Wednesday, October 20, 2021

Masala Box - A Fun New Quilt Pattern and Giveaway

When my friend Preeti of Sew Preeti Quilts called and asked me if I’d like to participate in a blog hop featuring her new pattern Masala Box, I was thrilled to say yes. I had seen Preeti’s lovely quilt and couldn’t wait to jump in. How exciting it is that she’s now offering the Masala Box pattern in her Etsy shop, SewPreetiQuilts.  Masala Box is Preeti’s second pattern, but her shop offers both patterns and some lovely quilts she’s made. 

Preeti’s Masala Box quilt

Anyway, as soon as we hung up our phones, I began digging in my fabrics and culling ideas for my very own version. Oh, this was going to be fun! Did I want a light background? I had lots of Kona White and  lots of peach and light blue. But they didn’t “light my fire”. It’s autumn here, after all, and definitely sweater and cocoa weather. Well, maybe some black? No, Preeti did one of those…. Hmmm… purple would be awesome, and I have a lot of that. But my brain kept saying “autumn” to me.

In my newly-remodeled and organized studio, I’ve put all the solid yardage on bolts and large cuts of fabric for backings together. And there was a six-yard piece of a beautiful, rich brown fabric with a subtle print. It was given to me by my friend Diane from Weight Watchers to use for Quilts for Kids. Perfect! I have so many African scraps, chunks and strips that I’ve wanted to use in a quilt or two and they would be perfect against the brown. I also had a large African Dutch Wax fabric that Sally had sent me a couple years ago for Harambe Humanitarian quilts. I could use that for backing. But since I couldn’t split the quilt for two purposes, and I had plenty of fabric, I decided to make TWO quilts - one for Quilts for Kids and one for Harambe Humanitarian! 

I broke open a solid fat quarter bundle of autumn solids that was several years old and pulled out some vibrant oranges, golds, and red. To that I added a bit of bright blue and the bright green I had bought in Kenya back in 2018. Oh my, these colors were already singing together! So I got started with the strip piecing and sewing. And once I got going, it was hard to stop! 


Masala Box is a well-written pattern that gives very clear instructions for strip-piecing. These blocks were a breeze to sew and the blocks just multiplied before my eyes!

The first quilt I finished was a nine-block “kid” version. I’m calling my version “Mancala”. The brightly colored squares and their rectangular formation reminded me of the African board game of Mancala, often played with bright stones or pebbles. 


Since I knew it would be going to our chapter of Quilts for Kids (and we prefer rectangle quilts), I added  some strips to the top and bottom to lengthen it a bit. The finished quilt measures 40x48”. The back was a simple cream fabric with touches of red and brown.


The next quilt was more of the same lovely autumn colors, and I was in piecing heaven. Before I knew it, I had twenty more blocks to make a lap quilt. The binding hasn’t yet been applied to this second one, but it will be the same brown fabric.


Here’s the African fabric that Sally gave me for Harambe Humanitarian. The browns and red are a perfect backing for this larger quilt. 


Isn’t it interesting? 


The only thing I was disappointed about was that we have had rain here for two straight days and I had to photograph the quilts indoors. We had dinner plans with family last night, so the two quilts were photographed in the early afternoon to get ready for this blog post.

But about fifteen minutes before we needed to leave home, the sun broke through the clouds. It was a bright autumn evening, and the neighbors’ backyard tree was ablaze from the evening light. I grabbed the quilts and my phone and made a mad dash out to the fence separating our properties. The light was so intense!


Yessss! This was the autumn mood I was going for! The shadows were already creeping up, but I snapped away. (No filters or adjustments)


Vibrant colors! 


And that’s the story of my Masala Box quilts, and I couldn’t be more pleased. Preeti’s pattern offers several sizes from crib to huge, LOL, and honestly, it’s easy to make any size in between just by adjusting the number of blocks. I know this will be a go-to pattern for me as I get lots of fabric strip donations for the charity quilts. I can’t recommend this pattern enough for design, clarity and ease of piecing.

But wait, you can win one! Preeti has generously agreed to gift a PDF pattern of Masala Box to one lucky commenter on today’s post. Here’s the deal. Just leave a comment on this post telling us which colors YOU would make Masala Box in. For quilters without a blog (or no-reply bloggers), be sure to leave an email address in your comment so we can contact you (you can’t win if we can’t contact you!) International commenters are welcome. You have until midnight (MDT) on Sunday, October 24, 2021 to leave a comment. Winner will be selected by Random Number Generator from the comments received and contacted by email. Winner will be announced here on Monday the 25th.

Good luck! And thanks for dropping by!

