Greetings!
Happy New Year! It's a new year and we have so many wonderful new things happening this month including new fabric and new free quilt patterns.
We'll also be saying goodbye this month to our 2011 BOM, Jinny's Journey, and saying hello to . . . well, you'll just have to read on!
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The Palette Collection Turns 11 . . or Maybe It's 21!
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39 new additions to the
Palette Collection
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Every two years I refresh about forty fabrics in my Palette Collection and the fabrics in the latest edition, Palette #11, are now available. The first collection was launched in 1990 so although we're on the 11th edition, the concept is now 21 years old!
This update includes 39 new fabrics in five new designs. We've bundled those new fabrics together in fat quarter packs and Twice the Charm rolls (5" x 22" strips), and incorporated them into our other Palette samplers. You can see all our Palette quilts, patterns and products at these links:
Palette Quilts
Palette Products
I also created three new quilts featuring fabrics from the Palette Collection, all of them suitable for quilters of any level. Kits are available for all the quilts and the patterns are free downloads!
Spectrum and Harlequin Charm feature virtually all of the Palette fabrics and are made using pre-cut swatch sets.
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Spectrum finishes 83" x 101 and Harlequin Charm 60" x 60"
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Butterfly Bush is available in the two color options shown.
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Quilts finish 46" square
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You can read more about how the Palette Collection came to be (and see how I use the Palette in designing quilts) in the article below.
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"Quilters Deserve a Full Range of Colors, Too!"
|  The Jinny Beyer Palette Collection is unique in the world of quilting: it's 150 tone-on-tone fabrics that span the spectrum of colors and that is always in print. I refresh some of the fabric designs every few years, but the colors stay quite consistent.
I'm often asked how the Palette Collection came to be. And the answer is pretty simple: I got mad!
For years before I began designing fabric, I taught classes on color and quiltmaking around the world. If you were quilting in the 1980s, you know that quilting fabric was much more limited than today. When I taught my approach to color and color shading, it was impossible to find printed fabrics that spanned the spectrum of color. It was frustrating for me and for my students.
One day I was in a general crafts store in Australia. I walked through displays of beautifully shaded yarns and embroidery threads to the fabric section at the back. The majority of the quilters' cottons there were only in the "colors of the seasons" or basic primary colors -- and that's when it hit me: quilters should be able to count on having a full range of colors with which to work, too! What if I need a deep orange today and that color isn't "in season"?
The first Palette Collection was released in 1990 and included 100 fabrics. Two years later, RJR Fabrics agreed to increase the Palette to 126 colors. I still wasn't satisfied (what quilter doesn't want more!), so in 1994, we upped the Palette to 150 fabrics. In 2002, I revamped the 150 colors so that the Palette included a few more neutrals and also some "spring greens" and that is where it stands today.
I use Palette Collection fabrics in virtually all of the quilts I design. (My tool of choice is the Portable Palette shown above. It's like a painter's fan deck -- much more convenient than working my way through 150 bolts of fabric!) The Palette fabrics help "fill out" the colors in a seasonal collection. And since I know I can count on those colors being available years down the road, they ensure the longevity of many of my quilt designs.
 For a free lesson on color and to see how I use the Palette Collection, see the video I put together with The Quilt Show.
Do you have a design, color or quilting question for Jinny? Send an email to askjinny@jinnybeyer.com. Although she can't respond personally to your messages, she will select questions with broad appeal to be addressed in this newsletter and on the website. |
2012 Block-of-the-Month Quilt: Shenandoah Baskets
|  Introducing . . . Shenandoah Baskets, our block-of-the-month quilt for 2012! I loved it with both the light and dark background, so we decided to show it to you (and create quilt kits) in both versions.
The quilt finishes about 88½" square.
The overall quilt style was based on your input into our poll several months ago: it is a block-based quilt that incorporates optional appliqué. Three of the blocks are traditional and the rest are originals that I designed. The appliqué was created by Diane Kirkhart, one of our Studio elves and a phenomenal quilter.
See all the quilt variations.
Beginning in February, each monthly newsletter will include a link from which you can download a section of the pattern. The December 2012 newsletter will have the final portion.
Quilt Kits are available today (although we're still awaiting the final pattern printing.) The kits include all the fabric you need to complete the quilt top and to bind the quilt; the pattern is optional since many of you might choose to wait for the free downloads.
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Shenandoah Baskets Fabric Bundle
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We're also offering a Baskets Fabric Bundle for those of you who might wish to use your own background and setting fabrics. The Bundle includes enough fabric to make the baskets and do the appliqué if you choose.
View Kit & Bundle Details. |
Travel with Jinny to Ireland or South America
| If you like to travel as much as I do, you might be interested in taking a trip with me and Sew Many Places this year.
 I will be headed to Ireland in June to see some sights and spend a few days at the International Quilt Festival of Ireland. In addition to wonderful quilts, we'll see castles, countryside, crystal and much more during the 12-day excursion.
More information on the trip to Ireland.
 Then, later in the year, it's off to Machu Picchu and the Amazon during a 12-day tour of Peru. Sew Many Places has wonderful excursions planned including some river boat trips, a blow gun demonstration, and pirhana feeding! Of course, we'll definitely have some fun quilting time, too.
More information on South American trip.
I would love to have you join me on one of these special trips. Sew Many Places is a travel company exclusively for quilters and their arrangements are always top-notch.
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Jinny's Journey Block of the Month - Last Chance!
| This is the last month in which you can download the Jinny's Journey quilt pattern for free!
The patterns will be available free only through January 31, 2012. After that, the only way to get the pattern will be to purchase it.
And the only way to get to the free pattern downloads is through this email, so if you don't download the patterns immediately, be sure to save this email.
[Link for subscribers only]
Ready to make the quilt? We have complete kits and patterns ready to ship. The kit is available with three different border color options!
See them all here.
Happy quilting!
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