For the past 8 or 9 years [wow, is that actually possible?] each month, usually on the 3rd friday night of that month, from dinner time until midnight, I get to do something fun, educational and inspirational... and I get paid for it. I gotta tell you... I love my job!
I teach a monthly drop in quilting/sewing class at one of my local quilt shops to a group of ladies, most of whom have by now become long time friends more than students. Each Friday we bring potluck goodies to share, stories to tell, projects to work on and anything else that needs a little help to get finished up... whether Fig Tree related or not.
Over the years, you would not believe some of the conversations we have had and the husbands that have dropped by with "something that the wife forgot" to check up & see if it was really true that their beloved was actually sewing at a quilt shop until midnight on a Friday! Many have left scratching their head in wonder and a lack of understanding!
This past Friday I met with my ladies as usual and was once again awed and inspired at the wonderful creations they had come up with made from my fabrics. Two in particular caught my eye so much because they were a PERFECT example of that 80%/20% principle that I have been going on about for years now.
I am told that every opportunity I get, I try to explain this to folks: any one given Fig Tree fabric collection is certainly a unified whole, designed to create well rounded, beautiful projects. However, no single fabric collection can contain all the colors and prints that one might need to create something truly unique, with more depth and a distinct feel and design. A collection is indeed a whole and can yield wonderful things but adding 20% from another collection can create amazing results. That different 20% might just add the different dark, light or "POP" that the project needs. It might add that needed unexpected, different tone of the same color or something with a completely different scale or feel that will really make the project shine.
We design our collections to meld into one another, one into the next. Different from one another in print and color but with enough overlap to make it simple to use the groups together to create projects with depth & breadth.
When I saw these 2 projects last Friday night, I knew I wanted to show you the results. The lighting in the shop at night wasn't the greatest so the photography could definitely be a bit better but....
Jelly Girl pattern made with a combination of Patisserie and Fig & Plum fabrics [pattern original uses just Patisserie]. Feels like a summer beach vacation to me. I am pretty sure that I will have to make one of these in the next couple of months! Quilt by Meredith Harbaugh.
Here below is the fabulous pattern, Vintage Stars, by Mr. Joe Wood, co-owner of the quilt shop where we gather, & the designer behind his own pattern company, Piece by Piece Quilts. Joe has recently started his own blog that chronicles his love of quilting, old tv shows, pop culture and exclamation marks... if you're not sure what I mean, go and see & you'll know... right away.
This version uses a combination of Fig & Plum and Gypsy Rose [pattern original used just Fig & Plum], along with scraps from several other past Fig Tree collections. I was just mesmerized by the color combinations on this one! Quilt by Wilma Lawrence.
Hope you enjoyed all that verbage & the pretty quilts.
Talk to you later.
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