28 comments:

  1. Your versions are rich and beautiful! I would go for a purple background and lots of red, orang and green to remind me of summer zinnias :)

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  2. Orange is my favorite color and so I am always delight with the fall displays of it. Your quilts are delightful and the autumn light makes them even more so! I am always inspired by your quilts.

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  3. Very pretty! I would use purple for the background and Halloween 🎃 fabrics 🥰. Pam Dempsey. tobyyellow@yahoo.com

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  4. What fabulous quilts, so vibrant. Love the design and especially your red strips on the top and bottom of the first one, really stunning. I’m not usually a fan of brown but I think your choice to use brown has made the quilt look amazing. Your autumn colours glow amongst the brown. I think I would be tempted to copy your colourway or French navy with turquoise, lime green, shocking pink and lavender pieces for the scrappy boxes.

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  5. Those are fabulous!! Preeti's pattern is quick and easy. Head over to my blog later today (or next week - there's a LOT going on at my house) to see a completely different version.

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  6. I love that quilt pattern, and your versions are wonderful in their fall colors, Cathy! This looks like a lot of fun to make - thanks (to you and Preeti) for the giveaway!

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  7. That’s such a fun pattern and your version is terrific. I love the way you added length to the quilt; I prefer rectangle quilts myself and often do something like that. I would maybe try it in pastels with a dark background - I have some strips left from a jelly roll that might work.

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  8. Your version is nice and rich looking. I like the light and shadows in the photos. I can see the quilt in Halloween prints or in coppers. I have lots of both. :) Thank you for the chance to win.

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  9. Oh wow, your quilts and your photos are wonderful! This looks like such a fun pattern for scraps. I would like an aqua background with royal blues, bright greens, and a touch of yellow.

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  10. Those are beautiful quilts! I love the colors you chose. I'm going to have to order that pattern from Preeti! Or win one!!! I would choose reds, oranges and perhaps a smidgen of teals or light blues.

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  11. Since I mostly make crib or lap size quilts, I can see making several in various colorways. Especially brights for crib size. Thanks.
    joyecox@yahoo.com

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  12. That pattern is really terrific in those fabrics! I love how they turned out, and your "golden hour" pictures, too! (Leave me out of the giveaway-- I just had to say how pretty those quilts are!)

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  13. Beautiful finishes! I can see why you were excited by the pattern and the fabrics - lovely!

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  14. Wow! Your autumnal Mancala against that tree? What a gorgeous image! Looks like a super pattern and I wish Preeti best of luck with it :)

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  15. Beautiful quilt! I could see this in blues and white.

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  16. Terrific quilts and photos! I believe that you achieved your goal for autumn quilts.
    Connie

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  17. Your exuberance is contagious. And for a minute I thought you meant me when you mentioned Sally…but I’ve never seen that fish fabric before in my life. Molly suggests dna tests on all the generations of cat hair that would be on it.

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  18. Love this pattern and your variations of color! So many options...

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  19. I have an aqua batik that I would use as my background. Along with that I would use batik scraps in blues, purples and greens.

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  20. lovely autumn quilts! I would dig into my rwb! to make this pattern...

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  21. Love your autumn version, and I also love Preeti's black background version. Might try both!
    londagrace at gmail.com

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  22. LOVE the brown that you used with your autumn version. I think I would try to use one of my bigger multi print fabrics as the background. I have been stepping out of my comfort zone lately to use fabrics like that for borders and such. Nice design, Preeti! Now I need to find others in the blog hop to see what colors they used. Don't worry, I just grabbed a cup of coffee. Perfect timing.

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  23. Your choice of colours is perfect, Cathy. You have captured the colours of Autumn perfectly and I love the pieces of African fabric you've included. If I were to make this I would use navy for the background with orange, red, yellow ochre and gold for the boxes: a hint of curry!

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  24. Love the autumn colors in your quilt. If I made the quilt I would use some batik scraps with a light background. Thanks Darlene dhoctor@sbcglobal.net

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  25. I absolutely love your version of the quilt! The brown print is perfect as contrast for the other colors and the backing looks like it was made for it. Your photo under that orange tree with the afternoon sun is gorgeous!

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  26. Hi Cathy! What lovely finishes. Do they just scream Fall or what?! I only say that because the coloring so clearly matches nature - your backdrop for the outside shots is magnificent. It seems that our trees are changing later this year because we've had warm weather longer than usual. I know these will be enjoyed so much in their new home, and the pattern is such a versatile one. Preeti did a bang up job! Thanks for sharing. ~smile~ Roseanne

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  27. Your post is filled with the joy of making these quilts so it's obvious that you had such fun with them. The design does look fairly easy to execute (but you well know I'm not a sane quilter so what I think might be easy most probably is not!). The fish in that backing fabric are very cute!

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