This is a reblogging of Jess Frost's post about her tutorial for a Jelly Roll and a giveaway

The Elven Garden: Beach Ball - a jelly roll quilt tutorial (and give...: After finishing up my DUDQS mini quilt last week, I jumped straight in to making a larger version. I bought a jelly roll of Zen Chic's r...

This is the perfect thing for a Layer Cake…

…even if you are a beginner. But also the more experienced quilter will have fun with it, just because the result is so successful that you will make more than one project with this block.
I did a quick demo together with the friendly film team of the fatquartershop how to make a block.

It features my pattern OPEN YOUR WINDOW, which uses a layer cake of the brand new collection Sphere.


By the way – did you know that you have an instant access to all of my patterns as a PDF-download? You even save yourself the shipping costs. They are on my website, go to the menu PDF Download, where you will be guided through and get the pattern in your email box. Just in a minute!

This is the direct link for the OPEN YOUR WINDWOW pattern.
There were some snippets left over and they went onto the backside.


Have fun and happy sewing!

Layer Cake Lemonade Fun

at Fatquartershop.com
You for sure are familiar with what to do with a Layer Cake and have already gathered a bunch of ideas.
But sometimes a genius idea comes along which is just to good to miss – I love this very simple and quick but great looking idea from fatquartershop and happily joined the blog hop about this pattern fun.

It’s a free downloadable pattern using – as the name reveals – a layer cake. What I really love about: I can just buy my favorite collection in a bundle, have a precut format which saves me lot of cutting time, the pattern is so easy and quick that I did the entire quilt in just two hours, it looks great although it is simple, all my layers of the bundle are used up (actually some are not used on the top, but I incorporated them into the backside), no waste here – this all summed up makes me to want sew another and another and another one: for the baby my friends daughter is expecting, as a birthday present for my nice, as a welcome gift for my sister coming for a visit from San Francisco, and so much more ideas.

I mean $39, two hours of sewing – and a nice quilt is ready – that’s in my opinion kind of genius.
There are some more designers participating in this “pattern festival” and every designer will show you the quilt in  her current collection. Mine is SPHERE for Moda, a fresh, graphic and modern group with colors ranging from white, grey, blue, turquoise and teal to yellow.

Precuts from Sphere are already available, and yardage will be shipped to stores in February.
So where to get the miraculous pattern? Find the free download right here. Grab your assortment of fabrics, your ruler, rotary cutter and your cutting mat, and off you go.

For those of you, who are new to quilting and love to have some guidance – here is a wonderful video showing exactly step by step how simple to sew this quilt is.

You sew together all the squares and get – tataaaa! – your (Sphere) version of the Layer Cake Lemonade quilt.

which will make a cute baby quilt or a throw on a sofa

A close up of the quilting shows the spiral design.

  

There are so many different appealing fabric groups available as Layer Cakes – it will be hard to choose. But all make this pattern a success!

 

I guess now your fingers itch just thinking about this – so why not klick below to get a super deal? This week (only) Fatquartershop offers a 20% discount on all layer cakes! (psst – spread this to your best friend)

Happy Quilting and Enjoy!

Designer Tidbits: Zen Chic - An interview from Fatquartershop

Take a trip to the vibrant city of Barcelona. Zen Chic will show you around with her new collection for Moda Fabrics. Modern prints and bold colors will energize you and leave you feeling like you just returned from a Spanish getaway! Brigitte of Zen Chic is here today to tell you more about Barcelona. Keep reading for a closer look!

Designer Tidbits: Zen Chic

Moderne Quilts mit Kreisen, ein Kurs bei Cotton & Color in der Schweiz

Der Quilt Quiet Haven aus der Stoffdruckserie Barcelona stand Pate beim Kurs am Wochenende in der Schweiz.
In einem früheren Blogbeitrag habe ich diesen Kreisquilt und die Nähtechnik schon einmal vorgestellt, und nun ging es in unserem Kurs darum, die eigne persönliche Variante zu entwerfen.








Cotton & Color ist ein herrlicher Ort zum Shoppen, neue Dinge lernen und sich wohlfühlen. Am besten sieht man es auf diesem Video.


Wir hatten viel Spaß miteinander und sicher zeigen die Bilder, dass es die Ergebnisse erfolgreich waren. Noch sind die Quilts in Arbeit und müssen erst ganz fertig gestellt werden, aber ich hoffe, ich kann die fertigen Ergebnisse auch noch hier präsentieren.

