Hi everyone,
Welcome to my stop on the Etno Blog tour!
I am deeply honored and beyond excited to be a part of the tour and to celebrate this lovely new fabric collection by Pat Bravo.
I am a huge fan of Art Gallery Fabric, not only for gorgeous fabric designs and truly superb quality, but also for their support and patronage of so many young, creative designers and fun, creative presentations that are so inspiring! Umm… Did I mention I am a fan? 🙂
I hope you have been enjoying some amazing creativity and inspirations at the tour stops so far – you can find them all here on Pat Bravo’s blog. Yesterday Sharon shared her gorgeous quilt on her blog – I just LOVE it!! And tomorrow – stay tuned for more Etno beauty from Nancy of Owen’s Olivia .
ETNO – I love everything about it!! The inspiration behind it, the colors, designs… The way how they all harmonize together so beautifully and yet, every one can shine on its own. See, that was my main dilemma when dreaming up my project – do I use them all together or just a few? Ideas were flying for both, but for now here is the first one that I came up with – my Etno Garden ! This is a table runner and it measures 18″ x 44″,
I was really inspired by how wonderfully colors and patterns flow from one fabric to another and here is the palette I chose:
Aren’t they just gorgeous?
I know I wanted strips in all these colors, but also this gorgeous print kept asking for some flowers too…
So here is my Etno Garden story!
Some strips came first, on one side… (sorry not the best photo here! 🙁 )
Then on the other…
And here was the basic design on my wall: (another “action shot” taken on the fly and not the best…)
Now some serious chain-piecing was in order:
Look at those eyes!! 🙂
Once the piecing was done, I was ready for some flowers for my Etno Garden! Do you like applique? I do! I remembered some sketch-style roses I drew one time and now the question was if I can find them…ha, I did! (big success if you would see my sewing room sometimes…)
Some fusible, some cutting and roses were blooming!
Top all done and ready to quilt!!
Here are lovely Aurifil (50wt) colors I chose for quilting. (numbers are 2630 (charcoal), 1148 (teal), 2445 (rose) and 5010 (gold))
I had fun texturing the roses, doodling some leaves and vines and some free-hand straight lines in the color strips. here are few details:
I actually like how back looks too!
So here is my Etno Garden my friends! I do love it – what do you think?? 🙂
True to its name, I found some ethnic props from my heritage – traditional plum-brandy bottle and modern time pottery from my Motherland – little country on the Balkans, Serbia. I really love how they play with Etno fabric!! 🙂
As much as I love outdoor photos, unfortunately this past few weeks in Buffalo NY were not photo-shoot friendly… I managed finally to catch some no-precipitation (yes, snow too!!) time quick, so here is the best I can do:
My Etno Garden in my, still sleeping, rose garden! (can’t wait for my roses to bloom – promise to take another photo then!!)
OK, so here is my guilty confession my friends: my ambition was to have one (or few) pillows done too, but sadly my “fabulous” idea did not work very well… (I am NOT showing you a pile of mangled strips on my cutting table!!) – but I am not giving up!! Found the solution and even few more and better ideas and those pillow will come to the blog soon – so stay tuned!!
In the meantime – lets all get inspired on the rest of this fabulous Etno Blog Tour! I can’t wait to see what else is coming (and I keep going back to all the blogs posted so far, since they are just so gorgeous and inspiring!). For constant stream of inspiration, make sure you follow Pat Bravo and Art Gallery Fabrics on all social media, they really keep my creativity flowing!
I hope we stay in touch – tell me what you think and show me your lovely creations ( Instagram and FB page links on top right).
Wishing you lovely spring and many stitches,
Marija
Just beautiful, Marija. Your creativity shows so well with these fabrics and colours. Krasno!
I love your table runner…great inspiration!!! Joyce
I have just seen your fabulous table runner on Pinterest and am blown away by it. While drooling over this post I noted that you planned to make other items (pillows, ???) with these fabrics but I did not find any additional items on your blog. Hopefully if you have made them, you will share. I also note that you do make quilt patterns and others have requested a pattern for this table runner. Hopefully that will happen at some point as I would also be in line to purchase it. One of the best "Blog Hop" items that I have seen. You have a talent and I appreciate you sharing it with the quilting world.
