Melanie Testa

Lyric Kinard shows Florabunda! off with a Tote

Lyric Kinard is an artist, author and teacher who published Art + Quilt, in addition to offering DVD workshops, a thermofax screen print service and artworks in her shop. Lyric updates a fab Call for Entry list, which I delve into regularly. Check out her FB, Insta. Not only all of this, but Lyric is a kind, good, and caring soul.

This tote thrills me because its boxy shape and extra pocket, which seems ripe for a trip to the farmers market over the weekend. It reminds me of the pretty printed woven plastic totes, but made better by being cotton. The Tendril and Ivy in the Sprout color, really play nicely with Polyanthra in the Lustrous color. When I asked Lyric about working with Florabunda!, she talked about the ease of mixing and matching the different prints.

Use this link to get a full size PDF of Florabunda!’s color card. In the meantime, this small card shows the color connections that can be found within the line. It can lean to grey, teal, blue or pink, with supportive tonal and single color prints too.

Check out Lyrics Florabunda! Blog Hop post here.

June 7–Tiffany Hayes

June 8–Deborah Boschert

June 9–Sara Mika

June 10–Lyric Kinard

June 11–Kathy York

June 11–Teri Lucas

June 12–Leslie Tucker Jenison

June 12–Heidi Kelly

June 13—Jamie Fingal

June 14–Debby Brown

June 14–Susan Brubaker Knapp

June 14– David Gilleland

June 16—-Melanie Testa Here!

Please follow RJR Fabrics and Quilty Box and me, @mellytesta on Instagram! That is where we will host most of the the giveaways (my blog will have some extra swag).

And hey, if you don’t know who Quilty Box is, you should! I am their featured artist for the month of June. They are a quilterly subscription service that introduces you to the latest products, fabric lines and patterns, by up and coming quilt makers and artists. They will be giving a Melly Box away to one of you off this blog on June 16. In the meantime, get ready to see what my colleagues made!

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Sara Mika and Mock Pie Studio uses Florabunda!

Sara Mika is a delightful connection for me, I have yet to meet her in person, but I look forward to it. Check out her blog, FB, Etsy and Insta.

Sara’s art quilts are strong, playful, graphic and artistically expressive. Like me, Sara comes at quilting from a fine art perspective, but her more traditional quilting and design skills are tight too. Her corners are amazing, and although I think I am doing well with my own corner’s Sara’s are better! I appreciate surrounding myself with artists whose skill sets are more advanced than my own.

When I asked if she would be interested in using Florabunda!, Sara made this baby quilt, Kaleidoscope. I am happy to say, RJR Fabrics has a free pattern for Kaleidoscope on their website.

Check out this blog post to see what Sara at Mock Pie Studio has to say about Florabunda!

June 7–Tiffany Hayes

June 8–Deborah Boschert

June 9–Sara Mika

June 10–Lyric Kinard

June 11–Kathy York

June 11–Teri Lucas

June 12–Leslie Tucker Jenison

June 12–Heidi Kelly

June 13—Jamie Fingal

June 14–Debby Brown

June 14–Susan Brubaker Knapp

June 14– David Gilleland

June 16—-Melanie Testa Here!

Please follow RJR Fabrics and Quilty Box and me, @mellytesta on Instagram! That is where we will host most of the the giveaways (my blog will have some extra swag).

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Deborah Boschert’s Florabunda!

Deborah and I are good friends. Check out her insta, FB and Etsy.

In the photograph below, I had just published Inspired to Quilt, which you can see on a banner-ad above Pokey and Deborah’s heads. That was more than 10 years ago! Such good times! [I have since published two more books, Dreaming from the Journal Page and Playful Fabric Printing] Deborah has published her own book too, Art Quilt Collage which covers many of the techniques she used in making the above wall art series. I highly recommend it.

This photo captures the first time we met and we were wearing the same t-shirt! We hadn’t planned it!

What pleases me the most about Deborah’s work is that her aesthetic is crisp, clean, playful and her use of stitch is very communicative, as if it were its own language.

This is what Deborah has to say about working with Florabunda!, “As an artist, I love using botanical shapes in my work and the leaves, flowers, vines and patterns in this collection are beautifully realistic but have a true hand-designed quality about them. The subtle chevron print may be my new favorite fabric. It’s perfect to ground a design and the colors are familiar but slightly unexpected. You’ll definitely see Florabunda pop up in my work in the future!

Check out Deborah’s corner of the Hop here.

June 7–Tiffany Hayes

June 8–Deborah Boschert

June 9–Sara Mika

June 10–Lyric Kinard

June 11–Kathy York

June 11–Teri Lucas

June 12–Leslie Tucker Jenison

June 12–Heidi Kelly

June 13—Jamie Fingal

June 14–Debby Brown

June 14–Susan Brubaker Knapp

June 14– David Gilleland

June 16—-Melanie Testa Here!

