February 2025 | Designing in PreQuilt

I Am Korean Adjacent & QuiltCon Events

I Am Korean Adjacent by Laura Henneberry Quilts, 2024

How I Use PreQuilt to Design

As you might suspect, I use PreQuilt to help me design my quilts. And in this blog post, I'd like to share how I used PreQuilt to finalize my layout for my quilt, I Am Korean Adjacent.

This quilt is a very personal quilt and I've worked on various iterations of it over the past 8 years. I finally finished it in 2024 and I wrote about why it's so important to me in the 2025 QuiltCon Magazine.

But here, I'm going to talk about the how of it.

Pre-PreQuilt Prototyping

I love to prototype, it's my favorite part of quilt making. And it's also why my quilts can take 8 years from idea to finished quilt, because I'll play with an idea for so long. But that's the journey I love. So, a lot of the quilt ideation was done hands on. I would sketch out a rough idea and then try to construct it with the materials I had on hand. Figure out what I liked and what I didn't. Re-sketch. Re-prototype. Repeat.

Through the prototyping phase, I finally settled on the quilt block, its construction method, and size. But the things I wanted to figure out, with the help of PreQuilt, were final quilt size, block layout, and fabric colors.

Digital Sketching in PreQuilt

I started with a grey scale digital sketch of my quilt blocks (four patch HST block and a one patch square block) in a star layout.

Initial block layout idea

The first thing I did was settle on the overall size of the quilt. This would tell me not only how big the quilt would be, but also how many of each block I'd need. I also very much wanted to use my stash without having to buy any additional material or fabric.

Large throw sized quilt

Wall hanging sized quilt

Color Selection & Block Layout

After I settled on the size of the quilt, which would be 8 rows with 8 blocks each, I played with the block layout of the design. Did I want the center of the quilt to be "empty" one patch blocks? Or did I want there to be a star in the center instead?

Did I want different colors in the background? Or did I want it to be a two color quilt? And since I really wanted to only be offered fabric I already had in my stash, I limited my color randomizer to a fabric pull I had of my stash.

Multi-colored background with empty center layout

Multi-blue colored background with center star layout

Multi-colored background with center star layout

Single colored background with center star layout

I started to move into the direction of less is more and decided to go with a two color quilt and having the star in the middle of the quilt, instead of empty one patch blocks.

But I didn't like how consistent and rhythmic the blocks looked when they were each outlined with a border. This effect is naturally created when I was sewing the organza overlay together, but what would it look like if every block wasn't outlined?

Altering the Block

The final two steps was selecting the final background fabric color and altering the design of the four patch and one patch blocks.

I selected a more muted and subtle aqua color (thank you stash) and instead of each block being outlined and framed with a border, I cloned and created alternative blocks with only one or two sides outlined.

And I played with the randomization features for rotating and selecting which blocks were used.

Final Quilt

Through multiple playful revisions, I landed on my final layout and design! And I love it.

I Am Korean Adjacent by Laura Henneberry Quilts, 2024

Detail of I Am Korean Adjacent

About My Process

I was very lucky to be able to write about my process and personal motivators behind this quilt. You can read all about it in this year's QuiltCon Magazine!

It's on sale in shops on February 18th and available now as a PDF magazine.

2025 QuiltCon Magazine published by Quilting Daily

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2025 QuiltCon in Phoenix, AZ

Speaking of QuiltCon, it's just around the corner! PreQuilt will be there and we're looking forward to another fun year with all our modern quilting friends!

We have some fun, reflective stickers to giveaway and we're really looking forward to chatting with you!

We're in Booth 229 and here's our scheduled lineup:

• Thursday, February 20 (9am - 6pm)

  • Giveaway!

    • Quilting Book by Andrea Tsang Jackson (3rd Story Workshop) & 7.5 yards of striped binding

    • One year of PreQuilt!

• Friday, February 21 (9am - 6pm)

  • Giveaway!

    • Megan Collins pattern & PreQuilt curated Half-Yard Bundle

    • One year of PreQuilt!

  • 11:00 am - Michelle Cain of From Bolt to Beauty

  • 2:00 pm - Megan Collins

  • 4:00 pm - Genesis Hall

• Saturday, February 22 (9am - 6pm)

  • Giveaway!

    • Quilting Book by Andrea Tsang Jackson (3rd Story Workshop) & 7.5 yards of striped binding

    • One year of PreQuilt!

  • 10:30 am - Andrea Tsang Jackson of 3rd Story Workshop

  • 2:30 pm - Laura on the Main MQG Stage demonstrating PreQuilt

• Sunday, February 23 (9am - 4pm)

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The Workroom's Kona Colour Society

NEW!!! Kona Colour Society

We're excited to be collaborating with Karyn Valino and The Workroom by providing digital support tools for their Kona Colour Society. Over the course of 2025, members will receive:

• 6 bundles of curated Kona cotton solids (15 colours per bundle = 90 colours)

• Exclusive colour lessons & creative challenges to stretch your skills

• Design tools & resources in PreQuilt

• Connected member community with a dedicated cohort from start to finish

• Community quilt project

There are a limited number of bundles still available for 2025! So, if you're thinking of joining, don't delay!

How to Use the PreQuilt + Kona Colour Society Resources

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Hype sticker by Heather of Creating Quilts

A Note from Laura

I had a quilt hanging last year at QuiltCon and I was so busy working in the booth that I almost kind of forgot about it.

While chatting with Heather of @creatingquilts I mentioned that it was so busy that I hadn't even gotten a chance to see my quilt hanging yet. She asked me which one was mine and I told her it was Moon Pie Mood Ring and then she gave me my first ever hype sticker. It was my most treasured thing from QuiltCon that year (and probably ever).

I loved her idea behind it so much - that we should be cheering each other on. That we should be taking a moment and telling people when what they have created has brought us joy or wonder. With her permission, I created my own hype sticker and will be handing them out to all the quilts I fall in love with.

Moon Pie Mood Ring will be hanging in the Cut Once Quilts booth! They gave me the moon template as a gift in 2023 and I used it to make my quilt. And now it's coming full circle and they will have a special show bundle of the template and pattern for only $18!