All posts by kittywilkin

I'm a nature-loving yogini, crafty chick, attempted homesteader, photographer, and dedicated stay home momma and wife. With three little kids, my only sewing time is after bedtime. Thus the night quilter was born. I dream of the day when someone will pay me to quilt! This blog is all about my stitching: both quilting and knitting projects, as well as the creation of my own patterns. Kittysheartofnature.com is my first blog, written about whatever moves me... good food, attachment parenting, yoga, crafting, inspirations, and everyday miracles. It is currently lost in the interweb but should be back soon!

Design, Free Motion Quilting (FMQ), Life, Quilting

Secret Garden Quilt: Attalie’s June Garden

November 7, 2014 kittywilkin 12 Comments

Finally, here is the reveal of my secret garden quilt: Attalie’s June Garden.

garden quilt finish butterfly flower — Attalie’s June Garden: A finished quilt, without all of the butterfly pins.

Last weekend, I was doing some hurried slow stitching, trying to get the binding sewn down on this quilt before the baby shower at which it was to be gifted. I finished sewing the binding just in time for the shower to be postponed due to the swiftly blowing and accumulating snow, and shortly thereafter we lost power. For over three days. But I finished the quilt!

free motion quilted words garden quilt — “Attalie’s June Garden”, free motion quilted into the bottom of the quilt’s border.

This quilt has a definite story behind it. First, to decipher the name for you. Attalie is the in utero baby for whom I made the quilt. June is the name of my husband’s Grammy, the quilter of the family, and the collector of all of the butterfly pins that live in this garden quilt. Grammy June died less than a year ago. When she died, all of the family had the emotional task of going through her things before the estate sale. In looking at her jewelry, I discovered a large number of butterfly pins. “I didn’t know Grammy collected butterflies!” I said. As it turns out, neither did any one else in the family. Either way, I immediately envisioned them living forever in a quilted garden wall-hanging, so I asked if I could take them. Everyone, of course, said yes.

paper pieced star butterfly quilt garden — One of Grammy June’s butterfly pins, flitting peacefully by the glittering sunburst I paper pieced especially for this quilt.

Flash forward a few months. Our cousin Molly, who was the one who took care of Grammy June during her last days, and who now lives in Grammy June’s old house, announced that she was pregnant. Flash forward a few more months: Molly shared that they were having a girl, naming her Attalie, and that the nursery theme would be “Garden”. The butterfly garden quilt was asking to be created, finally. With a little over two weeks before the baby shower, I got started. I designed, pieced, and free motion quilted the entire quilt, which finishes at 27″ x 20″, and stitched on the binding just in the nick of time. The quilt is mostly comprised of fussy-cut 1- and 2-inch squares (1 1/2″ and 2 1/2″ before sewn together).The process was a lot tougher than I imagined, and there were definitely some face-palm, seam ripping moments (which I will go into in a later post), but I am very happy with how this quilt turned out. Here are some detail photos:

flower free motion quilting — I used a wild, make it up as I go free motion quilting pattern, sometimes mirroring the flowers, and sometimes adding features. I love how this particular FMQ turned out!

butterfly garden quilt — The finished quilt, complete with flitting butterflies. The butterfly pins were all collected by Grammy June, who would have been (and always will be, in heaven) baby Attalie’s Great Grammy.

Here are some detail shots of the beautiful butterfly pins on different parts of the quilt. I tried to balance the overall color flow by putting the blue/green pins on the pink flowers, and the other pins in and around the blue and purple flowers. I think the butterflies look quite happy on this quilt!

butterfly pins on garden quilt — I think this little copper butterfly is my favorite.

flower garden quilt — Even after a blizzard, there were still a few flowers in the garden. This one came out to play with Attalie’s June Garden quilt.

quilt corner label — My first corner label. I will fill in Attalie’s middle & last names once her middle name has been chosen!

