I am eagerly anticipating the start of not one, but TWO sew alongs that I am running this year. This is my first time having my own sew along, so I'm going to go ahead and just apologize for whatever funny glitches and things happen on my learning curve. But it is time to start and get more comfortable with doing more video sharing. I hope you will come along for the journey! This also means it is time to open a Facebook Group. This group is for those of you who like sewing with my fabrics and patterns. Maybe you have questions. Or hopefully you want to SHARE pictures of the things you are making with my fabrics and/or patterns! This is that space for sharing and supporting one another. I'll also run the sewalongs from the group page and hope to see lots of leaf blocks popping up as the sew along gets going. Want to join the group? Visit Robin Pickens Sew Happy Community and ask to join. https://www.facebook.com/groups/762206228564958 I will do some facebook lives and then post those to youtube as we get going with the sew alongs. I'll also be running a poll to find out when you like to attend a live feed...mornings? During the week or weekends? I'll also be having a few prizes for some random folks who POST their progress while we sew along. No, you don't have to keep to my schedule. But participation and sharing, wherever you are at, is encouraged! TSo lets talk about LEAF PRESS. It was Lissa Alexander from Moda Fabrics who suggested a leaf sampler. I THOUGHT I was done designing my group of patterns for the Forest Frolic fall collection until she mentioned the idea and then I just couldn't get it out of my head. This might have ended up being my favorite quilt design from the group (although it is still a close toss up with Oak Grove Square). I like the nice lap size and range of leaf types and there is something that feels a little modern as a sampler to me. The number of blocks and variety of leaf types works out nicely to a weekly sewalong where we do couple units a week. We'll be starting at the end of August and finishing up around the middle of October. You will need to buy a pattern. This pattern is in a larger size 8 1/2 x 11" booklet for diagraming all those leaf shapes! Check with your local shops to see if they are carrying it or check my online shop at RobinPickensINC.com. A document with the tentative schedule is in the facebook group FILES. I've only made this particular quilt in the new Thatched Buttermilk background but wanted to mock it up on the computer in the dark brown Mocha color. I like that too! The fabric specifications for Leaf Press include: 13 Fat Eighths for those leaves. Now I'm sure someone will ask if they can use a Layer Cake of 10" squares. YES you can. One layer cake should be enough. It would also work well as a scrappy quilt. Instead of Fat Eighths you can assemble 7 Fat Quarters for leaves. While playing around with the ideas for this quilt, I wanted to try it in colors as well that were NOT about fall. What about a springy palette? Or fall colors in all Thatched? Rachel from Santa Monica Sewing Arts suggested a Christmas palette... On this last one, I've made it more minimal in terms of the variety of colors. The greens are a little accent and the while, washed linen and oatmeal are all from 1/2 yard of fabric. Makes me think of snowy leaves with a layer of thick frost. What if you want to do one of these...or if you have a quilt shop and want to kit some of these versions? I'm including all the specific fabric colors here and they are also listed in the FILES section of the facebook group. If you do have a shop, please fill out and email us the form so we can compile a data sheet of shops that are carrying the Forest Frolic fabric, Thatched fabrics, Thatched Widebacks, bias binding, etc. to share with folks who are looking for places to order. The blue "download file" is a pdf of the specs I am listing below. I'll have more info next week on my monthly sew along, Oak Grove Square. I will do some color studies for that one as well (but not as many). I hope to see you sewing along with me this fall.
One last note...Forest Frolic is shipping NOW from Moda! Yay!!
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About ROBINDesigner of colorful florals for Moda fabrics. Modern to transitional quilt designer. Illustrator, sewist, crafter. I am proud to be a designer for Moda Fabrics!
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