Please follow RJR Fabrics and Quilty Box and me, @mellytesta on Instagram! That is where we will host most of the the giveaways (my blog will have some extra swag).

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Tiffany Hayes and Florabunda! by RJR Fabrics

Head over to Tiffany’s online presence, Needle in a Hayes Stack, to see her full range of quilt patterns, block of the month offerings, fabrics, kits and notions too. Here is her Insta, her Pinterest, and FB just to keep it tidy! I could not be happier that Teri Lucas connected us!

The pattern for this quilt, Blue without You, can be preordered!

This quilt exemplifies my hopes for how Florabunda! might be used. It demonstrates the range of values found in the blue portion of Florabunda! It vibrates with patterning and density of color. And it highlights the Blowsy Rose print in my favorite coloration of the three, Bluette.

I can easily see this quilt being made up in the Bengal Rose colorings within the line too. With my new found confidence in following patterns and making more traditional quilts, I hope to take the creation of this quilt up for myself! It is ingeniously simple but packs a colorful punch! The blocks are big and the color pulls it together nicely, its pretty snazzy.

Check out Tiffany’s post about it!

June 7–Tiffany Hayes

June 8–Deborah Boschert

June 9–Sara Mika

June 10–Lyric Kinard

June 11–Kathy York

June 11–Teri Lucas

June 12–Leslie Tucker Jenison

June 12–Heidi Kelly

June 13—Jamie Fingal

June 14–Debby Brown

June 14–Susan Brubaker Knapp

June 14– David Gilleland

June 16—-Melanie Testa Here!

Please follow RJR Fabrics and Quilty Box and me, @mellytesta on Instagram! That is where we will host most of the the giveaways (my blog will have some extra swag).

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Lost and Stolen 2 sided, handprinted Quilt

Last year, I made this two sided quilt and gained its entry into two well loved magazines, International Quilt Festival Quilt Scene 2017 and Fons and Porters, Modern Patchwork, both magazines are owned by F+W media. The front, pictured above, was completely handprinted using Melly Marks stamps and thermofax screens.

The back of the quilt, is half handprints, half commercial prints. The hand printed aspect of this quilt is what made their entry into these magazines so exciting for me. While I understand folks might be hesitant to print the fabrics used in their quilts, both magazine articles highlighted the handprinted aspect by talking about color value, varying use of texture and motif size. And both magazines showed off the quilt beautifully. Neither showed the back, as I had hoped to discuss this in a future magazine article.

Placing this quilt in a magazine is a huge deal for me as I so often feel like an outlier in the more traditional quilt community. With this quilt in particular, I felt honored to be embraced and showcased as a quilt maker, despite my penchant for working from the ground up, designing the tools to print, mixing the dyes, printing the yardage, piecing, quilting and then getting the work seen.

Unfortunately, when the quilt was shipped back to me, it was left on my stoop, by the shipper, and was stolen off my doorstep. I live in New York City. My doorstep opens out onto the street and there is nowhere to discreetly hide a package.

I contacted the magazine and we discussed my quilts value in addition to the companies shipping policies. As restitution for the loss of the quilt and to honor our longstanding working relationship, they paid me a fee for the quilt, though not its retail value, for which I am still grateful. They also changed their shipping policy to require signature for every shipped item. I am glad they made this change.

I am deeply sorry to have lost this quilt. I am sorry this event overshadowed my ability to support and highlight this quilts foray into print media. I wish I still owned it. I honestly hope it is being used and loved.

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Improving my skill set and building preferences

In the last two months, I have been a very busy quilt maker.

The image above shows that I have combined some sunflowers (the birds devoured the dried seeds within -Thanks Mom!) with threads for their nests. It seems like a win-win for our feathered friends! Food and nesting material, all on one NYC fire escape! What a great way to use up thread scraps!

Releasing a fabric line has been quite interesting! To experience these fabrics through the designing and print process, submitting them to a fabric house, and now, learning to effectively use them in quilts?

So. Much. Fun.

I will show this entire quilt top next week, during the Florabunda! Blog Hop Celebration. But for now, I would like to say, the pattern for this quilt can be found in Victoria Findlay Wolfe’s Modern Quilt Magic. Like so many of my fellow quilters, I am smitten with Victoria’s innovative quilts, her solid skill set and her precise methods of teaching. This year, I went from trying out ‘y seams‘, to sewing the Cascade quilts’ soft curves, to jumping right into to piecing a Bow Tie quilt with quarter circles! All three quilts use Victoria’s templates (I am a total fan-click links above)!

Where previously, I had told myself these techniques were too difficult or fiddly, now, I am All-In! This is easy! And fun. It’s been a joy to learn new skills, while acquiring preferences in how to most effectively use Florabunda!

During the Blog Hop, I will discuss how these three quilt/tops helped me build preferences and understand how to use Florabunda! effectively. So please join us, on June 7th!

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Random thoughts on fabric and quilting with Florabunda!

It has been so much fun learning to use Floribunda! in quilts. Florabunda! pairs nicely with other designer lines in the RJR Fabrics catalogue.

