Grayworks by Tula Pink is a follow up collection to her 2020 black and white collection Lineworks. Designed to fill in the spaces between black and white, Grayworks adds depth and dimension – and a classic Tula pop of color- to your quilts.
Grayworks has 8 feature prints – all animals that “live their lives in shades of grey”. From polar bears to puffins, leopards to seals, there is something for everyone in this collection. As a Canadian, it was a great feeling designing with animals that call Canada home. Yes I know, leopards don’t hail from this far north, but we are home to other large cats, so I am counting it!
By far my favorite print is the Puffin. Tula managed to represent them as both adorable and elegant, which is no small feat! (also, they have small feet, tee hee!!)
Huffin & Puffin
I designed two quilts for this collection. Normally for Tula I create extravagant over the top quilts with dozens of colors. For Grayworks, I really wanted designs that were accessible to all levels of maker.
First up is Cool Vibrations. I wanted to capture the feeling of the northern lights, but in a modern way. I used the Disco Stripe for my pop of color, and fussy cut all the creatures for the centers.
Next is Crossroads. It’s a fussy cut extravaganza that sews up quickly and easily. I love the Disco Stripe, and wanted to use it as much as possible.
Finally, we have a reimagining of an different pattern. This is an exclusive kit for my next cruise with Stitchin Heaven!
Arctic Party
Arctic Party is the Grayworks and True colors version of Jurassic Party. I will be teaching this quilt on my next quilting adventure to Alaska! I am thrilled to be heading back to Alaska, and hope some of you would like to join me. It’s the time of year when the whales are migrating, so you get the amazing mountains and clear waters and sea life everywhere you look. My first quilt cruise was an Alaska Cruise with Tula, so it holds a special place in my heart. You can find more information and sign up to join me HERE!
Today I am featuring the quilts for Tula Pinks 50th Fabric Collection. I have been working with Freespirit Fabrics and Tula pink for over a decade now. My first collection with Tula was Nest. I entered a jelly roll challenge with my Grandma at her LQS, and I was faster than she was and grabbed the brightest rainbow roll before she could. I was instantly drawn to Tula’s fabrics. They were like nothing I had seen before. Bright, colorful, bold, unique, and everything I had ever wanted to sew with. You can find the finished challenge quilt here.
When I decided that designing quilts was something I wanted to do, my goal was to design for Tula. I always made my best work with her fabrics, and I wanted to share my love of her designs with as many people as possible. My first design was released with FreeSpirit in 2015, and here we are 10 years, 31 collections, and at least a hundred patterns later. This collection was a celebration of 50 collections for Tula. For me, it was the realization of a dream, and I am so excited for what the next 10 years will bring!
The first quilt in the collection is Rainbow Forest. Its a classic SiS design – fussy cutting, flying geese, and rainbow layout! The centers of the blocks were large enough to feature the owl print, which is one of the largest motifs to date in a Tula collection. There are so many fussy cuttable elements!
The collection consisted of 8 prints, and went wand in hand with the release of the next selection of True Colors prints – 22 rainbow blenders and 6 low volume. I adore the low volume prints, they are the original Full Moon Forest owls, bunnies, and raindrops. What a perfect way to show love for the original while celebrating the new! I made two quilts using the True Colors only. The prints were so pretty and make perfect rainbow quilts.
The final quilt is my personal favorite. It is a love letter to Tula’s fabrics, and the joy that designing quilts brings me. I am truly blessed to do what I love, and be able to share that love with others.
I custom quilted the entire thing. It took me hours. It was a labor of love, and I am overjoyed with the final result! The true colors blocks show the quilting the best, so I came up with a quilting design that would compliment the collection without overwhelming the pieces. I love feather quilting, so I played around on paper until the pattern emerged – a butterfly flitting through the colorful garden of the quilt.
To Celebrate, I have gone through and added about 20 quilt patterns to the Tula Pink Free Patterns Section and the FreeSpirit Free patterns section!
I’ve been busy sewing up a storm these past few months. Some things I can show off, some I can’t yet.
Jurassic party featuring Roar! by Tula Pink for Freespirit Fabrics
My Roar quilt has returned from its world tour! She’s been hanging at international quilt markets and making the rounds to quilt shops across North America. Roar is still my favorite fabric line!
Roar! Annette HandbagRoar! Annette Commuter Tote
As you may have noticed, I have taken the plunge into bag making! Stacie Wilson of Troll Brothers Quilt Shop sent me a box of gorgeous colorshift vinyl to play with, and I have been making all the things! My Annette Handbag and Commuter Tote feature the vinyl handles and side panels.
