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I reached out to Art Gallery Fabrics a couple months ago asking if they would collaborate with me to make a AGF version of my Lodhi Garden quilt pattern. They graciously agreed to work with me (happy dance!). Sometimes I get stuck in one mode of what fabric would look good with one of my patterns. So I asked about using their Pure Solids line, which is their line of solids. However, they suggested using their Floral Elements line, and boy am I happy they did.
Art Gallery Fabrics describes Floral Elements as, "A line of blenders with a fresh attitude! This exquisite design has a large-scale floral motif with vivid and sparkling hues in several shades." This line of fabrics has 46 different colors. You can find them all here. Even though are described as blenders these fabrics are so beautiful they can also be the star of the show. Below is a peak of the wide range of colors I used in the quilt.
Since I am color challenged (cough, colorblind) the AGF team chose all the fabric combinations for me. Then, those lovely family members, who can see colors, helped me sort all of the colors so I could keep track while sewing them. We rolled each color group up and rubber banded them together. I know, I'm helpless.
Below you can see my lovely sorting system, but also the background, backing and binding fabrics.
AGF sent along a light weight denim/linen blend to use as the background fabric. I have to say this fabric blew me away. It was exactly as they say, it is light weight, easy to sew with, but also has a bit of a different texture which worked perfectly with the lotus flowers. I have used linen fabrics before and had issues with them fraying when piecing quits. However, this fabric did not fray at all. I was amazed at how easy it was to work with. I will absolutely use this fabric again!
The left fabric is the linen/lightweight denim. Fabric on the right is the backing and binding.
The quilt I made was baby sized, but each Lotus flower is a different color combination. This added so much variety and made the quilt very colorful. Below are a couple pictures of the quilt blocks as I was making them.
I had intended to quilt this up at home. I had waited a month for my machine to get fixed. So I had my son help me baste this on the kitchen floor (during which he tried to wax his eyebrows with the quilting tape). However, when I got my machine back I quickly realized that it hadn't been fixed (that sound is me banging my head on the kitchen table). So I took out the couple rows I had done, unbasted it (I think that's a made up word), and sent it out to Kaitlyn from Knot and Thread Design.
If you ever need help basting a quilt he charges a Lego set per hour.
Finished quilt top
We chose a Lotus flower design. And it turned out perfect. I hand sewed on the binding and it looks great! Enjoy the pictures below...
