Q&A Friday

Welcome to Q&A Friday–I have all sorts of fun things to share with you today. =)

First up, I wanted to chat just a bit about Jenelle Kent’s new Farmhouse Fresh book.  Jenelle designs toweling for Moda Fabrics.  Toweling is not something that I have worked with before so when Jenelle asked if I’d be interested in receiving her book and trying out a project, I was excited to do so.

Farmhouse Pillow

I think this is the easiest pillow I have ever made–from start to finish in under an hour.  I used the toweling and then a piece of one of my favorite Fig Tree fabrics for the pillow center.  The book has the prettiest embroidery pattern to use for the center but I ran into a little bit of a time crunch which is why I swapped it out.  I would still really like to make the pillow using the embroidery pattern as it is wonderful!

I wanted to let you know about this project because I am hosting a giveaway for a digital copy of the book on my Instagram page.  So hop on over if you’d like a chance to win. =)

And I often get asked about my pictures.  I purchased them on Etsy from here.  That shop offers the print downloads to print yourself or you can order them already printed (which is what I do).  I have a Barn set of pictures that I will swap out for these soon.  And I have these picture frames in the 20×30 size and 16×20 size to swap pictures out for the season.  It’s such an easy way to update a room as the weather changes.

And now on to our Friday Questions. =)

First Questions: “Which solids match Canning Day?’

Answer:  I somehow missed posting these earlier–and now that Canning Day has started shipping this week, I have gotten asked this question from a number of people.

The Bella Solids that best match from bottom to top are:

9900-170 (Etchings Slate)

9900-299 (Flamingo)

9900-384 (Carnation)

9900-100 (Light Lime)

9900-81 (Goldenrod)

9900-212 (Petal Pink)

9900-65 (Green)

9900-132 (Breeze)

If your local quilt shop doesn’t carry the solids you need, it’s always great to check with them to see if they can get them in.  If you don’t have a local shop, I have also linked to the solids.

I’ve added a new button to the top of my website, “Bella Solids Matching Information” where I have linked to matching information for all of my fabrics lines to date.

Sincerely Yours Quilt in Strawberry Jam

Next Question from Julie: “I am interested to know how it works with designing fabric for a company?  Do they give you ideas or things they want or do you have free reign to create?  Also do you use a computer program or draw things out?  A tour of your quilt studio would be fun too!”

Answer:  I’ve been designing for Moda fabrics since 2014 (my first line came out in 2015).  I always turn in fabric collections that I like in a palette that I like.  And they have been wonderful letting me design the things that I love!  Typically, I begin designing a collection by working on the largest floral in the line.  I will often sketch out flowers that I like using paper/pencil and then re-trace them into Adobe Illustrator.  In Illustrator, I am able to resize, rotate, and color the flowers.

Lulu Lane Sketch

Above you can see one of my original flower sketches for my Lulu Lane fabrics.  The process is a lot of fun–I usually have a general idea of the collection that I’d like to put together but sometimes things take a twist or turn and go in a little bit of a different direction as I work.

A studio tour is in the works but right now I have so many things going on that it is a bit of a disaster! =)

Turnstile Quilt in Canning Day

Next Question from Carlyn Sullivan “I am wondering where you get inspiration for your quilt and fabric designs.  Do you start off with an idea or a specific color?…”

Flower Mill Fabric

Answer:  This is a great follow-up to Julie’s question.  The collections typically start with flowers and I usually have my palette in mind.  I’ll peruse my Bella Solids swatches and pull together colors that I like.  Sometimes I want a whole rainbow of color and other times I am looking at a smaller palette.  For my quilt patterns, those are designed after the fabrics.  I usually don’t have anything specific in mind until I start playing with the fabrics.

Quilting on Sunnyside Up quilt

Last question for today comes from Debbie Brugman: “I love your swatch cards.  Are they made especially for each of your fabric lines?  Are they something the general public can purchase?  If so where?”

Fabric Swatch Cards

Answer:  The swatch cards I used are a free, printable that I offered on my blog a while back.  You will find the PDF download here to print and made your own cards if you’d like.  You can customize them to work for any fabric line.  I print mine on cardstock so they last a bit longer.

And that is it for today.  Thank you so much for reading along!  And have a wonderful weekend.  Drop me a question below to answer in the upcoming weeks.  I love your questions. =)