Juicy Bits

178: introducing...Kingdom

Well, here it is, my second fabric collection.

I don't think it's up on their website yet, but it will be available from Windham Fabrics this spring.  If you have a shop, speak to your rep now to order it.

As the name implies, it is inspired by elements you'd find in and around an imaginary royal kingdom.  I kept with my favorite Art Nouveau influences, but this time it's a bit more playful and bright.

These swatches are not to scale, but they do give you a decent look at the designs and colors.

The prints and color names are as follows, clockwise from top left: Tapestry in Deep Amethyst, Moat in Pewter, Moat in Amethyst, Garden Gems in Deep Amethyst, Tuffet in Opal, Posy in Deep Amethyst, Crowns in Amethyst, Castle Wall in Pewter, and (center) Tuffet in Deep Amethyst.

Clockwise from top left: Moat in Peridot, Moat in Aquamarine, Tapestry in Pewter, Castle Wall in Topaz, Posy in Peridot, Posy in Opal, Crowns in Pewter, Tuffet in Peridot, Garden Gems in Peridot, Moat in Topaz, and (center) Tuffet in Topaz.

And this is a look at the planned free quilt pattern in two colorways.  I still don't have any sample yardage, so you know things might change when I get my hands on actual fabric....

 

Yes, it took me a long time. I was busy with other soon-to-be-named projects, but, can I just say, it is hard to follow-up a first successful collection.  I feel like people have developed their own image of my style and I'm destined to let them down. So here's hoping you all like it!

JT

177: aloha!

I just got back from the trip-of-a-lifetime to Hawaii.  Sigh.  So amazing, yet so...over.  And here I am back in NJ and what does it do on the first full day of spring?  Yup, snow.

So, if I choose to live in my memories and these pictures of all the beauty and fair weather, you'll understand, right?

 This trip was an early celebration of our 10 year anniversary.  And, yes, we went alone and left the kids at home (luckily we had both my parents and my sister to stay with them).

Now, you're all aware of the tragedies over in Japan, and some of you may remember that tsunami warnings reached around the pacific, especially Hawaii.  Yes, that was our first night there.  We slept blissfully unaware until the sounds of evacuation sirens and text messages from loved ones woke us around 3 am.  Luckily we were staying uphill from the coast that night, and weren't really in danger.  But that didn't stop me from imagining giant 1000 ft waves sweeping in and carrying us all away.  Freaky, and a great start to the trip.  Thank goodness it was all uphill from there.

We only visited one island during our trip (well, 2 if you count a daytrip): Maui.  Heaven on earth.  We hiked in the Haleakala National Park to the Waimoku Falls and it was the most beautiful hike I've ever been on.  The bamboo knocking above our heads and the wind blew through it was truly mystical.

After, driving around and adventuring for a few days, we decided to settle in and relax.  So we hung out by this amazing pool.  The view and service were both impeccable and since no one under 21 was allowed, it was definitely serene.  And one night as we swam by the edge at sunset we were treated to a show by about 4 whales only about 100 yards away.  Amazing.

I did actually find a little quilt shop while I was there.  Some tropical florals were in order and I loved the hula dancers for a dress for Aurora.

Hopefully you won't all abandon me now because I've bragged too much. If you're still experiencing the winter blues, I feel for you.  I hope we can get away on another extraordinary tropical trip like this again in, say, another 10 years...

 And now that I'm home and back to work, I do have a big reveal of my next fabric collection coming up really soon.  No teaser pictures, but the collection is called Kingdom.

Aloha! 

JT

176: this and that

I'm back with a couple more little projects.

This first project was a hannukah gift for my brother-in-law's family.  It's a challah cover.  Basically it's a mini quilt the size of a large napkin.  I didn't put batting in the middle because I wanted it to have more drape so I just used a a layer of muslin instead. And as you can see I didn't bind it...I did the sew-around-the-edges-and-flip-right-side-out method.

The characters read "shabbat" if I did it correctly. I don't read hebrew.  It's made of linen and scraps of print fabrics (all from my scrap bin!). 

I quilted it with double straight lines inside the linen. The characters are raw-edge applique.

This one, I didn't make.  My sister did.  Isn't it the cutest? She gave it to my Aurora for christmas. It's a bag, and I think the pattern was in Crochet Today.

Did I tell you I finally started a craft night?  I mean, really.  Finally.  So now once a month I get to get together with some lovely ladies and chat and craft.  Fun! and hopefully productive too...

JT