Friday, August 13, 2010

I Heart Kona Solids

The other day I went to my local quilt shop and asked if they carried solids to which they responded "uh no" in a judging way that made me feel like I had just broken some quilting law or committed a major quilting faux pas. Well, as it turned out, they did have some solids in neutral tones of white, snow, cream, bone, toffee, brown, black, etc. I picked up some Kona Solid white because I was planning to use it for my Love Pinwheel quilt and didn't let them convince me I needed a tone-on tone instead. I love solids! In fact, one of the first quilts that caught my eye when I first started looking around was this quilt:
picture from dioramarama.com. more pictures on this flickr page
I love the mixture of colors and simple, yet (in my opinion) stunning design. In my opinion solids are far from boring! I am a big fan of Cherry House Quilts and just love the new book, City Quilts. I still haven't picked it up because I thought I might be getting it as a gift for my birthday but didn't so I will be picking it up soon! This one from the City Quilts book is called City lights:
on the Cherry House Quilts blog

It really reminds me of a sky scrapper! I really love this quilt called The Tempest. I remember her first post about this quilt where she described how she was trying to get a good shot of it down by the water but in the process of backing up on the dock to get the photo just right, she fell into the water! That definitely sounds like something I would do. Don't worry, she was ok and so was the quilt. Purple is probably my favorite color (it's really hard for me to pick just one color) and this quilt sings to me.
on the Cherry House Quilts blog
Even though solids are frowned upon by more traditional quilters (and apparently my local quilt shop), they are very popular among modern quilters alone or in combination with modern prints. For example:
from apartmenttherapy.com
from amyscreativeside.com
from filminthefridge.com
from handmadebyalissa.com
from ohfransson.com
I used Kona Solids for the backs and bindings for all but one of the wedding attendant quilts and I used them in the I Do quilt I am working on for Matt. I also used some solid orange (leftover from Matt's I Do quilt) for some of the blocks I made for Rainbow Around the Block. Kona Solids come in a huge variety of colors (221 colors right now!), are nice quality,  extremely versatile, and reasonably priced.  I used a birthday gift certificate from my Dad and step-mom Laurie to pick up a few of the new-ish Kona Solid fat quarter bundles from the Fat Quarter Shop (discount code from RetailMeNot.com) in pink, purple, and green:

Aren't they cute?! I am planning on using the pink in my girly guest bedroom, the purple in my more masculine guest bedroom, and the green in the master bedroom. I also picked up some Kona solid charms and a jelly roll at the Missouri Star Quilt Company when I won their YouTube.com gift certificate giveaway.
In addition to the fat quarter bundles and pre-cuts, I also recently bought a Kona color card. I had such a hard time finding one in stock somewhere but finally managed to snag the last one from Purl Soho.
This card is perfect for me because I do most of my fabric shopping online. Now I will be able to buy matching solid coordinates for my quilts without having to worry so much about the color on the screen being different in person (that happened with the I Do quilt for Matt). I literally scoured the internet trying to find this card. They are not in stock anywhere at the moment but in addition to PurlSoho.com where I bought mine,  I also saw them on Etsy.com, Hancocks-Paducah.com and PinkChalkFabrics.com. All of these places said they have the cards on order and they will be shipping soon. In my opinion this is a must have tool for anyone who wants to incorporate solids into their stash.

Check out Kona solids at your local JoAnn's or call your local quilt shop to see if they carry any. I think you'll agree after you use them that they are a really nice option to have in your stash. I will let you know how well it works to have the color card around once I've had a chance to use it more. I think it's going to be a really awesome tool!

Happy Quilting!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I love solids too! I have been on an online Kona shopping spree, but I just can't decide.

chio said...

thanks for the post, natalie! i have been a silent stalker of your blog (i've taken to sewing a bit, too), and have recently embarked on the idea of quilts for my pregnant cousin and a throw for my apartment. the solid, modern quilts are exactly what i had in mind! i'll be checking out Kona Solids for sure :)
xo chio

Natalie said...

Chio-

Thanks for following (sliently stalking) my blog!! I am thrilled knowing you're out there reading and getting ideas from me. If you need any help getting started send me an email and I would be glad to point you in the right direction!