Splendid Sampler Day!

Thanks for stopping by here on your SPLENDID SAMPLER adventure.. and quite an adventure it has turned out to be. Who knew it would be this kind of world wide phenomenon??  If you don't know about it, go HERE to  learn more about it!

THE SPLENDID SAMPLER

In a nutshell, the Splendid Sampler is a year-long quilt-along hosted by Pat Sloan and Jane Davidson. Each week they provide 2 new 6″ x 6″ quilt blocks, designed by dozens of different designers, 83 total to be exact I think!

If you want to see more, go to the Splendid Sampler Facebook Group to see all the fun so many of you are having!

I sure hope you guys are enjoying working on the huge variety of blocks and the myriad of techniques that people have been using over the weeks and months. Its really a wonderful way to work on stretching your boundaries and learning new skills… I am amazed at all the different techniques and methods that are being used for the blocks. 

Even though my design schedule has prevented me from really jumping into the process of making other blocks, I sure have enjoyed watching you all!

… we have been all about the SHERBETS & CREAMS around here this summer. Click HERE to learn more!

 

A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ME

…my Sunshine quilt, made with a fun rainbow of Fig Tree prints and colors.

 

For those of you who don't yet know me, here is a bit of my story: 

My name is Joanna Figueroa and my business name is Fig Tree & Company [it used to be called Fig Tree Quilts and many people still use the name interchangeably]. I have been designing quilt, bag and accessory patterns for over 16 years and have been a fabric designer for MODA for almost as long.

… Strawberries for Sale. I have a serious thing for flour sack patterns.

 

Wow… that sounds like a really long time when I read it out loud. During the journey I have written books, contributed to dozens of magazines, taught throughout the world, designed other products and generally kept myself busy and entertained… usually doing much more than a person should at any given moment LOL! I can't imagine doing anything else as a career and I am thankful for my job and my work partners every day!

… one of my current favorite quilts, BLUE RIBBON in our upcoming Chestnut Street collection.

 

My husband Eric and I work on the business together, lead a wonderful group of ladies who work with us and rope in the kids whenever we possibly can. Our oldest is off to college in the fall, we have one in high school and our youngest daughter is in middle school. The oldest one was an infant when we started this crazy adventure! I couldn't really do any of this without their support.

There has been a lot going on here in the studio this summer with wool and block of the month programs and our special Little Box of Figs. 

... Month #6 blocks of the 2016 MYSTERY SAMPLER BOM.

Regardless of how many summers I think that it will slow down and let me catch up a bit… I am always wrong! One of my main "extra" goals this summer has been to do a major clean up of my office and studio… well, so far that office is looking good and after hours and hours of work, I can honestly say that it is more organized than it has been in several years.

As for the studio… well let's just say there I still have hope and a month or so left of summer!

… and yes… before you say anything… this is totally cleaned up and organized! I love to be surrounded by inspiration and color always!!

 

THE SPLENDID SAMPLER FABRIC

But enough about me and back to the Splendid Sampler... I am very honored to share that one of the two main colorways that are being used for the sampler is based on my Strawberry Fields Revisited collection along with Vanessa's lovely Little Miss Sunshine. What fun it was to find out that this was the color grouping that Pat and Jane had chosen. Thank you ladies! Thank you MODA for your generosity for provided it to all the designers. You  guys are the best!

… Strawberry Fields Revisited bundle. 

 

THE BLOCK

My block is called Flights of Fancy or at least that is its official name. I always end up looking at blocks and calling them all kinds of things that are never the "right" thing though… flying geese cross, intersection block… I don't know, maybe Bertha? No, she doesn't look much like a Bertha. Maybe Suzie Q? But I digress.

Working on this block was really a lot of fun. I loved how each section of the block gave me an opportunity to showcase another fabric. Let me tell you that Pat and Jane sent over so many fabrics to choose from that it was quite hard to say no to some and yes to others! I wanted to make sure to use both the Strawberry Fields Revisited fabrics as well as Vanessa's. I was quite pleased with how well they all played together. 

Click HERE for the official Splendid Sampler post and pattern download.

 

 

A FEW TIPS

One of my favorite techniques that I use in most of my patterns and books is what I have come to call THE SEW & FLIP METHOD. As I have taught students of all levels, I have found that this method almost always produces better and more accurate results for the most number of quilters. It is basically a way to avoid using bias and half-square triangles almost entirely. It used squares and rectangles, sewing pieces together on the diagonal, all the time completely avoiding cutting triangles and struggling with bias. I love it!

THE SEW & FLIP METHOD OUTLINED

Whenever possible, I use rectangles, squares & the “sew and flip” method in lieu of making ½ square triangles. In general, but especially with smaller pieces, I find that you have a lot more control & accuracy with this method and you can make all kinds of great final blocks with this method. 

#1- Press or pencil draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of your top fabric and use it as your sewing line.

#2- Line up the 2 pieces  RST & sew them together on that drawn line. 

#3- Press the top piece out & with scissors trim out all the excess fabric from behind, leaving a ¼” seam allowance. Accuracy is not really that important here because you are simply trimming out excess fabric and the two pieces have already been sewn together.

