We are incredibly thrilled to introduce Nancy Rink of Nancy Rink Designs, our newest Aurifil Designer. Getting to Know Hue is her latest collection with Marcus Fabrics. Nancy’s goal was to craft a collection that featured small motifs in a variety of blendable colors. In approaching the color palette, she pulled out her collection of Kaffe Fassett prints, because she is always on the lookout for blenders that work with his prints. In the end, the group was narrowed down to 28 colors, 9 neutrals, and two 60″ wide multi-prints. Everything you could possibly need to make a stunning quilt!
But Nancy didn’t stop there… she reached out to us to put together a coordinating thread collection. A Large box of 50wt threads and a small box of 28wt thread – Nancy’s go-tos for piecing, quilting, and appliqué.
And then… She made a GORGEOUS quilt and turned it into a BOM, currently being offered by your favorite local quilt shop! My goodness we’re feeling inspired!
[learn more about Nancy’s inspiration here]
THREAD COLLECTION DETAILS
Getting to Know Hue
12 Large Spools, 50wt (1422yds/spool), 100% Aurifil Cotton
2026 – 2140 – 2150 – 2265 – 2535 – 2540
2625 – 2630 – 2810 – 5016 – 5018 – 6738
10 Small Spools, 28wt (54yds/spool), 100% Aurifil Cotton
1148 – 2134 – 2440 – 2540 – 2588
2810 – 2815 – 2892 – 5016 – 5018
To view this info on our website, click the images above. For purchasing, please contact your local Aurifil Dealer.
THE INTERVIEW
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you first got started in the world of sewing and quilting?
I live in Bakersfield, which is in the central valley of California. Many people know Bakersfield because it is the home of “the Bakersfield Sound” a gritty, twangy, honky-tonk country music style made popular by Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. NASCAR driver, Kevin Harvick hails from Bakersfield—in fact, he was one of my junior high students back in the day!
My grandmother taught me to sew when I was little. For many years I only did garment sewing, and while I was in college I made and altered a lot of costumes for the university’s theater productions.
In 2010 I began designing patterns to feature Marcus Fabric’s new collections. In 2011, Amish With A Twist, my first Marcus BOM debuted in my first ever Quilt Market booth. Geez, was I nervous about it, wondering if anyone would like it enough to buy the pattern. Apparently, the folks at Marcus were happy because they invited back to do Amish with a Twist II and Amish with a Twist III. Lately, I’ve had a few customers asking me when Amish IV would be coming out!
Since then, I have designed roughly one BOM each year for Marcus Fabrics. In 2012, “Tweet for Two”, my first fabric collection hit the shelves. That was definitely a “pinch me” moment.
Did you have another career prior to this one?
I taught Junior High and High School English and Math for over 20 years.
Do you remember the process of making your first quilt and how you felt once it was complete?
What inspired me to start quilting was an article in a magazine that I purchased while checking out at the grocery store. I read it and thought “I can do that!” Up to that point I had done a lot of garment sewing and just figured if I could set in a sleeve or line a jacket, I should be able to make a quilt. That first quilt had a lot of 5/8” seams! Also, I used an old sheet as the backing. Needless to say, hand quilting it was a bear, and my stitches were huge! There are so, so many things wrong with that quilt—but ignorance was bliss. Somewhere along the way, I checked out a book from the library on how to quilt. What an epiphany!
Who or what has been your greatest creative inspiration?
Inspiration seems to be everywhere and thanks to the internet we can see more quilts than ever. I personally spend far too much time on Instagram looking at art that people are making. But perhaps the tool that transformed me from maker to designer is Electric Quilt. Early on, I got on board with EQ, spending hours “making” quilts. When I am designing a fabric collection I work back and forth between Photoshop and EQ, tweaking my fabrics until they look just right in the EQ quilt I’ve designed to accompany the collection.
Can you tell us a bit more about Getting to know Hue and what inspired the collection?
Getting to Know Hue is my newest fabric collection for Marcus Fabrics’ Studio 37 division. It is a basics collection of tonal prints in 28 colors, 9 neutrals, and two 60″-wide prints. When developing the color palette for the collection, I referred to my collection of Kaffe Fassett prints and florals because I wanted some tonals that I could use with them. Also important was making sure there was a light, medium, and dark in each color I chose. Here are some swatches from GTKH on the right with some of Kaffe’s swatches on the left. I cannot wait to have time to play with all of these!
We absolutely love the Getting to know Hue quilt — how did you go about pulling that together for the BOM and what excites you most about the program?