Finished quilt stats:

Name: Attalie’s June Garden
Size: 27″ x 20″
Fabric: Assorted flowers from RJR Fabrics, Andover, and Studio E
Quilting: Free motion quilted with mostly Aurifil and some other hand-me-down threads
Finished: November 2014
Related blog posts: A Garden {Quilt} Full of Florals

I’m linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday.

Design, Life

Color Inspiration Thursday {26}

November 6, 2014 kittywilkin 1 Comment

It’s too early for these snowy palettes, I know. Tell that to Mother Nature in Maine. Last weekend we got buried by nearly 18″ of wet, heavy snow. Many trees still had their leaves, so the heavy snow put much of the state out of power from fallen trees and downed power lines. We were without power for just over three days, and life kind of had to slow down during that time (obviously!). I certainly didn’t do any blogging, and did just a bit of hand-sewing and knitting between keeping the wood boiler stocked, the generator running smoothly, reading stories by candlelight, and otherwise entertaining the kids. We are the fortunate ones; many homes in my town and the surrounding towns are still without power, five days later.

At our house, snow downed an entire apple tree, a few big branches from another apple tree, and snapped quite a few branches of my favorite magnolia trees in our front garden. Our chicken coop outdoor run was completely smashed, and many other tree limbs are down. I certainly have some yard maintenance damage-control ahead of me, and I think I’ll be wielding a handsaw (or a chainsaw if I’m lucky enough to find a neighbor or friend to lend me one and give me lessons) more than a sewing machine the next few weeks. But still, Color Inspiration Thursday must go on! So here, your unseasonably early, autumn, snowy color palettes for today, created with Play Crafts Palette Builder 2.1 and my photographs.

Corresponding Kona cottons from left to right:
Titanium, Chestnut, Moss, Graphite, Avocado, Bonsai

I really like this gentle, earthy color palette. It’s such a simple photograph: prematurely fallen leaves on a mountain of snow, but the greens make a strong showing, balanced nicely by the greys and dark brown.

Corresponding Kona cottons from left to right:
Pewter, Shadow, Cappuccino, Mahogany, Coal, Paprika

Corresponding Aurifil thread from left to right:
2610 – Lt Blue Grey
2600 – Dove
1285 – Med Bark
2360 – Chocolate
1246 – Grey
2355 – Rust

Even after getting completely pounded by the snow, the leaves dance daintily on the snow. These red and orange leaves are particular favorites of mine, although the palette reads heavily in the greys and browns, with just that splash of Kona Paprika. I love the Aurifil names for these colors, too: Dove, Medium Bark, Chocolate–what’s not to like about chocolate!? I definitely would use this palette for a lap quilt for my living room.

Don’t worry; we did enjoy the snow, too.

My children enjoyed playing in the snow. Here they are, mid-storm, making the most of it!

Round two. The snow continued to come down, and trees began to droop. I wish I had thought of knocking snow off branches at this point!

Here are a few more glimpses of the aftermath of our crazy November 2nd blizzard here in Maine:

snow landscape maine — Morning has broken. The morning after the storm. No power, day two.

snow storm damage in maine — My poor snapped magnolia branches. There are many more like these two.

snow storm damage in maine chickens — The chickens, three days after the storm, are finally beginning to venture down their leaf-strewn, snowy path.

snow storm damage in maine leaves — Lots of snow, lots of destruction, but still beauty abounds.

Design, Life

Color Inspiration Thursday {25}

October 31, 2014 kittywilkin 1 Comment

My hope for all of these color inspiration posts is that someone gets their creativity spark ignited and creates a gorgeous quilt or other work of art based upon one of my palettes. Since I and many of you are quilters or other fiber artists, where better to let inspiration strike than the fabric shop? This week’s color inspiration comes from Alewives, a gorgeous fabric shop in Nobleboro, Maine. Palettes are made using my photographs and Play Crafts’ Palette Builder 2.1.

