Tag Archives | architextures

cf Hearts quilt pattern.

By carolyn friedlander on August 2, 2019 in fabric, Featured on Home, my patterns | Comments: 8

My new cf Hearts pattern is finally here!

I love simple shapes, and the heart is lovely one to take on.

While thinking about projects to make to show off my new (old) fabrics, I kept coming back to the idea of using this simple shape. There are many things I love about this fabric collection, but one of the biggest things is how it feels like I’m sewing with old friends. There’s a comfort and excitement with each piece, and I loved the idea of capturing the pieces with an endearing symbol.

On the creative side, I liked how this project can showcase many colors and fabrics. You can play with color and texture in many ways. (I already have more hearts projects planned!)

On the technical side, the appliqué shapes are really fun to sew. You have gentle outside curves, a single point and an outside corner that make it anything but boring to work on. This shape is beginner-friendly, but the creative possibilities can make it exciting no matter who wants to make it.

The downloadable PDF version is now available here, and the printed version will be hitting shops in a few weeks. (If your local shop is interested in purchasing copies, just let me know, and I’ll get them connected to those details.)

There are 3 project sizes included in the pattern, it’s charm-pack friendly (which is what this version is made from) and I have been dreaming up so many ways to work out this project. I think that 1 heart would make a great label on the back of a quilt, or I’ve been thinking about how fun it would be to make a signature quilt made from Hearts…or I’ve even thought about putting some hearts onto a tote bag…OH, and bigger projects with more hearts? I’ve been thinking about that too.

Pattern: Hearts by me

Fabric(s): Collection CF (coming in November 2019) for appliqué, border and binding, Kona Seafoam for the background

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Architextures Sunrise.

By carolyn friedlander on April 30, 2019 in fabric, Featured on Home, my patterns | Comments: 2

My Architextures Sunrise quilt comes with a bit of an admission. I made it back in 2012 when Architextures first came out. It was displayed in the Architextures booth at Quilt Market that fall, but I never got around to taking pictures of it afterwards–classic. When I was planning the PDF conversion for the design, I knew I wanted to unearth this quilt and give it some time to shine.

I can still remember how much I enjoyed making it. It was one of the first times sewing with my own fabric, and that experience is hard to forget. Because the design works well with 2-1/2″ strips, I used strip sets from my Architextures collection as well as the coordinating solids. This made it super easy to get to the fun stuff, which is figuring out your fabric pairings and placements and sewing them together. I love a project where you can explore different color and print combinations as you go, and this project is perfect for that.

The frames are Kona Cactus, one of my favorites at the time. It’s so vibrant. This was before there was Pickle, Wasabi, Acid lime or any of the other greens that I’d grow to love as well. Is it just me, or do you remember your early favorite solids? (For the record – Cactus, Coral and Tangerine were some of those for me.)

There’s not too much to get wrong about this block, which makes it pretty carefree and easy. In some of my other Sunrise projects, I worked the fabrics and colors symmetrically within the blocks. In this sample I didn’t do that, but instead took the placement in a different direction. I like this effect as well.

Once you get them all framed out and sewn together with the sashing and border, it’s a cohesive (and cheerful) look.

fabrics: architextures and the coordinating Kona solids

pattern: Sunrise

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Architextures Wide

By carolyn friedlander on September 21, 2018 in fabric, Featured on Home | Comments: 7

Guess what? I have some new 108″-wide fabrics–Architextures Wide–coming out. In fact, Architextures Wide starts shipping to shops this month–yay!

Architextures Wide features the same text print from Architextures, which is transformed in the fabric width (now 108″ vs 44″) as well as in the scale of the design too. With this type of fabric mostly being used for quilt backs (although certainly not limited to only that), I thought it would be fun to blow it up a bit. Here’s a side by side with the original print on top and the new wideback below.

It’s not that I don’t love a scrappy quilt back–I totally do–but I also love using 108″-wide fabrics to back my quilts. It makes things super easy when you’re eager to finish and also when you want something less fussy for the back.

There are 5 different options in this new set–all of which are super useful and appropriate for a wide range of things. I’m excited about all of them, and many of these guys are making their way into my newest projects–especially the new blue option.