When the fabric on top is cream, trim out both the cream & the fabric underneath. When the fabric on top is the color, trim only the excess color and leave the cream background intact. This gives your piece even more stability [since you are basically leaving a foundation of sorts] and ensures even more accuracy. Please refer to this method with all of the units pieced for this block.

 

Thanks for joining me and happy stitching,

Joanna

Fig Tree DESIGNER SELECT SOLID BUNDLE… brought to you by MODA!

If you are new here today, welcome to my little corner of the world wide web! 

I know I have already talked just a wee bit about these this summer but today is a special day in blogland. It is MODA BELLA SOLIDS DAY! If you float around a little today, you might notice that several of us designers are talking about our bundle… all of them are quite yummy, each representing the colors in that designer's signature palette.

Ours is…. well, classic Fig Tree. Not pastel. Not primary. Not totally bright, not totally soft. Somewhere in-between. "Fresh Vintage" is how we have always called it. But this bundle can be best described as plain SHERBET… there is no two ways around it. SHERBETS all of them!

Our BELLA SOLID colors include the following: ivory, butterscotch, cantaloupe, coral, persimmon, light lime, chartreuse, mint, green apple, parchment, fig tree wheat and faded black.

MODA offers them DESIGNER SELECT SOLIDS BUDNLES in these yummy little stacks of fat quarters available at quilt shops worldwide and we also offer them in 1/2 yds. on our site HERE. 

When it came time to make some quilts with the bundles… well, we went a bit SHERBET crazy and created an entire book full of them. I guess I'm not nothing if not a bit obsessive… wait, did I say that out loud?

 

Introducing the SHERBETS & CREAMS book.

The book celebrates these lovely little sherbet bundles and all that you can create with them. It has 5 quilts that are all made with the FIG TREE SELECT BUNDLES and a variety of cream/low volume prints for the backgrounds. Each quilt uses either 1-2 of the fat quarter bundles or a single 1/2 yard version bundle, a variety of cream prints [we have cream print bundles too] and sometimes a bit extra of some of the solids for borders, etc. Each pattern in the book specifies exactly what you will need for each one, each one is a bit different.

 

 

Here are the quilts in the SHERBETS & CREAMS book. Click HERE for more info…

SLICES

 

 

  

 

POPSICLES

 

 

 

 

 

RIBBONS

 

 

 

...If you scroll back in the blog, you will find that we recently had a quilt along for this RIBBONS quilt. Feel free to jump in even now!

 

JELLO SQUARES

 

RETRO

Personally, I am loving every single one of these for the summer. Next up on my personal list… Jelly Squares!

Hope you enjoy a little FIG TREE SHERBET goodness this summer along with me!

Comment and let us know which one of the 5 quilts in the book is your favorite and you will be entered to win a SHERBET BUNDLE GIVEAWAY courtesy of the lovely folks at MODA.

Thanks for following and playing along!

Aurifil Chubby Churn Dash Mini

Today's post brought to you by the lovely folks at Aurifil. No, not really at all.

But it is all about how much I love my Aurifil!

... our large spool collection shown here.

... our Somerset MINI CHARM & Small Spool Thread collection shown here. Included with this kit is a fun free spool pattern as well [shown below]!

I am so glad to continue Fig Tree's partnership with my favorite thread company! I really can't say enough wonderful things about their threads, their colors, their quality and how lovely it is to work with the classy folks at Aurifil. Thank you Alex, Elena, Kim,  Dario and everyone else!

Besides working on some new goodies together, today I also happen to be be this month's AURIFIL DESIGNER OF THE MONTH! And I have had so much fun dreaming up this month's MINI!

Click HERE for more info, a really fun interview and a lot of great Fig Tree pics.

Inspired by the Fig Tree version of the Aurifil rainbow, I started working on this month's AURIFIL MINI QUILT. I played around with a bunch of different options but quickly settled on this one once I dreamt it up. I really love how it turned out and I really do think that the moment my next set of deadlines is done, I am going to work on a full size version...

 

 

 

 

 

I have the CHUBBY CHURN DASH MINI pattern available for you FREE over at the AURIFIL blog along with some answers to some fun questions!  Soooo…. go on over there and get stitching.

Click HERE for the pattern and more info. And also.....

BOTH OF OUR THREAD COLLECTIONS SHOWN ABOVE ARE 20% OFF RIGHT NOW in honor of being this month's Aurifil Designer. So if you have been waiting for the right moment to treat yourself to a little bit of Aurifil and Fig Tree goodness... well now might just be that moment!

Click HERE for the thread collections ON SALE!

Enjoy the Chubby Churn Dashes and those gorgeous threads!

 

Joanna

Moda Love Blog Tour Wrap-up

Thanks everyone for coming along on our tour, for shopping our sale and for helping us to have such a wonderful week! Its been a lot of fun to read so many of your comments and to find out what Fig Tree goodies you might be working on next.

I can't wait to see some of those projects finished! If you don't already, follow us on INSTAGRAM and tag me when you are working on something Fig Tree so I can see what you are up to. Its really such a fun way to keep up with each other in an informal way! We are figtreeandco in case you are looking for us.

