Blueberry Park Fabric

It has been a long time since I last bought quilting fabric.

My tiny sewing fund has been limited to materials for my City and Guilds.

That all changed when I found out the lovely Karen Lewis of Blueberrry Park had her first fabric line coming out. It started a bit of an obsessive searching to find the prints and the things that people have been sewing with it!

I have a few scrap pieces of Karen's screen printed fabric which I am treasuring until I have the perfect plan for them, so I knew I HAD to have the collection of fabric.... but how to afford it?

Having just a few fat quarters wasn't going to cut it, I NEED to have the whole collection...

That's when the amazing UK shop that is Simply Solids came to the rescue. They have a wonderful monthly Blueberry Park club. Seven fabrics from the collection each month, over ten months. So I can get the whole range and spread the payments - what's not to love?!?!?

This week the first bundle from Simply Solids arrived and I am in love! Seriously in love!

The first seven are from the selection above and they are gorgeous!

I have a plan for them already. I missed a very dear friends 40th birthday last year. I had planned to give her a quilt, but I just didn't manage it. I want to design and make a medallion quilt for her and these fabrics are just perfect. Maybe I didn't manage it last year because I knew Karen was going to bring me inspiration with her fabulous fabric line!

What is a Solid?

This is a question I have been asked by someone considering joining the new Strictly Solids Bee.

I thought about it last night and they were right, experienced quilters will just nod knowingly about the term 'solids' and then launch into a conversation about their favourite line and colour!

So what is a 'solid'?

This a very open question... when you have a baby it means food types and things that fill nappy!

But in the world of quilting, it is any fabric that is a solid block of colour.

There is no pattern, there is no design, there is no texture print applied....

It is just solid colour - hence the term 'solids'.

Who makes them?

There are 3 major lines that I use:

Robert Kaufman - Kona

These are my favourite without a doubt. There are 250+ shades of colour, and the fabric is super soft!

I have a growing pile of these in different colour lines, which has been brilliant to draw on to inject colour into a project.

Seriously you will know you need that many shades of orange, but you really do!

In the UK you can get Kona from Simply Solids and The Village Haberdashery.

Most of the USA shops stock it, but The Fat Quarter Shop has a fab selection.

Moda - Bella

Moda are the big fabric manufacturers of the lines that most us love working with - Sweetwater being one of my favourites.

Their solids line is Bella and it is fabulous! Again there is a huge array of colour lines.

The advantage is that the solids match the Moda printed lines, so you can easily colour match if you are mixing solids and pattern in a design.

In the UK you can get them from lots of online and off line quilt shops, but my favourite places are Gone to Earth and Eclectic Maker.

Klona Solids Cotton

These are the other line of solids I love to use.

They a thicker weave than the other lines and the bolt is wider so you get a lot for you money!

I love using the white in projects because it is so versatile and it softens up as you quilt it.

There are fewer colours in this line, but the quality is amazing and they are perfect for backing quilts.

In the UK you can get them at Backstitch and Fabric Rehab.

There are other lines out there, but as yet I haven't used them.

I hope that has helped.

I plan on sewing a couple of blocks to show you just how versatile solids can be, so do come back and visit soon!

The Sew Solids Crew

I have a steadily growing bundle of Kona Solids thanks to the lovely Justine from Simply Solids!

Justine has recently taken over Simply Solids and is doing a fantastic job of getting in gorgeous fabrics and new colours! There are so many to choose from on the Kona palette and Simply Solids has a wonderful selection. My lasted bundle is this one:

 

 

The colours are so vibrant and fresh... Here is my complete collection:

 

 



Oh and I have some white and cream in the stash somewhere too....

Don't they look yummy?

Last week Simply Solids started a new Stash Club. A Stash Club for those who don't know is a monthly club where the shop open puts together a bundle of fabrics and sends them out to you. The beauty of it is that you get colours/prints/textures you might not have chosen for yourself. It pushes you out of your comfort zone and straight into the unknown.... which is good for everybody right?

The Simply Solids Stash Club is based on a different colour each month, so for December it will be purple - a colour I don't buy much. Justine has given us a very handy colour wheel so we can keep track of the colours.

So it was an automatic yes to the Stash Club! I want to expand my solids collection and be able to dip in whenever I need to use solid colour in my quilts. I choose the 3 half metres and month, just because half metres give you so much possibility, but you can sign up for 3 fat quarters, 6 fat quarters and even 6 half metres...

GO check it out!

Wondered why I like grey..

Over the last year or so I have been experimenting with white, cream and grey as background to the quilts I have made.

The white and cream I understand, they make the colours go pop! Combine that with some gorgeous quilting the finished quilt looks amazing!

But I have been puzzled as to why I am drawn to the ash, charcoal and grey. In January and made my littlest monster a quilt with a gorgeous grey from Kona:

Then on Tuesday I was driving to teach in Gloucester and I could see the rain clouds coming on over the Severn from Wales. The view is spectacular in the sunshine, but yesterday there was a fierce grey sky, not a placid grey, but a really grey.

As I drove I realised that all of the colours popped against the grey back drop. The colours of the tops of the trees were vivid, the browns of the fields were richer..

I suddenly realised that I am drawn towards grey as a background because it reflects nature. It can be found as a stunning backdrop on the most of horrible days!

A Great Surprise

Yesterday I wrote about watching for the post box and jumping on the postman to see of he had any parcels. I thought I was in for a long wait and I was unhappily resigned to waiting...

So when my classes were cancelled yesterday I heading into town after the school run to have a coffee in peace - no housework to depress me in the bakers!

When I came back I spied some wonderful packaging from America! Now this parcel was only posted on Saturday... how on earth could it have gotten from the other side of the pond to here in 6 days?????

I have know fabric shops in the UK take twice as long as that to get fabric to me even though I have paid first class postage!

I had wandered back from town cursing myself for not nipping to the toilet before I left the coffee shop (might be a slight overshare there!), but as soon as I spied the parcel all I could think about was ripping it open! (I know you have done the same thing.)

The contents are were just as yummy as the shop pics promised:

Bad picture I know, but I just love the way Fat Quarterly Shop send out their fabric.

I love the Bloggers Choice for this month, but my favourite is Tula Pink's collection:

They are yummy scrummy!

They are for a special quilt that has to be made in the next 5 weeks, so I am hoping the Kona solid I ordered yesterday appears soon so I can get cracking!

Oh and I did remember to have a wee after I had washed all of the fabric and put it in the drier!

I found a new shop...

I am a fabric addict, an addiction I embrace whole heartedly, so I love looking around the Internet at on line quilting shops and getting new fabric when I have the cash flow (must teach more!). Last week I needed some Kona fabric for a students quilt, but the place I had bought it from before had run out!

I Googled the colour and this little gem of a shop, Pollyanna Patchwork came up.

Now I was drawn the name since my name is Anna and my younger sister is Polly - we were teased a lot as children and mum mother swore blind it never occured to her.... think she might have been fibbing!

Also it is in a town very close to where I spent my teenage years - in fact I used to visit the dentist there!

Anyway, as promised by Google they did in fact have the right colour in the Kona range, and a fabric colour I had ordered from the States for another quilt commission.

They also have a lot of yummy fabrics and other quilters essentials!

The best bit is they have free 2nd class delivery on all orders until the end of July! I ordered mine on Saturday and it was here this morning - just in time for the class tomorrow!

So go check Pollyanna Patchwork out!