Welcome to the Studio R Quilts stop of Michael Miller Fabrics’ Basics Blog Hop! Today, I am sharing with you my Fretwork quilt made with CoCo fabrics.

How It All Started

When Michael Miller Fabrics put out a call for designs for their Basics Blog Hop, I couldn’t wait to submit a few ideas. Those that know me, know that I love working with basic fabrics, especially those that read solid from a distance. I say “read solid” because once you take a closer look, you find so much more. In reality, you have a quilt that is full of color variations and printed texture that adds a new level of excitement to the quilt.

Michael Miller’s CoCo Fabric Collection

I was immediately keen to create something using the CoCo fabric collection. This is a line that is all about texture and seriously, take a look at some of these amazing colors. This is just preview of what the collection includes. You can see the complete CoCo fabric collection here.

CoCo Fabric Collection

Fretwork Fabric Pull

In addition to regularly working with basic fabrics, I also think you can make a beautiful quilt using 1 or 2 quilt blocks and a few select fabrics. I decided that Fretwork would be the quilt pattern to use for this blog hop and went about pulling 4 fabrics. I started with an orange (CX9316 – Marmalade) and fuchsia (CX9316 – Fuchsia) color combination and then added two shades of gray (CX9316 – Slate and CX9316 – Charcoal). The gray fabrics both included blue in their print which compliments the orange fabric perfectly and the fuchsia fabric includes orange in the print. This fabric pull was just screaming to be used together. What do you think of the fabric pull? And, what do you think of all that great texture from the print?

Fretwork Quilt Using CoCo Fabrics from Michael Miller

And I am so excited about the finished Fretwork quilt made with the CoCo Fabrics. I just love the pops of fuchsia and the subtly of the two grays. They work perfect with the orange. The color combination makes this fun for Halloween but is not so themed that it could be used year-round. I could see this quilt in so many different color combinations. What colors would you choose?

SRQ Fretwork Quilt CoCo Fabric Full View Stairs

Making the Fretwork Quilt: A Look Behind the Scenes

This was a fun quilt project to work on and came together quickly. Fretwork is a 2-block design that creates a wonderful secondary design with the color spreading out across the quilt. The 2 blocks are similar in design with one using half square triangles and the other a 4-patch.

Quilting fun along the way includes chain piecing, trimming half-square triangles, joining block units, pressing the finished blocks and admiring the finished blocks before joining them all together. Here’s a little peek behind the scenes of this quilt coming together.

Want to make your own Fretwork quilt? You can purchase the Fretwork pattern from my digital shop in either a print or digital format.

More Inspiration Using Basics

One of the things I enjoy about participating in blog hops is that I get introduced to new designers and see some amazing inspiration along the way. The Michael Miller Basics Blog Hop is no exception, and we are only approaching the half-way point. If you’ve missed the first series of posts, be sure to double back and check those out. New designers and blog posts will be added until July 19. Get all the details on the blog hop schedule and links to other designers in this helpful post by Michael Miller Fabrics.

Basics-Blog_Hop-Graphics

Basic Doesn’t Mean Boring

Thanks for following along on the Basics Blog Hop. As you can see from the Fretwork quilt made with CoCo fabrics, basic doesn’t mean boring. Imagine all the possibilities for how you can incorporate basic fabrics into you next quilting project.

Follow Along with SRQ

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Until next time, happy quilting!

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