I hope that you learned something fun and interesting about each and every one of us on this tour, I know I did!

Today I have a few quick things to share with you...

 

A NEW KIT

 

What started off as an impromptu Halloween mix kit a few years ago has become a highly popular annual event with an almost cult following of classic Halloween "flavored" kits each year and this year is no different! You guys are the best customers ever!

The kits are a wonderful mix of MODA designers and the oranges, greys, blacks and creams are handpicked to work together in these classic designs. This year's kit is a Halloween take on our very popular NAVAJO STARS pattern and we are so happy with the result [the quilt literally came back from Diana's this afternoon so it is not even bound]. Speaking of quilting... don't you love it???

Anyway, this year's kit consists of a bundle of 11 fabrics and a cream with dot fabric for the background. For more info, click HERE.

 

 

LAST DAY OF THE SALE

We have extended our 20% Pattern Sale through the end of today so if you haven't had a chance to go shopping yet, go for it! We hardly ever do sales like this so take advantage while you can! Click HERE to shop!

 

BLOG HOP WINNERS

I know this is why most of you are here today so here goes...

On September 7 at 4:21, Ginny said...

"9 in the body and 13 with titles. I have Pineapple and Fig that I just truly love and have on my list of makes but I think Jumpingjacks may just pull ahead of it!"

 

On September 11 at 5:57, Laura F. said...

I" count 13 total with the titles! I have had painted ladies on my list for a while but Sail Away is another one that I want to make for my nephew! He loves water and sailboats! Also, LOVE Somerset!! Beautiful!"

 

On September 5 at 5:55, Kay Eyles said...

"Navajo Star has just joined my must sew list, it looked amazing on your post, but love the mini fruits too. Moda Love appeared 13 times including titles, but 9 times in red throughout the post. Thanks for a fun giveaway."

So if you are Ginny, Laura or Kay, email us and we will get your goodies out to you. Each of you has won a Somerset precut [courtesy of the wonderful folks at MODA] and a few Fig Tree patterns! If you are international, we will pay the equivalent of domestic shipping.

Check back with us in the weeks to come to see what we are up to for Market!

And don't forget that Somerset yardage will start shipping soon and very soon. If you want to know more info about what is happening with us, sign up for our NEWSLETTER, HERE!

Talk to you soon!

 

 

 

MODA LOVE BLOG TOUR: FIG TREE DAY

 

... we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our newest collection, Somerset, in late September. We can't wait!

 

WELCOME TO FIG DAY ON THE MODA LOVE BLOG TOUR!

 

If this is your first time visiting here, welcome! My name is Joanna Figueroa and I have been designing fabric for MODA for over a decade now [wow that makes me feel a bit old!] and patterns for my company Fig Tree & Co and Fig Tree Quilts [over 200 patterns at this point... yikes!] for more years than I want to admit to :-). I also write books, travel to teach and teach online at Craftsy!

If this is your first time joining us for one of these fun tours, you are in for a treat! For each QUILT MARKET [Houston each October and various Spring locations in May] the designers who attend Market get together and create a special project for our SCHOOLHOUSE event [an educational event for store owners at Market] that we then share with you the following season in a blog tour. It is a wonderful way to see what everyone has been up to and what the new fabrics are. If you haven't been following along yet, you might really want to [and not just because there will be wonderful GIVEAWAYS on each and every stop on the tour]. HERE is the link to all of the designers on each day. Today I am joining the fun ladies from Basic Grey and Pat Sloan.

As always, the amazing brainchild behind these themes, ideas and projects is the amazing MODA LISSA. She knows way too many "interesting" things about all of us designers after all these years of working together so we just do whatever she tells us :-). We love her so much. MODA LOVE!!!

QUESTIONS

Question: When did you fall in love with quilting/textiles?

Answer: The year that I was married, we moved to a new town and I had a bit of extra time on my hands while I was working on my Masters degree. It was that year that I found and bought my first vintage quilt at a yard sale & signed up for a quilt class at our local "mall". I have no idea what made me do it in that particular moment other than I finally had a bit of time but I was hooked from the very first moment! I had admired textiles for a long time before that but that was definitely "the moment" of my conversion!

Question: When I teach workshops, I love...

Answer: it when people use my patterns in totally and completely new ways and with different fabric choices. It makes me feel like I "did my job" if I can see the cross over between my designs and completely different styles!

Question: What is your favorite MODA precut?

Answer: Most definitely a jelly roll. The jelly roll has inspired me to do so many new and different things that I don't think I would have ever tried had it not been for that little roll!

Question: What fuels you to create?

Answer: Its an addiction. I really can't help it. Seriously. People ask me all the time if I ever run out of ideas and I kind of laugh. I always have WAY MORE IDEAS THAN I HAVE TIME TO MAKE THEM. EVER.

VIDEO

Speaking of great ideas, here is a special little VIDEO from Market with some tips that I wanted to share with you about piecing strip sets and cutting angles! I know these are some basic tips but they have proven very, very useful to me over the years! Thanks Josh!