Annette Handbag featuring Moon Garden by Tula Pink for FreeSpirit Fabrics
My Hissy Fit handbag is my daily go-to handbag. This is one of my favorite prints from Moon Garden. I am a reptile fan, and finally having Tula Pink make a snake print made me giddy with joy. I take this bag everywhere!
The pattern and hardware for my Annette came from Emmaline Bags. In Fact, every bag I have ever made has Emmaline’s Hardware. Its top notch hardware from right here in Canada!
In my box of vinyl was this deep yellow that I wasn’t quite sure what to do with. A little brainstorming with the kids, and my Pikachu backpack was born! I designed the face and ears myself, and used the Lindsport Mini Backpack as the body of the bag.
The Sweetpea Saddle Bag is a free pattern from BlueCalla. I love their bags as well, and have made a few. I was testing out the denim lookaline for Troll Brothers. Its got a water resistant backing and a denim look without actually being denim. The main flap was a generous donation of original Tula Pink Prince Charming frogs from a friend that I pieced together into a whole frog. It’s stunning with the bright gold hardware, and the perfect size when I just need the basics.
Lastly, I have this gorgeous duo! I was thrilled to be invited as a special guest into teh FreeSpirit Circle of Makers in November. I got to play with Club Hauer’s newest line, Costumes & Cobwebs. The whole line is gorgeous! I was sent this spooktacular cat and owl print, and the frightfully gorgeous Venus Eye Traps, as well as a handful of blender prints from the collection. The second I opened the box, I knew I absolutely needed to make a bag to show them off! I used the Aster Handbag from Blue Calla for the bag, and the Necessary Clutch Wallet from Emmaline Bags for the wallet. The two pair together brilliantly. I also pulled out some Italian leather that’s been waiting for just the right project.
It’s that time of year again. The kids are on their way (or already) back to school, the nights are cooler, the leave are starting to change, and pumpkin spice is back on the menu. Its around this time of year my BFF and I start to plan our annual Halloween quilt, and finish up last years.
This year I worked with few different FreeSpirit designers and their seasonal fabric collections. From frightful to delightful, these Halloween quilts have something for every spooky season connoisseur.
I have two Halloween collections form Club Hauer. Club Hauer always has amazingly detailed collections, they are the perfect balance of spooky and fun. The panels make for quick quilts, and the prints support them or are completely useable on their own.
First up is the Storybook Halloween collection. The collection features two panels – a full size single motif and another of multiple fussy cuttable motifs. The hexagon prints makes for a great border, with so many small details in each piece. its also my personal fave choice for backing. The bats and moon border strips makes for great sashing, and the support prints feature cats, bats, and ghosts – the trifecta of Halloween creatures!
Spellbound Spellbound features the small panel motifs and some of the larger support prints. Tricks and Treats
Tricks and Treats is a wall size quilt utilizing the large panel with a fun bonus, a table runner that can be made on its own, or using the leftover triangle scraps from the wall quilt!
The second Club Hauer collection is Mystic Moonlight. This collection is a little darker, more otherworldly than Storybook. The prints are large and perfect for fussy cutting, featuring some classic creatures of the night. Owls, bats, ravens and black cats take center stage with the support of some very handsome jack-o-lanterns and skulls.
Stirring Up Trouble was my first quilt for this collection. I had visions of cauldrons being stirred and spells being cast while the familiars wait and watch.
Halloween is the time of year when it can be easier to believe in magic. Personally when I picture magic, I thinks sparks and stars, and wanted to incorporate that into the next quilt. Believe in magic features all of the prints, fussy cut into their own magic stars. Even the striped corners are fussy cut to create the secondary patter. Because when it comes to magic, sometimes you don’t know what effects you may end up with (WooooOOOOOOooooo!)
The third quilt is less spooky and more fun. Who casts spells? Witches come to mind. As do wizards. In my mind, what do these particular spellcasters have in common? They wear some pretty distinctive socks. Since I have features witches socks in the past, it was time for the wizards to have their day. If witches wear stripes, then wizards must wear argyle, obviously! LOL! You know me, I’ll never pass up the opportunity for a good play on words 😉 and since wizards seems to make things more complicated than they need to be, this quilt features oodles of FUSSY CUTTING! Bwa-ha-ha!! Scargyle
The next Freespirit Collection is none other than Ghostly Greetings from designer Cori Dantini. This family-friendly Halloween collection features a multi-print panel that screamed (at least to me) a pattern set! The all in one pattern bundle gives you a wall quilt, a table topper or banner, and two pillows that takes care of your quilted decorating needs for the season.
