30 Quilts for 30 Years OR Secret RK Kona Cotton Quilt Revealed!

Now it's my turn to say I've worked on a Secret Project!

Earlier this year, I had the honour of being asked to be one of thirty designers to help Robert Kaufman Fabrics celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Kona- their signature line of cotton solids!

For me, a quilt designer who generally loves to work in print, print and more print, an all-solid Kona quilt was an interesting and welcome challenge. Prints can often do some of the work in giving a quilt a complex appearance that can belie relatively simple piecing. A well-placed large fussy cut of a bold geometric print can stand in for actual geometric piecing. So, in an all-solid quilt design, there was no place to hide, and every seam counted.

"Print Party" was originally designed as a quilt class project for students at my "home shop," The Workroom in Toronto. It is simply titled "Sampler 2," and is a next step for students wanting to build their skills with a more challenging quilt.

For "Print Party: Solids Soiree," I made a number of design decisions that were a direct result of working in an all-solid palette. For example, my original version of this quilt includes filler blocks. Since the quilt is composed of blocks of varying size, the filler blocks are used to fill in the areas between oddly sized blocks. Filling in these spaces with a swath of a single solid colour felt less interesting than creating a bit of additional pattern through the use of HSTs and Flying Geese units. I am particularly pleased with the section of six Flying Geese in a gradation of orange; gradients always make my eye happy.

I also added more piecing in the background for the Carolina Lily block. Since it's really large (a 24" square), an expanse of a single, solid colour seemed to dominate that corner of the quilt too much. I divided the background subtly and worked it in a combination of brown and dark grey instead.

After a particularly long and cruel winter, I was craving hot, bright, saturated colour. Pomegranate and Tangerine emerged as favourites. White and cream were avoided completely; my palest cottons were Shadow (a pale grey), Ice Peach and Thistle (a soft, dreamy violet). For balance (and because I love dark quilts), I used very dark neutrals (Black, Coffee, Charcoal, Espresso) as a counterpoint to all that vibrant colour.

I passed my completed quilt top over to Michelle of Kallisti Quilts, who long-arm quilted with exuberant variety and texture in a rich, vivid orange.

(For a copy of Print Party, you may contact The Workroom or Kallisti Quilts. If you're a shop who is interested in carrying Print Party or my other patterns, please contact me through the email address there in the sidebar. Thanks!)

Enough about my quilt- let's talk about you entering to win a Giveaway!

To celebrate Kona's 30th Anniversary, Robert Kaufman Fabrics is generously providing a Charm Square pack of Kona Cotton 2014 Colours! Yes! This pack includes two of my fave new colours: Watermelon and Pickle. Scrumptious! In addition to the Kona Charm Square pack, I will also be giving away a copy of my Print Party quilt pattern, which will include additional notes for the extra piecing I included in the Solids Soiree version.

For a chance to win the giveaway for my blog, simply enter a comment for this post by midnight tomorrow night (November 2). I will count the number of entries and select a winner with the True Random Number Generator. Check back on this blog November 3 or 4 to see if you are the lucky winner, and we can organize getting your prize to you. (Be sure to comment in a way that I can identify you!) Good luck!

Also, keep your eye on the Robert Kaufman quilting blog, swatchandstitch.com for details on their great big giveaway concluding the blog hop on December 3.

I am so pleased to have been the first stop on the RK Kona Cotton 30th Anniversary Blog Hop! Be sure to check out all the other fantastic designers and their awesome Kona Cotton quilts. The schedule:

Week 1:
Saturday, November 1st: Johanna Masko
Sunday, November 2nd: Alyssa of Aria Lane
Monday, November 3rd: Dorie of Tumblingblocks
Tuesday, November 4th: Megan of Canoe Ridge Creations
Wednesday, November 5th: Daniela of Cozy Quilt Designs
Thursday, November 6th: Faith of Fresh Lemons Quilts
Friday, November 7th: Anita Grossman Solomon
Saturday, November 8th: Debbie of Esch House Quilts

Week 2:
Sunday, November 9th: Alex of Teaginny
Monday, November 10th: Darlene Zimmerman
Tuesday, November 11th: Nichole Ramirez
Wednesday, November 12th: Rita Hodge of Red Pepper Quilts
Thursday, November 13th: Lee of Freshly Pieced
Friday, November 14th: Julie of Jaybird Quilts
Saturday, November 15th: Latifah of The Quilt Engineer

Week 3:
Sunday. November 16th: Elizabeth Hartman
Monday, November 17th: Erica of Kitchen Table Quilting
Tuesday, November 18th: Karrie of Freckled Whimsy
Wednesday, November 19th: Valori Wells
Thursday, November 20th: Marilyn of Quilt Moments
Friday, November 21st: Cortney Heimerl
Saturday, November 22nd: Shayla and Kristy of Sassafras Lane Designs

Week 4:
Sunday, November 23rd: Shea of Empty Bobbin Sewing
Monday, November 24th: Carrie Strine
Tuesday, November 25th: Rachel of Stitched in Color
Wednesday, November 26th: Liz of Lady Harvatine
Saturday, November 29th: Carolyn Friedlander

Week 5:
Sunday, November 30th: Elizabeth of Don’t Call Me Betsy
Monday, December 1st: Emily of Carolina Patchworks
Tuesday, December 2nd: Ken Kaufman
Wednesday, December 3rd: Grand Finale!

And now, let's just take a moment to drink in the splendour of this stunning Pineapple quilt by Anita Grossman Solomon...

Isn't it just gorgeous!? Hey, Anita- if you get tired of this Pineapple quilt, you know who you can send it to! :-)

Have fun hopping, good luck with the giveaways and Happy Quilting!!

Johanna xo