Robin Pickens
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Wine Not! from Jen Kingwell and Moda Blockheads

1/27/2021

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Wine Not! from Jen Kingwell is an easy block this week with a lovely diamond shape. This block looks great square or set on point. This is the very light end of my brown row and the soft warm colors look calm and comfortable.
Wine Not by Jen Kingwell in Thatched and Ombre Confetti
In playing with the color studies, I liked how the shapes can have a strong arrow form or emphasize the outer diagonals or the inner quarter square triangle center. The last one feels a little dimensional with the center having light and shadow as if it were a pointed pyramid triangle.
Wine Not color studies from Robin Pickens
For my pieced all-Thatched version block, I used a couple of my new shades that are shipping at the beginning of February. The center dark brown is 164 Chocolate Bar and the light tans are 156 Toast with the lighter 158 Washed Linen.
Wine Not by Jen Kingwell in Robin Pickens Thatched
My print version uses a fabric that has been quite prevalent in my brown row, Ombre Confetti from V&Co. The ombre gradations make it easy to find the light and dark levels you want within a block while keeping the colors harmonious. I love those little pops of confetti!
Wine Not by Jen Kingwell in Robin Pickens and V&Co fabrics
Pop on over to Jen's blog for her Wine Not! pattern. 
Jen Kingwell's blog for Wine Not!
And since I'm sharing brown blocks this week, here is one I did last weekend to catch up on a missed week. It is Intersection from Stacy Iest Hsu in Thatched and Solana.
Intersection from Stacy Iest Hsu in Robin Pickens fabrics Moda Blockheads
Next week is the last block and then it is time for joining and finishing. I love seeing what you all are piecing together on the facebook page. Keep sewing!
Wine Not by Jen Kingwell in Robin Pickens fabrics - Moda Blockheads
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RADIANCE BLOOM Mini Quilt

1/22/2021

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To celebrate the new colors of Thatched basics that are joining the group, I've got a FREE mini quilt pattern to share! Here is "Radiance Bloom"! The pattern PDF to download is further down on this blog post, so keep reading.
FREE Radiance Bloom Mini Quilt Pattern from Robin Pickens in new Thatched colors
This mini quilt finished at 12 1/2" x 17" and is made from a MINI CHARM PACK and background of one FAT QUARTER. Add another fat quarter for the binding and one for backing and you have a fun flower ready to bloom on your wall. I called it Radiance Bloom since the petals seem to radiate out from the center. 
Thatched fabric half square triangles by Robin Pickens
I love to collect Mini Charms with their sweet size of  2 1/2" squares. When paring them to make half square triangles, you end up with 1 1/2" finished blocks. I wanted to show off the new pretty colors that Moda Fabrics just added to Thatched, which created a warm and spicy colored mix of petals. Since I didn't have an actual Mini Charm yet, just some sample swatches, I cut my pieces to the 2 1/2" size to start. But I love that this part would be so fast with a precut pack of those squares. 
New Thatched Fabric colors in Robin Pickens' Radiance Bloom
I think of these as almost fall-like colors and think it would be fun to do a mix for a spring flower, summer flower or winter flower. I love the new color called "Chalkboard Scribbles" and mocked one up on the computer using that as my background and my petals in Blizzard White, Washed Linen and Toast. This is the Radiance Bloom I will make next! I also think this would look fun with the background in Washed Linen as shown on my initial printouts. I can't wait to incorporate this more into some of my future blocks as a nice light neutral color.
Radiance Bloom Color Studies from Robin Pickens
And since I'm playing with it...how about a night time blue (this one on the lower right has a background of Dark Washed Indigo) with blue petals glowing in the moonlight? The stem is Green Curry and Olive and the petals are Forget Me Not, Periwinkle and Dutch Iris.
Radiance Bloom Mini Quilt pattern in new Thatched colors from Robin Pickens
I hope you have fun playing with this fun little free pattern. Maybe even make a row of flowers in the garden with multiple blooms! My friend Pam (from Serendipity Woods) will be sharing an adorable scrappy bloom she made too from this pattern, so check her feed on instagram in the coming days (@serendipitywoods) and I'll post my winter one as soon as that is done (@robinpickens). Plant some color, enjoy some new Thatched shades, click on the PDF link right below to get your pattern and HAPPY SEWING!
​-Robin
radiance_bloom_miniquilt_robinpickens_1.22.21.pdf
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Windmills from Janet Clare for Moda Blockheads