Enjoy some color inspiration eye candy:

Corresponding Kona cottons from left to right:
Steel, Geranium, Rich Red, Crimson, Garnet, Thistle

Wooden spools, assorted ribbons, and a lovely palette of pinks and purples.

Corresponding Kona cottons from left to right:
Terracotta, Cinnamon, Mahogany, Lipstick, Paprika, Salmon

Corresponding Aurifil thread from left to right:
2350 – Copper
2245 – Red Orange
5024 – Dark Brown
2215 – Peach
2355 – Rust
2220 – Lt Salmon

One of my favorite spots in Alewives is the collection of fat quarters in the center of the store. Arranged by color in awesome vintage wooden bins, these fabric bits beg to be touched, gazed upon with wonderment, and then (naturally) purchased. Yum!

fabric eye candy — Fabric eye candy; how gorgeous is this fat quarter display!?

Corresponding Kona cottons from left to right:
Bark, Med Olive, Med Juniper, Arctic Ice, Peach, Toast

Another gorgeous glimpse of the fat quarter bins. I could see this palette making its way into a lovely gender-neutral baby quilt. Or a soft, autumnal lap quilt or table runner. Or just about anything!

Corresponding Kona cottons from left to right:
Bison, Wine, Cinnamon, O.D. Green, Kelly, Spice

I loved the color and fabric choices for this quilt display. Isn’t it wonderful when you walk into a shop and are not only swooning over the fabric, but are also are inspired by the quilts displayed around the shop?! I think the match of Kona Kelly to that darker teal is off, but you get the idea! Aurifil matches it as 2285 – Med Spruce, which looks like a more accurate match along with the 2850 – Med Juniper match for the Kona O.D. Green.

To see a few more glimpses of quilty beauty from the Alewives shop, visit my post Color for Quilters & the Maine Modern Quilt Guild. If you are ever in or near Nobleboro, Maine, I’d definitely recommend stopping in to Rhea’s shop. Tell her Kitty sent you!

Note: I have no affiliation with Alewives Fabrics; I simply think it is a gorgeous, well stocked and kindly owned local fabric shop and I like to spread the love! Plus, It’s kind of awesome that their minimum fabric purchase online is 1/8 of a yard, AND that they will send you a 1/16 swatch if desired! That is hard to find with online shops! Enjoy browsing.

Life, Quilting

Color for Quilters & the Maine Modern Quilt Guild

October 29, 2014 kittywilkin 5 Comments

As I swooned over all of the Quilt Market photos flooding Instagram this past weekend, I also immersed myself in a new pool of quilters. I was fortunate enough to attend my first ever Maine Modern Quilt Guild meeting! This month, the meeting took place at Alewives, an AWESOME modern fabric shop co-owned by Rhea Butler, and one of my favorite “local” (if a 1.5 hour drive each way counts as local) quilt shops. Rhea offered a Color for Quilters class, and the Maine Modern Quilters made it the feature of their meeting. I had such a fun time, both meeting the wonderful Maine MQGers, but also taking in Rhea’s color theory knowledge and insight.

I was so impressed with the Maine MQG and how friendly and welcoming they were. I immediately made new friends and felt comfortable there, admiring other works in progress, being inspired by the sample BOM blocks made by Karen, and just getting to know my fellow Maine modern quilters. I do hope to make it to another meeting of theirs, even if my attendance isn’t regular (they typically meet over 2 hours from my home, which would require over 4 hours of driving to attend a meeting). Here are some fun photos from the day:

betsy from maine modern quilt guild — Betsy leads the meeting, guiding us through the items of discussion for the day.

Karen shows her November BOM block samples.

A color challenge: discussing whether this fabric bundle "works" or does not work, guided by Rhea. — A color challenge: discussing whether this fabric bundle “works” or does not work, guided by Rhea.

