Color Options from American Patchwork & Quilting April 2012
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Little Boy Blue
Designer: Sandy Klop of American Jane Patterns
A nostalgic, nursery rhyme-inspired quilt featuring Necktie blocks and a hint of appliqué brings back fond memories.
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Little Boy Blue Color Option
Magic Circles Wall Quilt
Little Boy Blue goes grown-up girly when pieced in vibrant shades of purple, orange, pink, and yellow. A black-and-white stripe gives the Necktie blocks some sass. For a less scrappy look than the original, quilt tester Laura Boehnke organized blocks in groups of four of the same print, making the blocks appear to form circles.
Go to the free quilt pattern.
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Reel Deal
Designer: Jo Morton
Machine Quilter: Lori Kukuk
Try a variation of needle-turn appliqué that involves layering fabrics to create traditional reel blocks. Our step-by-step photos will guide you through the process.
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Reel Deal Color Option
Quilt tester Laura Boehnke reduced the number of reel blocks and tried an alternate method-fusible appliqué. Fabrics are from the Reflections collection by Ro Gregg for Fabri-Quilt.
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Perfect Pair
Designer: Avis Shirer of Joined at the Hip
Appliquéd pears with quilted swirls and patchwork blocks with gridlike stitching team up on a wall hanging that proves opposites attract.
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Perfect Pair Color Option
Pastel Pears Wall Quilt
Infuse fruit with florals as quilt tester Laura Boehnke did on her nine-block version of A Perfect Pair. For a balanced design, Laura positioned a pear block in the center and at all four corners of her wall hanging. She used the same cream tone-on-tone for the appliqué foundations and the rectangles and Four-Patch units in the pieced blocks to play up the chain effect. Fabrics are from the Mary Rose Charlotte collection from Quilt Gate.
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Sticks & Bricks
Designer: Amy Walsh of Blue Underground Studios
Build a quilt on a foundation of narrow and wide rectangles of assorted prints. Solid taupe is the mortar that holds it all together.
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Sticks & Bricks Color Option
City Lights Quilt
By combining yellow and lime rectangles and dark sashing and borders, quilt tester Laura Boehnke makes Sticks & Bricks resemble a skyscraper with windows aglow at night. Also, the dark print frames make the rectangles pop instead of float. To get more variety from a single collection, cut stripes both lengthwise and crosswise for the rectangles. Fabrics are from the Kew Gardens collection by Laura Ashley for Quilting Treasures.
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Pineapple Rings
Designer: Lynn Schmitt-Cibulka of A Different Box of Crayons
Machine quilter: Dawn Larsen
Pay attention to color placement when you assemble these Pineapple blocks in order to achieve a secondary circular pattern.
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Pineapple Rings Color Option
Pineapple Twist Wall Quilt
A square and cross pattern takes center stage on this wall hanging, which contains four Pineapple blocks. Quilt tester Laura Boehnke used the same teal ombré print for the rectangles in the inner border and for the strips on four sides of the blocks so the brighter fuchsia, red, and yellow strips could form a secondary pattern. Fabrics are from the September Light collection by Lida Enche for In the Beginning Fabrics.
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Late Bloomers
Designer: Kim Diehl
Machine quilter: Deborah Poole
Appliquéd flowers reach their true potential when arranged amid blocks and a border pieced from the rich shades of a garden at sunset.
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Late Bloomers Color Option
Midnight Blooms Quilt
Appliquéd flowers in red and green Asian-inspired prints decorate quilt tester Laura Boehnke's same-size version of Late Bloomers. To add subtle sparkle and mimic the metallic glints in the fabric, Laura straight-stitched with gold thread around the C and D appliqués after appliquéing them with a black zigzag stitch. Fabrics are from the Oriental Traditions collection from Robert Kaufman.
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Raspberry Mocha
Designers: Sarah Maxwell and Dolores Smith of Homestead Hearth
Machine quilter: Connie Gresham
Tantalize the senses with a sweet patchwork quilt that features a fusion of browns, pinks, and creams.
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Raspberry Mocha Color Option
Tropical Patches Wall Quilt
Quilt tester Laura Boehnke chose batiks to make six A blocks, one B block, and two C blocks for a tropical-look wall hanging. Punches of orange and pops of teal interspersed throughout the patchwork draw the eye around the quilt and make the quilt sparkle. Fabrics are from the Sumatra collection of batiks from Blank Quilting.