Juicy Bits

153: no title

Yup, that's it.  I'm totally zapped creatively and I just can't come up with a title for this post.  Not even a boring one.

Truth be told, I'm a little down lately.  Not rock-bottom depressed or anything, but I've had some disappointments and stress, so I'm not feeling too chatty.  Plus, I decided not to go to Quilt Market this time around, and I do miss it.  I don't usually talk about this stuff here, not because I'm trying to put up a front, but because this is my happy place.

And I think that's part of it.  I've been working really hard, but it's all on stuff I can't show you. And I WANT to show you.  Maybe even NEED to show you.  I'm definitely learning how much I've come to rely on sharing here (and, yes, let's face it, your encouragement feels really good).

So I don't have too much to show off, but I did make this apron a while back for my cookie party.  And I never showed you the reverse side.

I love it.  I feel I need some crafty event to wear it at with the dressform side out. That fabric is so great.

 
It's loosely based on the Flirty Skirty apron pattern, but I changed it some: added details, cut the fabric differently, and even changed the shape a little.

So, don't worry about me, folks.  I'll be back soon and probably in a more cheery mood.

JT

150: no room for purple

My stash is officially too big.  

Yeah, right, like THAT's possible.  

But it has been growing quite a bit lately.  See how pretty?

I have it organized by designer for those I have more than 5 or 6 prints from.  See how Amy Butler and Kaffe Fassat get 2 full stacks each? 

Then the misc. stuff gets stacked by color.  And right now I have no room for my purple stack.  It's just kinda hanging out on top of one of the cabinets.  Of course I really just need to re-organize.  I have more cabinet space that, once cleaned out, I'm sure will fit the whole rainbow.

I already have 3 shelves in another cabinet with novelties and 30s reproductions.

And I never showed you my new cutting table did I?  Well, I'm not going to now because it's too much of a mess.  But the cubbies underneath house my scraps and all my beautiful Kona solids.

 

I really have been busy sewing lately, but sadly, it's nothing I can show you just yet.

JT

146: stunning samples

Hi all.  

Can you believe I forgot to post lately?  Not like "Oh, I'm such a bad blogger I really must post more" (which I've vowed not to continually repeat) but like it's just been slipping my mind.  Blogging has been such second nature (and yes a little bit of a chore sometimes) that I'm just kinda surprised it hasn't worked it's way onto my to-do list until now.

And here's the fun thing: recently I hit 1000 subscribers on google reader!  I was waiting for that occasion so now I'll have to come up with a giveaway.  Check back for more details soon.

 

Anyway, these pictures are some gorgeous samples made with Timber.  They are courtesy of Pacific Fabric and Crafts for a regional show in California.  

 

The pillows are Amy Butler's Midwest Mod Pillows and the bag is the Marlo Bloom Handbag by Heather Bailey.  The tunic is Amy Buler's Liverpool Tunic and the quilt is the my free pattern, Balance of Nature.

 

So wonderful to see beautiful things sewn up with my fabric.  A few more have shown up in the Flickr pool, but I'm dying to see more...

JT

143: odds and ends

I almost forgot to have drawing for my little party giveaway.

So without further ado, the winner is:

Kim M. who said:

My son is turning 3 in a couple of weeks and the theme is going to be a contruction party. Thank to you I have some great ideas!

Hopefully it's not too late for your son's party!  I'll pass your email along...

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I did start a flickr group for Timber.  So get sewing folks!  And I want to see...

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Finally I did guest post over at Made by Rae.  Many of you know her for her infamous Buttercup Bag pattern (seen in my Timber fabrics in this post).  She's doing a whole month of "Celebrate the Boy" and I posted some tips on throwing parties for boys.  Stop by and see all the great posts on all things boys.

That's all for today, Folks!

JT

141: peaches and cream party part one: the details

 

Here at long last are the details of Aurora's 5th birthday party.

 

The theme: peaches and cream

The location: a farm

The activities: peach picking, eating ice cream, and much more.

