Make a Monochromatic Quilt with Andi Stanfield
Monochromatic means single color and if you’ve never made a quilt like this before you really need to give it a try! Andi co-authored the book Monochromatic Quilts: Amazing Variety with her mom Mary McElvain.
In the podcast we discuss why it’s fun to work with one color or one color family and how this can help rebalance your stash. If you take a look at all the fabrics you have right now and notice a trend of lots of one color, making a quilt with just that color family can reduce the dominance of one color over all the others.
Here’s a beautiful example of Andi’s monochromatic quilt Green Frost:
Andi also shares her experience of co-writing a book with her mom and that collaboration process. I certainly learn more with each book I write and loved hearing her self publishing story.
The sponsor for the show this week is the Machine Quilting Block Party and our newest block the Pansy Patch. Check out the block pattern right here and support the show for just $4.99. Each pattern comes with instructions for how to piece the block, plus a full size printable diagram for quilting the block as well.
In my personal update for this episode I talked a lot about my work towards minimizing my craft supplies so I can focus on the things that are most important to me. This was the shot of my upstairs office over the weekend:
Pretty insane! I have accepted that I have a lot of bad crafting habits like buying materials on vacation, then never using them.
To stop doing this in the future I plan to pull out one project I really want to work on before the vacation and work on it during the trip. I also reduced my supplies down to just the projects I really want to make and shot pictures of each project so I don’t forget what I have on hand.
The book The More of Less by Joshua Becker has been very helpful with cleaning out this room and not feeling too guilty for all the money I’ve wasted over the years on supplies I probably won’t use.
Instead of feeling guilty, I’m trying to feel good that I have so much more space, energy, and time to enjoy the projects I really want to create.
Speaking of projects I really want to create, the Peaceful Goddess Quilt is in progress on my machine right now and I can’t wait to release this new fusible applique pattern in a few months!
Creating these goddess quilts has been a big part of my quilting journey and one of my most important goals is to create patterns so you can make them too. By reducing all the chaos and excessive stuff around me, I can finally take on this challenge and create the patterns I’ve wanted to make for years. Be looking for these new patterns coming soon!
Don’t forget to check out Andi’s website True Blue Quilts and learn more about making monochromatic quilts. It’s a great way to use up your stash and explore your favorite fabric colors.
Let’s go quilt,
Leah Day
Hi Leah – Love the Joshua Becker book! I started decluttering a couple of years ago – life changing. Enjoy the creativity and new things that come your way after getting rid of the old stuff! -Zoe
Loved the podcast! I have gone to purchasing fabric by the project that I am working on. I do purchase patterns that I know that I want to make when I see them and then I gather the fabric for that particular quilt. That is my method of reducing stuff. I went through my fabric stash, some that I purchased and other pieces that I have been given and took out what I knew I would not be using in my projects. The fabric pieces along with scrape fabrics were donated to the quilting group at my church. I do still have a cabinet with fabric but it is not like what it use to be.