Giveaway Day!

All about Cherri House’s lovely new book “City Quilts”.

If you haven’t seen or heard about this book climb out from under your rock and embrace the fabulous world of quilts made entirely of solids. That’s right…no prints. We love them, but when you see Cherri’s quilts you’ll want to buy every single solid fabric you can get your hands on!

Cherri, oh so sweetly, answered a few questions for me a la interview style so that you can all get to know her (and her family!) a bit better. Take the time to read it…she’s got some wisdom! And enjoy some pictures of the quilt patterns available in this book along the way.

Angela:
You do amazing work with solids obviously, is there one brand that you prefer over another or is anything of good quality something you use? I really want to know if you own all 221 Kona solids!

Cherri:
I do own all 221 Kona Solids…I have a fat quarter of each. Since I only used Robert Kaufman solids in my book, I needed every color available, to provide to C&T for color references. The day the box arrived with 221 fat quarters, was a really sweet day!
The only other solids I have used, and have confidence in, are Moda’s Bella Solids. They are great to work with, and the quality is excellent.

Angela:
Your inspiration for this book was cityscapes. What are the other main inspirations for you? Do you find yourself seeing inspiration all around you?

Cherri:
The biggest reason why my inspiration was cityscapes, is that is where I work, it’s where I go every weekday. I’d love to live by the sea or the mountains and soak up the inspiration there. Inspiration is truly everywhere – the challenge isn’t to find it, but be aware of it, capture it, and translate it into whatever you love!

Angela:
Solids are an underused part of the quilting world in my opinion. But there is no denying that there are delicious prints all around us and the selection is growing constantly. Other than your daughter (because that answer is too easy!) are you drawn to any particular designer or fabric line?

Cherri:
I love Kaffe Fassett fabric – the saturated colors, pattern, everything. There isn’t necessarily another designer that I’m drawn to, but I do love fabric with text, organic patterns, Moda has a scissor fabric that I absolutely love. Pretty eclectic I guess!

Angela:
Often finding that exact right shade of fabric can be elusive and frustrating. Since you have worked with so many different colors, are there any solid colors by particular manufacturers that you can point us to as completely necessary to any quilter’s stash? That perfect shade of green or the not too bright red?

Cherri:
I’m most familiar with RK Kona Cotton Solids, and I definitely have my go to colors, my favorite being Chinese Red! My best recommendation to avoid frustration would be to first get a fabric color card, and a standard color wheel. I know several places sell RK’s, I’m not sure about Moda’s color cards, and you can purchase a color wheel at an art store. If you are building a stash of solids I strongly recommend (as your finances allow) using your color wheel as a guide, start for example with RED, YELLOW, AND BLUE. Purchase in ½ yard increments 5 reds, 5 yellows, and 5 blues. On your next shopping trip, work your way around the color wheel, until you have a full range of colors. In working with the various shades, tones, and hues you will discover your favorites, your ‘can’t live without colors’.

Angela:
I’m so intrigued by the obvious talent in your family. Are there any plans for collaboration between your fabric designing daughter Lizzy and yourself? She seems to specialize in whimsical prints like Castle Peeps, but I think that many of your quilt designs could be the perfect showcase for her prints.

Cherri:
I do create quilts using Lizzy’s fabric; generally it is done through her fabric manufacturer. I am interested in designing fabric, and I plan to pursue that in the upcoming year. Currently Lizzy and I have no plans to do fabric together. In regards to Lizzy’s fabric designing, my only interest is to support her, to be a sounding board if she needs me, give the occasional yay or nay if she asks for my opinion.

Angela:
One final question. Do you have any advice for quilters new to the world of solid fabrics? Any pitfalls that you should avoid when working with solids?

Cherri:
Printed fabrics can do much of the work, as far as making a quilt have visual excitement, depth of color, etc. They also can hide a world of sins, so to speak…less than stellar piecing, or quilting can be easily masked with a busy print. Not so with solids! Mistakes and a lack of precision are all too visible when there is nothing to distract the eye. Don’t avoid solids because of these realities; just beware of them before getting started.

Thanks so much Cherri for all of your advice and information!

She’s so sweet. You should all check out her site Cherry House Quilts and if you are twitterer (is that what they call people?! LOL) you can follow her here http://twitter.com/cherryhouse

Okay…sounds like a plan. I think that I’ll keep this giveaway open until Sunday night September 19th (my time!) so you have plenty of time to find that perfect Kona color. LOL. Good luck!

113 thoughts on “Giveaway Day!”

  1. Seeing a couple of photos in Cherri's book previously, it really has inspired me to use more solids … I am currently making a quilt where the centre square in each block is printed but all the rest is solid and I am really enjoying the look so far.
    Thanks for the generous giveaway Angela!

  2. Angela,
    Crawling out from under my rock…I just found your lovely site and signed up right away. I use Kona White all the time but am looking forward to working with color rich tones like Ocean very soon. I heart Pomegranate but you did say just one fave, so I'll try to play by the rules as best I can LOL…Ocean. Great advice, Cherri in buying by the color wheel. It's so hard to choose just a few RK Kona Cottons at a time!!
    Happy Quilting,
    Heather

  3. Oh I'd love a copy of this book- I tried so hard to win it on the blog tour, and had resigned myself to waiting until Christmas, but fingers crossed! I haven't used any Kona solids, they are difficult to get in Australia, but I'm really wanting to try Snow, which I've heard a lot about, and to bind my next quilt in Lime. I think I need one of the colour cards, so I can order more confidently online!

  4. I just love the quilts in the book, and would really love to make the pattern you've pictured with all the green and blue squares for our living room. Cherri's patterns look perfect because they're not too bedroomy, not too feminine but very, very stylish. They really stood out when I was looking for quilts with solids on Flickr.

  5. I know this is general, but I really would like to learn how to work with solid colors better, because I love having patterns – but the pictures from the book make the quilts with solids look GORGEOUS! I really want to try quilting that way!

  6. Finally got here to comment!
    My fave Kona is Charcoal, Coal, Pepper, Ash and Mid Grey. BUT…… my generous Doll Quilt Swap partner gifted me a Kona Colour chart, as well as three darling baby quilts. I'd been wanting one for such a long time, and she picked up on it. So I'm now contemplating my first Kona Colour order!!
    I'd love to follow one of Cherri's patterns, I seriously hanker for this book!!

  7. I own a Kona card and I own a few meters or yards of Candy Pink. Love it. You can see how I used it here: http://coffeebeansdailies.blogspot.com/search/label/French%20Braid%20Quilt

    It was in a French Braid quilt I made last year. I really want to use more but need to figure where is the best place to order from. I live in the Middle East and my Mom is coming out in November so she can bring it for me if I get it to her in time! I love all the colors but want to work with more of them! The feel is just so nice!

  8. I haven't decided on a favorite Kona color yet (I've been so addicted to the pricy Amy Butler solids though, they're so silky) but I'm dying to get some pomegranate.

  9. Ohhhhh!!! This book is on my wish list !
    Would love to own it….& my favorite Kona
    solid would have to be coal. ( Now back to
    your fabulous nine-patch tutorial…it's great )

  10. I am such a chicken about solids, but those quilts are fabulous! I like so many Kona solids – tangerine, cactus, carribean . . . looks like a great book to motivate all of us print only people. 🙂

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