Wow! I'm smitten – you have made such a beuatiful runner. Everything about it is perfect. Thank you so much for sharing your ideas – this on will find its way into my work – I am sure!
Hi Marja. I have been wondering. (Wishing and hoping) if you were going to produce a pattern and/or kit for your ETNO GARDEN? II am waiting for my fabric to arrive….sure would love your pattern to go along with it😉
For me this is by far the most interesting and most impressive contribution to the blog tour! You've created an absolutely stunning table runner!!
Hi Marija, Thank you for replying to my comment.
Hi Ciarrai, thank you for visiting and commenting!
To answer your questions, I can of course only speak for myself and situations I have been involved in. So for myself I can assure you no one ever asked me to say anything specific nor was I obligated to do anything. The fact is that if a blogger wants and volunteers to participate in this kind of event, it is BECAUSE they love that particular line of fabric, it excites and inspires them in the first place so it seems natural to me that they do really love it. At least I do. And when I sad I love everything about this line, I really meant it. I could elaborate and explain this in much more detail, but that would make for a very long blog post. 🙂
As for the comment about stepping out of one's comfort zone – that is such an individual and personal remark that it would be impossible for me to know what someone meant by saying it. When I do it, I usually learn something valuable about myself, I find out what I am good at or maybe NOT good at or how something I didn't think would work, can really work well – so it is generally a very good thing!
About trusting a designer because she/he is a genius…that I really can't speak of, I am not sure what someone in particular situation, would mean by that and why discussing it would make them uncomfortable. Again, a very personal kind of thing.
Also, I don't know about other freebies and bloggers, but in quilting/sewing world in general, it is much more about what really inspires someone to create than about selling a particular product. Most quilting/sewing bloggers DON'T sell fabric (or other products) they just really enjoy using it and love sharing with others what they make, how they make it or why they make it. I am sure you would agree with me that which fabric is beautiful and which is ugly is completely and totally in the eye of the beholder, as is the case with any creative medium. Good news is – there is space for everyone. 🙂
I'm neither a quilter/sewist but I enjoy creativity in people. However I'm curious to know, if the people
who are chosen by fabric designers and companies, to make items from a line of fabric are you obligated to say
"I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS FABRIC" even when some of the fabric is beyond ugly?
Another common theme I find with quilt bloggers when they get their freebies is this expression
"I stepped outside my comfort zone, however, I should have trusted
the designer she/he is a genius and I love how the colours play.
What does this mean? I have asked this question before but it seems to make people uncomfortable.
Name; Ciarrai Ni Murchiu
Hi Marja. I have been wondering ( wishing and hoping) if you are going to produce a pattern and/or kit for your ETNO GARDEN Tablerunner?it is so lovely.
Gorgeous! love all the details!
This is lovely! At first I couldn't see any fabric with those roses and then I found out how you made them. Wow! I had to read more about you and was so happy to see you're from WNY. I grew up there and lived in that area for many years. I so miss the hills and the greenery and the countrysides. When I get to visit my relatives who still live there, it's such a retreat. Now that the forsythia is in bloom and the robins have returned, the trees will soon have buds and then greenery. Enjoy it!
Very nice runner!
So much creativity in this beautiful table runner. I love everything about it. The addition of the roses was genius and the way it is quilted was the perfect addition. Bravo!
Love the eyes in the background print, and love your roses.
Now this is a table runner that's just my style! I love appliqué too. These fabrics are so my style! I am loving everyone's ideas on this hop!
This is absolutely gorgeous! I love the appliqué with all the strips. Very nice work!
Beautiful! I love the layering of your roses.
This is absolutely breathtaking!!! I LOVE this runner & the way you used the fabrics! So inspiring!!!
So unique and beautiful! Way to follow the inspiration!
Marija, what a wonderful post. I love the fabrics and what you did with them. How about a class????
Marija! This is absolutely stunning! Thank you ☺