 

I'm happy to report that we were blessed with gorgeous, sunny (if somewhat windy) weather.  That's the totally stressful part of planning an outdoor party away from home.  I had all of 1 1/2 hours to decorate the tent.  Not pretty.  Thankfully I had some helpful family around.  The tent had giant peach paper lanterns strung up with felt leaves.

I also made some fabric garlands that ran across the support bars with mini peach lanterns hanging down.  Totally didn't anticipate the amount of wind so it was hard to get a decent picture, by my friend Christianne did it again.

The yellow jackets dug all the sweets I made: cupcakes, fruit bouquet, peach shaped cake pops (a la Bakerella), and take home candies.

The tables were covered with plastic (stapled because of the wind) and then fabric runners.  I love all the different peachy fabric I was able to collect for this party.  I used them for the runners, for garlands, for the buffet tablecloths and to line the baskets.  I wanted it all to have a patchwork-y feel so I used a lot of different prints.  I think I could cut up the tablecloths and made an adorable quilt someday.

 The centerpieces were wooden boxes (my dad made them) that I painted and put chunks of wheat grass in.  I originally saw the idea here.  I love that they were fresh and green but not floral arrangements that would be expensive and have to be made the day before.  The flowers are made from Raffia with little looms that I first saw from Cathy of Cal.

The peach picking meant everyone got to go home with their own fabric-lined basket full of peaches.  

And since my daughter loves it so much, we had an ice cream cart (a whole issue, read part 2) with cone wraps to match the color scheme.

 

I designed the invitations and all the signage myself.

 

Please tune in soon for Part 2, run down of the events of the day...

JT

All photos are by Christianne Ebel.

139: in the house

That's right, Timber is in the house!  Or rather, shops.  But it could be in your house if you bought some, and now you can.

These photos are from Mary's blog showing Timber on the shelves of Tumbleweed Quilts. 

It does seem to go nicely with the Hope Valley.  Definitely great company to be in.

So I don't know everyone who's got it on the web.  If you're a shop owner carrying the whole line and want me to add your name here, I'll update once in awhile.

I do know the following have/had most or all of it:

Hawthorne Threads

Fabritopia

Fabric Worm

JCaroline

Venezie Designs

Sew Mama Sew

Hart's Fabric

Calico House - Lincoln, NE (402)489-1067

I shall attempt to get a flikr group up soon so you can show me when you start sewing...

JT

135: oops I did it again...

Don't you hate it when you forget to photograph things?  Especially stuff you've made?

Well, maybe that mostly applies to those of us who blog.  Making gifts now serves a dual purpose for me...a thoughtful present for a loved one, and something to show y'all.  

But then I forget to document them.  oops.

Anyway, as I mentioned I didn't make that much this Christmas.  As much as I love to, it was totally a good call and helped maintain my sanity.  

 

But I did make this bag for my sister.  It's the Abigail Bag from Serendipity Studio.  I really love how this turned out.  The pattern was great and easy to follow.  Since it was a last minute idea, I was hesitant to do a bag with zippered pockets and all, but they were easy.  

The one thing I'm thinking for next time around is bag feet.  You know what I'm talking about?  Those little metal bumps on the bottom of some bags?  I've seen them in my local fabric store.  I think they'd work well on this bag since it has a nice solid shape and stands up.  Since I did it with regular quilting fabric (mostly my Timber collection) they would probably help it last longer.

I also made a super-cute apron for my other sister, but, you guessed it, no pictures.

JT

126: construction party part 1: the details

Can we fix it?  Yes, we can!

Can we build it?  Yes, we can!

Theo is crazy about Bob the Builder.  It isn’t even really the character, so much as all things construction.  Whenever he sees any kind of construction vehicle, he says “Bob, the builder, BOB THE BUILDER!!”

So I knew that was the way to go for his birthday this summer.  And, despite the stress of having to leave town and get back the night before the party, everything worked out perfectly.

Since I have so many gorgeous pictures (courtesy of my good friend, and amazing photographer, Christianne Ebel again), I’m going to split this up again like I did for Aurora’s monster party.

Get ready for a ton of photos.

So as you can see right away, the colors I used were brown, orange and yellow.  Or more descriptively, chocolate, pumpkin, and mustard.  Remember we started off with these invitations.