A new book of wonderful inspirations…

… is coming these days.

Quilters, Their Quilts, Their Studios, Their Stories   - a picture book full to the brim with impressions of all kind of different and unique personalities.

You get to know stories of your most favorite quilters – Amy Butler, Kaffe Fassett, Tula Pink, Kaari Meng, Tina Givens, you name it. You will have a look inside their studios and they will chat about how they organize their craft space.

The book includes really beautiful pictures, it’s a feast for the eyes, and the graphic layout is so appealing. Each personality tells about her(him)self and her/his journey to the place where they are nowadays, this alone was worth for me to have the book.

Each of them will share 4 quilt patterns and if you buy the book you will get access to the online download for the pattern instructions.

See whom you can find between the pages:

Can you imagine how honored I felt when I was invited to be part of this book? It is just great to be in-between a group of my own favorite designers and celebrate with them our passion!

Now I was curious how the pages telling about Brigitte Heitland might look. And they turned out just gorgeous! It’s just so me and it reflects the sense and the feeling of my work, my passion for quilting, I love everything of these pages where my things are featured and am really happy to be part of such a book!

You want a sneak peek of my pages? I’m happy than I can reveal a snippet of it…

The book was edited by Jo Packham, who publishes the bestselling magazines Where Women Create and I am sure this book will become a bestseller too!

QUILTERS will be available by 1st of October so you can be one of the first to have it in hands!

… all good things come to an end

and so does this inspiring bloghop where you hopefully gained tons of inspiration from different quilt and fabric styles of the Moda designers.

To make it easier to accept the end of the tour we all have a goodie for you.

Honestly I would have liked to be able to give something to every nice person who so encouraging cheered me up with her comments! It is so much fun for me to create fabrics and patterns and that you love what I’m doing and work with my ideas makes each of my designing hours just great!
I love that you accompany my doing!

Since sending something to everybody is just not doable, I had the job to pick just two.
Now – I have to admit that I did a mistake. I announced two prices – Jelly Roll and Layer Cake plus matching pattern – only to discover while sifting through my shelves that I run out of my layer cakes. SILLY ME!!! (Mea culpa, please blame it to my Market-preparation-sewing-marathon).

But you don’t have to be too disappointed. I’ve got two Jelly Rolls instead to give to you. Means: the person who will get the Clarity pattern has now a pattern for my
upcoming fabric group SPHERE
in advance ;-) Let’s see that as a benefit!

And the two winners are – tataa!

Trudi and Astrid blogging under the name Fischerin!

Congratulations to both of you, please send me your postal address, so I can ship the goodies to you.

Why size matters…

Dies ist ein sehr langer Blogpost und meine deutschen Leserinnen möchten mir es bitte verzeihen, dass ich aus Gründen der Länge darauf verzichtet habe, den Post zweisprachig zu schreiben. Ich habe oben links auf meinem Blog einen Button “Übersetzen” installiert, der wird einen recht lustigen Text aus alledem machen. Aber die Bilder, und das ist die Hauptsache, sagen ja viel mehr als all die Worte.

"Size does matter" – a lot of the English speaking readers may have an idea of funny jokes around these words and I would love to tease you too with humorous words and ambiguousness, the only thing is: I just can’t. I'm not familiar enough with your language to know all the inside jokes. But since I'm no native you will surly allow me to translate the word size into my language. The word SIZE in German is “Größe” and has two meanings: the one is size, the other is greatness. So I chose to speak rather of greatness .
And that brings me back to Barcelona, my current group with Moda which is shipping to stores in September.

Barcelona is a city to which I have fallen in love at first sight .
Those of you which have been there will know what I'm talking about – and for those who haven’t so far: if you ever have the chance to visit the city – do so, it will enrich your live!
Speaking of greatness and Barcelona - there is a name that everyone is talking about: the genius Antonio Gaudi.

Sagrada Familia from Antonio Gaudi in Barcelona

I think everyone of us is a genius inside and has special gifts - you don’t have to be an artist to leave an impression. What matters is to find and develop your own gift and enfold it. Antonio Gaudi was a gifted architect, artist and he lived the way we call: Only the Sky is the limit. Studies of nature have inspired him and he developed completely new constructions, the so-called modernism.
His architecture exudes greatness and walking through his buildings you inevitably feel your own vocation.

