Hello quilting friends! Today I’m delighted to be a guest blogger on the Friday Bundle Batch with Fort Worth Fabric Studio. Every Friday they release a custom curated fat quarter bundle on their website and newsletter. Shop owner Jodie has a special talent for putting together lovely, unique bundles that cross fabric companies, collections and designers!
This week’s bundle, Love Sweet Love, tugged right at my heart strings, and I’m pleased to show you my makes ~ two sweet pillows that have a Valentine’s Day vibe, but would be pretty sitting out all year long!
First off, let’s take a look at the bundle. It’s a romantic but sophisticated collection of red and gray prints, with a touch of pink and tiny pops of green, yellow and blue. There are four text prints (which I love) that are all stylistically different and blend beautifully together. For me the focal print is the gorgeous Strawberry Biscuit gray, which seems to connect them all.
Here are the prints included in Love Sweet Love:
Strawberry Biscuit Gray Main Print – Penny Rose
Sweet Orchard Text Red – Riley Blake
Essentials Criss Cross Gray – Wilmington
Lovebugs Love Script Red – Riley Blake
Flower Pedals Strawberries – Windham
Sewing Studio Grey Text – Robert Kaufman
Swiss Dots Red with White Dots – Riley Blake
Making the blades was super easy and a lot of fun. I knew from the start that I wanted the Sewing Studio gray text to be the background, so then it was just a matter of alternating the red, gray and pink prints for a nice fan of color. And of course, Strawberry Biscuit just had to be the center of the plate!
Lindsey’s instructions call for machine stitching the completed blades and center circle to the background material, but I really wanted to take my time and enjoy some handwork on this project. I used Aurifil’s 80 wt hand applique thread and it was a dream! The stitches just disappeared. I used 2600 (dove) for all the gray fabrics and 2255 (dark red orange) for both the red and pink fabrics.
For the plate center, I used Pellon Sew-In interfacing (light weight, non-fusible) so that I would have a nice turned edge and could hand applique the center.
Once I had my Dresden Plate hand sewn to my pillow top, it seemed to need a little extra stitching for dimension and interest. I am by no means skilled in embroidery or hand quilting, so I took baby steps and did what was comfortable to me. I added a simple running stitch around the blades using Aurifil’s floss 2021 (natural white). In this close-up shot you can see how nicely these text prints all work together!
Next I added French knots in that same white floss, and then a few green knots in some tiny flower centers, using Aurifil floss 2882 (light fern).
I was working on this project over the Christmas holiday when my daughter was home on her college break. As I was sitting by her, she said, “You are really having fun doing this, aren’t you mom?” A simple question, but it really hit home. I was completely happy to slow down, sew by hand, and sit by my daughter while we talked and watched a movie. I can’t thank Jodie and Fort Worth Fabric Studio enough for the gift this project was to me!
When I was done with the Dresden Plate pillow, I found I still had quite a bit of fabric left from the fat quarters. I decided to make a quick and easy 12\” x 16\” companion pillow using every last bit of fabric. I embellished with some buttons from Fort Worth Fabric Studio and a bit of trim I had in my stash.
The pillow backs are pretty too. I even had enough fabric to bind both pillows What a fabulous bundle this is!
Thanks so much for stopping by the blog today! Please head over to the Fort Worth Fabric Studio website for more information on this bundle, and be sure to sign up for their newsletter. You’ll also want to check out their blog, which includes many fantastic sewing and quilting tutorials.
Today my hope is that you get carried away quilting, but also that you find some quiet time, where you can slow down, stitch a bit, and chat with someone special to you.
~Taunja
