First up, a brief introduction to the collection, which was
a major step to me getting back to working with watercolor and pen & ink,
something I haven’t done since I designed Flight Patterns.
Nature Walk is a look into all the discoveries we make on my
family’s weekly wanderings… From butterflies and snails to flowers, birds and
bunnies and all the flora and fauna in between.
The collection is divided between the pretty, soft CLOUD
color story and the cooler MINERAL story, but they play well together due to
many touches of colors that cross over from one grouping to the other.
But what I really wanted to focus on today is the alphabet
panel print, “ABC Nature Walk”.
Working on a letter a day for a month, I scoured high and
low for nature elements that start with each letter of the alphabet (it was surprising
which letters were the trickiest, like I and U). I wanted the resulting panel
to appeal to the little ones we love to sew for, offering a visual treasure
hunt, while keeping it educational. Hence they can get their first look at
yellow-tail moths, garlic scapes, a jewel beetle and a vixen, to name but a
few.
Nature Walk A to Z
Quilt – free downloadable instructions
Embroider (or color, or paint) elements of a letter that can
then be used on a tote bag, pillow, etc.
Add a strip of it to the bottom of a skirt or dress.
Or, what may be my favorite project, use the panel as-is to
create a wall hanging for a child’s room.
It’s really simple… Just make a quilt sandwich with
the 24” panel, quilt batting and a backing fabric of your choice. Mark the
lines that divide the letters using a hera marker or some other such
tool (The lines should be spaced exactly 4¾”
horizontally and 8” vertically). Using embroidery floss, quilt a running
stitch along each line, edge to edge.
And the final step, bind the edges (my favorite binding
fabric from this collection is Tall Grass,
available in four different colors). It’s a satisfying one- or two-evening
project that has great impact when completed.
And now for the Challenge!
We would love to see what creative ideas
you might have for using ABC Nature Walk. So, our challenge to all you amazing sewers is to make your own
project using this alphabet panel. And, there will certainly be prizes!
- You must use part, or all, of the ABC
Nature Walk panel in your project. Optional other fabrics that can be
incorporated are other fabrics from the Nature Walk collection and Cotton
Couture solids.
- Create anything wonderful you can
imagine up. The sky is the limit!
- Post photos of your finished project to
instagram and/or facebook using the hashtag #naturewalksewingchallenge and be
sure to tag @michaelmillerfabrics and @tamarakatedesign. Beautiful photos are a
plus.
- The deadline to enter photos of your
completed project is February 29th at midnight.
And the winners are...
1st place - Candice Ayala
An assortment of half yard cuts of Nature Walk
An assortment of coordinating Cotton Couture
A copy of my new coloring book, The Artist's Alphabet
 |
| *published by Eccolo |
An assortment of Nature Walk fat quarters
Coordinating Cotton Couture
Runner Up - Sweet Julia Boutique
An assortment of Nature Walk fat quarters
Best of luck,
Tamara
Oh, and please come take a closer peek at
what I’m up to on a regular basis, whether on my blog, Instagram or Facebook.
CLICK HERE FOR A LIST OF STORES THAT CARRY NATURE WALK!!
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