Park Drive Preview

I am still working hard to get everything done for Market.  I am going to promote my new fabric collection, and some new patterns.  The fabric has been released to salesmen, but is not in stores yet--not until August.

The new collection is called "Park Drive."  I named it after the street where I grew up.  My mom was an excellent gardener, and the yard was beautiful.  She and Dad worked out there for hours, and it is one of my favorite memories of them.

This collection is very garden-y.  It has some florals and some tonals, but I also drew up a little toile with trees, trellises, and flowers.  There are three color-ways:  Blues, Reds and Grays, and Black and greens.
      The photos aren't very good of the colors, but trust me, it is really pretty.

Then there are my basics that coordinate with the Park Drive collection.   "Jams and Jellies" has 16 fabrics right now, but more are coming with my next collection to round out the basics.  These pieces are so perfect for my style of quilt.  It's nice to use different fabrics to create the pattern with piecing or with appliqué.

I am having so much fun working with these fabrics.  Of course I don't really have fabric yet--but I do have the strike-offs, so that is what I am working with.  In case you don't know about strike-offs, they are the sample prints that the factory sends to check the colors and the engravings.  They are printed on rough, coarse fabric--and I only get a little swatch--about like a fat quarter.  So it can be a challenge to design something with these little pieces, but I do love a challenge!

This is what I had left over from the red toile after cutting out the pieces for my new quilt design:

And I had to change the size of the outside border so that I could have enough to go all the way around the quilt!

I still need to do the appliqué on this project, and get it quilted and bound.  But hey, I still have 9 days until I leave!  And only one more quilt to make after this.  (Can you say panic?)

I am feeling good about how it is going, though--  I didn't think I would get this far.  It has helped that I have not cooked a single dinner for a week, and the laundry is piling up.  (Sacrifices have to be made.)

I finished up a little runner using the free pattern that comes with the collection.  It needs to be quilted.  I'm still working on the pillow, and I need to get a pillow form to put inside it.  I will show you a better picture when it is all finished.  

I need a name for the red quilt.  I am planning to appliqué cherries on it in the white blocks.  Any suggestions?