1/20/2021

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Windmills Color Studies from Robin Pickens Moda Blockheads
Happy Moda Blockheads Wednesday! Janet Clare brings us this week's block "Windmills" with a fun pinwheels in a group of 4 blocks. I like how the block can be rounded off forms around the pinwheels or emphasize those corner points to change that outer shape. The second one reminds me of ribbons running through the center of the block with sparkly quadrants. The third one has depth in the corners within the 4 centers from the dark and light focused to the outer corners. The last one is a colorful party of windmills!
Moda Blockheads Windmills from Janet Clare in Robin Pickens fabric
My blocks were cut out before I did color studies so I stayed pretty close to the original layout. This is the last one for my orange row and I wanted to mix in some yellow for the lighter range, and dark Tangerine for the darker range. 
Thatched from Robin Pickens in Windmills from Janet Clare Moda Blockheads
My Thatched fabrics show off the flip side for the pale orange rectangle sides. I used triangle paper for making my HST. With 32 HST per block, and 2 blocks, it seemed best to simplify my colors for those elements and use the papers so I didn't have to do extra trimming.
Moda Blockheads Windmills from Janet Clare in Robin Pickens' Abby Rose
Fabrics from Abby Rose bring in the orange prints on my scrappy block. I stayed with consistent orange/yellow HST from my first block to be most efficient with the HST making. The rectangle sides were the place to swap out prints to play with my Thatched fabrics.
Windmills in Thatched and Abby Rose -Robin Pickens fabrics in Janet Clare's block
Hop on over to Janet's blog for the pattern this week and have fun with windmill motion and HST fun!
Windmills from Janet Clare
Moda Blockheads Windmills from Janet Clare in Robin Pickens fabric
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Bear Cubs Round the Campfire

1/13/2021

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Moda Blockheads Robin Pickens Bear Cubs Campfire
It is my week for the Moda Blockheads quilt block and I am feeling a little sentimental that this is all wrapping up soon. I have had such a good time! Last year I sewed the sampler but was not one of the block designers. This year, the excitement of sharing blocks I've envisioned has been a highlight to my months.  The connection through online communities and sewing has been more important than ever with the changes we have all been going thorough with quarantines and working from home. In weeks that have blurred into other weeks, one thing has been steady...the fun and creativity of Wednesday block releases for Moda Blockheads.

Thank you all for being a part of this quilt journey and community! I hope you are excited with your evolving quilts. And for this week's addition, block 53 is "Bear Cubs Round the Campfire." I've been enjoying some projects with Bear Paw blocks and liked the idea of a simpler corner with a small paw. With all four corners surrounding a center block, it felt like smaller bears, or little bear cubs, sitting around the fire pit or campfire. I have actually been camping when a big, tall bear came into our campsite. He/she smelled the food cooking and we banged the pots and pans to scare the bear away. For this quilt block, I envision these bears to be smaller and so much more friendly!
Moda Blockheads Robin Pickens Bear Cubs Campfire Solana
I took the opportunity to put my little farmhouse from Solana into the center square on my print version. Greens with a little pop of blue is my theme and the farmhouse is warmed up with some happy sunflowers. For my all-Thatched version, I've got greens from Painted Meadow, Solana and Abby Rose, along with the original basics Pine and Chartreuse. I used the flip side of the Solana light green to get the lightest outer shades.
Moda Blockheads Robin Pickens Bear Cubs Campfire Vert
Speaking of Thatched...I recently announced that Moda is releasing another 25 colors into the basics line! It will be shipping either this month or February. I am thrilled to have more colors to play with and can't wait to experiment with more color combinations. Check back to my blog in the next few days because I will be releasing a NEW FREE mini quilt pattern that uses a Mini Charm. I'll have it as a download on my blog. I've got it shown in the new Thatched colors and I am loving the spicy warm colors and new periwinkle/cornflower blues.
Thatched fabrics from Robin Pickens and Moda- 25 new colors
But lets get on to the COLOR STUDIES! And of course the pattern and then, please enter to win a layer cake of SOLANA (enter on the Facebook Moda Blockheads page on my announcement post with the picture of my sewn blocks). The pattern is here - just click the gray bar right below this paragraph. But to see mockups and learn more about the GIVEAWAY, keep reading...
BEAR CUBS ROUND THE CAMPFIRE Quilt Block Pattern
When first planning this block, I had a red center square for the "fire" but as I played with it and realized it was going to live in my green row of the quilt, I switched out center colors and added more subtle bands of color in the middle of the sides. I also liked looking at this with warm colors on a dark background, and again tried those bands in a different value of the lighter brown.
Bear Cubs Round the Campfire Robin Pickens color studies4
Next I tried emphasizing the squares in the middle, either through light and dark or a highlighted color. On the last one I dropped out the corners on the inner box so it reads like a big chunky plus sign.