Finally we have Haunted by designer Brenda Walton. This vintage vibe collection throws back to the magic of Halloween as a child. The brightly colored prints were so much fun to work with, I wanted to make a candy inspired quilt. As kids, our number one goal was as much candy as possible in a single night! The Gumdrops quilt (names after a classic candy, of course!) is big enough to snuggle under after trick or treating has ended, watching scary(ish) movies and eating leftover candy.
I hope these quilts inspire you to whip up something spooky and fun in time for Halloween, and perhaps start your own tradition with your quilty friends!
Now that Tabby Road is in LQS everywhere, its time to talk patterns!
Tabby Road is Tula Pink’s 3rd Deja Vu line – a reimagining of a classic collection in updated colors, scales, and in this case, textures! That’s right, the third Deja Vu collection includes three minky prints. These prints are supersize and supersoft, making them perfect for quilt backings, stuffed animals, and even warm linings for clothes!
Curiosity
We all know the old adage about curiosity and what it does to cats. Curiosity can also refer to a large group of cats ( have seen it both as clowder and curiosity) and what I have here is definitely a large group of cats. I took inspiration from some classic quilts and then turned them up a notch or five. The sawtooth sashing and the star cornerstones are all reminiscent of traditional quilts. I wanted to feature the rainbow prism print, and the sashing seemed the best place to do it. Add in a little rainbow gradient and a Curiosity of rainbow cats and we have a fun bright quilt! There’s even a little easter egg in this one- each of the star centers has a tiny fussy cut mouse in the middle!
Cotton Candy
This quilt looked good enough to eat, so I named it cotton candy. it features a lot of the fur balls print, which remind me of puff of the aforementioned sweet treat. I like to image the cans of cat food are actually filled with cotton candy, and the fur balls are the cotton candy popping out when you open the cans!
Cat’s Cradle
Tabby road Deja Vu has this fantastic multicolor stripe that makes and obvious binding, however, I liked it so much I really wanted to design a quilt where it had a chance to shine. Cat’s Cradle was the final result after what seemed like days of playing with that stripe. i really wanted to use it to its full potential without overwhelming the maker with STRIPE!!!! Throw in some classic Stacey in Stitches fussy cutting, some neon dots, and a fun background color, and there you have it!
I hope y’all are able to get your paws on this collection while you can. Are you planning on making any of these quilts? let me know in the comments, and of course send me pictures of what you make!
Good morning my quilty friends! I am currently playing catchup with my free pattern library, so we will start with the earliest new patterns and work our way forward!
Tula Pink’s fabric line, Besties, is currently live in shops, so I thought I should probably (finally!) share the fun patterns I designed for the collection.
Besties is a vibrant colorful line with lots of gold accents. My favorite prints are the bunnies and the goldfish, even though as a family we lean heavily into the crazy cat people category. Besties has some great small scale and blender prints (hearts and turtles and hamsters, oh my!) to round it out.
The first thing that comes to mind with best friends for me is, of course, the classic friendship bracelet. I spent summers travelling with my family, and during those long drives I often passed the time making friendship bracelets. My best find at the book fair in middle school was a book of 15 totally awesome NEW designs! I practiced and practiced to master each and every one of them. I still remember the fish eye design taking me eons to finish. I wanted to bring that nostalgia to this quilt.
The feature print for this collection is a delightful menagerie of different poochy pals. These good puppers (11/10, the bestest!) deserved a quilt all their own. And what do dogs dream about? I assume food LOL. I had a lot of fun imagining a good boi snoring away with dancing bones floating through its head. Say woof to Doggy Daydreams!
Who else loves those videos of pets travelling to exotic locations with their people? Who would you want to being with you on a whirlwind adventure? Your bestie of course! Thus, Besties Road Trip is an ode to all those besties (furry or otherwise) you would 100% go on a trip around the world with!
Each of these three patterns is free on the FreeSpirit website, and available to download by clicking the blue linky title under each image.
My final quilt to share with this collection is one of my favorites. Most of my designs for this collection are reminiscent of my childhood. Growing up in the 80’s and 90’s friendship charms were all the rage, especially at my school/within my friend group. We swapped those half heart necklaces like currency and made friendship bracelets from anything we could weave into them!
My favorite quilt for this entire collection is – Best Friends Forever! I wanted to try and recreate the split heart friendship charms we used to swap, and that Tula oh so accurately featured in fabric and metallics. This quilt was published in the January 2024 issue of AQ Magazine. You can still find yourself a copy HERE.
Today I will be introducing you to my lineup of patterns for the Nightshade Deja Vu collection by Tula Pink. The original Nightshade is one of the most highly sought after out of print (OOP) collections. The Deja Vu line features more colorization, brighter fabrics, two new scales and a new print!
