Modern Blossoms by Amanda Murphy

Modern Blossoms by Amanda Murphy is a modern embroidery collection in soft colors originally designed to coordinate with a fabric line she created. The designs feature leaves, medallions, paisleys, and appliqué. Read about this exciting collection on Bernina's We All Sew blog.

Use this collection to create this beautiful Soda Pop quilt designed by the artist. Or this Manhattan quilt.

Artist Amanda Murphy markets her own full-color pattern line under the Amanda Murphy Design label and has designed several fabric collections for Blend Fabrics, a subsidiary of Anna Griffin, Inc. Her first book with C&T Publishing, Modern Holiday, features 18 sewing projects from quilt to stocking and pillows. Her second book, Color Essentials, centers on both color theory and quilting with solid fabrics. Amanda also is a Bernina Artisan and teaches online classes in quilting and machine embroidery for Craftsy.com. We caught up with Amanda to ask about this beautiful design collection:

What inspired the Soda Pop and Manhattan quilt patterns used with Modern Blossoms?

I have a quilt in my pattern line that features large, graphic circles called Bubbles and it was such fun to make. I wanted to do something similar that integrates embroidery. Soda Pop features large appliquéd circles - and you can embroider as many or as few of them as you would like. It is a great way to experiment with how different colors and values affect a design. If you are like me, you always want to change it up each time you embroider something and Soda Pop is perfect for that. There are also large square blocks in which you can embroider bigger motifs.

Manhattan was designed for those who love to use jelly rolls in their work. Choose your favorite set of 2-1/2’’ strips and a clear background fabric that will show off your embroidery. You can embroider the motifs on your own schedule and then piece the quilt in a weekend!

For those who love the collection but aren’t quilters, what inspirational ideas can you give them for using this design collection?

I used this collection in a little zip-up bag - it is the “On the Go!” pattern in my line. I sewed several versions, using both big and small motifs from the Modern Blossoms collection. I also like to save my embroidery experiments and use them for simple gifts like journal covers or simple drawstring bags. And of course, you can backtest embroideries with a really heavyweight interfacing use them as gift tags or Christmas ornaments.

Learn more about Amanda Murphy and shop her patterns at Amanda Murphy Design.