PATTERN

This time around, we all worked with one simple pattern that did such a great job of showcasing each and every newly debuted collection. HERE is the pattern if you want to try your hand at your own version. You can literally do it in one aftermoon, it's that straightforward!

 

... our Somerset version and my friend Cynthia's Somerset version with a red floral border.

We made our version from our upcoming SOMERSET fabric and backed it in our favorite butter yellow snuggle [see above]. Yum! I know this is going to be one of those quilts that the kids fight over simply because of the backing [we sell it on our site if you are in search of some].

As for the rest of us here at Fig Tree, well we got a little carried away...

... From the top left: Fig Tree greens and reds for a Christmas version, Honeysweet, Mirabelle, all Seafoam prints from several lines including Mirabelle, Fresh Cottons, Buttercup and others. Each one feels so very different!

But then we thought about MODA LOVE and about spreading it. So I challenged my monthly sewing group to choose some of their favorite Fig Tree collections and make one of their own. We had so much fun! MODA LOVE those ladies so much!! Thank you Laurie, Cheryl, Diana, Cynthia, Maggie, Mary, Anne, Patty and Joanie!

... Fig Tree Fresh Cottons, a mix of lighter Fig Tree prints, Kate Spain's Honey Honey and a mix of Fig Tree jewel tones.

We had so much fun each choosing a different Fig Tree fabric collection or themed grouping for each quilt and sewing up a storm. Since all the ladies "took" all of the latest collections that we had Layer Cakes for, I decided to make one from my all time favorite Kate Spain grouping, Honey Honey.  Serious MODA LOVE with these quilts!!

Some more about what we've been up to...

MODA LOVE: MY FAMILY

We took some time off this year to do some travelling with the family [get ready for a post about our most recent trip to Mexico soon]. As the kids get older it is getting more and more real that we won't have them here with us forever and want to enjoy them while we have them. Some of our trips have inspired new fabrics and products for me at the same time. I am nothing if not a crazy multi-tasker!

 

... Hawaii

 

... the British countryside

... Mexico

 

MODA LOVE: MINI QUILTS

We have been totally and completely bitten by the MINI bug! We just added 2 more patterns this summer and are working on several more for Market!

And the latest two...

 Oh my goodness, these are so much fun to make in between larger projects!

 

MODA LOVE: AURIFIL

Working with Aurifil this year has been more fun than we could have imagined and we are eagerly awaiting our new AURIKIT fabric/thread kit coming this month. To see the really exciting things that are happening with that kit, click HERE.

 

MODA LOVE: Somerset Patterns

Our newest pattern releases to accompany SOMERSET are some of all time favorite quilt patterns ever!

 

Navajo Stars [possibly one of my all time favorites]...

 ... hint, hint.... we are making this into a Halloween kit in the next week or so. Stay tuned!

Homestead in the Fresh version.

 

Sweet Sixteen in the aqua version.

 

and possibly the most perfect quilt to be making in the upcoming months, TWIRL. All made with 1 Jelly Roll!

MODA LOVE: What's Coming Next!!

Even though we love all of the goodies that we have shown you, it is hard not to look forward to what is coming too. We are debuting a new line in Houston this October and it is called Aloha Girl. Gee I wonder why!? There are some new colors and some new goodies in it. Stay tuned for more on that as Market approaches...

GIVEAWAY

So for all those of you you who have managed to read that whole long thing...  to enter the GIVEAWAY, comment and tell me how many times I mentioned MODA LOVE and what Fig Tree pattern is next on your TO DO LIST or WISH LIST!

SALE

Throughout the TOUR, we are having a crazy PATTERN SALE. 20% off all patterns !!!  Just enter the code MODALOVE during checkout! Shop HERE!

Thanks so much for playing along!

Join Us for the Pillowcase Challenge!!

We are so excited to join in on the wonderful... DRUM ROLL PLEASE....

AMERICAN PATCHWORK & QUILTING ONE MILLION PILLOWCASE CHALLENGE!!!!

 

 

Created by American Patchwork & Quilting and sponsored by the wonderful folks at MODA FABRICS [along with many others], this is not only a wonderful cause but really a lot of fun to do on your own or even more so with friends and I really hope that many of you join us and add to that quickly growing tally!! Aren't quilters amazing!?!?

So far we are at 568,688 pillowcases!

If you would like to follow along and join, please do!!

Click HERE to find out how to be counted in the official pillowcase tally on the APQ website.

 

HOW WE GOT STARTED

FIRST, our friends at MODA sent us a yummy stack of our upcoming SOMERSET fabrics to get the pillowcase ball rolling. Thank you lovely Lissa!

The Somerset fabrics will be in stores next month and precuts should be coming any day now! 

... LOL, these are not all fabrics sent for the pillows, just a nice fabric shot I happened to have. But the pillowcase stack was pretty generous too!

Since they sent so much fabric, I decided that in addition to the pillowcases we sewed in the studio and am showing you today that it would be a lot of fun to get my sewing friends together and sew some more.

