The Splendid Sampler 2- my Coastline Sponge cake quilt block

Hi and welcome :)
I felt very honored and excited when Pat Sloan and Jane Davidson invited me to be one of the 80 featured designers in their wonderful Splendid Sampler 2 book and therefore to create a quilt block for that opportunity. It was really wonderful experience I gained in this collaboration, and I am beyond amazed by incredible talent, professionalism, kindness and generosity by our hosts and all designers participating in this project!

I was also delighted when I got my copy of the book-beside wonderful blocks, there are a few pages by the end of the book, explaining some quilting basics and many different techniques used for certain blocks, like embroidery, appliqué, curved piecing, English paper piecing, Foundation piecing and more!

Soooooo, I am so extremely happy that today is my day to share more about my quilt block from the book named: Coastline Sponge cake, that can be found on the page 39 of the book.

For my block inspiration, I started with my favourite  traditional quilting technique: strip piecing! Added to that were some nature and food details so hence my statement:
"Strip piecing always reminds me of baking a cake, with layers of yummy ingredients (here fabrics) placed together. The shades of these fabrics are the colors of the coastline and the sea, recalling my best childhood memories of vacations spent by the seaside, eating my favourite sponge cake".

The colors of the fabrics and thread sent to me from their sponsors: Moda and Aurifil were matching my inspiration nicely, so here are a few shoots of the original block, created for the book and to match other designers blocks when joined together in a big quilt.

As a fabric designer for AGF, I had to try the block in some of my fabrics. 

My latest fabric collection, Grid was calling me and I took some step-by step pics while re-creating  the block.

There are 5 different fabrics needed for my block. For nice shading effects-I suggest using different valued fabrics for the strip piecing units.

For the best results, I strongly suggest using the 1/4 seam allowance foot for precise piecing and also pressing fabrics with open seams after each of the steps.

Love matching seams!!!

I really enjoyed making this block and hope that you will try it and have fun with it, too and also entered it in the giveaway pool (details to follow;)!
 Here's my page from the book:

And speaking about the giveaway, for this special day, I decided to giveaway 3 of my quilt patterns, to one lucky winner!!! All you need to do is to leave a comment here, under this post and I will randomly choose a winner by the end of this week, on Sunday, February 10th, by 10 pm, Central European time, open worldwide. You can leave any comment you like, but don't forget to leave your e-mail, so that I can contact you, if you will be my Random Pattern winner.

They patterns can be chosen  from my Etsy shop:

And, another great giveaway for you is coming directly from my amazing AGF team , who is this week's sponsor on Sample Spree blog and they will be giving away one entire FQ bundle of my newest range - GRID fabrics, just like those I used in my block:) 

For this FQ bundle giveaway, you must make my block and share the photo of the finished block to be entered in the giveaway directly on the Splendid Sampler website!!!

You can also visit and join the Splendid Sampler's official Facebook group for more fun!!!

Please make sure to visit the official Splendid Sampler website regularly to get more info about the projects, blocks, tips, and giveaways too!!

Thank you so much for visiting and good luck!!!

xx

Katarina

___________UPDATE__________

We have a pattern giveaway winner!!!

Thank you so much to everyone participating, the random winner is number 15, Jill, that has been contacted via e-mail!!!!

Podcast guest on "While she naps"

A few weeks ago, I had a great pleasure being Abby's guest, on her While she naps podcast.
If you might be interested to hear more about how I became fabric designer and more about my life in general, just tune in! You also, might be surprised with how many times I said "you know", and "actually", but I suppose it's ok when you are speaking foreign language.
Huge thanks to Abby Glassenberg for having me-I really enjoyed!!!
xx
Katarina

GRID fabric collection

My newest collection, Grid is finally out and I couldn't be happier with it! It's a great addition to my PhD project and I can't wait to use it the way I imagined ;) Hopefully will be able to show something soon....