Rhea provided a lot of insight into color and its role in planning a quilt. I learned a lot about general color terminology, such as value, shades, tints, and hue, but also confirmed that I am personally drawn to tertiary colors (fuchsia, cornflower, turquoise, lime, cheddar, tangerine) as opposed to primary (red, yellow, blue) or secondary (orange, green, purple).

I discovered that Rhea has a very different quilting style than I do; she likes her quilts to be “delightfully schizophrenic”, while I am still very focused on smooth aesthetic flow and “safe” color choices. Rhea has convinced me to be a bit more adventurous though, and try some improv or unexpected color and fabric combinations. I may even try the Denise Schmidt-inspired method of throwing scraps in a bag and randomly pulling them out and sewing them together (yikes!).

Rheas quilt: delightfully schizophrenic. — Rhea’s quilt: delightfully schizophrenic.

After the color class, I enjoyed browsing Alewives‘ awesome fabric selection, and taking in the eye candy that abounds. Here are a few sneak peeks at the gorgeousness that is Alewives. Stay tuned for some more tomorrow; color inspiration will come from the fabric shop this week!

I loved the sample quilts around the store. Inspiration everywhere!

Design, Life

Color Inspiration Thursday {24}

October 23, 2014 kittywilkin 1 Comment

This week’s color inspiration comes again from the bog. There were so many pops of color in that oasis ecosystem that I just had to share more than one week’s worth. Palettes are made using Play Crafts’ Palette Builder 2.1 and my photographs. Enjoy!

Corresponding Kona cottons from left to right:
Avocado, Steel, Sable, Old Green, Plum, Pepper

I love how this little pinkish (Kona Plum) leaf just pops right up with burst of color amongst the evergreens. Getting the leaf in perfect focus was a bit tricky with the wind and fading light, but I think it still works. If nothing else, it makes me smile.

Corresponding Kona cottons from left to right:
Steel, Bison, Brown, Ruby, Wine, Lipstick

Corresponding Aurifil thread from left to right:
1246 – Grey
4173 – Dk Olive
5024 – Dark Brown
2230 – Med Peony
2355 – Rust
2265 – Lobster Red

I love this photo. I don’t know if it’s the mirrored red berries all blurred in the background, or the bits of blurred green swirled into the mix, or whether I am just really drawn to the pop of the red berries. Either way, I love the photo and the resulting palette. It makes me *maybe* think I could be ready for snow in a couple months, as long as there are pretty red berries to brighten it up a bit. Maybe.

Design, Quilting, Stash Building

A Garden {Quilt} Full of Florals

October 21, 2014 kittywilkin 7 Comments

For as much as I photograph and swoon over flowers, florals are foreign to my fabric stash. Last week, I built my stash with this fabric it rarely sees: florals. I bought in 1/4 yard cuts since it was the smallest possible cut at the local fabric store I visited, and I don’t typically use florals in my projects. I must say, though, I am happy with the floral fabrics I did find, and they are perfect for the project gift I have in mind.

This project is a surprise gift with a short deadline. I KNOW the recipient will love it, and I’m exciting to share details with you. But for now, I’ll just show off these fabrics.

I don’t know the full information for all of the fabrics, since I didn’t have a chance to write them all down, and I bought small enough cuts that the selvedges don’t all have the manufacturer/designer information present. Many of the fabrics are from the Grace fabric line by Mary McGuire for RJR Fabrics, which I love. I had to buy some of the Snug as a Bug (spiderwebs) fabric by Melly & Me for Riley Blake Designs, since how could I resist sneaking a spider web into the garden?! I also bought a couple of fabrics by Andover and Studio E, with two coordinating Cotton Couture (I think?) solids, one for sky and one for border.

fussy cutting plan — Planning my 2″ square assiduous cutting (okay… fussy cutting!), with the help of the 2.5″ square template I made.

As you may have guessed with the little hidden templates, I plan to fussy cut most of these to make a garden quilt wall hanging. Some of it will consist of 2″ squares on point (2.5″ unfinished), and some will consist of 1″ squares on point (1.5″ unfinished).

