Glorious Autumn Block Party – Kim Lapacek and the Fat Quarter Shop

Hi everyone! Welcome to Block 40 of our Glorious Autumn Block Party. Today we have Kim Lapacek as our featured designer and the Fat Quarter Shop has a fabulous Super Deal. Be sure to check out Kim’s great give-away too!

Visit the Block Party Headquarters for more info and upload your completed blocks to the Flickr group.

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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 City Streets by Jamie Wood for Clothworks Fabrics! Use coupon code: citystreets at checkout! Deal ends December 11th, 2012!

Get your Super Deal Savings here!

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Featured Designer: Kim Lapacek

How did you get into quilting?

I made my first quilt when I was five years old. Sewing by hand and using the scraps of fabric I found in my mom’s rag bin – including the furry toilet seat cover!

I continued to create throughout my younger years and when I met my husband I discovered that his mom is an accomplished quilter and quilting teacher. I started out taking lessons from her once a week – and it included dinner! I have continued to grow in my love for quilting and now even do a little teaching myself.

How/when/why did you transition from a quilter to a designer?

As I became more comfortable with the process of piecing blocks together through various quilt alongs I started to design my own blocks. I’m a fairly recent designer – in fact, I did my very first block tutorial for Quilting Gallery’s Block Party last year! That gave me confidence and have since even designed my own pattern, Spinning Nines, and taught it at the 2012 Quilt by Barb Quilt Retreat.

Which quilt is your favourite? Did you design it? Why is it your favourite?

I struggled with this as my quilts seem to be all so different. I have to go with the one I’m most proud of at this moment – “Amazing Technicolor Dream Quilt”. I used a free form quilting technique in a color wheel feel to create it and I used only fabrics from my stash. I just love that I see something different every time I look at it! This was one of those ‘dreams’ I’d been having that actually worked when I set it into motion.

How many UFOs do you currently have? Hmm…good questions. I think about have about 10 or so…

What size of quilt do you prefer to make/design? Wall Art quilts, although lately I’ve been making lots of lap quilts.

What colour do you use most often in your quilts? I had to look around my living room to find the answer to this and I think I would have to go with green or blue, but I really do use all colors pretty often…

Favourite one-sentence tip for a new quilter: A good teacher makes all the difference.

Favourite size and brand of rotary cutter: Fiskar’s – a bigger one for cutting strips, the tiny one for curved cutting.

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Block Party #40 – Postage Stamp Tree

Here’s Kim’s colourful block: Postage Stamp Tree. An excellent block for using up those tiny scraps. Head over to Kim’s blog to download the tutorial.

See the previous free quilting blocks!

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Designer Give-Away

Kim’s give-away: I’ll be giving away one of my unique, hand-dyed fabric wrap bracelets as shown in the picture. These are a new style of jewelry that I came up with. I love the look they have on a wrist alone or stacked with other bracelets. It has also been a great way to use up my strips of fabric! I will also be giving away the letter ‘Q’ Typewriter Key Adjustable Ring. These quirky rings have been a top seller in my etsy shop and at local craft fairs. I think ‘Q is for Quilting’ is perfect for this give-away!

Visit Kim’s blog to enter her give-away.