Ladybug Picnic! (And a giveaway too)

The winner of this giveaway is Kathy S., who likes lilacs.  Thanks to everyone for participating!

Well, it is day 4 of Sew We Quilt's Perfect Picnic blog hop and it is my day to post!

We had a "Ladybug Picnic"!  (Does any other child of the seventies remember a song by that name?  I think it was on Sesame Street maybe?)

This quilt was inspired by the ladybugs that always make their way into our daughter's room for two week in the spring.  They love her sunny window but drive her crazy!

I was interested in contrasting the traditional appliqué ladybugs and blooms with something really modern and came up with a herringbone idea.  I wanted the herringbone blocks to lead your eye travel around the quilt and be bold in scale - really quite different from the style of the appliqué.  (I thought about doing the herringbone blocks scrappy, but in the end I decided to make them symmetrical.  One could really do it either way.)

Because the motifs were fairly bold, I kept the colors soft.  The fabrics are from my Bella, Topiary, and Bonjour Mon Ami lines for Blend Fabrics, and some Vanessa Christenson prints, all thrown together.  I'm thinking that I might put this together as a PDF-only pattern - what do you think?

Riley Blake makes this wonderful polka-dot laminate in a variety of colors. The aqua matches perfectly.  I pieced it and turned under the edges and tacked it on the back of the quilt.  That way I can just remove it when it might need a wash!

For our picnic we had homemade lattes and sweet potato apple muffins!

And of course you have to choose a game that matches your quilt so it had to be Quads... (You can see the embroidered accents on the ladybugs in this shot.)

Now for the giveaway.  I'm going to be giving away a copy of my new pattern, "Flower Power".  Just leave me a comment on this post telling me what your favorite flower is, okay?  Deadline is the end of the blog hop - Monday the 9th at midnight.

Thanks so much to Cori from Chitter Chatter Designs, Mary from I Piece 2-Mary, Riley Blake Designs, and Madame Samm of Sew We Quilt for making this blog hop possible.  Don't forget to stop by and see all of the wonderful entries on the bloghop!

Monday June 2

Sew Incredibly Crazy

How Art You?

The Reluctant Quilter at Hazelnut Deux

GrammieQ's

I Piece 2 -Mary

Pig Tales and Quilts

Tuesday June 3

Ridge Top Quilts

A Stitch in Time

Quilting in a Not Shell

Just Let Me Quilt

Creativity Amongst Chaos

Wednesday June 4

Quilt Taffy

Pampered Pettit

Creatin' in the Sticks

Miss Priss Quilts

Life in the Scrapatch

That's Sew Julie

Thursday June 5

Ella and Nesta's Little Room

Thimblemouse and Spouse

Jane's Quilting

Amanda Murphy Design

Quilting Quietly

Words & Stitches

Childlike Fascination

Friday June 6

Quiltscapes

More Stars in Comanche

Stitchin' By The Lake

Life, Quilts and a Cat Too

Kris Loves Fabric

In The Boon Docks

Living with Purpose

Monday June 9

Cherry Blossoms

The Quilting Queen Online

Mad Quilter's Disease

Daisy Days

Buzzing and Bumbling

From My Carolina Home

Sew We Quilt

Happy sewing!
Amanda

Window Boxes

This winner of this giveaway, according to the random number generator, is PK Sews!  Congratulations!

Window Boxes is a fun, modern design that I pieced this summer for Quilters Newsletter Best Modern Quilts Issue.  I'm so excited to be able to share it with you here today as part of the last day their blog tour, for which they have generously sponsored a giveaway of both a magazine and a Jolie fat quarter bundle by Anna Griffin!

Some of the larger wonky windows sport just a bit of appliqué!

Window Boxes is sewn in a combination of my "Bella" and "Bonjour, Mon Ami" lines for Blend Fabrics.  I used Aurifil thread for the piecing and appliqué and Warm and White batting.  My good friend Cherry Guidry of Cherry Blossoms Quilting Studio, quilted the fun floral pattern.