For instance, I think it pairs beautifully with Jamie Fingal’s Hopscotch line, an expansive and colorful array of low volume, super-fun prints. (Jamie is a Florabunda! Blog Hop Celebrant and her work will be featured soon).

I’ve made a bowtie quilt as my offering to the Hop (I will showcase this on the 16th), which combines both our lines. It feels good to know there are so many options to expand Florabunda!’s reach.

Over the course of the last few months, I have made three or four quilt tops using Florabunda! and I am learning so much. The prints compliment and contrast to one another in interesting ways. Its allowed me an understanding of what I might do differently in designing and printing my next portfolio of textile designs. 🙂 I also see where I might interject more value options in the single color prints/low volume prints.

To go from designing, carving, cutting, mixing, printing, securing a commercial line of fabrics, THEN, being able to use them in quilts? Build preferences? Figure out how better the next line of fabrics? This is a dream come true. This is my dream.

I have true #gratitude. #quiltwithlove

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Announcing the Blog Hop Celebration of Floribunda!

Mark your calendars!

June 7-16 2018

I will host a Blog Hop Celebration of Florabunda! It’s my new fabric line.

Together with RJR Fabrics and Quilty Box, who have donated awesome swag for give-away, I have gathered several friends, artists and quilt makers, whose work I admire. I asked them to make items like baby quilts, wall art and wearable art, to showcase ALL that Florabunda! can be. As part of the Blog Hop Celebration, I will post each day with Artist Highlights, links and creative inspiration.

The stuff this crew has been making is so very pleasing, I look forward to sharing it all with you! Please check out each of these Quilt Makers and Artists.

June 7–Tiffany Hayes

June 8–Deborah Boschert

June 9–Sara Mika

June 10–Lyric Kinard

*June 11–Kathy York

June 11–Teri Lucas

*June 12—Susan Brubaker Knapp

June 12 Leslie Tucker Jenison

*June 13—Tiffany Hayes

June 13—Jamie Fingal

June 14–Debby Brown

*June 14–Heidi Kelly

June 15– David Gilleland

June 15—Melanie Testa

June 16—-Melanie Testa Here!

Please follow RJR Fabrics and Quilty Box and me, @mellytesta on Instagram! That is where we will host most of the the giveaways (my blog will have some extra swag).

Stay tuned!

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Finding pleasure.

Last week, I took out every quilting thread I own, made a quilt sandwich and found a thread i wanted to use on my Bow Tie quilt. The thread I chose, is variagated trilobal polyester, Superior brand Rainbow. Now, my Bow Tie quilt is more than half quilted!

When I was making whole cloth, dye painted artwork, I used an array of rayon embroidery threads. The thread was slick, shiney and became one with the dye painted work beautifully. I fell in love with the shine and depth it gave the artwork. Now, I find, I can still have that shine, though in a much stronger thread that will withstand washing and use! Win!

Also, in the hopes of hosting a ‘Sip and Sew’ at my local quilt store, Gotham Quilts, I am using their free pattern, Yuma and combining it with Florabunda! Again, my fascination with my own self imposed ‘creative limitations’ reared its pesky head! I froze up and declared, ‘I have no idea how to follow a pattern!’ I fretted, I tried to back out of the idea, I got to work, and…

Wonder of all wonders, I most certainly do know how to follow a pattern! I am even changing it around a slight bit!

It is time to stop listening to that small and limiting voice and settle into the pleasure of streching and growing, while learning new things, all over again.
Continue reading “Finding pleasure.”

Machine Quilted Sampling with Florabunda!

Hello Good folk.

I am working on my Bow Tie Quilt. It’s been basted and a sample sandwich was made, so that I can try out machine quilting techniques. I am excited about this quilt. The colors dance and sparkle. Sewing the quarter circle blocks was great fun. And now, this great quilt is encouraging me to machine quilt in ways that I have not recently explored.

Usually, when I quilt my hand printed quilt tops, I machine quilt in straight lines, in order to ‘level the playing field’ and place the focus on the handprints rather than the quilting. Check out my Lace Swirl Quilt with straight line quilting, here.

But, straight lines won’t do this time! I want to stretch and learn, which is in keeping with this Bow Tie Quilt top anyway.

So this morning, I rounded up every spool of thread in the house and evaluated my stash. I posted to Facebook, asking about the different threads I rounded up and also, examples of free motion go-to shapes. (I love asking the folks on my feed for their advice! I get great information, differing views, links and photos! Book suggestions too!) Cindi G turned me onto Baptist Fan free motion shape, and Kevin S suggested renaming it Lava Flow, which I must say, I really like!! I have been to Hawaii, seen the volcano that recently erupted and I feel connected to its flow and outcome.

I chose this thread and ‘Lava Flow’ or Baptist Fan, though I did need to purchase a large spool, I happily await its arrival. In the meantime, I will use up the spool I have.

This is a bunch of fun!

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