I am delighted to tell you about my new fabric collection! The designs were inspired by the old-fashioned Hollyhocks seen growing along the fences in most gardens. In our area, hummingbirds are a common sight, as they flit from flower blossom to blossom. You can preview the entire collection here on Timeless Treasures’s website:   Hollyhock Gardens

I am also working on some great designs that I’ll post in the coming days! Ask your local quilt shop to carry the collection. The colors are bright and cheery, with a range of pieces that will also blend into the stash you currently own.

There are four floral / leaf prints: an all-over leaf in dark greens (suitable for background, or fussy-cutting the leaves for applique), a small-scale pink tossed Hollyhock flower print (great, bright color – the blossoms could also be used as petunias, or hybiscus if you embroidered their distinctive stamen). The leaf and flower sizes are about 1-1/2″ to 2″ in these prints.

The second pair of prints are larger scale – about 1-1/2″ to 3-1/2″ in size. The large hollyhock print features teal blue hummingbirds here & there, and the matching border has 4 repeats, selvage to selvage. The images are so pretty! They are perfect for fussy-cutting as applique motifs, or cutting large chunks for easy piecing!

I am teaching the Framed Diamonds / Dancing African Ladies quilt in Grand Junction, Colorado, Oct. 15, 2011. The location is Quilters’ Corner in Grand Junction. Due to my travel schedule, I am unable to loan out the original Dancing African Ladies quilt. Therefore, I selected two related fabrics from my stash (these are older fabrics, no longer available):

(Cutting directions available in the Quick Diamond Quilts book).  I cut the tropical floral print at a 22.5-degree angle (to control the grainline) and sub-cut into 45-degree angles. The grain runs through the center of the diamonds, and the quilt will be stable once it is pieced.  I also cut the striped fabric on an angle, and sub-cut into quarter diamonds. These are the ruler sets I used, in addition to the long 6″ x 24″ ruler.

click the image above to order the Fussy Cutter diamond rulers, or the Quarter and Half ruler set

I sewed combinations of framed diamonds, and arranged them on my design wall. I alternated a pieced diamond with a floral diamond, all arranged in rows. The edges looked a little too “blendy” between the striped diamonds and the print, so I added a narrow dark brownish batik fabric trim at the edges of the striped diamonds.

I pieced the rows of diamonds diagonally, creating larger sections, and finally assembled the entire top. I sewed 3 fabrics together, creating borders. The borders were added, and the corners mitered finish the design.

I have been off the blog for a while now. My travel schedule has been steady, and our summer was filled with family reunion, bathroom remodel at home, shipping, teaching, travel between engagements, and so on!

 I have gotten a couple of sewing projects completed. The first is a quilt design that originated with two fabrics (above). I created the Dancing African Ladies quilt – and it is a featured pattern in my book, Quick Diamond Quilts and Beyond.

My son and his wife really like this quilt, and I wanted to make them a quilt using the same fabrics and diamond technique, but add a pre-printed panel from the Julia Cairns African collection (the fabrics are no longer for sale).

(click image to go to Julia Cairns’ website)

The diamonds were oriented in a radiating star placement, slightly off-center, with the sunshine (in the panel) as the central radiating point. The pieced elements were completed, and the panel was appliquéd into the pieced diamonds. Here is the finished quilt – machine quilted by Sylvia Fox.

 

Dancing African Ladies Starburst with printed panel by Jan P. Krentz, 2011