It’s Sew Emma Spotlight: Gumdrop Garden

Hi Jolly Jabbers,

Let me just start by saying that I am a Patty Young fan! I first met Patty and her husband, Jon, at a Michael Miller dinner at Quilt Market. Through conversation I found out that they lived in Bloomington, Illinois, which just happens to have been the town my husband grew up in, and we still have lots of family there. So we had lots to talk about and on our very next visit to the Midwest Patty and I met for coffee!

When Patty’s new line from Michael Miller was presented to us, I fell in love with it. The colors are bright and cheery and I loved the names of the different patterns; flower shop, vintage dainties, twirling blossom, sculpted garden and modern lotus just to name a few. I knew immediately that I had a pattern designed in my head for this fabric. I could hardly wait to get a piece of graph paper in my hands and start to draw.

My favorite pattern is the Modern Lotus colorways! I had to use them as the centers of the larger squares! I tried to use as many of the different patterns and colors as possible. Jocelyn Ueng, our It’s Sew Emma Design Manager, drew up my design in Illustrator and we went to work “coloring” it! Next, the fabric arrived for the quilt sample and I spent the next weekend putting the quilt top together. I sent a picture off to Patty to see if she approved and she LOVED it and asked if she could display it in her booth at Fall Quilt Market.

The Australian distributor of Michael Miller fabrics then saw the quilt in Patty’s booth and asked her if he could take it back to Australia with him for the Australian Quilt Market! I thought, ‘what, my quilt is going to Australia without me?’  I really thought I should accompany it, but that didn’t happen! Later, I called to see if Patty had received it back yet, and she said, “well no, your quilt is in Europe now!”  What? How exciting, except my quilt is having more fun than me!

I hope everyone around the world that has seen it loves it as much as we do! It is the kind of quilt you will want to be working on now during the dreary days of winter with the hope of spring to be here soon!

I hope you enjoy this pattern or quilt kit as much as I do! If you are a shop owner and want to distribute this pattern, it is available at Checkers & United Notions as IES-121.