But let me tell you a bit more about the concept I had in mind for this collection...
Numerous social and technological changes throughout the twentieth century, led to new researches and experimentations, interlacing and reviewing basic concepts in art, and the art itself. With implementation of the media in the arts, especially at the beginning of the second part of the twentieth century, there started to appear new artistic practices and movements, some as a revolt on the traditional way of seeing and understanding art, some as bunt on aestheticized, spectacle reality, and some as an attempt to bring art to a zero point, to review and clear art of any narrative and discourse, in order to widen the field of perception and give space to originality, in accordance with the changed social and cultural conditions.  

One of the most important visual art structures, which largely defines the art of XX and XXI century is certainly a grid, that within the contemporary art in the era of multiculturalism and globalization, introduced a new reality and inaugurated some of the most important movements of the twentieth century, including minimalism, pop art and op-art. 

Modern grid, as appeared in the works of artists of the twentieth century, owes much to the history of textiles, especially in the field of tapestries, carpets and quilts. *The grid and its contemporary manifestation, the matrix, continue to influence the work of artists, especially contemporary artists that weave or use concepts of weaving in their work. It is quite possible that computer programming evolved from the art of hand weaving, the first known binary code being warp and weft. The formal advantage of a digital Jacquard loom is that because of the ability of the software to assist the weaver in realizing much more complicated designs it is possible to embed more irregular structures into the cloth as well as symbols and images the artist chooses to include. These choices can vary from super abstract or simple structures and shapes to actual reproductions of photographs in textile form. Although a weaving emerges from the grid, part of the way cloth rebels against the idea of a dependable structure is its inherent ephemeral quality. 

Ideas like the matrix and the grid are used to name not only the un-imaginable reaches of space but also the unseen interiors of our own bodies. The grid and the matrix continue to be viable starting points for contemporary artists to explore the possibilities these structures hold to imagine the visible and the invisible and the connection between body and mind.  

In modern life, the grid is everywhere. Butterfly scales form the most beautiful and unique grid, the streets of cities create the most famous urban grid in the world, while we follow our digital media through small pixelated display network.  

*Partly taken from: 

The grid, weaving, body and mind 

I am so proud of the free quilt pattern-Megapixel quilt that also can be found in the beautiful look book created by AGF team.

I particularly enjoyed making this beautiful tunic dress with rayon for my youngest daughter.
I certainly hope that this collection may inspire you to create too!!

xx
Katarina

AGF curated bundles

Art Gallery Fabrics had recently released their newest product:  AGF curated BUNDLES ! 

• AGF Bundle Up is all about concept sewing and creating based on a theme! Get all the details on the 8 amazing themes offered in AGF Bundle up here! 

• AGF Color Master Designer's Palette celebrates AGF designer's signature styles! There are 12 bundles and for more details on this click here! 

They are available in a bundle or box version! You can choose from Fat Quarter or Half yards!

Here's mine - Katarina Roccella curated bundle, Edition 1. (excited to know that there will be more editions, yay!!!) Look at all 10 prints it includes:

And while I didn't have time yet to play and think about specific projects that can be made using my bundle, I had a chance to play with one of AGF's themed bundles-called Geometrical.

Here are a few pics I took while playing with these beautiful 10 prints, featuring various AGF designers.

What I really like when thinking about simple patchwork projects is strip piecing and cutting these strip piecing units into colorful strips that can be later pieced in a different way to provide unexpected figures and new shapes That's pretty much how I created my Kubeta block and quilt pattern and here, I used the same technique of cutting the strip piecing unit into 45 degrees cuts of 2" strips. I have combined all the cuts here to create the unique cover for this whimsy laptop bag.

The back is simple and this fun emerald grid fabric was perfect for quick straight line quilting.
I used 2 zippers instead of one to create more colorful opening details and also used a piece of the AGF ribbon that was used to tie up the bundle as the nice side detail, as well.

As I had more fabrics left, I also created my rooted quilt block. You can find detailed instructions for this block as part of the free elemental quilt pattern.

It can be used as pillow front or baby quilt if used as it is.

Hope that you feel inspired to use some of these great bundles and make something amazing, especially with the gift giving season infront us!

Happy sewing,
Katarina