When people first arrived they had a little hint at what was to come.  I made the barricades by painting over some wooden sawhorses we had.

I used lots of fabrics (big surprise...) for decorations.  The Be an Man collection and some Tot Town from Michael Miller (as well as a few other construction-related ones I had) added to theme.  

The food table had a giant runner-style cloth that was super easy to make and had quite an impact.

Some other details to the food display included: nuts and bolts, a dump truck full of pretzels, color coordinated m&ms, and my cute little "dig in" signs.

 

And lets not forget the sweets.  The cupcakes had little toppers with graphics I designed.  

And then the oh-so-frustrating-to-make-at-the-last-minute-but-undeniably-delicious tool cookies.

The kids' tables were set outside on the deck.  

Again I used graphics I designed to decorate the cups and the napkins/silverware.  I put a nut and bolt in each bowl to prevent any wind issues (turned out there were none).

Each child had their own personalized hard hat.  

There was a sand table for lots of digging fun.

The deck was decorated with big balloons and traffic cones.

And I made (with lots of help from my mom) a fabric caution tape garland because I couldn't bear the thought of a plastic one.  

You'll read more about it in the next post, but we had a visitor.  

And there was coloring.

We put out all the tools and trucks etc. we could come up with.

Each child when home with a bucket full of goodies.  

 

It included A construction site sticker book, matchbox vehicle, and a small wooden construction puzzle (which Theo is currently obsessed with). 

And a thank you dump truck cookie.

Stop by in a day or two and see just exactly how the day played out.

125: sweet as strawberries and the king of super-heroes

I really do love halloween.  It makes me sad that I don't get the opportunity to dress up very often anymore.  I may need to throw a party again sometime soon.

But that's OK, I can live vicariously through my kids.  :)

So I did get the chance to sew again this year.  Next year Quilt Market is on Halloween, so I don't know how that's going to go.

Aurora requested Strawberry Shortcake.  But not your regular old Strawberry Shortcake.  She has a new look, you know.  A new movie came out on DVD recently.

I thought this was a great idea, very sweet and pretty simple too.  I took a t-shirt and sewed the skirt onto the bottom.  This lovely strawberry fabric came in handy.  Then came the accessories: a hat, a bag, tights, and even a jacket.  Sadly the strawberry buttons for the jacket didn't make it in time.

I have to say, the weather at Halloween here in the Northeast drives me crazy.  Some years it's freezing.  Like you need to wear a million layers and even a coat over your costume.  That's often a pain.  But then you have a party or something to go to indoors and you'll sweat to death.  I put the turtleneck under Aurora's this time and had the jacket, but even though it was raining it was like 65-70 degrees out so no need for the jacket.  Frustrating.  

I think this might be generally cute enough that she can just wear it as regular clothes.  If you love the little strawberry patches, you can get them at Fabrichound.

And yes, that is pink hair.  we sprayed it, which is a big mess, but perhaps less annoying than a wig.  She only colored it 2 of the 4 times she dressed up.

Now, Theo didn't get to decide.  I went with a generic super hero.  We were calling him "Super Theo!"  But, yes, it is an Elvis jumpsuit.  I just added the "T" on the belt and the back of the cape and lengthened the cape a little.  I had originally planned for a mask, but it never happened.  And I know the hairdo isn't exactly The King, but more of a cute greaser.  

I wish it was possible to get a clear action shot, as he was very excited he was "gonna fly".  The running/flying shots all look something like this:

But I did enjoy this jumping one.  Definitely an action hero.

What a cutie!

Hope you all had a great holiday.  We had a grand total of ONE trick-or-treater because of the rain.  Yikes that's a lot of left-over candy!

JT

124: quilt market round-up part 3: all the rest

Happy Halloween.  I know I'm very behind the game here, but I'll share the adorable halloween pix next, for now I have to wrap the loose ends of quilt market.

 Basically this is everyone I remembered to get photos of.  I don't know why, but I'm so paranoid that someone will be offended that I didn't mention them or post a photo of them.  I guess because I met plenty of new amazing talented artists and shop owners.  There is so much out there I could never hope to capture it all.  