Which leads me back to my adapted motto "Greatness Matters". It matters to take your own gifts seriously and to unfold what is inside you. It is something we can contribute to the world and what makes us happy. And that's why it has a meaning.

Gaudi's cathedral windows have inspired me: I created a quilt  which is like a dark wall, in the same way like disappointments or hard times or obstacles of life can appear to us. And through this dark wall more and more color and light comes through. It looks even as if the colors arise and finally explode like fireworks. The idea of this quilt is to remind us that we all have hidden treasures which we want bring to the daylight and let them sparkle. Your greatness can be an inspiration for others. I called this quilt Shine Through.

That’s my story why size (or greatness) matters. Back to the actual meaning of size – of course for quilters it matters most. Sewing a block with a seam allowance which only differs 1/16” at each seam gives you a not fitting finished block ;-(
So we are trained to exactly take care on sizes.

Moda has created a booklet of inspirational blocks showing how variations of block size give a new look and each of us Moda designers will introduce you to one of these blocks.
My block shows you a finished 18" size, but includes the same block (or better said 4 of it) in just 6 ". It looks as if layers overlap each other.

This is my original block (I don’t even know the correct name, do you?)
 

 

 

I drew it 18” size and overlaid it with 4 of the same blocks 6” size and got this one…
 

18” is a nice size for a small table runner or the center of a table runner surrounded with a border.
It could also be a cover of a large pillow.

You will find the detailed sewing instructions for downloading here.

Some coloring ideas anybody? Here you go…

Some setting ideas for the 6” block?

    
 

 

But wait – the fun doesn’t end here: You will find each day three new different blocks introduced from Moda designers, all explained in detail. All with different fabric styles, suggestions -  you name it. Fabulous!

Hop over to Moda’s website where all the other designers and blogs are listed! There is even a video from all of us speaking at Quilt Market Schoolhouse. Give the blocks a try, sew some of them.

Today two of my favorite colleagues are introducing their block patterns too: The lovely Edyta Sitar from Laundry Basket who creates beautiful traditional batik quilts (oh my, although I am a more modern girl, I admire all her quilts!)

 

and the inspiring Kaari Meng from French General who has wonderful antique French red and linen prints in her groups and presents her current line Josephine.

 

And we have even more fun – the very best: You will have the chance to win! Yeah! We have a precut + pattern from the very  brand-new fabric collection Barcelona for you. I thought I will give two winners a chance and one will get 1 Layer Cake and my pattern Clarity, you just add a background and can make your own modern stunning quilt!

Vollständiges Album anzeigen

The other goodie is 1 Jelly Roll and my pattern Pure, add four light naturals for the background and make a terrific unique quilt from the colorful strips.

Vollständiges Album anzeigen

What do you have to do?

1. FOLLOW the Zen Chic blog, the one you are currently looking at ;-) and get all the news about project and fabric ideas. 

2. Leave a COMMENT on the blog as to why or for which project you would like to work with the Barcelona fabrics!

Don’t miss to leave your email address so I can inform you in case you are the lucky winner.

We quilting women have a secret

which we won’t tell a man, no way ever:

Size DOES matter! Pssst - all Moda designers share this opinion. In fact we are so convinced that we will reveal our insights and give you a look behind the curtain why size matters for us (and I guess for you too).

From 4th to 16th September we all chat for a while on our blogs about that mystery SIZE. And when you know about us, you will also know that everyone will have something handy for you – not only inspiration, but also a little free gift.

There is a list of all participating Moda designers, their blog-addresses and when they will open their giveaway on Moda’s website. For more information hop over there!

So – STAY TUNED! Zen Chic will be at the first round on September 4th!

Farbe ist nicht alles?

ein Gastbeitrag von Michaela Stangl

Ist es nicht toll, eine Designerin zu kennen?
Brigitte kommt im Juli nach Österreich und wird einen Kurs zum Thema “Farben” halten.
Ich wollte immer schon mehr über Farben und ihre Wirkung lernen und ein bisschen mutiger werden.
Wir haben alle unsere Komfortzone, in der wir uns farbtechnisch bewegen. Bei mir sind es Wasserfarben, viel grün und blau und eher nicht pastellig.
Wer weiß was ich versäume, vielleicht wäre manchmal ein Hauch von pink (uaghh!) das Tüpfelchen auf dem i?
Ein bisschen Theorie schadet nie und ich freu mich schon auf neue Erkenntnisse.

