Monday, February 2, 2015

catching dreams by sunrise {black & white}


Last fallwhen it felt like all my quilting friends were at Market and I was living vicariously through them on IGa very surprising (and welcome!) comment came through on my feed, from none other than Robert Kaufman fabric designer Jennifer Sampou herself... (The anticipation!)  So when she emailed later asking if I would join in on the Insta Blog Hop to celebrate the arrival of her latest line, black & white, I didn't think twice.


From the start I knew I wanted to do something with feathers (consider it an ode to one of her signature prints in the collection).  Initially I was going to stitch up (and drafted patterns for) over half a dozen different "painted" feathers, but when it came time to decide on a layout, nothing seemed right.  Until I stumbled upon a light and airy dreamcatcher while looking for nursery inspiration...  (Lightbulb!)


I quickly got to work merging all my sketches in photoshop and ultimately came up with this...


A subdued, crib-sized dreamcatcher dripping with five brightly painted feathers.  Most of the quilt is pieced with black & white fabrics (and coordinating Studio Stash Yarn Dyes) in the "ash" color story.  To add some dawn-inspired splashes of color, I used a range of blazing shades from the kona sunrise charm pack.  (The pack itself also has a great selection of pinks and greens, but I went with the more heated hues to play off the sun rays in the design.)


For the quilting, I was going to stick with what I know best (straight lines along the "rays"), but when I asked my friend Amanda of Material Girl Quilts for a second opinion she suggested I venture outside my comfort zone and try a little free motion quilting.


..I mean I'm no Angela Walters, but e for effort, right? ;o)  For the binding, I used one of Jennifer's Studio Stash Yarn Dyes, with a little fiery gradient from the kona sunrise charm pack for another added pop of color.


And that's that!  Thank you so much to Jennifer and the wonderful folks at Robert Kaufman for the invite and the beautiful fabric.  And lucky for you all, they've also provided this little "taquito" pack for me to give away here...


C'mon, how cute is that?  Just leave a comment on this post for a chance to win.  I'll pick a winner next Monday, February 9th.  Congratulations to commenter no. 9/127, Anita!


In the meantime, there are other great ways to win too!  Jennifer will be giving away a fat quarter tower of the complete collection (just head over to her opening post before February 8th), plus a taquito pack and a copy of one of her new patterns over on IG (just post your own black & white project—or a favorite from the hop!—and tag it with #blackandwhitefabrics and #jennifersampou).  

And of course you can visit all the other stops on the hop for more inspiration and extra chances to win, too!

January 31 Angela Pingel
February 2 Sarah Sharp - {no} hats in the house << you are here :o) >>
February 7 Jennifer Sampou

Thanks for stopping by :o)

127 comments:

  1. I love your take on the splash of color in a black and white quilt. The feathers and dreamcatcher are fabulous!!

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  2. So beautiful and your quilting is gorgeous. Thank you for the giveaway.

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  3. Love black and white quilts with one other color. Thanks for the giveaway!

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  4. Good morning Sarah.....Your quilt reads like a piece of art, simplistic, yet ethereal at the same time, and I love it. It's very beautiful, soft spoken and with a splash of color. Thanks for the giveaway opportunity. lv2bquilting2@comcast.net

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  5. Wow, that is an impressively detailed design. And your quilting looks like an A+ to me.

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  6. Your design is incredible! And the finished quilt is beautiful. Well done!

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  7. I've oversubscribed to blogs, but this stopped me, it's a beautiful quilt. Bravo on your FMQ too.

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  8. OMG, you're quilt is awesome and I can certainly appreciate the huge effort that went into paper piecing those feathers - beautiful!

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  9. This is an amazing quilt; love it! The quilting is fantastic, too!

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  10. Fabulous design and quilting! Great fabric - thank you!

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  11. Wow. Look at you! This is stunning. <3 I LOVE the background idea!

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  12. Nice! Love the feathers - stunning arrangement!
    mumbird3(at)gmail(dot)com

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  13. Pretty feathers and quilting. 24Tangent@gmail.com

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  14. Nice quilt, love the splash of color. I'm no Angela either, I think your quilting is great. Thanks.

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  15. I have always loved dream catchers! Your quilt is gorgeous.

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  16. Wow that is just awesome, love it

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  17. Your intricate paper piecing is beautiful.

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  18. Beautiful design and result..........the FMQ adds more interest than the straight lines would have and the pops of color are just enough. Great work!

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  19. Love your design with the feathers.

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  20. love it! and the butterfly print is dreamyyyy

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  21. I am amazed! Hope you enter this into some shows. So freakin' awesome. I gasped.

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  22. Absolutely beautiful. The soft black and whites infused with bright warm colors. And you did an excellent job on the quilting

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  23. so gorgeous. you teeny piecing skills are out of this world!