As you are reading this, we are getting ready to sew tonite at our monthly Fig Tree Friday night. As soon as we are finished and I have snapped a couple pillowcase shots, I will post again next week to show you what we came up with.

 

SECOND, we scrolled the 43 lovely pillowcase patterns that APQ has so generously provided for us [click HERE for all the patterns] and decided on 2 classic favorites, the checkerboard and the prairie point.

 

 

We also used the special "pillowcase in a tube" method for all of our pillowcases [click HERE for that pattern specifically] and just changed up the cuff pattern on each. We love the finishing on this method and that everything is neat and tidy and with beautiful seams inside and out. It is the only way we make pillowcases at home. When we make them, we always use both a cuff and a 1" accent piece in between the pillowcase and the cuff.

 

 

THIRD, we chose our favorite local charity right here in San Leandro, the GEORGE MARK CHILDREN'S HOUSE  [click HERE for more info on them] , that we have worked with before.

Do you remember this fun event - HERE or HERE- earlier this year? That was an amazing experience and we were so proud to raise over $10,000 for George Mark!

We are looking forward to delivering all the pillowcases to them once we are done with the group sewing. The pillowcases will go to kids or their family members who are living at the hopsice.

 

A LITTLE BIT DISTRACTED

Speaking of pillowcases at home.... we got a bit carried away as we were working on goodies for this challenge and got inspired by some online ideas of making a loungeable pillow mat of sorts. So we pulled out a bit more of our stash, whipped up 3 standard pillowcases and simply sewed them together side by side.

 

The result? A wonderful lounging mat for our youngest who absconded with it the moment our photo shoot was done and told both of her broghers that they were not to steal it, use it, touch it or even look at it! I guess I will be making 2 more of these soon with more "boy" fabrics.

 

 

 

 

 

MORE WONDERFUL INFO...

By no means are we doing this on our own. We are joining an amazing group of other designers in this BLOG HOP. Please go and browse around to see what other designers are doing on their blogs today!!

 

·    Alison Glass (http://alisonglass.com/blog)

·    American Patchwork & Quilting (www.allpeoplequilt.com/blog)

·    Me & My Sister  (http://www.meandmysisterdesigns.com/blog/)

·    Benartex (http://www.sewinlovewithfabric.blogspot.com)

·    Debby Kratovil (http://debbykratovilquilts.blogspot.com/)

·    Laundry Basket (http://www.laundrybasketquilts.net/blog/)

·    How To Sew (www.howtosew.com)

·    Sis Boom (http://www.sisboom.com/blog/)

·    Fig Tree Quilts (http://figtreequilts.typepad.com/my_weblog/)

·    Freckled Whimsy (http://www.freckledwhimsy.com/)

·    Ann Kelle (http://www.annkelle.com/category/blog/)

·    Linda Carlson (www.lindacarlsonquilts.com)

·    Lori Mason (http://www.lorimasondesign.com/news/)

·    Modern Quilt Studio (http://craftnectar.com/)

·    Modern Handcraft (http://modernhandcraft.com/)

·    Patti’s Patchwork (www.pattispatchwork.com)

·    Shannon Fabrics (http://shannonfabrics.com/blog/index/)

·    Timeless Treasures (http://www.ttfabrics.com/blog/)

·    Valori Wells (http://www.valoriwells.com/blog/)

·    The Vintage Spool (http://freespiritfabric.blogspot.com/)

·    Ivory Spring (http://ivoryspring.wordpress.com/)

 

 

And, as they say, there is more!

 

 

A 24-hour SEWATHON is coming up in September. APQ is sponsoring one in their offices as are stores across the country. Check it out to see if there is one in your area! Join in the fun if you can, click HERE for all the info you might need!

 

It's Bag Day at Fig Tree!

 

I know most of you are here today to see who won the SPELL IT WITH FABRIC BLOG HOP... so let's get that out of the way first before I start talking to you about bags!

For the winner of the fat 1/8 bundle...

On 2/22 at 1:47 pm, Meredith said:

Anything made with you utterly beautiful fabrics will be amazing! I credit Fig Tree with changing my fabric palette from dark country to your stunning, fresh designs. I would love to see a fig tree quilt, with a centre medallion of a tree, or a basket quilt. Thanks for the constant inspiration and the chance to win!

Thanks Meredith for the awesome comments!

 

For the winner of the charm pack and bundle of mini charms...

On 2/20 at 2:09 am Laura Lynch said:

 

Joanna, First, I really LOVE your website & visit often for inspiration. Your fabrics & patterns are some of my all time favorites. I'd love to see something with a "French Farm or French Farmhouse" theme. Perhaps an applique design with a view from a window looking out over a window box with flowers to the gentle rolling hills, quaint stone walls/fences, sheep, cypress trees, gardens, etc. A bike charming bicycle w/basket leaning against an old stone wall/fence. Two chairs with an umbrella in between looking over a low stone wall to rolling hills. Another idea is to do a line of houses/cottages. You could name them with unique names Rosewood Cottage. Another idea would be to do "signs". In Europe they have some beautiful shaped & scripted signs. It would be nice have a "customized" sign like 'Welcome to the Lynch Home' or some inspirational saying or greeting.