Some small 1" flowers to be assiduously cut. — Some small 1″ flowers to be assiduously cut.

More than that, I cannot yet tell you. I have my work cut out for me, though (pun intended!). Stay tuned to see this secret garden bloom!

Design, Life

Color Inspiration Thursday {23}

October 16, 2014 kittywilkin 1 Comment

Last week, my kids and I joined some friends for a walk at the Orono Bog Walk. From the Bangor City Forest Report website, “the 4,200-foot long Orono Bog Boardwalk enables visitors to City Forest to see a bog up close and personal without getting their feet wet… The bog itself encompasses 616 acres on the Bangor and Orono town lines and is home to hundreds of species of hardy yet fragile plants and some of Maine’s rarest bird species.” It is a truly magical place; you walk along the boardwalk through the woods for a few hundred feet and you’re suddenly in a completely different world, where the ground is covered in squishy moss floating on water and trees can’t grow taller than my two-year-old.

kids at the bog — My kids and their friend at the Bog Walk.

This week’s color inspiration comes from the bog. Palettes are made using my photographs and Play Crafts’ Palette Builder 2.1. I have included matching Aurifil thread for one of the palettes, but if you want the matches for all of them, let me know and I will start including them, too.

Corresponding Kona cottons from left to right:
Moss, Ivy, Taupe, Coal, Honey, Mushroom

Corresponding Aurifil thread from left to right:
2905 Army Green
4173 Dk Olive
2372 Dk Antique Gold
1158 Med Grey
2910 Med Olive
2900 Lt Kakhy Green

This tamarack was glowing in the late afternoon sun. I honestly thought the palette would be more gold-orange heavy, but the dark background colors make a bold appearance. The golden needles in their perfect little swirls entranced me, and perhaps might inspire a quilt design for the future.

tamarack at the bog — Tamarack from afar. The golden yellow swirls of needles called me in!

See how the tamarack, stunted in its bog home, glows in the late afternoon sun?! I also think it’s amazing how a “normal” tree can look so different when you get right up close and personal. Perspective is everything.

Corresponding Kona cottons from left to right:
Moss, Ivy, Steel, Iron, Peridot, Raffia

A sweet evergreen, bringing us cool and earthy greens and blues.

Corresponding Kona cottons from left to right:
Wine, Deep Rose, Mahogany, Spice, Bison, Leaf

This pitcher plant blended right in with the bright red peat moss! Pitcher plants are among my favorite plants, and they are ubiquitous in the bog. Their autumnal red and fuzzy trap-mouth make them so gorgeous this time of year! Did you know that pitcher plants are carnivorous? That’s right–they eat meat! Ready for your daily science lesson? Here’s a bit about how pitcher plants work, from Encyclopedia Britannica (it’s still a useful resource!):

Pitcher plants… have unusual tubular leaves that are shaped like urns, trumpets, or small pitchers, with a flap that partly covers the top of the pitcher. Insects are attracted to the mouth of the pitcher by a trail of nectar-secreting glands that extend downward along the lip to the interior of the pitcher. The lip is covered with stiff, downward-pointing hairs that are not easy for an insect to climb upward on once it has partly descended to gather nectar. Just below the lip, in the steepest part of the pitcher’s throat, is a very smooth area without hairs. Like a greased slide, this zone sends the insect tumbling down into the liquid pool at the bottom of the pitcher, where it quickly becomes submersed and drowns. The insect is then digested by an enzyme secreted within the leaf. (from Encyclopedia Britannica online article “pitcher plant”)

How awesome is that!? A hunting plant. Who knew that a carnivorous plant could inspire a quilt? Any other science geek quilters out there? What is the strangest thing that has inspired one of your quilts or craft projects?

Design, Quilting

Works in Progress: Star Crazy & Baby Plus, Take 2

October 15, 2014 kittywilkin 7 Comments

Most of my sewing projects fall into two main categories: gifts for friends and family, or a new pattern that needs to get out of my head and into reality. This past week, I’ve been working on projects that don’t fall into either of those categories!

