Our Row by Row pattern

I mentioned a while back that we are participating this year in a program called the row by row experience. it was this blog post here. It at that time I copied the information for how the program works. So if you are interested you can refer back to that post by clicking on that link.

The program starts on June 21. So to prepare for it, I had to decide on a pattern, sew it up, and plan on how to display it. It seemed simple at the start.  

however, first I had to decide on some sort of a design for our row.  

I sketched out a few ideas. The theme was water, so I focused on blues,

I started to test sew a few of the ideas.

and it wasn't too long before I had several possibilities: 

so I decided to sew them together into a simple row quilt, child sized to use as a sample.

i opted not to use any sashing between rows to keep it as simple as possible, and added only a 3" border of the white background.

the row I decided on for the pattern is the one that uses these strip pieced sections:

It uses a simple technique where you cut your background piece and insert a contrasting strip between the two pieces.  Just do that over and over....

i thought the design evoked the idea of rain, and it used many solids, so I am calling the pattern... Solid Rain!

Of course I had to sew parts again to work out the pattern, resulting in another project... for the table runner I used part of two different ideas, but still made it to be the 9" x 36" finished size, so a person can see the size of a table runner using only one row.

I quilted the projects very differently.  the baby quilt has very simple horizontal wavy lines.  the table runner is much more densely quilted.

I hope you have fun with the row by row idea, whether you collect any of the shop patterns or make a row quilt.  I think there is such a lot of potential from using a simple pattern as a jumping off point! 

i would love to see what you can make of this simple pattern!

You can pick up your free copy of the pattern starting on June 21st, and we're not allowed to send them out by mail or email, just hard copies given out at the store, so hopefully we'll see you soon!

Jelly belly quilt in parson gray fabrics

I finished the quilt I was making with Parson Gray  fabrics. It is a pattern called jelly belly by zen Chic.  The actual pattern is for a larger quilt but  I made a smaller version. I sewed the larger version as well but it is getting quilted at the moment. I'm excited to see what Patti is going to do with it.

I used some of the shot cotton "solids" to set off all the patterned fabrics.  The outer solid is a kona cotton in Ivory.  

This is the back.  I used one of the shot cottons by Westminster fabrics, and I just love the way it feels.

I think we will make up some kits using this color way at the shop, but for the full size version.  I love this pattern, I want to make it again!