlier this year. Eleri not only made and finished a quilt for the tour but she made a California King-size quilt! She wowed the socks off all of us and you need to visit her blog to read (and see) more about this magnificent quilt. 

Quilt and photo by Anjeanette Klinder

Quilt and photo by Anjeanette Klinder

Saturday, December 16th Anjeanette Klinder of Anjeanette K dazzled everyone with this baby quilt made with one block of the Sunday Paper quilt. This bold quilt block makes the perfect size for a baby quilt because just one block from my quilt pattern is 36" square! Anjeanette is an extremely talented quilter and her blog is a must for you to visit. Read more about her beautiful little quilt on the tour post. 

Quilt and photo by Stephanie Kendron

Quilt and photo by Stephanie Kendron

Sunday, December 17th brought us this breathtaking quilt by Stephanie Kendron of Modern Sewciety. A lucky baby boy is going to receive this Goose Chase quilt and what a stunning quilt of blue, white, and a touch of sunny yellow. Stephanie had fun with the large center half-square triangles and made this a thoroughly modern-utility make. I'm really in love with this quilt! Read more about it's story on Stephanie's blog, enter for a chance to win a copy of my book (ends December 29th), and be sure to catch some podcasts while you're there too!

Pillows and photo by Christopher Thompson

Pillows and photo by Christopher Thompson

Monday, December 18th was the day that Christopher Thompson of The Tattooed Quilter shared his festive pillows with us. My talented friend, Christopher used the Tracery quilt pattern from my book and extended out the block to make it an 18-inch finished pillow. Christopher is a textile designer for Riley Blake and I love the Riley Blake red, green, and black prints he chose created a graphic-cool holiday look. You have to visit his blog to read more and see all sort of sewing inspiration!

Quilt and photo by Susan Playsted

Quilt and photo by Susan Playsted

Last but not least is Susan Playsted of Hopewood Home on Tuesday, December 19th, the final day of the tour. Although Susan does not have a blog, she is on Instagram. Susan's post is very significant because she also played a role in how my book looks.

When I was unexpectedly handed back my book to finish with 3 weeks until the printer deadline and I was in a panic to get images of my quilts. I didn't even have the quilts in my possession at that time and was wracking my brain how I could get it all done in time. I've been following Susan's Hopewood Home feed on Instagram for years and adore (more like lust) over her home and images she posts. I had the bright idea to contact Susan, tell her my situation, and ask her to kindly allow me use of her photos as inset images in the book--to which she said "Yes"! Since flying to Australia was out of the question, my thought was to use her images from her beautifully decorated home as fill to further enhance the lifestyle feeling I wanted in my book. I was right, the integration of her comfortable rooms and on-trend decor filled in seamlessly with my photos of the quilts and instructions. 

Excerpt from Utility-Style Quilts for Everyday Living book 

Excerpt from Utility-Style Quilts for Everyday Living book 

Here's just one example: I had seen a post of Susan's laundry room on her IG feed and knew I wanted to use it in my book. Originally the window was without a shade and since this book is about fabric I asked if Susan could tack up a temporary "shade" for the photo. We didn't talk about colors or fabric, I left that up to her keen discretion. The result was amazing! This section on Fabric and Quilt Care is spread opposite the last page of the Comfort (baby quilt) project and the colors are superb together.

Quilt and Photo by Susan Playstead

Quilt and Photo by Susan Playstead

The quilt Susan made for the blog tour is a marvelous, non-scrappy Roman Stripe quilt. Roman Strip is the free quilt pattern you can download from Landauer that I designed the accompany the book. Everyone of the quilts and projects made for this tour shows how versatile the patterns in my book can be!

Roman Stripe quilt and photo by Sharon Holland

Roman Stripe quilt and photo by Sharon Holland

It brings me incredible joy to see all these projects made and inspired by book. I have added a STORE page to this blog and have a limited number of copies of my book left to sell. By purchasing the book directly from me you can also have your copy signed and dedicated, if you desire. Otherwise you can purchase the book on Amazon (affiliate link), from the publisher (Landauer), your local quilt shop, or other book stores-everywhere.

A big thanks goes out to all the talented designers/bloggers that made this tour so incredible. I hope you had as much fun as I did! Wishing all of you the merriest of Christmas' or other seasonal holiday you celebrate--they're all an opportunity to gather family and friends around. May you also have all the best in 2018. 

Quilt and photo by Sharon Holland

Quilt and photo by Sharon Holland

Bountiful Blog Tour Week 3 Recap

Bountiful Blog Tour Week 3 Recap

The last three weeks have been a virtual feast for the eyes, as 16 highly talented designers blogged about their Bountiful fabrics makes. I love how each Blogger was inspired by the prints in my newest fabric line and the different Art Gallery Fabrics substrates to create amazing and diverse projects for this tour. Revisit week #1 and week #2 to see all the fabulous projects. 

Learn more about my inspiration behind the Bountiful collection in this Art Gallery Fabrics video interview.

And learn more about this week's Makers:

Monday

You all know how much I adore my Sewcial Bee Sampler co-host, Maureen Cracknell! My tour would not be complete without one of Maureen's special makes. Her fearless use of prints and on-trend style is an exciting combination. I am crazy over the tote bag Maureen stitched in her signature herringbone design. Be sure to visit Maureen's blog to see all the details inside and out on this bag!