 

Laura sure has some awesome pattern ideas!

For the winners of the pattern idea contest.... well you will have to get back to me on that one or I will have to get back to you actually! Several of the ideas are actually patterns that we are already working on and there were so many other great ideas out there that I really want to have some time to go through them and see what I can do. It does surely sound like we will have to do some kind of a Fig Tree sampler in the near future!!

Oh... and I had to share one customer's work.... OMG- she really took her SPELL IT WITH FABRIC BLOG ALONG seriously!!

 

 

Susan, you're amazing!

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE FOR FOLLOWING ALONG AND PARTICIPATING. I always love to have you!!

Now that that is all taken care of, I wanted to share a few new BAG goodies with you. Our best selling ONE PIECE BAG is available today as a kit. With the exact fabrics as shown on the pattern!

 

 

 Click HERE for more info.

We also have a few EVERYDAY ZIPS kits in the classic grey and red combination...

 

And finally we have several of the HEXIES bag kits with the Honeysweet collection as seen on the cover of the pattern. One Honeycomb pack will make up to 5 HEXIE bags! Each kit contains a full Honeycomb pack, gusset fabric and inside snap [button is not included in the kit] as well as the pattern.

 

 

Click HERE for more info on any of the above.

And HERE is the link for all of our bag patterns. Special offer this weekend... buy any one of our printed bag patterns [kits and pdf patterns not included] and we will include another bag pattern in your order FOR FREE! Can't beat that.

Now I know that some people have been having a little bit of trouble figuring out how all those hexagons fit together to make the bag so as soon as I have my next fabric collection done [in the next 2 days], I will do a tutorial on the blog about how to put these little guys together. So be ready with your pattern and we will work through it together. Check back in with me before the end of the week... and then pester me if I haven't posted it yet :-)!

Spell it With Fabric: Fig Tree Style

Welcome to the SPELL IT WITH FABRIC Blog Hop! If you didn't start following along yesterday [the first day of the hop] then you really should go back to yesterday's posts of A, B & C and learn some great things about Aneela, Anne, Sandy and Bonnie!

Today's posts will be D, E & F [that's us :-). If you follow along for the entire hop not only will you learn some fun things about all of us designers but you will also be able to collect all the letters of the alphabet as you go and enter to win some amazing giveaways in the process. Sounds like a party to me... Hope you join us!

Click HERE to go to the MODA CUTTING TABLE blog and get the list of everyone who will be posting on each day.

TODAY, here is the lineup.

FEBRUARY 18...
Piecing Directions - http://modafabrics.blogspot.com/
Deb Strain -  http://debstrain.blogspot.com/
Kathy Schmitz - http://kathyschmitzstudio.blogspot.com/
Fig Tree and Co. - http://figtreequilts.typepad.com/my_weblog/

MY LETTER IS F.

I am pretty sure I don’t nee to explain that one to you. I have been categorized under F from the day I married the Fig. My maiden name is Polish and started with a W and has no vowels and no one could ever pronounce it. I am happy to be the Fig. Although in order to have it continue, I did saddle all three of my children with it as one of two middle names. Oh well, I guess they will have to be spelling it for people for the rest of their lives too.

Sometimes we call the kids Figlets. They love that..... especially the teenagers! That was also the name of my very first business, Figlets, before it became Fig Tree. Its a good thing we love the fruit!

Click HERE to download our letter, F. We went a bit scrappy with ours using a mini charm pack of Mirabelle to have a little fun but you can go either plain with yours or scrappy like our version.

We thought most of these letters were a perfect opportunity to use up your scraps or mini charm packs! Ours will end up in a quilt with other scrappy letters.... some day later this year.

If fact not only have we done the F, but we have done many patterns over the years with letters in them. Most recently, we did the LOVE YOU MORE pattern.

 

 

... the teenagers favorite quilt, a 2 color LOVE YOU MORE quilt with a cream SNUGGLE backing. He won't share this one.

 

Before that we did many series with words and numbers in them. One of my favorites would have to be BUNNY DUET or SINGING IN THE RAIN... a little bit perfect for this time of the year.

BUT BACK TO THE HOP...

A little disclaimer: we were all asked to give all our answers with our letter. In my case, that would be F. When I first started writing this post, I couldn't think of anything that I wanted to write about that started with the letter F. I mean NOTHING. Other than FIGS... and that seemed a bit too obvous to write about.

So then I thought about writing a little disclaimer, about thanking Lissa for her creativity as always but that I was drawing a total blank and would have to use whatever I could come up with....

And then as soon as I decided that I just couldn't do it, the F's started coming...

I thought that I might tell you that I love lots of odd things like FRESH RADISHES with salt and butter, FETA CHEESE on almost anything and FIGURE 8's. I would be sharing that I love FAIRTYTALES, that I will never get a FACELIFT, that I really value FAITH and FAIRNESS, that I have a total thing for FALAFELS [I have in the process converted the whole family to love them in the process] and that I have always wanted to be a FARM GIRL in the worst possible way. I am always working on the husband to build me a chicken coop.

