Winterberries sew-along( please click on the title to view post in your browser)

 Hello and happy January!

I decided to host a little slow and easy sewalong starting in January. I'm all about slow and easy, how about you? After I designed it I realized that I used EXACTLY the same pieced blocks that I used for our last sewalong.....how strange is that? Obviously I like the Churn Dash block a LOT! I think this quilt looks much different from the last one, so we are sticking with the block :).

Here is a photo of our last sewalong: 

And here is an image of this one, which I have named Winterberries:

I'll be posting the instructions for this little quilt right here on my blog, but NOT on my regular blog schedule, so if you don't want to miss any instructions, please SIGN UP to follow my blog via email. That way you will always be notified and can keep up with the sewalong. Signing up is easy , and I promise that I don't do anything with your email, other than notify you when a new blog post is up!

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I wanted to share the inspiration behind the colors in my new quilt design:

A few years ago, my hubby and I visited Bedford, PA, where Mary Koval has her quilt shop. Bedford is an adorable little town and, after visiting with Mary for a bit, we explored the rest of the town. We found a little antique shop that was chock full of items. I am always on the lookout for quilts, but looking at the prices of some of the other items, I figured I would not be able to afford any if I found them. Upstairs I found one that tugged at my heartstrings, but it had no price tag. Dear hubby offered to go ask how much the quilt was, and when I overheard the owner tell him $45 I was absolutely thrilled! It has obviously been well loved and is faded and a bit worn, but those colors....ahhhhhhh, love them!

This quilt usually lies at the foot of our bed, where it perfectly compliments our faded and worn-looking rug! 

So there you have the inspiration behind the colors in my quilt! You can of course choose to make your quilt in any color combination you prefer. If you want to follow my example you will want to look for faded looking colors in greens, blues, purples, and off-whites. These are some of the fabrics that I have pulled so far: 

Some of those fabrics might prove to be brighter than I want them to be so I will see if the backside is more in keeping with the look I'm going for ( yes, you can use the wrong side of your fabric!). You will also notice that I have pulled some shirting prints ( whites and off-whites with little prints on them). I think they will add to the old, worn-out look I'm aiming for. For a more modern look I would choose solid whites and solid colors, so if that is what you prefer I suggest those.

Next time I will share the fabric requirements, but if you are working from your stash ( or want a scrappy make-do look) just grab what you need as you need it. After all that is what quilters used to do ;). ( I would have shared fabric requirements this week, except I have already found some mistakes in the fabric requirements that my quilt design program provided so I want to work through those and see if I can get you a better estimate!)

I am excited to start this little sewalong and hope you are too. There will be nothing complicated ( really!) but if ever anything is not clear, do not hesitate to ask! 

Please remember to sign up for blog updates and until next time~happy creating!

Monique