So in the spirit of brevity (and so I can just get on with "regular" posts already) here they all are:

Echino/ Seven Islands - I think this is my favorite picture from market.

Patricia Bravo of Art Gallery fabrics being interviewed by Bari J.

 

Fig Tree Quilts

 

Lila Tueller

Pink Fig Patterns

Angela Yosten at Moda Bake Shop

Patty Young

Paula Prass

Michelle Engel Bencsko at Cloud 9

A gang at Serendipity Studio including designer Kay Whit, Caroline, Myrinda, and Traci.

Some Free Spirit quilts - Heather Bailey's (designed by Scott Hansen)

Jenean Morrison's new line.

Anna Maria Horner's new flannels (also designed/sewn by Scott)

Tanya Whelan

Brandon Mably with his and Kaffe Fasset's fabric.

Kati Cupcake

Melanie and Rosalie of Melly and Me

123: quilt market round-up part 2: windham

Back again with some more Quilt Market goodness for you.

Today it’s all about Windham.  I mean, if I don’t toot my own horn, who will?

So here’s the sad thing: I didn’t take a picture of the whole booth.  Totally snubbed the reproduction fabric lines, which Windham does so well.  Oops.  And that means you don’t see the overall theme of the one room schoolhouse that won us 2^nd prize.  But you can go see it on the Windham blog.

Here’s Laura accepting the ribbon.

 

But I did get photos of the designer’s stuff.

Here they are from left to right:

 Allison Jane Smith. 

 

Flutter is her 3^rd line with Windham.  She also has 4 books she’s published.  Wow.

 

The quilt was hard to photograph with the lighting.

 

Paige Stanley Miller

 

This sweet, timeless collection is called Juliet.  Pretty, right?

Bari J. Ackerman

 

You all know Full Bloom, right?  Well, this is her latest and greatest called Art Journal.  Her signature hand-painted look. 

 

And see that quilt?  That’s gonna make an awesome kit, right?

 

Me!  (Jessica Levitt)

 

Well, if you’re a regular reader, you already know what the collection looks like.  It was fun to see it all together like this.

 

(shown is the Buttercup Bag by Made by Rae)

I’ll try to do some posts with each project I made at a later date.

 

(shown is the Black Forest Bag by Melly and Me)

Genevieve Gail

 

She’s back with a beautiful new collection called, Gypsy Garden.  The colors are amazing, and I love the “weathered” finish to the designs.

And let's not forget Anna Griffin's amazing booth.  A beautiful, sophisticated Christmas line.

We each had to do a block from our collection for the blackboard.  You’ll notice there’s one from Rosemarie Lavin’s new Feelin Groovy.  Sadly she didn’t have a quilt there…

 

Here’s a closer look at mine:

 

And I’ll leave you with our resident “Fabric Pimp”, Mickey Krueger.

 

Next up is basically "everyone else" that I managed to get photos of.

 Ciao.

JT

122: quilt market round-up part 1: some of the stars

Well, I­’ve made it back from Quilt Market.  Of course it was a blast and totally got the creative juices flowing, but at the same time, I’m sort of tuned out to work right now.  Just can’t quite get back in to the swing of “regular” life, if you know what I mean?  Except I'm totally enjoying family time, these last few days.

 

Anyhow, I will give you all a “market report”, as I know that’s what you want.  That’s what I’m all about.  Giving ‘em what they want.

So today we’ll start with some of the stars of or fabric and sewing world.  You know, the household names.  

 

I took a ton of pictures, but not nearly as many as last time.  It turned out I didn’t have as much time to walk around as I did then.  In fact, I didn’t see everything!  How can that be?  So if I don’t have pictures of your booth it may be I never saw it or I forgot to take pictures.  Oops.

 So these are some of the bigger names.  Not all, mind you.  I mean, I didn't even know Jay McCarroll was there.  

These first ones are the lovely Amy Butler and her new collection Love.

 I got to meet her this time around.  So sweet and humble as everyone says.

 

Next up is Heather Bailey.  Oh boy, did her booth impress.  She won first place.  Obviously.  

Seriously, I just wanted to move right in.  