I would tell you that I am at least a little bit of a FEMINIST and that I would give anything to gather FIREFLIES in a jar again. I would share with you that I have always wanted to be a FLORIST [my dad and I even went as far as researching it several times earlier in my life] and that I collect FOLK ART of many different varieties. I would share that I think FOXGLOVES are quite beautiful even if they are poisonous and that my dad's favorite flower was always a FREESIA. I will be planting some of those soon to remember him.There is something about that scent.

I think FRECKLES are cute, especially on your nose. I would admit that I tried to play FRISBEE golf in college because the boy I liked did it and that I sucked. I would have to add that I have a soft spot for FRENCH FRIES, even though I know they are so bad for you! I would tell you that I do indeed love FIGS and that my blog is called FRESH FIGS.

I would have to add that one of my favorite things in the whole world is FABRIC. Fabric is like no other medium. It already has a palette in each and every piece. It speaks to me, in clear and precise ways. It really talks. Like a person and tells me what it wants to go with and who it wants to play with. We have a real relationship, FABRIC and me.

I would end by telling you that I love being a FIG. And that I can't think of anything I would rather be doing for work than FIG TREE & CO.

Thanks for going with the whole F thing with me!

As for what we're working on now.... we have MIRABELLE coming out next month and we can't wait to see what you all will make with it. The precuts are here now and will be on the stie soon... as soon as we can determine all of the ones that need to be set aside for our upcoming kits...

We have a few wonderful nostalgic tins available now after all our orders have gone out. If you like that kind of stuff, you might want to SEE the few that we have in new...

My favorite MIRABELLE pattern today is probably HUGS and CAROUSEL... just can't pick one I guess. I am definitely FICKLE that way :-).

 

Leave us a comment with WHAT KIND OF QUILT PATTERN YOU WANT TO SEE FROM FIG TREE IN THIS NEXT MARKET RELEASE [it can be a block or a style or anything you can dream up] and we will enter you into the drawings that will be held on the last day of the HOP on February 28.... who knows what you might win!

In fact, if we use your idea, we will send you some extra goodies for the inspiration. Thanks for playing along!

 

 

 

Blog Hop Winners

For those of you who didn't get a chance to catch a peek at this yummy little stack of fabric last week, here it is again [ I do actually now have a real fat quarter bundle to take a picture of but haven't had a moment to breathe to take that picture- I promise I will show it this week!]

 

... a little sneak peek of the next collection coming [showing in Houston in October 2013/ in stores March, 2014]

 

To all those of you who posted on facebook instead or who sent emails [ i know that commenting on blogs is still foreign to some of you], thank you. We tried to add in all of those names as best we could when we did our drawing, we promise! 

Also to those of you who rely on us sending out our newsletter to help remind you to post and comment... we got a little crazy busy this week and it totally slipped our mind to do that! We are sorry if that means that a bunch of you missed out on your chance to get in on the fun. We promise we will do another giveaway soon!

 

So without further adeau,  the winners of the lovely goodies are as follows:

 

On 9/12 at 12:55 AM, Stephanie said:

"I used you "one piece bag" as a hospital bag when I gave birth to my third son a weeks ago. So easy and cute!".

Congratulaions Stephanie, you are the winner of our pack of new patterns!

 

On 9/13 at 6:14 pm, SHARON said

"Of course anything Fig Tree is delicious eye candy. I love, love your Lollipops pattern and as soon as I finish up some Christmas projects I'm making it. Love your Craftsy class, your a great instructor!"

Congrautlation Sharon, you are the winner of our mystery HONEYSWEET precut!

 

On 9/12 at 12:36 pm, CRISTINA said:

"I love so many patterns (all of them really) but currently I am loving Jumping Jacks. I ordered two patterns because at first I bought the paper pattern and then realized I couldn't wait so bought it in PDF. And it's so easy to put together compared to other Union Jack quilts I've tried (and given up on). Also, I'm dying over the little orange table topper quilt. I would love it if you could make a quilt kit for this. I normally don't even like orange, but really, it's absolutely perfect."

Congratulations Cristina you have won the little table topper! I couldn't believe that you mentioned it in your comment when your comment number came up. Serendipity I guess!!

 

Thanks for "playing" with us everybody. If you are one of the lucky winners, please email us with your mailing address and we will send out your goodies at once!

Be sure to go to the MODA blog this morning to see what they have come up with for the finishing pattern for all these blocks.

Thanks again!

And stay tuned for those new Halloween kits and bundles I mentioned last week. We are almost ready with them!

Fig Tree on the MODA BLOG HOP!

 

Welcome to Fig Tree everybody and Good Morning!

 

SO HERE IS THE SKINNY:

Today is Fig Tree day on the MODA Blog Hop, SIZE MATTERS. If you haven't been following along yet, click HERE for a list of all the designers who are particating [cool block downloads and giveways at each stop so its definitely worth your time to go and find out what everyone is up to], including all the lovely designers that have gone before us and those that are still to come].

In each designers post, you should be able to find a free downloadable pattern for their block in a variety of sizes. MODA will post a finishing pattern HERE [at the CUTTING TABLE] at the end of the hop so that you can create a wonderful sampler when you are done. Sounds like a whole lot of fun to me!

