Wish Upon a Quilt Blog

Oooohh…our Quilt Market purchases are starting to arrive. Picnic Parade by Jenean Morrison is a new group from Free Spirit. These summer colors make me happy! Take a look at Jenean’s blog for some great ideas for children’s clothing using this collection. I also like these fun purses. 

Of course, this collection is great for quilting also and here is a FREE pattern to get you going. Leave a comment and tell us what is on your design wall. Happy Summer! 

I love finding great new fabrics at Quilt Market. I’m on my way back to Raleigh from the Spring Quilt market and couldn’t wait to share pictures of Laura Gunn’s Lantern Bloom. The fabric was created from Laura’s original artwork and is stunning. This is Laura’s debut fabric line from Michael Miller.  Laura was a delight to meet in person and I’m looking forward to more great fabric designs from her in the future. Lantern Bloom will be arriving at Wish Upon A Quilt in June…what do you think?

One of my favorite fabric designers is Anna Maria Horner. She is so amazingly talented and has 5 children with another due in May! In this past year, she has released fabric, a book and 3 new patterns. How does she get it all done? Read Anna Maria’s blog for inspiration! Her most recent collection, Good Folks , has been very popular. This quilt is called Folk Dance and the FREE Pattern is here.

I recently read Anna Maria’s new book Seams to Me, 24 New Reasons To Love Sewing, cover to cover in one sitting. I wish I would have had this book when I started sewing. The clear directions are great and  would have saved me lots of time unsewing!  The book includes 10 patterns with something for everyone. I am usually drawn to the quilt patterns in books. This book was different. Not only did I love the quilt pattern,  I found several ideas to organize my home (fabric cubes for storage), decorate my home (fabric is fine art) and stylize with clothing! Ok, I confess, I have not actually made these things yet,  but I was inpired enough to add them to my to do list.  If Anna Maria can find time, I can too! What is on your to-do list these days?

Although I made my first quilt in 1977, it did not become my full-time passion until 6 years ago. I prefer to design my own patterns for bags and quilts. (Translation: I am better at writing insructions than trying to follow them!) I have stumbled on to several tricks and tips that are available in my patterns which are sold at Wish Upon A Quilt. For example, I have always prefered to use bias binding rather than crossgrain binding on my quilts. My directions for making Jiffy Bias Binding are included in the Schlepping Bag pattern.  I also love to experiment with color and value placement in quilts. I have an extensive collection of batiks as well as African fabrics, which are a passion of mine. 

I work after hours at Wish, making sure our inventory on line matches what we have in the store. Currently I am serving as the President of Capital Quilter’s Guild. My term will be over in June this year, and I hope to have more time for developing patterns and marketing. I also have my own company, Anything But Boring and my website is www.janicedpope.com.  The Wish staff is so much fun to work with and they have been great to have as friends!

Do you ever wonder who comes up with all of the great fabric designs that are in quilt shops today? I did and I thought it would be fun to start a series that highlights some of the different fabric designers. First up is Sandra Banava who designs for Robert Kaufman.

At market last Fall in Houston, I was looking for a design that really “wowed” me. I found Sandra’s latest collection Citronella and fell in love with the fabric colors and designs. I contacted Sandra with my idea of featuring designers on my blog and she was thrilled to be our debut designer. Here are some of the great projects that Sandra has created using Citronella.

 

Sandra Banava was introduced to the beauty of fabric at an early age. Her mother was a fabric lover, who kept her collection lovingly wrapped up in a couple of huge bundles filled with cuts of fabric that she had received as gifts or hand-picked for her sewing projects. From time to time, Sandra’s mother would say, “Let’s get the fabric bundles out and look at fabric.” To Sandra, this was always as exciting as opening a treasure box.

Sandra feels that creating is a way of responding to her surroundings. Whether she sees traces of the past in a city’s aging buildings, layers of patina and rusty surfaces or the wonder of nature such as the beautiful growth movement of plants or the iridescent wing of an insect, she seeks to create a fresh look at the familiar with her art.Sandra finds designing for quilters exciting. She likes to visualize how quilters can “compose,” “paint” or “choreograph” their quilts using each colorful pattern as “notes,” “paints” and “movements” to tell their stories. To see more of Sandra’s great work, visit her blog at www.sandrabanava.com. What do you think?