I love the new collection and I’m excited some is coming in oilcloth.  I’ll be buying some of that up, before it’s gone in 5 seconds.

 

 

And now we have Anna Maria Horner.  Yes, she pulled this off with a 5 month old baby.  Is she human?  I think not.

 

No really, she was super-sweet and her baby Roman, was just adorable.  This fabrics looks pretty, but wait til you feel it.  So luscious.

 

And even a shot of the infamous Allie and Juliana:

I’ll include Sandi Henderson’s booth here too since she won Best Merchandising.  Another gorgeous line I’ll have to add to my stash.  And patterns too!

 

I’ll include the other Michael Miller designers in another post.

Next up is a close look at the Windham booth (we won 2^nd place for multiple booth!) and my section in it.

JT

121: consider this

your official invite.  If you'll at Quilt Market, come meet me.  I mean it.  I'll be hanging at the Windham booths.

Life's crazy with all the prep, but I had a little fun today.  I actually got to drive out and visit the Windham offices and warehouse.  I guess I'm a total fabric geek, but it was thrilling for me.  Seeing all those bolts stacked up, and inside seeing all the different storyboards and swatches...

I can't wait to see stacks of my own fabric. 

JT

***Notes: 

The bag hanging on the chair is made from the Catalina Sling pattern by Pink Sand Beach Designs.

The Dress is the Gracie pattern from Sandi Henderson.

The larger bag is Black Forest by Melly & Me.

114: a closer look

Phew!  What a whirlwind I've been going through.  Yesterday my husband was saying how it seems like we're always in the midst of big "push" to get something done.  That's not exactly true, but it sure does feel like it lately.

Anyway, I've been quite busy designing, planning, sewing etc for Theo's birthday.  He's two today!  (well, yesterday by the time I get this post up).  I'll have lots of details of the whole construction-themed shindig soonish.  I'm playing catch-up with pictures right now.  

And in the midst of that we all picked up and flew to FL for 2 nights for my Grandmother's funeral.  It was actually really nice to see all my extended family (my dad is 1 of 8 kids!) but it was quite a bit of dragging the kids all over the place and we got back the night before the party...so now you know why I'm exhausted...

But I did promise you a closer look at Timber (for Windham Fabrics) and here it is in three colorways:

Prints clockwise from top left: Gingko in Sea Glass, Dogwood in River, Pear in Mist, Magnolia in River, Bamboo in Sea Glass, Apple in Mist, Willow in Mist, Maple in River

Prints clockwise from top left: Gingko in Malibu, Dogwood in Malibu, Pear in Sugar Plum, Magnolia in Sugar Plum, Bamboo in Sugar Plum, Apple in Sienna, Willow in River, Maple in Sugar Plum

Prints clockwise from top left: Gingko in Java, Dogwood in Sienna, Magnolia in Sweetgrass, Bamboo in Java, Maple in Sweetgrass, Gingko in Sienna, Maple in Java, Willow in Sweetgrass, Pear in Sienna

I must say, the thing I'm the most excited about is to see what you all make with your fabric.  Promise me you'll send me lots of pictures, k?

And I spoke a little too soon before, I don't think the fabric will be hitting the stores much before the new year.  But I already know of two places that have ordered the whole line.  One of my favorite quilt shops on Cape Cod, Tumbleweed Quilts, and a great online store (and awesome new friend), Fabritopia.  If you're a store owner and you're ordering the whole line, let me know and I'll post a big list or something so everyone can find you!

I can't thank you all enough for your kind words on my last post.  It seems everyone believed in me even before I did.  I wish I could email you all back personally, but it just ain't gonna happen right now.  But I'll be back on track soon...

JT

113: at last

Well gosh, it seems like eons have passed since I started working on these designs, but finally I get to show and tell.

So here she is.  My first fabric collection, Timber.

OK, it's not exactly ALL of her yet.  I'll try to get up a post with every print in the next few days (I hope).  For now you can enjoy that little title drawing and here is an electronic version of a free quilt pattern we'll be offering.  It has every print in it, so if you squint, you'll get to see it all.  :)

If you're a shop owner, the collection is ready for order from Windham Fabrics right now!  Woo hoo!  And if you're just a regular shopper like me....well, you'll still have to wait until late fall.  Sorry.