I loves the vibrant hues in Nightshade Deja Vu. The spider blossom print is my absolute favorite of the collection. I briefly lived in a heritage home that was 100+ years old. The scaled down prints were reminiscent of the carpet in that house. It was large, and empty, and for a time I lived completely alone in it. I had so many ideas, and a story started to play out in my designs.
I imagined some dark, lonely heroine wandering the halls of a large, rambling manor, searching for secrets and avoiding the ghosts of their past. Walking the same halls day after day, wearing a path through the ancient flooring.
Gothic Splendor
The heroine finds themselves in a lost, forgotten corner of the library. Amongst the webbed and dusty tomes, one seems to glow with an inner light. Reaching out, trancelike, the brush of warm pebbled leather awakens a matching glow within their chest, waking the magic inside.
Bewitched
As the magic wakes, our heroine finds herself immersed in a new world of color and light, imbued and overlaid upon both the animate and inanimate. With this newfound sight, they make new discoveries that only help them grow their power.
Magic Aura
In a forgotten cellar room, hidden under the rotting floor, a journal is found. Written by a long forgotten ancestor, it tells the story of three sisters, all gifted with powers. as our heroine dives deeper into the mysterious past, they realize they are the last remaining descendant of these sisters.
Family Magic
Only time will tell whether this power is a blessing….or a curse.
Nightshade Skellington
I hope you enjoy the story as much as I enjoyed making these quilts.
I have some new free patterns available with the release of Tula Pink’s latest line ; Everglow!
Everglow is a neon lovers dream, with 4 new feature prints and 8 electrifying colorways. I have three patterns for the line, and I had so much fun designing to feature each of the elements in the line. Hippos, giraffes, lions and elephants take center stage in this whimsical collection. My favorite print is the Lion, and I love the orange/green colorways that go with it. My close second is the hippo. The small details, like the birds and the body shadows under the water really bring the print to life.
Now, on to the quilts!
First up is Sparkler. This quilt features fussy cutting and precision piecing to create a block exploding with color. I wanted the animal prints to really stand out. My inspiration for this quilt was fireworks. I love how bright and loud they are, and how fireworks spark joy for those who watch. I wanted the same feeling in this quilt. I love how the supporting stripes, dots, and fairy flakes bring the center star to life around the print.
Next, I wanted to use the supporting prints – pom pom, stripes and fairy flakes – as the feature, especially those stripes! They are bold and eye catching, and there’s so much you can do with them to create visual interest in a quilt. With that in mind, I went about playing with blocks and layouts to create Stained Glass. The quilt is stunning, and the construction is deceptively simple – its the same block in 8 different colors! the same print in each section of the block, and the layout does all the work. I highly recommend this quilt for any skill level-beginner to advance!
Last but not least, there is High Voltage. This IS an advanced skill level (you know me, there’s one in every collection!) I wanted a quilt that looked fast, like electricity or lightning, to match the feel of the neon prints. Like argon through a glass tube to create bright light.
You can find each of these patterns in the Projects section of the FreeSpirit Fabrics Website.
The next collection with Tula Pink is called Tiny Beasts, with a new selection of dots and stripes, also of the tiny variety. I really love the collection; not only are the prints excellent on their own, they can also be used like a blender print. The tiny dots and stripes round out the main prints, and of course solids are a quilters best freind!
First is Lend a Paw. This was such a fun quilt to design, I love making gradients and rainbows. the pieces are small, but the quilt is big, finishing up at 91″ x 91″! You’ll have no trouble fussy cutting this one if you want to, even though the cut pieces are smaller you’ll still get the full print in the pieces. I used my favorite print, the trash pandas, as a background feature. You could switch it up with whatever you wanted, from the ladybugs to solids. I used the tiny stripes/dots to complete the rainbow gradient.
Lend a Paw, 91″ x 91″, designed by Stacey Day
The next quilt is a more advanced quilt. I loved the hedgehog print, I thought it was so creative and clever and cute. Chatting with Tula about it led to an idea of dandelion fluff, which evolved into Just Dandy. This is a foundation paper pieced quilt with some bias tape applique. It is not for the faint of heart. The end result is spectacular. Its already popping up on Instagram in progress or completed, which makes my quilty heart so happy.
Just Dandy, 82″ x 82″, designed by Stacey Day
The final quilt I came up with is called Mini Menagerie. I wanted a large central block that would feature as much of the tiny print as possible. This is regular piecing, no special techniques required! I ended up hand drawing this one to make sure the the pieces all fit together as intended. it reminds me of a sunburst. I think this block will make an appearance again in the future. I want to color it for the upcoming Moon Garden collection, it would feature those large prints really well.