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  24. Going outside your comfort zone worked out very well. The quilting is lovely. I also like the pop of color in the binding. Thanks for sharing. notwendy gmail

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  25. Fabulous! Love the subtleties in your beautiful little quilt.:)

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  26. Wow, such an amazing creation. You do good by feathers! Flowing feathers on a crib quilt will make for great sleeps.

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  27. Wow very cool i so loved the feather's......ty for sharing i love blog hops for cool ideas.....

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  28. Gorgeous, as always. I hope you're reading these comments from the hospital too lady! Good luck!

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  29. Wow, the quilt is gorgeous! The little pop of color really adds drama!

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  30. Oh your quilt is just precious! I love dream catchers! Thanks so much for sharing and thanks for the chance to win:)
    Debby E
    samtaylorcjsmimi (at) yahoo (dot) com

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  31. Those feathers are amazing...looks like they could blow in the wind!

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  32. I'm a sucker for anything with feathers and birds. This fabric and your design are made to go together.

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  33. What perfect balance in the design. What a delightful color surprise using sunny Kona solids against the lush greys of the collection. So many ideas!!

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  34. how cool! That looks like a super-complicated paper piecing pattern. Nice job on the FMQ.

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  35. I love the look of dream catchers especially the feathers! You did such amazing work on the whole design and the FMQ.

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  36. Absolutely stunning dream catcher. wow!

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  37. This Dreamcatcher Quilt is amazing! I am speechless! I'm also inspired to get more precise in my piecing and to try some things outside my comfort zone. Thanks for the giveaway, I love this line of fabric.

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  38. excellent coordination of dark and light colors. Very creative work!!!!!!!!!!

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  39. HI, Thanks for your Blog+a great giveaway!
    Such a neat project !

    msstitcher1214@gmail.com

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  40. This kit could make an adorable tote bag or a wall hanging. Love the feather fabric!

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  41. Your quilt seems to have an almost 3D effect with the dreamcatcher feathers appearing to lift off the quilt. Nice job.

    tushay3 (at) yahoo (dot) com

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  42. Love those feathers! And quilting ain't half bad either.

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  43. love the feathers.....your quilt is genious

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  44. Your quilt is simply stunning! Thanks for being part of the hop. Wow!

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  45. Sarah, I'm so in awe of your Dream Catcher w/Feathers quilt!!! Huge fan of dream catchers and your FMQ w/the sun is just gorgeous. Stepping out of your comfort zone must have given you immense pleasure. Just enough Kona color to keep it lightly ablaze. I too love Jennifer's Studio Stash Yarn Dies ( Ii just have a small FQ bundle and am making zipper pouches this evening) and now Black and White is speaking to me to create a wall hanging for my sewing/reading/quilting space.
    bluestarof2(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  46. Wow...I try to use blacks and whites as often as I can...thanks for the giveaway

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  47. Great job with your forest job on your FMQ and your quilt is amazing. Thanks for sharing and for the giveaway.

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  48. That is gorgeous! At first glance I thought that the feathers must be appliquéd, but you pieced them! I am impressed. It is simply breathtaking. I'm just popping by from the blog hop, so I'm not entering the giveaway.

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  49. I love this quilt!! Congrats - a great pattern.

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  50. I love your dreamcatcher. It is so original.

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  51. I like your freemotion quilting - I think it was very inspired and was one of the first things I noticed about your quilt.

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  52. Gorgeous quilt! Your new little one is very lucky :)

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  53. Oh my- this is gorgeous! I'm obsessed with your binding pop of color(s) -what a fabulous job you did at showcasing her fabric! Those ombré dots!! ❤️

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  54. Amazing feathers! Beautiful quilt.

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  55. What a gorgeous quilt! And your drafting skills are amazing! So are your FMQ skills - much more than E for effort. :) I love your color combinations too. Thanks so much for sharing the story of this.

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  56. Oh-my-goodness, girl! What a FANTASTIC piece of art. I love the way you translated a real life object into fabric. Just fabulous!!!

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  57. Your quilt is yummy beautiful! -- soparkaveataoldotcom

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  58. I had a moment where I was like, Oh! Those feathers are pieced! I thought it was a dream catcher hanging in front of the quilt until then! Beautiful.

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  59. Wow! I absolutely adore what you've done here! So much inspiration in one place. Congratulations on being asked to join the hop, I'm so glad they did!!

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  60. That is beautiful. Very calmng to look at.

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  61. Yep, you totally nailed this look and the FMQ ... lucky baby! Hopefully bub will be arriving soon to enjoy this gorgeous piece of art that Mumma has made :)

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  62. Your dream catcher is amazing. I keep expecting it to shift in the wind.

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  63. Your quilting looks great! It gives it lots of movement in the whole quilt. (I really need to get out of my comfort zone more often with free motion!)