"Jolie" fat quarter bundle by Anna Griffin

To enter the giveaway of a copy of the magazine and the Jolie fat quarter bundle simply leave a comment telling me about a quilting project you are currently enjoying or are excited about starting.  Deadline is tonight (Friday the 17th of January) at midnight.  One entry per person please.

And be sure to stop by Quilters Newsletter and another designer on the tour, Janet Jo Smith (a little bird told me it was her birthday today so be sure to wish her "happy birthday"), for more chances to win prizes!


Happy quilting and have a great weekend!
Amanda

P.S.  Please join me on Instagram at "amandamurphydesign"!

Bella's Garden yardage and a magazine giveaway

Hi everyone,

I've had so many emails this weekend from people looking to find Bella fabric to make Bella's Garden. No, I don't have any kits unfortunately.  There just aren't enough hours in every day for me to stock, inventory, and cut fabric in addition to designing so I leave that to the wonderful quilt shops.  Unfortunately this was a few collections back so you might need to do some searching, but I have seen it  in shops.  I know that my local shop, Sew Much Fun, in Lowell, NC has some yardage, and I've seen it online too.

What is can do is provide you with SKU information.  I went back through my design notes and this is what I found and I reconciled them with Fons and Porter's directions.  If you want to see what the fabrics look like up close, visit my fabric page.


Gold print for the background - this is actually a creamy color (115.101.06.1): 1-½ yards
Turquoise print for the sashing, outer border, and binding (115.101.04.2): 2-¼ yards
Turquoise large scale strip for the sashing - this is actually the medallion print in the Bella collection, not a true stripe (115.101.03.2): 1-½ yards
Pink print for pieced rows and large yo-yos - I’d describe this as an orange and pink circle design (115_101_07_1):  ⅝ yard
Dark pink print for inner border, petals, and small yo-yos (115.101.08.1): - 3/8 yard
Green print for pieced rows (115.101.02.2):  ⅝ yard
Light green print for stems and leaves -  (115_101_04_1):  1 fat quarter (or 1/2 yard if you prefer to make bias bars, as I did in the original, rather than curvy applique shapes)
Blue print for pieced rows (115_101_06_2):  3/8 yard
Orange print for petals and small yo-yos (115.101.05.1): 1 fat quarter


Bonjour, Mon Ami, one of my more current collections for Blend Fabrics, plays very nicely with Bella, so you may be able to draw from it to produce a lovely quilt as well.  Hope this helps!

Also, Fons and Porter sent me a couple of extra issues that I thought I would pass on to you all, so if you would like to enter to win a copy leave a comment on this post telling me what color you think should be the "color of the year" for 2014.  No research - just your personal opinion.  Deadline is this Wednesday night, August 28th.

Happy sewing!
Amanda

Quilting With the Stars

In the September/October issue of Love of Quilting magazine...

Can you believe it?

I flew out to Des Moines in the spring of this year to talk with Mary Fons of Quilty and Love of Quilting and that conversation can be seen here.

The people at Fons and Porter were so great and made me feel right at home.  I designed a quilt called "Bella's Garden", using my Bella line for Blend Fabrics, especially for this issue.  Hope you like it!

Happy sewing!
Amanda

Charleston!

I just returned from a fun couple of days in Charleston, South Carolina, where I filmed an episode of The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims!  (I'm still pinching myself.)  Charleston is a beautiful city with so much architectural texture detail.  We stayed at the Vendue Inn, right on Rainbow Row!  And it right down the street from one of my favorite stores - Charleston Cooks!

Rainbow Row

Thanks so much to Alex, Ricky, Shelly, Lilo, the filming crew, and all the helpers from the Charleston Quilt Guild for making things run smoothly and being so welcoming.

The episode centers on my book coming out in June, Modern Holiday, and will air later this year.

And right before I left this came in the mail...