JT

109: no restraint

I can't help myself.  I remember being younger and being amazed how much fabric my Aunt could buy before using all her other stuff...but now I'm just the same.

Anyway, I was working on a project recently and wanted a little bit of a solid fabric to go with it, and I discovered I really don't have any.  Literally, I had like 6 different pieces of solid color cotton and considering how I have hundreds of prints...that was just a shame.

So when another blogger posted about Kona solids at Fabricshack.com for $3.99, I decided the time had come.  And I ordered a whole palette.  Apparently I kinda focused on blue.  I'll have to balance it more later.  

It's so fun to look at all the colors and to know when I go looking for something, I might actually have something usable in my stash.

Some of the colors were strange...which, of course, I expected.  I think my least favorite is "pistachio".  And I must say "denim" is not remotely denim colored (although it's a pretty enough blue).  The lovely people at Fabric Shack were kinda enough to label all the colors as I had requested.  Coal, teal blue, chartreuse, and squash are just yummy!

JT

107: here come the goodies

That's right....finally the giveaway post.

And here's the quilt in all it's glory.

Several people guessed what the pattern would be.  I saw it at this tutorial.  I didn't particularly follow the directions, but used the general idea.  It has no batting and is made from circles of recycled jeans with fabric inset.

Not MY jeans mind you...but someone's.  I didn't want to do very small squares because of time limitations, so I had to go to the thrift store and buy the biggest jeans I could find.  The sales people though I was crazy as I could literally fit in one leg of some of them.  But I didn't want to pull off pockets and such and have them have changes in color.

The instructions recommended zig-zagging the edges but I really wanted the frayed denim edges.  That means this quilt is by no means a study in perfect sewing.  I washed it again after I was finished sewing and had to go back and re-sew the edges that frayed a little too much.  I suspect the new owner may have to do that as well during it's lifetime.  

But I like the rough-around-the-edges look.  It feels like a great picnic blanket.  And I think it will get better with age.  Sorry I can't get it to your for possible 4th of July picnics.  :(

So, "how do I win such a beauty?", you ask.  Well, if you've never before commented on my site, you can't.  Sorry to new readers!  I'm not doing it that way to be elitist, but since it's a whole quilt I wanted it to be somebody who's not just passing through for a giveaway.  Hopefully whoever gets it will really love it and use it.

But don't fret if you are a lurker.  I have consolation prizes.  There are two sets that come with: handmade zippered pouch, three fun, bright fat quarters, six 8 1/2" squares of recycled denim, and a little flower I crocheted (I didn't attach them to the pouches but that certainly might be cute).  I will be givng one of these prizes randomly to someone who leaves a comment on this post and one to someone who has already left a comment on this previous post where I drew out all the lurkers.

My method for the grand prize selection is this: 

1. Randomly pick a number between 1 and 106 (the number of posts before this)

2. Randomly pick a number between 1 and the number of comments on that post (comments left after now won't count)

3. Check to see if that commenter also entered by leaving a comment on THIS post

4. Repeat as necessary to find a winner

So, you have to leave a comment here to win.  I won't be overly picky about what you say.  If you want to be fun, you can send me your favorite cookie recipe.  I'm particularly interested in finding a good shortbread-like sugar cookie recipe for big, thick cutouts.  I bought the most amazing ones for Easter with a slightly lemon frosting that I'm hoping to re-create.  I'll leave the contest open until Tuesday at midnight, just in case some of you are too occupied with the holiday.

AND....if you can be the first to tell me where I can buy PEACH colored raffia, I will make a special prize just for you.  It has to be peach, not coral, or orange, or terra cotta, which I already have.

**** UPDATE: I should have mentioned I'm looking for synthetic raffia!

So good luck to you all.

You should know I appreciate all my readers so much.  When I started this all a year ago I never knew how much fulfillment I would get from sharing with you and getting to know you too.  A whole year....wow.

