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Tuesday, June 7, 2022

A Roll of the Dice Pattern Launch

I am really excited to try something new: a pattern launch! I actually had sent Yvonne at Quilting Jet Girl, my trusty tech editor, two patterns, Pop Star and this one, within a couple of weeks of each other. This one has had to wait because it took a bit to get the fabric to make the cover quilt, and I was also busy with the Pop Star Quilt Along, which wraps up next week.

So I had the idea to do a pattern launch since there are three different projects within this particular pattern. I asked several friends if they would be interested in making one of the three projects I designed, and was I rewarded! They were more excited than I about the design, and almost every one said yes. One couldn't because her sewing machine went kerflooey, and the other has a ton of grandmother stuff in her lap and so couldn't take part. Without further ado, here is the pattern cover.
You'll notice that the baby quilt is digital, not a quilt. Yet. The quilt top is done, but you won't see the finished quilt until Friday, when the other baby quilts will be on parade. So! Let's see what the launch is all about, shall we? Oh yes, the pattern is on sale all week!

Today I am showing you the pattern, and telling you a bit about how the design came to be. You'll get a peek at each one of the three projects I made. Each day, starting tomorrow, Wednesday, you will get a real treat: seeing what each one of the following eight quilters did with the project they chose to make. These ladies all rolled a Yahtzee with their projects. We used to play that game a lot; loved it! I am so pleased to have quilters from around the globe (Ireland, England, Scotland, Canada and the US) making this pattern! I nearly had Australia as well, but Susan at Granny Smith's Quilting is the one with no machine at present.

The schedule for the week:

Tuesday June 7 A Roll of the Dice launch

Wednesday June 8 - Cushion, aka pillow cover:

Thursday June 9 - Bed Runner:
Michelle @peetmichelle

Friday June 10 - Baby Quilt
Anja at Anja Quilts
Carol at Quilt Schmilt
Tish at The Madd Quilter (yes! She's BACK!)

Each of the projects uses Benartex Designer Fabrics, and they kindly supplied the fabrics for all three projects. This design came about a few years ago when I was asked to be a part of a Benartex Designer Fabrics fabric launch. It's a design I had come up with in 2018 where I had challenged myself to make blocks using just one patch, then two, then three, and four. I thought of dice when I'd doodled them all out, and hence the design was immediately named. I decided to turn the blocks into a bed runner for the fabric feature.

The runner appears to have borders, but it actually does not; you make the borders within the blocks! Therefore the dice blocks float on the background, a neat effect. This used Amanda Murphy's 'Free Motion Fantasy' line, and I had a ball tracing her swoops and swirls with the longarm, alternating the flow quilting with straight lines. The runner is made with 18" finished blocks. The original post is here.

When I was making the runner, my creative mind was churning along, and I knew I wanted to make the blocks smaller, and set them two by two for a cushion cover. A few, make that eight(!) months later, I finally got it made. The pillow uses 9" blocks, again each block has the border built within it. Make four blocks, sew them together, boom! Cushion complete.

This one I quilted on my Bernina, using the same idea of straight lines and tracing the designs in Amanda's fabric. You can read the original post here.

So it has taken me long enough to get the pattern together. Part of it is because back then I was not confident at graphics for patterns, and part of it is that I was busy sewing for Island Batik. When I finally looked at my notes from 2018, and started redoing them now I know a thing or two about pattern-writing, I knew I wanted to add in a baby quilt. One can never have too many baby quilt designs, right?! So that took more than a bit, playing around in EQ8, trying to get a dice design that felt right to me. I hit upon using the Rolling Stone (get the connection?) block in the centre to highlight the one-patch dice block, and finally, with a few other tweaks, I had a design I liked.

One of the pleasures I have with working with Benartex is that when I release a pattern, or if I feel like an older pattern needs a refresh, I can request fabrics, which they are happy to supply. After watching a recent Benartex Designer Showcase on Zoom (it was awesome), I knew I wanted to work with some of Cherry Guidry's latest line, a basic, Chalk Texture. More on the fabrics on Friday, but I am so pleased with how the quilt came together! It's in colours a little outside of my comfort zone, but it is good to experiment. The Ohio Star is actually a deeper burgundy than shown here. Isn't the setting perfect? The weigela are just stunning this year, so I knew it should make for a great photo. As always, thanks go to my husband, who is crouched behind the quilt, holding the dowel it's pegged onto! He said the neighbours will have a good giggle at us. It's not the first, nor will it be the last time!

The pattern is on sale all week in my Etsy shop, SandraJaneQuilts, for 30% off! I cannot wait for you to see all the beautiful renditions made by my friends, so be sure to check back each day, as well as on Instagram. 










9 comments:

  1. Love the quilting you did! Looking forward to seeing all the projects. :)

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  2. Congratulations on the new pattern. I love the references to dice. And the colors really sing. Looking forward to more eye candy the rest of the week.

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  3. Oooh, I look forward to seeing more of the quilts made during the hop. Congratulations on the release and hooray for a wonderful partnership with Benartex.

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  4. What a great quilt - love the bright, happy colours! (Your husband is doing a great job holding it up - and my husband would agree!)

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  5. Superb setting for the photos, framed on either side by pink blossoms.

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  6. The projects look great and I'm disappointed I couldn't join in, but joy of joys, the machine will be home today (8th June) and first thing will be the binding on at least one of my Pop Star quilts. Actually the baby one & the bub is to be born today, so needs finishing speedily. I admired the Weigelia as a backdrop for the quilt and we get funny looks too occasionally when we are out taking photos. Not at the moment as our weather has been atrocious. Take care & hugs from down under.

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  7. I can’t wait to see everyone’s test quilts, pillows and bed runners!

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  8. Congrats on your newest pattern release! I love the quilting those swirls are scrumptious!

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  9. Sounds like Benartex knows a good ambassador when they meet one. Great symbiotic relationship!! Love the pattern - especially that you included several different projects in one pattern - that really appeals to me!

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