 Is it Bella I spy in that top quilt on the cover?  I love how Quiltmaker fussycut the medallions for the center of each block and used the feature print to unify the outer border.  This issue is on sale at newsstands now.

Spring is right around the corner.

Happy sewing, everyone!
Amanda

The Bernina 780 - Harlequin Runner

Today is the day I can finally begin sharing what I worked on when I had the Bernina 780 for two weeks.  I tried to cram in as much as I possibly could during that time and also try out all of the special features.  (There is a giveaway at the bottom of this post too! Don't miss it!)

My first project was this Harlequin Runner, showcasing my Bella collection for Blend Fabrics.  It is based off of my quilt pattern by the same name.  You can see a video about how I made it here.  

I embellished the flower with wool flowers that I made using the CutWork tool because... Bernina also invited me to try their new DesignWorks software!  With DesignWorks, you can design CutWork shapes and PaintWork and CrystalWork to port over to the 780.  Best of all, DesignWorks is REALLY easy to use!

I also incorporated some custom trapunto feathers into the quilting!

The secret to giving the impression that one's quilting skills are better than they are is to design the feather in Bernina's DesignerPlus software!

The stippling and petal border that you can see in the upper left were done with the 780's Stitch Regulator.

This is the first of 6 projects with which I experimented.  I'll be posting a new one on Wednesday and Friday and more Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of next week.  I want to thank Bernina for providing me with this opportunity and also Sew Much Fun, my local dealer for helping make it a reality.

This is Drusilla Munnell, the owner of Sew Much Fun, and I at my presentation.

Drusilla's beautiful and fun holiday display!

They just moved into a beautiful new space, and it is huge!

My Bella designs visiting Sew Much Fun...

To see more about the process I used to make the runner, take a peek at the video I made.  If you would like to enter to win a free Harlequin pattern and three Bella fat quarters, leave me one comment at the bottom of this post telling me something special you have made to give a loved one (or yourself) this year!  I'd love for you to consider becoming a follower if you aren't already, but it isn't a requirement.  You have until really late tomorrow (Tuesday the 18th) when I post the next project to enter.

Happy sewing!

Amanda

Bella Crib Bedding by Carousel Designs

A few months ago I heard Bella, my line for Blend Fabrics, had been picked up by Carousel Designs for crib bedding!  I was so excited and am even MORE excited today to see it featured online.

I love the orange chevron rug with the Seaglass color story, don't you?  I would have jumped at the option to buy bedding and make matching accessories when our daughter was little. (Sigh...) I love the fact that Carousel Designs uses high-quality quilting cotton in their work.

Happy sewing, everyone!

Amanda

Fizz!

Since I'm back from Market and just in time for Blogger's Quilt Festival, I thought I would introduce you to the first of my new patterns in my pattern line, Fizz!

Fizz 

38'' x 48-1/2'' 

Featuring Bella, my latest line for Blend Fabrics 

Quilted by Cherry Guidry of Cherry Blossoms Quilting Studio 

Best categories: Favorite Applique Quilt, Favorite 2-Color Quilt, Favorite Baby Quilt 

(Since this sample is baby-sized) 

Techniques:  Strip piecing and applique

(You could use trapunto and/or cuddle fabric for the bubbles too for a fun option...)

Fizz is based on just one block, so it can be made in any size!

I love the quilted bubbles that echo the applique!

And this is the pattern, which I should have in hand from my printer next week to ship to shops and distributors. Make sure to visit Blogger's Quilt Festival at Amy's Creative Side to see lots of beautiful quilts!

 Happy sewing!
Amanda

Sneak Peak... Houston Market 2012

Harlequin

Harlequin

Fizz

Sunflower Row

Sunflower Row

Palace Doors

Palace Doors

Off to Houston on Friday! Lots of thanks to my quilting helpers Cherry, Pauline, Christa, Linda, Sharon, Wendy, and an extra-special helper who knows how to bring things all together! If you are at Market, stop by and visit with me in Booth 765!


Happy sewing everyone!
Amanda