Shortcake

My Shortcake fabric for Riley Blake Designs is heading out into the world at last! This group of prints is so dear to my heart, and I have to admit that it's probably my favorite collection that I've done. As always, I want to share the backstory of these prints with you...

It will be four years in June since my family made our big move from Southern California to the Texas hill country, and I'll never forget that first summer in our new home. Those early months were a roller coaster of emotions as we tried to unpack and settle in while our house was still being repaired and renovated. We didn't know a soul in Texas, and though people were kind, it was challenging to start the journey of finding a place for ourselves in this new community. In many ways, it bonded us together as a family like nothing else could have done. We spent that first summer enjoying one adventure after another, exploring nearby museums and attractions, driving to downtown San Antonio and small town Fredericksburg, and eating some of the best food I've ever tasted in my life. Dad and James taught the girls to swim, and we spent nearly every afternoon playing in the pool until dinner time. James planted a tiny orchard as well as a garden for vegetables, fruits, and herbs in the backyard, where our girls loved to help him water, pull weeds, and check on seedlings. And Mom and I slowly began to turn our rambling house into a home, one unpacked box at a time.

That first summer in Texas has been followed by two more, and even now I'm eagerly looking forward to the next one. Nowadays summer means going on long road trips and short daytrips, working on patchwork in the loft while the girls read in their library, volunteering with our church's Vacation Bible School, taking walks along the horse trail before the sun goes down, watching fireworks with all the other families in front of the local high school on Fourth of July, and looking out the kitchen window to see James and the girls coming in from the garden with freshly picked cherry tomatoes, strawberries, and watermelons.  It means movie nights in the family room laughing over classic comedies from the 1940's, quiet mornings doing puzzles in the breakfast nook, and barbecue dinners that start with tall glasses of iced tea and end with warm shortcake smothered in strawberries and whipped cream.

My Shortcake collection is a celebration of all those beautiful summer moments that I treasure in my heart. And I'm so happy to share these fabrics with you so that you can use them to make memories of your own.

Be sure to ask your favorite quilt shop to get in touch with Riley Blake so that they can order Shortcake and have it ready to go on the shelves for you. If you make anything with this collection, please share pictures online with the hashtag #shortcakefabric -- and don't forget to tag me @fabricmutt! I'll be sharing pictures of the Picnic Medallion Quilt soon, which I designed as a free pattern to go along with these prints. I hope you love these fabrics as much as I do, friends. Just looking at these pictures has me counting the days until June...