Today I thought I would dive right in to one of the most popular fabric designers I have the pleasure of working with; Tula Pink!
Every 6 months or so, Tula releases a new collection with FreeSpirit Fabrics, and I have so much fun taking those fabrics and turning them into quilts for you to enjoy. The entire process takes about a week per pattern, between designing, tweaking, writing, illustrating and technical editing. Myself and the tech editor at FreeSpirit do our absolute best to make sure you get a pattern that is clear, easy to read, and straightforward to make. I get to really branch out with the skill level on these ones; I aim to have a beginner friendly pattern and an advanced level pattern. The advanced level assume prior knowledge and experience in things like paper piecing, fussy cutting, templates, applique, ect. The beginner level patterns I try to make straightforward, and introduce at least one new skill for quilters to develop and start gaining confidence.
As I have about 3 releases of quilts to cover, I will take a day for each collection. I am prolific when it comes to the fabrics and designers I love 😉
Today we will dive into the glorious explosion of Tula Pink True Colors.
The release of Tula Pink’s new True Colors collection made all my wildest rainbow dreams come true. With a full spectrum of 42 hues to chose from, it is entirely possible that I may have gone overboard when designing for this one. I enjoyed every second of it, and poured so much of my love of all things color and fabric and texture into it, that True Colors will always be one of my favorite lines. The best part? It is a supporting line, so will be around for at least the next 2 years!
The first quilt for the True Colors collection was finalized while I was on my quilting cruise; Woven Radiance. I wanted to utilize every single print in the collection in a non-traditional rainbow layout. I took inspiration from my previously designed Radiance quilt. This quilts name is a nod to the previous. I assure you, the two are nothing alike and I may be the only person to see the inspiration on first glance.
The next offering for True Colors left me undecided on a background. I wasn’t the only one torn between colorways, so we went with both! A simple substitution of background hue breathes a different life into this quilt, which I called Stardust. The lighter version uses the fairy dust print from True Colors in Whisper for the background. The dark version used the Tula Pink Solid Diva. I may reimagine these with the new Tula Pink Solids, I think Legendary would make this quilt…..wait for it……LEGENDARY! haha!! See what I did there? yes? Okay! moving on….
In my mind, this quilt represents light in all it’s full prismatic glory, gently bathing the world in color as it rains from the stars.
I loved True Colors so much I needed to express it in quilt form. I also wanted a quilt that could possibly be made with a jelly roll. While the jelly roll aspect was a fail, the quilt itself was a WIN. I just can’t seem to make a quilt small enough to suit jelly rolls…….but that’s okay! More fabric for you to love!
Floating Hearts uses a combination of strip piecing and stitch and flip piecing. The best part is all the leftovers could be turned into a mini quilt or throw pillows if one was so inclined. And since I also can’t seem to do anything the easy way, the colors flow one into the next. My brain was a gooey pile of rainbow spaghetti after editing this one, but so totally worth it! The release of this pattern was delayed because of the background print. We had to wait until the announcement of the next collection before releasing this one, so it had been sitting in the ready folder for FOREVER. Okay, okay, not forever, but it really felt like it!
I don’t always remake my old patterns, but the next two quilts are updated colorings of my quilts for the previous true colors collection in 2016.
Confetti was first designed when Tule Pink All Stars released. The Stripes, Pom Poms, and Tula Pink Solids were meant to continue on into future collections, and I wanted a quilt to show off the supporting prints and carry them forward. I have an ongoing love affair with stars, and I’ll take any chance at creating one with fabric in different and exciting ways. I wrote Confetti as a beginner friendly quilt. The building blocks are HST. My whole vision was no two Confetti quilts would be the same. Cut the triangles, throw them in the air like confetti, then pick them up and start sewing them together at random. While I don’t usually encourage throwing your fabrics all over the place (who wants to recount squares or lose one behind the sofa) I do encourage letting go and grabbing at random to create the sections.
Each of Tula’s lines has an exclusive pattern that you can only get in the quilt kit released by FreeSpirit Fabrics. For True colors, my design was chosen for the kit! Solar Flare is an updated version of the original true colors quilt kit, Prism, that was Craftsy Exclusive. ALLLLLLLLL the way back in 2015. 2015!!!. I loved that quilt, and now I love it even more with the expansion of colors.
You can find the exclusive quilt kit at your local quilt shop or online.
Solar Flare Quilt Kit
This isn’t the last quilt in True Colors, but it is the last for today. The next True Colors quilts are spectacular, but both are part of different posts, and I cannot wait to introduce you to them!
As always, please tag me on Instagram when you make your quilts. I love to gush over other quilters makes from my designs!!