Star Crazy Quilt

Many months ago, I did something crazy. I started a quilt just for me! I made some progress on the quilt, and then it got tucked away in a corner for a good long time. This past week, I pulled it out again and made some more progress. My Star Crazy quilt is slowly coming together, and I love it!

A few months ago, I made the decision to leave grey fabrics out of the “light” sides of these blocks, but noticed that some of my “lights” still read pretty dark. One of the quilters I follow on IG posted about checking fabric values by turning a photo black and white (if it was you, please let me know so I can give you credit!). Trying this method, you can see that some of my “lights” are indeed quite dark.

star crazy value txt — Note how the light star on the right is noticeably darker than the star on the left.

I’m going to aim to group the darker ones together so that each star is all one value. In making more blocks for this quilt, I’ve also decided that I’m going to be okay if two of the same turquoise prints are next to each other. These are little design details that have been holding me back from forging ahead with this quilt, so I feel a bit relieved that I’ve made the executive decision to let go of avoiding turquoise samesies and aim to match the “dark” lights. Onward with the star crazy!

Baby Plus Quilt, Take 2

I couldn’t help it; I started another Baby Plus Quilt. I had so much fun putting together my Pink & Grey Baby Plus Quilt that I immediately pulled fabric for a second one the day I sent the pink & grey top off for quilting.

fabric pull for baby plus quilt — from @nightquilter on Instagram

The butterfly & flower print was the inspiration piece for this version, and I opted for mostly solids or blenders as my accompanying fabrics. Amazingly, this entire pull was from my stash! After spending a couple hours cutting and playing with layout, I’ve finally begun to sew the rows together. Four (4) down, seven (7) to go.

Design Wall

One last important work in progress from this past week is the final acquisition of a design wall that actually works! You may remember my old design wall (read: epic fail), which I built out of carefully framed 2″x2″ wooden boards, complete with a cross-support beam, and wrapped with white felt. The amount of work that went into building that design wall was inversely proportional to how well it held quilt blocks. In other words, blocks wouldn’t stay on that design wall for more than 2 seconds. I learned from that experience, and this time I bought a $2.99 vinyl tablecloth with a flannel back. The lightest color our local Reny’s had was bright pink, but I realllly wanted to get something to use as a design wall so I bought it. It works SO AMAZINGLY WELL! I apologize for the internet “shouting”, but I am absolutely floored at how well quilt blocks–both solid fabric and already-pieced–stick to that table cloth! It is amazing. Ugly as sin, but amazing!

I’m linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced’s Work in Progress Wednesday.

Business, Patterns

Giveaways and Sales

October 14, 2014 kittywilkin 1 Comment

Two words everyone loves to hear, right? I recently released three new foundation paper piecing patterns and had some great pattern testers help me along the way. I offered my blogging testers the opportunity to host a giveaway on their blogs, so now you have a chance to win a free copy of one of my new patterns. Check out these two great giveaways:

Visit Shayna’s blog Wife, Mom, Creator for a chance to win a copy of my leaf paper piecing pattern.

Sarah of Pitcher Family Adventures offered to test both my Leaf pattern AND my original Fishies pattern, so on her blog you have a chance to win your choice of either pattern.

Be sure to take a minute to stop by both blogs to enter to win! While these giveaways are going on, I’m extending the sale in my Craftsy store. Both Fish patterns and the Leaf pattern will be on sale for $3.50 for one more week.

Each of these patterns will be on sale for one more week!

I try to outweigh “check out my pattern store” posts with more project-focused, photo-heavy, quilting inspiration and progress posts, but sometimes there just needs to be a little self promotion (right?). In this case, it’s win win–you have a good chance of winning a free paper piecing pattern, and I’m helping spread the word for my awesome pattern testers.