JT

104: gotcha

Ha!  I knew I would draw out all you lurkers.  Yay!  And please don't think I have any problem with lurking.  I do it all the time.  Who has time to leave comments everywhere they go?  But if you don't say "hi" once in awhile, how will I know you're there?  And how can I check out YOUR blog?  (If you have one...not required, if course)

Anyhoo, I promise that all of you who spoke up, now officially have a shot at the quilt.  That is, if I get it done.  I'm trying, but really just haven't had much time.  We're going away camping for a few days, but hopefully when I get back I can really get cracking.  Do check back at the end of the month...

So, I did indeed go shopping a yarn store.  Boy was THAT overwhelming!  I really needed to have gone in there with much more of a plan.  I have grand ideas of trying a blanket, but wasn't even sure what material or weight of yarn I wanted.  I ended up just buying some stuff that "called" to me (or rather, that I couldn't stop petting) and hope to sort of audition some of them for the blanket.  

Without checking myself, I would have walked out of there with skeins in a dozen different shades of green. 

Speaking of which, do you know "skein" is pronounced.  I didn't.  Well, until Martha told me, that is.  I think it is seriously the only episode of her show I've ever seen.  Tivo somehow miraculously knew I would be interested in her "yarn" episode a week or so ago.  Um, yes.

The best part to me was when someone was show Martha her Amigurumi stuff and she had a super-cute cupcake with a face and Martha said, "So it doesn't make any sense, but it's cute?"  Too funny.

Well, the yarn store just happens to be next to one of my favorite quilt stores., Pennington Quilt Works.  I was terrible at resisting there too.

Here's some random fabrics I bought.

And here's a peek at fabrics I'm already gathering for Aurora's 5th birthday (in September).  I'm going with a peaches and cream theme.

JT

103: gearing up for a giveaway

This is a just a little peek at what's coming for my 1 year blogiversay in a few weeks.

Well, that's IF I get it done in time.  But I'm trying.  I never really thought I'd giveaway a whole quilt...but, yup, I am.

And I mentioned it before, but if you lurk and you think you're gonna want in, you'd better start leaving me love notes now.  I've devised a little plan on how to pick the winner, and only those who've previously commented on my blog have a shot.

Well, I'm sure I'll make some runner up prizes for those that just find me that post.  I think part of giveaways is supposed to be about getting new readers, but I really want to give the quilt to someone who actually reads my blog...not just someone passing through.  However, it will still be somewhat random, so I won't be playing favorites...

These colors make me all happy and sunshiny, even on a rainy day!

JT

101: Quilt Market part 5: shopping, quilts, and big news

This is the last installment in my Quilt Market adventures.  Just some little loose ends to cover.

I'll start with the "big" news.  I've signed with Windham Fabrics to produce my first line of fabric, Timber.  To me this news is just HUGE!  It was a long process to get it all together for Quilt Market and I'm so happy to be moving forward.  I had  tough time deciding which company to work with because really every single person I met with at market was super nice and I could imagine working with them.  But I went with Windham, and I couldn't be happier.  I wish I had more to show you on the topic, but it will be a while longer.  Bear with me...soon I promise...

Anway, the rest of the loose ends are about Quilt Market itself.  Like how I went vintage fabric shopping with Heather Bailey.  OK, OK, maybe not some much "with" as "near".  We just both happened to browsing on of the few booths actually selling fabric at the same time.  Some seriously cool vintage feed sacks and the like.  She was, of course, lovely as we rummaged through the piles together.

These 4 pieces/sacks are what I landed on.  I have plans to make a pillowcase dress for Aurora out of the bottom one.

Anyway, there were several quilt shows (and even a costume/fashion one) on display.  Here are just a few of my favorites:

Spring in Japan - by Akiko Kawata

Grandmother's Quilt - A Cathedral Window - by Manon B. Gagliardi

The Kiss: An Homage to Kilmt - Mary Barry

Cinda's Circles - Karen Pharr

When Sun Departs - Laura Stauffer

Winter to Spring - Kathy York

Blue Ridge Springtime - Sandra Werlich

Sedona Dream - Janet Lasher

English Garden Romance - Tracy Anna Bader

Guys, thanx so much for all the well wishes about my Market endeavors and such.  I mean it!

JT