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  64. What amazing fabrics. I love them. Thanks for sharing. kmcassie@gmail.com

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  65. I absolutely love this! The quilting looks amazing with the piecing.

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  66. Envious of your beautiful paper piecing and mind numbing number of pieces to piece together.

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  67. Beautiful quilt, your talent for detail is stunning!!! WOW!!!

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  68. Interesting quilt! Very original.

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  69. That truly is an incredible work of art!

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  70. It's truly gorgeous and I think the colored strip of binding is the icing on the cake :)

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  71. Absolutely beautiful quilt!

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  72. What an inspiring quilt! Gorgeous! Thank you for sharing!

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  73. What a dramatic but peaceful, mystical quilt you have created! Wonderful job on the quilting too. Bravo!

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  74. It's magical! I love it :) The fabrics are wonderful too!

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  75. I love your dream catcher quilt. Nice job! cknapp3626@sbcglobal.net

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  76. You clearly have vision - this quilt is amazing! Gosh, what an inspiration - thank you for sharing it.

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  77. You clearly have vision - this quilt is amazing! Gosh, what an inspiration - thank you for sharing it.

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  78. This quilt is beautiful. Such an original concept and I love how you've used the color story in this. Just beautiful.

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  79. Wow! This is my favourite in the blog hop. The design is wonderful and you did a great job on the FMQ! Please let me know if the pattern becomes available.

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  80. Wow! That is an absolutely amazing design. Just gorgeous! I love the subtle blending of the neutral shades and then the "pop" of brights to catch your eye.
    I would love to play around with the fabrics in the "taquito" pack. Thanks for the great giveaway!
    My email is: bestbelle2010@aol.com

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  81. Those feathers are really beautiful! Glimpse of colour on the black and white background is just so eye catching!

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  82. What an awesome quilt! The feathers are great!

    Jackiethompson323(at)gmail.com

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  83. I knew you'd come up with something amazing! Stunning work, as always!

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  84. I am going to have to stop following your blog because it puts the rest of us lessers to shame! I just can't take the humiliation any longer! ;-P What a wonderfully beautiful creation!

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  85. so pretty! I love it. Thanks for the chance. :)

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  86. Love the way you did the feathers! Pretty quilt, and nice job of quilting, too!

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  87. What a lovely quilt! I just love the feathers!

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  88. Beautiful black and white, and classy too!

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  89. this quilt is BEAUTIFUL. I love the splash of color in the binding, I love the use of the ombre print in the lower left corner, and the feathers -- gasp. Very nice FMQ also. Great quilt.

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  90. I love your feathers! Beautifully made!

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  91. When I saw the fabric line I thought: Those feathers! I should do something with feathers and then I found your blog and you did it! I really, really love it. Those bright feathers that pop out and the quilting! Hooray for the brave out of the box quilting, it is done very well! fingers crossed as the 9th is my birthday ;-) Wouldn't this fabric be an awesome gift? The detail in the binding is indeed a good extra!

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  92. Your quilt is breathtaking! The colors you chose are fabulous.

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  93. Gorgeous!! I love love the design and you FMQ. Will you be sharing the paper piecing template you made?

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  94. Stunning! You done it again! Well done!

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  95. Outstanding feather catcher quilt! It is just awesome!

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  96. Love your dream catcher quilt. So gorgeous!

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  97. Congrats for getting out of your comfort zone in FMQ'ing the quilt. Thanks for the giveaway. Tarnia.hodgesatgmail.com

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  98. Wow that paper piecing is awesome, Jennifer was so right to have you on her blog tour - an amazing piece of work!

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  99. Your dream catcher quilt is magical! I hope you'll have a pattern for sale on your site someday? My youngest daughter (now a junior in college) still makes dream catchers to give to friends. I'd love to make her a wall hanging dream catcher quilt!

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  100. Your quilt is outstanding! I just love the combination of black and white (and variations) with pops of brilliant color.

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  101. What an amazing pattern, I love paper piecing. Will you one day make that pattern available? (My kid is obsessed with dreamcatchers)

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  102. Great pattern. Paper piecing requires concentration for me. Yours is brilliant.

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  103. What a beauty of a dreamcatcher. Love the colors and the quilting detail.

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  104. I'm so impressed by your textile art... it is totally lovely and inspiring!

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  105. What creativity... and a beautiful result!

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  106. Awesome quilt. The colors are so subtle, and then striking. Very cool.

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  107. I love your feather quilt and love how you pieced the feathers. The range of colors are very striking! My favorite:-)
    LauraT

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  108. Wow I hope you are going to offer that pattern for sale one day it is gorgeous!!!

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  109. Your dream-catcher is so lovely. do you have any plans to turn those feathers into a paper-pieced pattern? If so, I would love to give them a try!

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  110. Awesome feathers, I love the open aspect of the Dream Catcher as an object, and you've really caught it in your quilt!

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