Celebrate the changing of the seasons with Bittersweet Lane, the latest collection from Kansas Troubles. You’ll be inspired by the spectrum of warm, fall colours—rich reds, plum purples, deep blues, browns, and pumpkin shades. This wide-ranging palette welcomes the return of autumn, and is perfect for your next traditional quilt.

If you’re a fan of traditional-style fabrics and florals, you are in for a treat with this new fabric line from Kansas Troubles for Moda. Bittersweet Lane was designed by Lynne Hagmeier during the hot summer of 2019 when she was thinking wistfully of fall and cooler temperatures. “Being surrounded by the changing colors of nature, then bringing those colors into my home with fabric is the goal to a warm, cozy environment,” Lynne says.

Lynne loves the history behind quilts, especially the stories of women and the quilting communities they created. During her own creative process, Lynne searches for antique quilts with historical fabric designs and takes inspiration from the nature motifs. Then, she gives the motifs a facelift, bringing the colours up to date, changing the scale of the print, and tweaking until she feels the design embodies the Kansas Troubles aesthetic.

“I utilize pieces with small prints, tone-on-tones and geometrics directly from the original quilt. Feature prints—larger scale florals that inform the theme of the collection—are more difficult to find with the necessary repeat for printing. I have found larger pieces online, on the backs of quilts, or a few from Moda’s vast library of antique fabrics.”

In addition to ditsy and larger flowers, Bittersweet Lane continues the botanical theme with small scale berries and sprigs and leaves, along with hints of dots, diamonds, and chevrons with a classic look.

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20 Years of Kansas Troubles

Lynne is a long-standing Moda designer and has been designing fabric since 1999. She has designed over 60 collections, as well as hundreds of quilt projects to showcase them. 

Wondering where the intriguing name comes from? We were too, and discovered that Lynne lives in Kansas, and started selling small quilts with two other women at craft shows. Their business was called Kansas Troubles Quilters. Eventually, three became two, and they started selling patterns instead of quilts. By 1998, Moda had discovered Kansas Troubles Quilters at Quilt Market and offered the chance to design fabric. This venture appealed especially to Lynne—and she has never looked back!

In 2001, she also opened a quilt store of the same name in Bennington, KS with her husband. “Robert and I purchased a two-story 1915 building in 2001. We rescued and remodeled every inch to open a quilt shop and retreat center, hosting quilters from all over the country.“

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A Beautiful Walk Down Bittersweet Lane

Bittersweet Lane is interchangeable with all other Kansas Troubles lines. In fact, Lynne likes to keep her quilts scrappy! There are many patterns available for Bittersweet Lane, but you can use any of your favourite Kansas Troubles fabrics to create them. As an added bonus, all the latest patterns are precut friendly.

First up? Bittersweet Pumpkins. Lynne’s patterns are often for smaller, more achievable projects. However, Bittersweet Pumpkins is a sizeable project with double bill of 63” lap quilts, designed for a layer cake (10” squares) or a honey bun (1 ½” strips).

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And if you’re looking for still more options, Lynne has created Bittersweet and Honey, a pattern pack that gives you 12 different projects to use for a honey bun. There is a design for all four seasons, and each design has different sizes and borders so it can be made into a mini-quilt, a table runner, or a cushion.

Happy Jacks uses a charm pack to make a Halloween themed mini quilt—or if you have two packs you can make the four panels in Bittersweet Seasons.

And if you’re looking to expand the scrappy traditional look further, Lynne has a favourite Moda designer of her own to recommend. “I like Lisa Bongean’s Primitive Gatherings fabric for seasonal projects. Her red, white, and blue lines are delightful.”

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Find Lynne’s shop, blog and videos at ktquilters.com. Bittersweet Lane from Moda Fabrics is arriving in Canadian stores in October. We very much encourage you to touch, feel, and experience the fabric you’ll use for your next creative project at your local quilt store