Bear Cubs Round the Campfire Robin Pickens color studies3
The facets of cut glass? 70's supergraphics? More continuation of color from piece to piece and the illusions of lines turning corners. It is exciting that this doesn't resemble a bear paw any more.
Bear Cubs Round the Campfire Robin Pickens color studies2
And finally, a little rainbow love with a color wheel of color showing up in those corners. I like these as a pair with the light and the dark background. 

Bear Cubs Round the Campfire Robin Pickens color studies
So of course I had to stay up late and make these! I didn't have good enough light to photograph last night so I added these to the post later. I did these as 12" blocks (my green ones are 8") and I think that adding some extra borders would increase the size to nice pillow covers.
Bear Cubs Quilt Blocks in rainbow colors and Thatched fabrics
I've used some of the new Thatched colors in these. The background below is so fun to try out! It is called Chalkboard Scribbles and is basically the reverse of Heather from the first group (grey lines on white). There is a crisper white on white called Blizzard and deep and dramatic tonal Soft Black.
New Thatched colors with white and black neutrals for Moda Fabrics and Robin Pickens
Thank you for all your lovely comments about the color studies over the weeks! I have greatly enjoyed doing them and sharing the mockups.

GIVEAWAY INFO:
I'll be drawing a person to win a Layer Cake of SOLANA fabric. Please enter by commenting on my post in the Moda Blockheads FACEBOOK group (my post with the photo of these green blocks, not the color study one) and tell me what flowers you would like to see me do on a future fabric collection. I'll be picking a winner next Tuesday the 19th.
Solana Layer Cake and Robin Pickens quilt block- Bear Cubs Campfire
Thank you all for sewing along and may 2021 bring health and happiness to everyone!
Solana Layer Cake and Robin Pickens quilt block- Bear Cubs
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New Thatched Colors Released for 2021

1/2/2021

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I've been bursting at the seams, ready to celebrate MORE Thatched colors and I can finally share! What a beautiful way to start the new year with more colors and possibilities.
New Thatched Colors for 2021 Moda Fabrics and Robin Pickens
Because New Years is a time of making plans and goals and looking ahead, I can't help but include these new colorful friends in my future planning. I like the warm and earthy shades that will be so welcoming in a fall quilt. The names evoke a warm and spicy meal with Masala Spice, Smoked Paprika, Green Curry, Olive and a little sweet with Honeycomb. The crisp blues that have purple mixed in to make a lovely garden with Dutch Iris, Periwinkle, Bluebell and Forget Me Not. These might be great in a spring quilt. 
2021 Thatched spicy colors and blues
Want more drama? Soft black is a nice dark black to balance Blizzard, the white on white tonal print. There are more neutrals with this group including Toast, Sand Castle, and Washed Linen. I really like how the light neutrals make a calming palette and look so pretty with all the colors. We have brought back some of the warmer grays of Charcoal and Stone.
2021 Thatched neutrals
This new group adds 25 new colors to the Thatched family, 22 of which are brand new colors and three that are brought back from earlier collections. Swatch color cards are in the works for shops and I'm thinking some postcards with a color chart might be helpful. I made up my own little swatches to help with identifying and designing with the colors. 
Thatched fabric swatches from Robin Pickens
If you would like to make your own swatch sample cards to use as you have little scraps left from projects, please download the file below and print on an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper or heavier cover weight paper. You can then fill in the number and name of the fabric you used to help keep track for future projects. The jpeg file has 6 rectangles you cut and  fold over and attach fabric in the middle with glue or a stapler.
thatched_color_swatch_cards-01.jpg
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This is what the jpeg file looks like:
Thatched individual swatch card template
Or if you want a digital representation to refer to, use this chart for the new colors. I'll be adding a new and improved chart to the side bar of the blog with all the Thatched colors together once I have my color card to make sure I've got them all covered.
25 New Thatched colors from Robin Pickens and Moda Fabrics
Stay tuned for more Thatched sharing. I've got a fun mini quilt project that is a FREE pattern and uses a mini charm of Thatched and a fat quarter of background fabric, a fat quarter of backing and fat quarter of binding fabric. AND there is a new pattern I am releasing with some pillow covers that are shown with the new Thatched colors. Till then, enjoy this start of the new year and happy sewing!
New Thatched Colors for 2021
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    Designer of colorful florals for Moda fabrics. Modern to transitional quilt designer. Illustrator, sewist, crafter.

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