For those of you you who are new to our little corner of the fabric world, I'm Joanna and I am the go-to-gal behind Fig Tree & Company. I love everything about fabric and design and I can't imagine having any other job in the world! I have been working with MODA for about a decade now [oh my goodness, how can that be?], have created more fabric collections than I can count [see the side of the blog to take a peek at most of them], have created more patterns than should be legal [check out our store if you want to puruse the collection] and have written several books, WITH FABRIC & THREAD being the most recent. I also love to teach about fabric and quilting and this year I have had the honor of teaching in Norway, Spain as well as throughout the US. Just a few weeks ago, we launched my first Craftsy class so that a little bit of Fig Tree can be accessible to anyone interested! Click HERE for more info about that and for a special discount!

 

There are three of us a day and today I am sharing the day with the talented Malka and the amazing Camille so be sure to pop on over there to see what those lovely ladies have been up to and why SIZE MATTERS to them!

 

... our upcoming HONEYSWEET group.

 

SO HERE IS MY CONTRIBUTION TO THE FESTIVITIES:

Download the instructions to my block HERE.

I don't know what the official name for this block is but "X MARKS THE SPOT"  sounds like a pretty good interpretation to me.

When I first looked at the block [back in the Spring when we started creating all these goodies for Spring Market] and thought about what I was going to do with it, I immediately thought about one of the bigger sizes. I figured it would make the quilt faster and easier to construct and I would be able to showcase the fabric better. Because let's be honest sometimes bigger really is better, especially when it means that you can be done faster!  

So I made the 12" size. And then I joined 4 of them together to create a secondary block...

 

Then I thought it would be nice to try the next size down and I made the 6" size. And then I made 4 of those together as well, because I was on a roll...

Well, then I realized that lately I have been enjoying making miniature versions of some of my larger favorite blocks [like with our Honeysweet mini Threads pattern that uses HONEYSWEET mini charms, pictured below], so I made the tiny 3" version.

... Honeysweets "Threads" patttern. Made with MODA mini charms.

 

I decided I liked this 3" one the best and continued on to make 32 more 3" blocks and set it together to create this little table topper....

 

 

 

Keep on reading to see what fun thing we are going to do with this project! 

 

SO HERE IS WHAT IS NEW WITH ME & FIG TREE:

  ... our LIFESAVERS blocks, using a fabulously simple method for making these intricate looking blocks. Also in our CRAFTSY class!

 

We are busy getting ready for our brand new fall collection to hit store shelves any day now [due to ship to stores in September].

In case you haven't alreay figured it out, it is called HONEYSWEET and I really think it is so perfect for this time of the year, even though it is great for many other seasons and projects as well. It is full of raspberry reds, persimmon oranges, a variety of greens and aquas, on a base of ivory and peach, grounded with a taupey brown. Yum!

  ... Cherry Pie pattern.

 We have had so much fun with this line and even though I am now busy working with the next collection that we will be showing in Houston this fall [sneak peeks were shown on our facebook recently if you haven't had a chance to see] as well as designing the next one [way too early to show you anything from that one yet], I still haven't grown tired of HONEYSWEET, probably since it has those fabulous oranges and aquas that I am so in love with right now.

Speaking of oranges... we are working on a new kit that has oranges, greys and blacks in it and will be ready soon so be sure you check back for that as those Halloween flavored items seem to dissapear around here faster than we can make them! More info coming soon!

But back to SIZE. We have created some TINY things with this collection...

... our little HEXIES purse pattern made from the yummy HONEYCOMBS. 

And some rather GRAND things....

  ... our CLOVERS & JAM pattern made from just 1 jelly roll  and some background fabric to make a 71" x 71" quilt!

And I truly can't tell you that I have a favorite between the two of them! So I guess the moral of this story is that .... size doesn't really matter at all in the end!

 

GIVEAWAY

Of course we are doing a giveway- what would a blog hop be without one?! Hopefully you have actually read through the whole post to see what's new instead of just skipping to this part :-).

We are going to givewaway a couple things to a couple lucky winners:

1- A Honeysweet precut.Not sure what this will be yet- it all depends on what MODA can dig up and send on over!

2- The finished little quilt that we showed above made from our 3" blocks. We already have some stores that have entered that particular giveway at Market and now we are going to add in all of you to choose the final winner!

3- A bundle of our newest patterns.

To be entered, you need to LEAVE A COMMENT AND tell us what Fig Tree pattern in our store is your favorite [current favorite at least, since we all know how fickle we can be when it comes to our favorite patterns].

But just as importantly you need to come back next week and see who the winners are so you don't miss out. If we don't hear back from you for 2 days after we announce, we will redraw for that particular prize.

[international winners will need to pay for the additional shipping]

And since we have been wanting to have a sale lately and haven't had a chance, today is the day!  SO WE ARE HAVING A SALE TOO! 15% OFF all patterns in the store... patterns of any kind and any size and any format! Just this week though, so take a look around!

Have fun and we'll see you next week for the end of the hop and the winners!