When I was developing the GTKH fabric collection I knew I was going to also be designing a BOM to go with it. That was where Electric Quilt proved invaluable. My initial set of swatches numbered well over 50. I imported all of them into EQ and through trial and error was able to trim the collection down to a reasonable number of pieces. It’s also worth noting that my first BOM concept was NOTHING like the final quilt. What excites me most about the program is that there are so many options. There are three different background options: light, medium, and dark. And there are three different center star options: lone star, Improv star, and Strippy Star.
Here is an EQ image of the Improv Star option:
And here is the medium background quilt with the Lone Star center option coming off the longarm:
Do you have other favorite projects that have been made with the collection?
Currently, I am working on three different quilts using a 2 1/2″-wide strip pack that will preview at Spring Quilt Market in the Studio 37 booth. The strip pack will consist of 20 prints from the GTKH collection, and all three of the quilts will be available in a single pattern called “Strip It Three Ways: Series 4”.
What is your favorite quilting technique and why?
Appliqué is my absolute favorite! If I had all the time in the world, I would do nothing but hand applique’. Since that’s not the case, I do a lot of machine applique’ and have gotten pretty adept at both prepared edge machine applique’ and raw edge applique’. GTKH features a touch of applique which I edge finished with Aurifil 28 wt thread. All the thread colors I used on my quilt are included in my new Aurifil GTKH 28 wt thread set.
Here’s a shot of the how fantastic the 28 wt thread looks on the quilt!
By the way, all the quilting was done with colors from the GTKH 50wt thread box.
When did you first discover Aurifil threads and what do you love most about them?
I have been using Aurifil thread for quite a long while now, and have been singing its praises to anyone who will listen. I love that the 50wt thread is strong enough to use on my longarm and fine enough to be used for hand appliqué. To me it is the finest all around thread on the market, hands down. The fact that it is an incredibly low-lint thread is an added plus.
Do you have a favorite color/weight and why?
Numbers 2000, 2014, and 2600 have been my go-to colors for piecing for years. Recently, I have been using a lot of 6725 and 6730. For machine quilting I’ve found that 2130, a soft yellow, 2886, a pistachio green, and 2310, a neutral beige are my go-to colors for all over quilting.
What’s in store for 2017? Where can we find you this year?
In addition to “Getting to Know Hue”, I have another fabric collection called “Remember Red” in the works. Red is my favorite color so I am eager for this line to come out–hopefully in time so I can show samples in the Studio 37 booth at Spring Quilt Market. I am also already hard at work on my 2018 BOM–yes, it takes that long–about a year from start to finish to bring a BOM to life.
Because my husband Oliver retired and our daughter just had our first grandchild, this year I am staying close to home. I am visiting a few guilds for trunk shows and workshops, but for the most part, I’ll be in my studio creating or at home enjoying the grandbaby.
THE GIVEAWAY
To enter-to-win 1 Large Getting to Know Hue Thread Collection and one Getting to Know Hue Fat Quarter Bundle by Nancy Rink for Marcus Fabrics, click here to head to the Rafflecopter entry page, or simply click on the image above. You do not have to complete all the options to be entered but the more options you choose, the more entries you have! Entries will be accepted from now through 11:59pm Eastern Time on Saturday, February 11. Winner will be randomly selected and announced here on Sunday, February 12. Giveaway is open to our international friends! Good luck!
UPDATE: This giveaway is now closed – Congratulations to our winner, Cinda Dickson Thompson!
ABOUT NANCY
Website — Blog — Facebook — Instagram — Pinterest
Nancy has won several awards for her quilting. At the 2004 Houston International Quilt Festival, Remembrance of Nanny and Desert Star were both given Honorable Mentions. Also in 2004, Dogtooth Violets earned one of the top awards in the Kaufman Quilt Quest. Most recently, Emerald Spring won a first place in Mixed Techniques at Road to California. She has won awards at other national shows including the Pacific International Quilt Festival, the Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza, the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival, and the Indiana Heritage Quilt Show. And Desert Star, the first place winner in the 2002 From the Mills Contest, was on display at the American Textile History Museum.
Nancy’s quilts have been featured in magazines such as Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine, Quiltmaker, and Quilt. Other quilts have appeared in calendars and books and on websites. “Quilting has been an incredible journey,” says Nancy, “and I can’t wait to see where it takes me next!” (more here)
[Images and text courtesy of Nancy Rink Designs and Marcus Fabrics]