Giveaway winner and my Z for Zipper pouch

I always love to hear all of your ideas for what you'd make with my fabric. And ya'll did NOT disappoint. What amazing ideas you came up with! I simply cannot wait to see what you make, so once you have some Bright and Buzzy in your hot little hands make sure you share the love and post pictures in my Flickr group? Pretty please?

I was able to carve out some sewing time this past weekend and made up a really fun zipper pouch with Bright and Buzzy. And I LOVE my little pouch. So. Very. Much. But before I show it to you, let's get to that giveaway winner, shall we?

Via random number, the lucky winner is #139, Margaret who said:
I love this fabric. I have a kids quilt pattern that I have been wanting to make forever. It requires strips of bugs in a line for part of the design. Either of the bees or the birds will be perfect. Thanks for sharing your amazing talents with me. I can't wait to get my hands on this fabric. I also think I need a kitchen redo and bees could be buzzing all around while I cook. Pot holders, towels, new curtains, chair cushions and of course a mug rug or two.

And then because her comment made me laugh so hard I actually spit out my coffee, I'm also sending a set of fabric to #44 Michelle who said:

Seriously, I'm surprised there haven't been more growth charts in non-barf inducing children's fabrics. Hopefully you've started a trend! 


Thanks so much to everyone for sharing your great ideas for the fabric, and for the great laughs and I hope Bright and Buzzy will be making its way onto your sewing tables soon!

And now onto my new pouch. Ta-da! I think its first job will be to be my supplies pouch for Quilt Con (which is right around the corner!) I'm going to be speaking on a panel on fabric design AND I am going to get to take some of the great classes so I'm getting geared up for that! A girls gotta have a cute supplies pouch, right?!

To figure out my sizing and for instructions on the contrast bottom, I loosely followed the Noodlehead Open Wide pouch tutorial. (Thanks Anna!)

Here's the front. For the top, I used the Z for Zipper from the Alphabet panel along with 2.5" squares of the cross hatch prints from the growth chart panel. Then the contrast bottom uses the darker of the two honeycomb prints. Bright and cheery, isn't it?!

And a shot with a  pencil to show scale. The pouch measures 13" x 9" so its a great size for big goodies. I used mid weight interfacing so its got some substance but isn't too stiff.

The inside is also lined with the honeycomb print. I love opening a pouch and seeing a pretty lining.

And the back is made from my Modern Whimsy circles (which are a perfect match!) along with a few more cross hatch print squares from the growth chart panel.

Thanks again for participating in my giveaway and for all of your great comments about Bright and Buzzy. I'm so tickled that you are as excited about this new line as I am! I still have all of those fun bee prints to play with still and I can't wait to start cutting into them soon! 

Bright and Buzzy | Giveaway!

Tick tock, tick tock. I have been watching the clock and the calendar, anxiously awaiting the day that I could do the grand unveiling of Bright and Buzzy, one of two of my new collections for Robert Kaufman. And today is finally the day!

I have so many ideas swimming in my head for things to make from the collection. And even though it's perfect for kids, I can see so many uses for it for those who are just young at heart. (See how I artfully skirted calling myself old there? Nicely done if I don't say so myself...)

There are 6 fabrics in the collection and they have all just been released by Robert Kaufman so they should be making their way to stores soon. 

• Buzzy bees in 3 fun colors. I was so happy to be able to do these in a more non-traditional palette than what you usually see for bees. 
• Honeycomb in two shades
• A full yard panel with one animal or item for each letter in the alphabet. 
• And a full sized growth chart that goes up to 60" inches high. 

On the image above, the yard panel in the corner isn't to scale, I squished it down so it would all fit together in one little graphic.

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Fun honeycomb selvage shapes

Attempted to take a picture of the yard alphabet panel and Fiona came to help. 

And then Dexter had to get in on the action. It totally looks like they're making out. Which is really inappropriate blog content but it was just too funny not to share. 

Wait...what, is that a whale under that tail? And a raccoon peeking out from behind that foot? 

I see all sorts of fussy cut opportunities for this panel. 

How adorable would pennant flags be to spell out a kiddo's name?!

This weekend I'm going to be making a zipper pouch with my Z. I can't wait. 

A close up of one of the owls from the growth chart panel. You can get an idea of what the whole thing looks like in the graphic at the top of the post.  I think the owl on the swing is my favorite. :) 

Or maybe the bunny. 

Bzzzz! