SPECIAL DAY: Kit Pre Order Day!

Good Morning My Friends!

Its that time again...

Today is one of our favorite days of the year, it is one of two days each year that we get the chance to give everyone an opportunity to get our newest kits sent right to their door step.

This time it is the day for CONEY ISLAND PRE-ORDERS- our Spring collection for 2017!!

 

We have chosen a few of our favorite brand new patterns and we have kitted them up for you exactly as shown. Not only have we kitted them for you, but we are giving you the opportunity to join our exclusive Fig Tree PRE-ORDER PROGRAM.
Which is really a fancy way of saying that you order today, pay a portion of your kit every month until the fabric releases in March, 2017 and then receive the kit as soon as the fabric arrives in March.

 

Easy peasy!

It is, at a very basic level, our own special LAYAWAY PROGRAM. You can purchase one kit or all of them and just pay a small portion each month, making it simple, easy and affordable for everyone. Our goal is to make these little beauties accessible to all!! PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU ARE NOT BEING CHARGED ANYTHING EXTRA EACH MONTH TO DO THIS... not a penny!
After the first installment, the amounts are just spread out over 4 months!  This is just our best way to ensure that we have enough kits and fabric to cover everyone who wants a kit once the fabric arrives in March, 2017

ALSO... IF YOU ORDER TODAY OR THIS WEEKEND, PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE FREE PATTERN OFFERS IN EACH KIT.

For those of you who have done PRE ORDER KITS with us before, you are old hat at this. But for those of you who are new, please read all of the fine print before you order. There is lots of important information there for you! 

 

 

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO.

 

Hope you join us in this yummy Coney Island extravaganza and PRE ORDER your kits today!

 

 

 

LITTLE BOXES FOR 2017

WELCOME TO THE 2017 QUARTERLY FIG TREE SUBSCRIPTION BOX!

Yes... Yes... Yes....

Due to the incredible success of this year's boxes, we are doing them again for next year!!

We are so excited to share this program with you once again for 2017! Join us for this beautiful little 6" x 6" box of seasonal Fig Tree goodness, once a quarter for one year...one for each season! Register with us now to secure your spot and every three months you will be sent an exclusive Fig Tree box with a seasonal fabric kit, a seasonal "goodie" kit, a favorite Fig Tree notion as well as a few other goodies that will be added each month. Each kit will be exclusive and newly released especially for this box. The boxes will ship in April [summer box], July [autumn box], October [winter/Christmas box] and January [Spring box].

This year's subscription will begin in April, 2017.... but you have to secure your spot now so that we can order and purchase the fabric we need to in order to create as many spaces as we can for all you wonderful Fig Tree fans!

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP!

The contents are a secret and a mystery until the day that they ship out each quarter but this is what we can tell you:

1- Each quarter the fabric kit will be seasonal. April's box will be summer themed. July's box will be autumn themed. October's box will be winter or Christmas themed. January's box will be Spring themed. A box might looks something like this: a kit for a wall hanging or a table runner for the "fabric kit" A small kit for a pincushion or a flour sack towel or a softie or a small pillow, etc., for the "goodie" kit. One of our favorite notions or something that would be especially useful to complete one of the kits in that box. A few other special items.

2- Each quarterly box will range between $45-$70, depending on that month's kit, amount of fabric and the notions and goodies added that quarter. The value of your kit will ALWAYS BE MORE THAN YOUR COST. Shipping will always be standard USPS medium size box.

3- You will sign up for the entire year at once. All you have to do is register and be charged the $4.24 registration fee now. Each quarter when your box ships, the card that you used to register will be charged the fee for that quarter.

4- Spots will be limited as always. We are sorry that we are just able to do our clubs on an "unlimited" basis. We hope to have enough of these available to meet a VERY large demand though! Given how huge the wait list was this year, we are hoping to accommodate as many of you as possible next year!

6-The box itself is a beautiful little "Fig Tree green" box with a lovely sticker.... the sticker will be different each season!

7- If you follow us on our blog, our newsletter and primarily on IG... we will be sharing hints about what is coming in each box!

PLEASE BE SURE TO READ ALL OF THE FINE PRINT WHEN YOU SIGN UP SO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE GETTING AND GETTING INTO LOL!

Thanks everyone for your huge support of this newest Fig Tree venture!

Joanna

Halloween Blooms

EDIT: We now have more bundles HALLOWEEN II available!

Its that time everyone... summer is slowly coming to a close and many of us are starting to think of harvest time. Many of you will know what that means around here.... its VINTAGE HALLOWEEN BUNDLE TIME at Fig Tree!

 

 

Each year at about this time, we debut a new vintage Halloween feeling bundle full of butterscotch oranges, ivory creams, soft greys and charcoals and warm blacks. We look forward to working on this bundle each year and we know that so many of you look forward to seeing and using it too!

 

[pattern is also available on its own in the shop] 

This year we have decided to use one of our favorite classic vintage blocks for the pattern. It is traditionally called ROLLING STONES but it also goes by lots of other names, most commonly also known as the Broken Wheel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are offering the bundle on its own [with the pattern] and also with the ivory background as a kit [with the pattern]. Click HERE for more info on either. Please read the descriptions carefully to see what is and isn't in each bundle and/or kit.

Please note that in the pictures of the actual quilt here on the blog we have added in some Farmhouse scraps and a few fabrics from our upcoming Chestnut Street collection. Those fabrics are not in your bundle because they do not ship to stores until later in September. If you have Farmhouse scraps we encourage you to throw some in or wait until Chestnut Street arrives and add in a couple of the oranges during construction!

MORE BUNDLES

In case any of you want to add or augment your vintage Halloween stash with some more oranges, blacks or creams, we have a couple other bundles up today as well so that you can do that!

 

 

 

We hope you have fun Halloween shopping!

Joanna

Off to College!

EDIT: The initial college patchwork kits and the next round of kits have now sold out. We will offer the pattern sheets as a PDF within the week.

I can't really focus on this newest transition in our lives for very long without getting completely overwhelmed with a million different emotions and things to say so I am just going to focus on the quilt itself instead!

Usually I have a lot to say about everything but this one is getting me...

My oldest son is off to college this weekend and at the very last minute he asked me for a simple masculine feeling "college guy" throw for his bed. He is not much of a design guy and didn't want anything with an actual pattern in it so I decided on a super simple patchwork style quilt.

My friends Laurie and Polly of MINICK & SIMPSON have just come out with an amazing, classic collection called Grand Traverse Bay that would be perfect for this kind of a quilt. So I quickly gathered up a bunch of prints from that collection and added in a few of my neutral favorites including a few math & architectural flavored fabrics. Couldn't resist putting those in there for a little thematic learning thing going on… still a mom after all! 

 

The result is a simple college feeling quilt for Ben and since we have all of this lovely fabric, some bundles for you.

We created bundles exactly like his quilt along with the chambray binding and a pattern for the patchwork too.

For more info on the bundle/kit click HERE. 

For more on our college adventures I think you might have to wait a bit more until I can actually talk about it without falling apart :-). Because pretty much as far as my brain is concerned… he is still this little :-((!!!

I am a BAG LADY

If you are looking for the SPLENDID SAMPLER POST, just scroll down one post below. 

Hello Friends!

It is quite possible that you can relate to this… but I think I have a bag problem. A big one.

 

 

I know that many women have a thing for shoes and I know that we all have a thing for fabric... but bags might just be my downfall.

 

 

Let's just say that I definitely have more of them than I need and I feel the need to make more, way more frequently than I should.

 

 

I think that might qualify me as having a bag problem… or definitely being a bag lady.

 

… bags featured include the following: Everyday Zips, Bella Bag, Feedsack Bags, Strawberry Zips, Peggy Sue, Kimberly's Sac, Sweet Berry Bag, One Piece Bag, Schoolday Satchel and About Town Bag. I guess it will be up to you to figure out which one is which!

 

But here is my dilemma… even though my fabric and quilts are all about color, my wardrobe is a bit more monochromatic and not too filled with prints and florals and lots of colors at once. I am really a "neutral background" kind of gal both in my decorating at home and on my person. 

So even though I often can't resist making a new bag or purse to showcase some of my favorite fabrics, especially when a new collection comes out, I only end up using those bags for a bit here and there, definitely for quilting or fabric functions, before I am yearning for a more "neutral" bag that I can use every day.

Now don't get me wrong, the bag problem is not going away any time soon as the above photos can attest…. but there is that neutral thing that I can't resist!

 

 

And so BAG LADY was born. It is the perfect neutral bag for everyday use… perfect in size to shove in pretty much everything you need, lightweight enough to take shopping, perfect for the flea market or the grocery store… basically it is now officially my GO TO BAG.

 

 

I used MODA's new BARKCLOTH in 2 different colors and my favorite accessory product ever…. KRAFT TEX PAPER.  You guys…. if you haven't played with this yet, you really ought to try! It looks and feels like leather. But it sews and cuts like card stock . It is wonderful and so much fun to play with! It comes in several colors but of course my favorite is the leather look alike in the NATURAL color. I am a little bit in love with how it makes this otherwise very simple bag feel so much more tailored and special and like something I want to carry with me every day!

 

 

There is more info about it today on MODA's blog, click HERE to read more about what I shared with Linzee.

 

 

 

Click HERE if you are interested in one of our limited bag kits.

Click HERE if you are interested in just the pattern.

There are not a huge amount of kits, but don't worry, we are already checking to see if we can get more!

So do you think you are a bag lady?

Joanna

 

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

LITTLE BOX OF FIGS: BOX 2

So hopefully by now most of you have received and are already enjoying our LITTLE BOX OF FIGS: The Fall Edition. Thank you to all of you how have let us know how much you are loving the "ingredients" of this second box! We are so very glad!

