Hi everyone! Welcome to Block 29 of our Glorious Autumn Block Party. Today we have Emily Breclaw as our featured designer and the Fat Quarter Shop has a fabulous Super Deal. Be sure to check out Emily’s give-away too!
Visit the Block Party Headquarters for more info and upload your completed blocks to the Flickr group.
Super Deal from the Fat Quarter Shop
The Fat Quarter Shop was founded in 2003 by Kimberly Jolly. An avid quilter, Kimberly began her shop as a side business while still working a corporate position, cutting, packing and shipping right out of her house during evenings and weekends. From the very beginning, she was committed to delivering top-notch service for every single order and customer. As the Fat Quarter Shop’s reputation grew, Kimberly decided to make it a full-time operation. Her husband Kevin joined her not long after, and with his help, lots of hard work, and a tireless commitment, the store began to grow. Over the past few years a few more people have joined the staff!
As a team, we continue to branch out with the best fabrics, exclusive kits, quilt clubs, BOMs, and more. And we will always be driven by the passion that Kimberly founded the store upon, which is always giving you the best products and service.
Today’s Super Deal:
50% off Sandhill Plums by Kansas Troubles Quilters for Moda Fabrics! Use coupon code “sand” (no quotes). Ends Tuesday, November 14, 2012 at midnight CST!
Get your Super Deal Savings here!
Featured Designer: Emily Breclaw
How did you get into quilting?
My sister and I started quilting in college. It all began with a magazine picture of a yo-yo quilt. We spent most of a Christmas break tracing circles with coffee can lids and cutting out fabric. Several years later, my sister had a beautiful pastel quilt that looked like a three-dimensional Grandmother’s Flower Garden, and I had a random quilt filled with colors that made me smile.
My mom, aunts, and grandmothers all craft in many different ways, so we grew up surrounded by creativity. Two phrases my mom never allowed were “I can’t”, and “I’m bored”. After the yo-yo quilt, my mom taught me the basics of rotary cutting, piecing and hand quilting. We made five quilts from an Atkinson Design pattern, Yellow Brick Road, in a variety of colors for my five bridesmaids. (No, I didn’t finish them all before the wedding. Not even before the birth of my first child. But the recipients are my best friends, and forgiving of such things!)
How/when/why did you transition from a quilter to a designer?
I started my design business a year and a half ago, when I discovered a lack of interesting hexagon quilt patterns on the market. I wanted to help quilters progress beyond the notion that y-seams and hexagon quilts are too difficult to attempt. English paper piecing and hand piecing with Inklingo are two of my favorite methods.
Which quilt is your favourite? Did you design it? Why is it your favourite?
My favourite quilt is called Tumbling Snowflakes. I designed it in Electric Quilt for the Inklingo Love the Lines contest. When the design won, I made the quilt and created a pattern for it. Before this quilt, my designs were simple and small. This quilt, however, has over a thousand patches. With all of the great information on the web about hexagon piecing, especially from Inklingo, I had a ton of fun putting the quilt together. (Aside from hand-sewing one row in upside down, of course!) I love this quilt because it reminds me that I can create something wonderful, even if I only have time to sew a couple of seams each day.
How many UFOs do you currently have? About a dozen
What size of quilt do you prefer to make/design? Lap quilts
What colour do you use most often in your quilts? Blue
Favourite one-sentence tip for a new quilter: Quilt with a good friend and a pot of coffee!
Favourite size and brand of rotary cutter: Olfa 45mm
Block Party #29 – Crown of Leaves
Here’s Emily’s block: Crown of Leaves. This block is completed with English paper piecing (EPP) and I must say, it’s calling my name. If you’ve never done EPP before, in addition to Emily’s tutorial, here’s a great series of videos on EPP with Hexagons that will help you to get started.
Head over to Emily’s blog to download the tutorial here!
See the previous free blocks here!
Designer Give-Away
Celebrate fall and English paper piecing with Emily’s popular Pumpkin Patches table runner. Leave a comment on on her blog for a chance to win a copy of the pattern and an assortment of twenty 2.5″ squares to get started on your own family of pumpkins.