Photo by Maureen Cracknell

Photo by Maureen Cracknell

Tuesday

Most of you know Lynn Harris (Little Ren Hen) for her intricate patchwork quilts and author of Every Last Piece but did you know she can also sew garments? Lynn and her granddaughter used the Haymow Stack and Vine Umbra knits from my collection to make to most comfy and gorgeous garments. See all the pieces and read about who made which piece on Lynn's blog. I adore this photobombing chicken in the photo of her grand children in the Haymow Stack print. 

Photo by Lynn Carson Harris

Photo by Lynn Carson Harris

Wednesday

On Wednesday, Anjeanette Klinder showed us her stunning hexagon quilt design. Because of family health emergencies, Anjeanette was not able to have a finished quilt by the time of the blog tour. I highly encourage you to follow her progress on this quilt and her other makes because Anjeanette is an extremely talented designer and exceptionally skilled quilter. See more of her makes on her blog

Photo by Anjeanette Klinder

Photo by Anjeanette Klinder

Photo by Anjeanette Klinder

Photo by Anjeanette Klinder

Thursday

I knew when I asked Mathew Boudreaux of Mister Domestic to be part of my blog tour he'd make something extraordinary--even before he knew what that make would be--I knew it would be good! M.D. is always pushing the creative envelop and I love how he incorporated all the latest and greatest quilting tools and techniques to bring us something new. This guy's amazing and you need to find out what he's up to and get the tutorial for this cushion on his blog. The two cushions he made for my tour are spectacular from the Tumbling Block top to the AGF denim handle! A big thanks to his daughter Helena for letting me borrow these pillows for my Bountiful booth at Quilt Market next month. xxx

Photo by Mathew Boudreaux

Photo by Mathew Boudreaux

Friday

Friday was a special day because we had the dynamic duo of Alexis Wright of My Sweet Sunshine Studio and Sue Stone, owner of Needle in a Fabric Stash quilt shop teaming up to blog on our final day of the tour. Each Maker blogged about their project but the two joined forces in photographing their projects, bringing us beautiful in-use photos and settings. You may remember these two pairing up during my Coastline blog tour for the amazing quilt and garments shoot by the ocean. 

Alexis is a garment pattern designer and sewer extraordinaire for Violette Field Threads. She took the Evelyn dress pattern to a higher level by adding Flying Geese to the bodice. For those of you making Sewcial Bee Sampler blocks, this Flying Geese pattern she used is next week's block #13! Too bad the weeks didn't align but Alexis's points sure did! I'm blown away by the creativity of this dress and the levels of meaning it has to myself and my friend Alexis. This is truly thoughtful design at it's best! See more of this remarkable make on Alexis's blog. 

Photo by Alexis Wright

Photo by Alexis Wright

With Earth Day on April 22nd, what better way to use your fabrics and save the world at the same time with Sue Stone's Use, Stash, and Repeat pattern. Sue brought us three re-usable shopping tote bags made from an assortment of prints from my Bountiful fabrics. I want to make all of them! Roomy totes in pretty prints make shopping even more fun. Best of all they fold up small to always have on hand. See these hard working totes in use on Sue's blog and stop (or shop online) at Sue's shop for Bountiful fabrics!

Photo by Sue Stone

Photo by Sue Stone

In the past, I've always had a fabric bundle giveaway at the end of a blog tour. This Bountiful blog tour will be a little different in that the bundle giveaway will be an Instagram, one day only event, for Cat Callicoat's Autism Awareness drive. On Saturday, April 29th, for 12 hours only, you will have an opportunity to enter your name into a drawing for a fat quarter bundle of all 20 prints from the Bountiful collection. Visit Cat's instagram feed as she helps us to understand more about Autism through her family's struggles and triumphs. Daily prize drawings from your favorite shops and makers help to spread awareness on the month long event. Follow me on Instagram for next Saturday's prompt and how to enter your name into the drawing. 

Be watching Art Gallery Fabrics this week for the Bountiful Lookbook release. AGF Lookbooks are virtual magazines full to the brim with gorgeous photos of sewing inspiration. I can't wait to see how the creative AGF team has put together the Lookbook for this collection. 

It fills my heart to have so many people joyfully creating with my fabrics and I want to give a huge thanks to all the talented designers that made the Bountiful Blog Tour a success.

Heidi Staples - Fabric Mutt

Emily Dennis - Quilty Love

Minki Kim - Minki Kim

Heather Andrus - Quilt Story

Sharon McConnell - Color Girl Quilts

Silvia Sutters - A Stranger View

Elina Temmes - Elina Temmes

Kim Niedzwiecki - Gogo Kim

Katie Skoog - The Simple Life Company

Cindy Wiens - Live a Colorfullife

Maureen Cracknell - Maureen Cracknell Handmade

Lynn Harris - The Little Red Hen

Anjeanette Klinder - Anjeanette K

Mathew Boudreaux - Mister Domestic

Alexis Wright - My Sweet Sunshine Studio

Sue Stone - Needle in a Fabric Stash

I'm also excited for next month when I bring you new quilts and projects for Spring Quilt Market in St. Louis. I've been busy, busy, sewing and quilting. At some point I have to stop thinking of new projects to make and finish all the one's I've started--I'm having so much fun with this collection!