Design, Quilting

Folksy Fall: A Fabric Mosaic Contest

October 11, 2014 kittywilkin 1 Comment

Rachel at Stitched in Color invites you to join a Fabric Mosaic contest sponsored by Intrepid Thread. I first heard about this contest on Yvonne of Quilting Jetgirl‘s blog, and was immediately hooked. I love playing with color and when that color is in the form of gorgeous fabric, with the chance to earn a complete fat quarter set of your mosaic fabrics, plus have the Intrepid Thread create a bundle like yours available for others to buy, I just couldn’t resist. The contest instructions say:

Carefully craft your mosaic of 12 fabrics from among the offerings at The Intrepid Thread. Choose fabrics to express your interpretation of Folksy Fall. Your collection of fabrics can be pretty, funky, dramatic or totally playful. Just make sure to include a variety of colors complimented by some rich fall neutrals – browns, grays or navy blue.

Visit Rachel’s post Folksy Fall {a mosaic contest} for more details on how to enter. Yvonne warned that creating these mosaics is a total time suck–and she’s right! I wish the mosaic maker tool would allow you to drag and move fabrics around while looking at the mosaic, instead of having to go back and cut and paste urls. But it was worth the fun! One tip if you plan to make a mosaic to submit is to keep each individual fabric page open in a different tab. This way, you have links to your fabrics ready when your mosaic is done (thanks to Jennifer for the tip!). I did not do this, which means that once my mosaics were completed to my liking, I had to search through the Intrepid Thread website again to try to track down the names of the fabrics I had chosen. Double the fun, right?! Without further ado, here are my fabric mosaics:

Folksy Fall #1

folksy fall fabric mosaic #1 — Fabrics from left to right, top to bottom: 1. Handcrafted – Petal in Eggplant, 2. Indelible – Doiland Gloss in Plum, 3. Blueprint Basics – Fuschia, 4. Cherie – Les Points in Rose, 5. Brambleberry Ridge – Flight in Orchid, 6. Hatbox Lawn – Hatbox in Navy, 7. Color Me Happy – Sprouts in Teal and Navy, 8. Emma’s Garden – Afflutter in Aqua, 9. Chromatics – Pointelle in Navy, 10. Wildwood- Midnight Flora in Navy, 11. Meadow – Savanna Glow in Golden, 12. Field Day – X & + in Night 2

I really wanted to incorporate navy blue into these collections, since it’s a color I rarely use but is such a strong, solid color reminiscent of the night sky closing in early during fall. The word “folksy” elicits images of bright colors and playful shapes. Add the splash of goldenrod for fall, and this collection is juuust right. To me, it reminds me of a folksy fall party, bright colors and shapes dancing and crafting long into the autumn night.

Folksy Fall #2

folksy fall fabric bundle #2 — Fabrics from left to right, top to bottom: 1. Arcadia – Sun Spot and Bee in Aqua, 2. Hatbox Canvas – All The States in Navy, 3. Rustique – Yes Dear in Navy, 4. Kona Solid – Limelight, 5. Arcadia – Mushroom March in Aqua, 6. Brambleberry Ridge – Timber Valley in Teal Metallic, 7. Sun Prints – X & + in Chartreuse, 8. Astrid – Lena in Chartreuse, 9. Rustique – Leaf Press in Teal, 10. Handcrafted – Geese in Lichen, 11. Mint to Be – Celebration in Orange, 12. Quill – Gratitude in Persimmon

Again, beginning with a foundation of navy blue, this palette grew and blossomed with colors I rarely use. Lime green and orange make a star showing in this collection, anchored by navy blue and teal. I love the way the lime green plays with the teal and navy blue, and was astounded that there was not a single lime green and orange print (time to design fabric, perhaps?). This fabric collection reminds me again of harvest time, gathering the last green and orange fruits (squash, pumpkins, etc) by the harvest moon. The final autumn harvest definitely warrants a folksy fall celebration!