Hier sind die Informationen zum Kurs in Baden:

(Auszug aus dem Badner Kunstwochenprogramm, weitere Informationen hier.)
Bei Interesse gibt es hier das Anmeldeformular.

FARBE IST ALLES – FARBLEHRE FÜR QUILTER
Wie funktionieren Farbharmonien und welche gibt es?
Lernen Sie Rezepte kennen und machen Sie sich Farben vertraut, die Ihnen weniger liegen. Sie lernen an einem kleinen Projekt, wie Sie diese Harmonieregeln auf Stoffe und Ihre Quilts übertragen können, um ihnen Tiefe, Dimension und eine beeindruckende
Wirkung zu geben.
Bitte bringen Sie Ihr eigenes Material nach vorherigen Angaben der Kursleiterin mit.
Der Kurs bedarf keiner Vorbereitung zuhause. Sie können einfach so einsteigen.

Foto of unknown

Brigitte HEITLAND
Brigitte Heitland studierte Innenarchitektur und
Textildesign und hat vor einigen Jahren die Tradition
des Patchworks entdeckt. Seither ist sie leidenschaftliche
Quilterin, arbeitet Kundenquilts in ihrem
Longarmquiltingservice und entwirft eigene Stoffkollektionen
für die Firma Moda. Ihre Arbeit zeichnet
sich besonders durch ihre moderne, graphische
Textilgestaltung und ihr Farbgefühl aus

Kursnummer: KUWO 6290
Termin: 13.Juli 2013
Preis: € 90,-
Kursort: Volkshochschule Baden, Johannesgasse 9
Unterrichtszeit: Sa 10:00 – 18:00 Uhr

Brigitte hat den Kurs schon einmal in Bielefeld und einmal in Barcelona gehalten und wir dürfen den Damen dort diesen Vorsprung nicht lassen !

Hier noch eine Collage von den Farbfestspielen von Bielefeld und Barcelona:

Inspiring Projects using Comma from Zen Chic for Moda

A couple of weeks ago my current line Comma was shipped out to stores and get a warm welcome among the quilters. We here at farbstoff in Germany actually sell the fabrics like crazy and run already out of some bolts (Nigella Multi was the hit).

Seeing what other people are inspired to sew with is in fact one of the best parts of my doing and makes my heart sing.

I’d like to showcase some projects to inspire you too!

This is a supercute quilt using the Moda Candy size of 2 1/2” squares, made by sewsisters. I want one!!!

speaking of circles: this one is called “ring around” by Melissa Corry and it’s meant for a little baby.

She even made a cover for a baby car seat from Comma and gives you a tutorial for it.

Another candy charm pack and circle them lead to a table runner on the blog Ifianllyhavetime . Look at these mini hexagons on the borders.

This one from sewpixie at flickr is cool, huh? I like the 74, numbers are always such an eyecather.

My friend Debbie Grifka from Esch House Quilts loves minimalism too and created a new pattern for purchase:

And look at this beauty from Sherry of hiddentreasurecrafts! She just used up some leftoverstrips. I have a thousand of these, why didn’t I came up with that idea???

She made also a black and white variation of “Play a card”, all three quilts from only one Fatquarterbundle (even a fateightbundle would have done)

Do you love bold Hexagonquilts? There is even a detailed pictured sewing instruction for this one from Sara at modabakeshop!

I personally couldn’t resist to this stunning star quilt! That contrast between the white and the prints makes it gorgeous! It’s a challenge entry from Bungalow Bay Quilts. Thumbs up!

And these cute blocks from Kathy are still going to become a fresh modern quilt, I can already imagine the look!

Some projects use only a part of the Comma color spectrum, for example the black-gray-white with a single color. Yellow makes a good partner here in the twister table runner made by Quilt Barn.

  
Or look at that impressive version from emmalinebags. She used only slate and yellow with a hint of chalk in her warm HST quilt. LOVE it!

Are you inspired? I can’t wait to get to my sewing machine for a couple of hours and try out what my eyes caught.

Maybe you have an own project made from Comma? I would love to get a link to your pictures in the comments.

Happy sewing,
Brigitte!