An Honest Swap

You may have seen me and Karlee Porter, of Honest Fabrics, tagging each other on Instagram over the past few weeks and wondered what’s going on!

Karlee and I met at Quilt Market a few years back and hit it off right away. She had a little boy the same age as my little girl at that time – moms of babies always have much to talk about! It turned out that we were both expecting babies this past March and we decided that a quilt swap would be a fun project. She was expecting a baby boy and I was expecting a girl again, so it was a great chance to get out some of my penned-up baby boy designs!

I created my new Midnight Escape Quilt for her little guy (releasing in April 2021!) and she created a magnificent custom-quilted piece using fabric from her company, Honest Fabric.

Meet Karlee

Before I go on about how incredible Honest Fabric is, I want to give you some background on Karlee. She’s the kind of gal that will tell you what she did this week and make you feel like you haven’t achieved anything in life! She’s the definition of a go-getter and I respect her entrepreneurial spirit.

Grafitti Quilting

First off, Karlee has three published books that you’ve probably heard of! She’s the author & creator of Graffiti Quilting: A Simple Guide to Complex Designs. There are two volumes AND a coloring book…what more could you ask for!

If you’re a longarmer, you’ve probably seen a slew of her edge to edge designs in your library too – I usually pick them and then realize she was the designer!

Custom Longarming

Karlee is an INCREDIBLE custom Longarmer. The detail that I saw in every stitch of my baby quilt was unbelievable – I’ve never seen anything quite like it. I am in awe of her ability to create these designs on the fly and create them so seamlessly. If you don’t believe me, check out the IGTV video she created while making my quilt!

Owner of Honest Fabrics

Last, but certainly not least, Karlee is the founder (with her husband) of Honest Fabrics.

Honest Fabrics creates custom printed quilt tops. These are growing in popularity among custom longarmers – it gives them incredible designs to work with and lets them spend their time and focus on the their art: quilting. I’ve long considered myself a piecer, knowing that there are quilters out there who are true artists. I think it’s incredible that many modern quilts require two collaborators!

The Softest Quilt Tops

I bet you’re wondering what these printed quilt tops are made of. These tops are printed on a gorgeous polyester blend fabric (if you’re raising an eyebrow, keep reading, because I did at first too!).

When I opened this quilt, I instantly thought what IS this fabric – it’s the softest cotton I’ve ever felt! So, if you were waiting for someone else to try it first, let me tell you, this fabric fooled me – I thought it was a very high-quality quilting cotton…woven by cotton fairies.

Incredible Quilt Backs

If you’re like myself & you consider yourself more of a piecer than a quilter, Honest Fabrics is still for you! The incredible graphics created by Karlee and a co-op of designers make incredibly beautiful, soft, one-of-a-kind quilt backings!

I’ve shown just three designs above, but trust me – Karlee has hundreds for you to choose from!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this little peek into our quilt swap – we had a blast catching up, re-learning all of the newborn things, and of course swapping quilts! I think it’s funny to look at our two very different techniques and how they created two quilts that look like old friends:

A big thank you to Karlee for this incredible quilt & for participating in this swap with me – I hope you and your little guy are doing well!

Make sure you check out Honest Fabrics and all the incredible offerings from Karlee, and don’t forget to keep an eye out for my new pattern in April, Midnight Escape!

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