Close your eyes and dream a little of what this Spring will be like...

Joanna Figueroa of Fig Tree & Co. wrote... "there is something about dreaming of the coming of Spring that brings hope of a clean, fresh start for many of us. New scents, new flowers and new colors on the earth make us want to take it all in and start afresh... with something like a new quilt!"

With color names like Gerbera, Melon, Daisy, Sprout, Sea Foam and Geranium, it's impossible not to think about Spring with these beautiful colors and fabrics!

When we asked Joanna what she'd most like to share about Chantilly, this is what she wrote...

Hello my Moda friends!  I am so excited to finally share Chantilly with you. The timing for its shipping couldn’t be more perfect - we are all so very ready for Spring in most parts of the world.

Chantilly is definitely a first for me as it's the first collection I've done with more of an ivory background. Over the years the tone of my “cream” has lightened significantly, but this was the first time that I used Moda's Bella “Off White” as my base. Doesn't it make the other light pastel colors sparkle? And because the colors are so light and bright, I really enjoyed working on them with darker grey backgrounds of several tones. Something fascinating happens to these soft colors when laid out on a grey background. I love the look it creates and I hope that you get a chance to play around with both a white and a grey background in some of your projects. Happy creating my quilt-y friends!

Milk and Blossoms. "I am just a bit in love with these pieced pitcher blocks and the flower... you can see that they would just add instant charm to any room or house."

The blocks are completely machine-pieced using simple methods that don't require specialty rulers. Milk & Blossoms measures approximately 45" x 64" - but it's easily made bigger or smaller by adding or subtracting rows.

Garden Gate - "This is the perfect pattern to showcase a softer collection with lots of favorite large-scale prints that you just can't bear to cut up! Or any favorite fabric range where you really want to feature the fabrics themselves."

The large Garden Gate quilt measures 72" x 72" and can be made with a Layer Cake and two Charm Packs, or a Fat Eighth bundle. Or make 37" x 37" table-topper or wall-hanging using two Charm Packs.

Trellis. "I am totally in love with this quilt and I kind of want to make it with every color of the rainbow for the background. Starting with a Layer Cake makes the fabric selection for the blocks really easy... but it would also be fantastic if it were made using all of my favorite florals from my stash."

The blocks can also be made with 5" charm squares for a table-runner, wall-hanging or pillow.

Fig 1 2 3 Hankies! Welcome to Fig Tree's Beginner Quilt series - quilts designed for Moda pre-cuts that can be easily pieced, don't have a lot of poins to match and shouldn't take more than a weekend to make.

Joanna writes, "We meet so many people who are just starting out in quilting and want to try something lovely that has a little bit of personality to it - that doesn't look like a beginner quilt."

There's a Layer Cake Hankie quilt that uses 1 Layer Cake and some yardage to make a 54" x 62" lap-size throw, and a Charm Pack Hankie quilt measuring 40" x 40" that requires 1 Charm Pack and about 1-1/2 yards of additional fabric. (Not including binding and backing.)

Joanna selected these coordinating Bella Solids for Chantilly and made some fat quarter bundles. From top-to-bottom, the colors are:

• Off-White - No. 9900 200
• Soft Yellow - No. 9900 148
• Canteloupe - No. 9900 296
• Coral - No. 9900 147
• Light Lime - No. 9900 100
• Green Tea - No. 9900 187
• Chartreuse - No. 9900 188
• Breeze - No. 9900 132
• Ruby Ice - No. 9900 169
• Mint - No. 9900 133
• Sand - No. 9900 201
• Stone - No. 9900 128

Backgrounds! In addition to the Off-White in the bundle, Joanna also noted that both Flax and Taupe are wonderful with Chantilly. Flax is No. 9900 241 and Taupe is No. 9900 310.

There are also some wonderful Chantilly goodies - tea towels, potholders, a set of two zipper pouches and an apron.

The Chantilly potholders measure 8" x 8" and come in a set of two - they're on the right.

This adorable set of two zipper pouches is perfect for on-the-go sewing kits and organizing tote bags and purses. Odds & Ends measures 10" x 6" and Pennies measures 5" x 5".

The Chantilly tea towels come in a set of three and measure 17" x 28". The white-background floral has a Strawberries & Cream label, the middle towel is white solid with a drawing of jars and a Farm Fresh label, and the yellow-background floral is labeled Butter & Eggs.

Even if we don't actually cook or bake, a pretty apron is still a must and this Chantilly print apron is definitely pretty.

While the Chantilly goodies won't be in shops in late April, the fabrics, pre-cuts and patterns are all available now.

Thank you to Joanna for the pictures and for answering my questions about Chantilly!

Happy Friday! I hope you're going to make something this weekend.