quiltology...

We sell many of our fabrics, patterns and kits online at www.shopquiltology.com.

NEW...Modernology from Art Gallery Fabrics!   

Check out Pat Bravo's new sample quilt... Quiltology!   

We've kitted this quilt up in both color ways--vogue blue and chic pink.  The pattern is a free download available on the Art Gallery Fabrics web site.

Visit the shop on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays (noon to 7pm) and on Saturdays (10am to 5pm.)    

Fat Quarter Fridays....all fats on sale for just $2.50!  

Our good friend and fellow quiltologist Mary Fons is closing in on the first anniversary of her internet show Quilty.  Congrats and kudos Mar—it’s looking good. 

For those of you who haven’t discovered Quilty yet, you might want to log onto Mary’s blog and link through the “episodes” button.  This will take you into QNNTV.com where the Quilty episodes live.  (FYI—you don’t have to have a paid subscription to view Quilty!) 

Mary posts new Quilty episodes every week on Wednesdays.  She also has links to the first season’s archive so you can catch up on her previous shows. 

The idea behind Quilty was to provide lots of basic information and friendly advice to beginning quilters.  But I’ve got to tell you, I’ve been doing this for some time now and I’m still learning new things.  Case in point—this week’s episode on needles.  Rule of thumb—the larger the number, the smaller the needle.  That just seems backwards to me which is why I get confused. 

Mary and her dream team tape Quilty in the Quiltology Design Studio space, but you probably won’t recognize the shop because we move everything out of the way for the camera crew to set up their equipment.  A couple of weeks ago they came in and shot for three days so they’ve got lots of new episodes coming our way over the next few months.

Stay tuned…

The folks over at the Pantone Color Institute have announced the color of the year for 2012....

...drum roll please...the color of the year for 2012 is...Tangerine Tango!

So what shade is this exactly?  Well, you can think about it this way…       what fuschia is to pink…tangerine tango is to orange.

But Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute describes it even better…

“Tangerine Tango is an orange with a lot of depth to it…sophisticated but at the same time dramatic and seductive… 

Tangerine Tango is reminiscent of the radiant shadings of a sunset and marries the vivaciousness and adrenaline rush of red with the friendliness and warmth of yellow, to form a high-visibility, magnetic hue that emanates heat and energy.”

Over the past several years, orange has grown in popularity and acceptance among designers and consumers alike. A provocative attention-getter, Tangerine Tango is especially appealing in men’s and women’s fashion.

Fashion designers featured in the PANTONE Fashion Color Report Spring 2012, including Tommy Hilfiger, Nanette Lepore, Cynthia Steffe by Shaun Kearney, Elie Tahari and Adrienne Vittadini, are incorporating this attractive orange into their spring collections. A fun, lively take on a traditional autumnal hue, Tangerine Tango will surely carry through to fall fashion as well.

It sounds like we'll be seeing more of this sizzling color in fabrics this year.  It may be a good time to reorder the orange minkee and mix up a pitcher of mimosas!

Cheers... 

Happy New Year! 

Out with the old and in with the new.  

We’ve put all the xmas fabrics on sale to make room for the new spring collections that are starting to arrive.

30% off xmas yardage from the bolt or $2 fat quarters! 

The 2011 Quiltology Holiday quilt kits are also on sale for just $60! 

Heather did the honors this year and pieced the shop's holiday quilt with a mix of Michael Miller and Robert Kaufman prints using the Blue Underground Studio’s In & Out pattern. 

The kit includes enough fabric to make a large throw quilt top, the binding and a pattern. 

Hey, there’s always next year. 

Peace and love in 2012!

I have to admit that although I have absolutely no desire to make a crazy quilt—I really do love them. 

In fact I love the unholy mess of them.  There’s a charm in the odd mix of whacky fabrics in different weights, shapes and sizes.  Few of these fabrics are what I’d call “pretty” on their own, but somehow the collage of all that old repurposed garment fabric sewn together in a haphazard sort of way and then top stitched with fanciful embroidery, gives them a personality all their own. 

I’ve seen some wonderful examples of crazy quilts in quilt shows and museums, but it wasn’t until just recently that I had a chance to spend some significant quality time with one. 

Allison brought in a crazy quilt top (pictured right) to be finished.  She told me that her father found this in his mother’s attic.  Since he doesn’t remember his mom making quilts, they think that it was probably the work of his grandmother--her great-grandmother! 

The crazy quilt craze really took off in the late 19^th century during the Victorian era but we can date this quilt top to the 1920s because of the fabrics used in it.  We can also tell that this was a collaborative effort, probably made in a quilting bee by multiple ladies because the size of the embroidery stitches varies across the top. 

A close up shot of the top reveals the elegant embroidery stitching done by different hands. 

You can also see how the fabric has worn well in most places.  But sadly, time is not kind to fabric like the red satin.  Eventually it will fade and disintegrate with light and age.  But I don’t worry about “fixing” this sort of thing because I consider it to be the “patina” of an old vintage piece.  What antique doesn't have some sort of nick or ding?  It's sort of like us with our laugh lines!  Better to enjoy the piece for what it is, than to make it over into something it isn’t.  And this is a wonderful old crazy quilt! 

Cheers!