I know that many of you missed out on this annual subscription and are wondering if you have any chance of jumping in on the fun.

ORDERING UPDATES

So here is the scoop…. we do not have any more official spots for this year [although every once in a while we do have an opening due to illness or emergency and we then contact the next person on the wait list from March]. Since there is a fabric based project in each of our boxes, we are limited by the amount of fabric that we have pre-ordered for each box. We already doubled the original amount of subscriptions we were planning on doing when on the first day of ordering [back in March] it became clear how popular this program was going to be. Unfortunately we just can't add any more spots due to space, time, employee limitations! But we are so very grateful for your support and enthusiasm!!

Toward the end of summer, we will be offering sign ups for the 2017 subscription. Although we originally said that this year's participants would get first priority for next year's sign ups, due to the popularity of the box we have decided to open up the sign ups to everyone. We will let everyone know via our blog, IG and our newsletter, what day the 2017 subscription will go "live" so that everyone has an equal chance.

THE FALL EDITION

For those of you who are dieing to get your hands on this quarter's FALL BOX, we have made up a few kits of the MINI HUGS quilt featured in the box and here in this blog post. HERE is the link for that. If we sell out crazy fast, we will see if we can make up more with the fabric leftovers that we have left after all the boxes were completed.

WHAT'S IN THE BOX

 

Fabrics [blocks, backgrounds, borders] for our not yet released, MINI HUGS project.

Pattern for the MINI HUGS.

Fabrics for an autumn version of our A PEAR IN A TREE pincushion.

Pattern for the A PEAR IN A TREE.

Extra felt and floss for the PEAR.

FOX SEWING KIT in one of three colors.

SEWING MACHINE CHARM to use as a zipper pull or other accessory.

 

THE PROJECTS

Mini Hugs [Small Throw size]

 

 

 

 

A PEAR IN A TREE [small pincushion or ornament]

 

We hope you enjoy!

Joanna

Bundle Winner & Other Goodies!

Thank you everyone for playing along. I hope you got to go to the MODA blog and see all of the yummy bundles the designers have been working with!

If you are Kathleen D and you posted on 7/21/16 2:16 PM  and said...

The Ribbons quilt is lovely any time of year... But, my favorite right now would be Slices! It's the perfect time for some watermelon! Thanks for the giveaway opportunity! I'll be crossing my fingers in the hope that I'll be your very lucky winner!

Then congratulations! You are the winner of the FIG TREE DESIGNER SELECT BUNDLE from MODA. Please email us and send us your mailing info to get your goodies!

  

 

For everyone else… If you have been waiting for our 1/2 yd. bundles, more will be in stock in a few days. You can order now to be the first in line if you like! Click HERE for more info.

 

And it looks like Popsicles won the contest for favorite.. although the other quilts were all pretty much tied for 2nd place.   

POPSICLES

 

 

 

If you are interested to see the progress, I am going to be starting on a JELLO SQUARES any day now. Give me a few days and check on INSTAGRAM or FACEBOOK to see my progress… or better yet, choose your favorite quilt from SHERBETS & CREAMS and quilt along with me!

 

 Happy Sewing!  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!

RETRO FARMHOUSE WOOL BOM UPDATES

Hello Friends!

It's been a while since we had a chance to update here on the blog so get ready for a bit of information.

As promised, monthly updates are always happening on Instagram, Facebook and even Twitter. Not only that, but you can follow along and be inspired by others working on the same blocks so if you don't already follow us there, you might want to consider it? All of our BOM programs will always be updated there much more regularly than here.

We have been enjoying designing different blocks in a variety of styles, from very traditional to a few more free form. Once it is time to lay out the blocks, we will definitely balance the blocks out so that they look wonderful together! We can't wait to get to that part and to start working a bit more on layout with you in a few short months!

So let's go in backwards order and do a full block review all in one place.

 

Month #6: Strawberry Bouquet

 

Month #5: Coxcomb Block

 

Month #4: Oak Leaves Block

 

Month #3: Wreath Block

 

Month #2: Blueberry Branches Block

 

Month #1: Artichoke Block

 

We are currently working on July's block and I will give you a hint that it is a bit more fruit to add to the mix… and some nice big simple pieces too!

Personally I am appliquéing my blocks almost 100% with our Aurifl thread collections. We did do a little bit of floss here and there to show the difference [please see our initial posts on working with thread, floss and other supply tips and hints]. But personally since stitching with wool is something that I absolutely love to do but am not that accurate with, I prefer the thread. This is because it is a bit more simple to work with and it is definitely more forgiving since it is thinner and less visible. Plus as I think I have probably already said before, I prefer the clean feel of wool without too much competition from the thread.

Just a personal choice! Some of my favorite blocks that I have seen have had a beautiful floss blanket stitch.

 

Hope you are enjoying stitching your blocks as much as I am. Happy summer stitching my friends!

 

Joanna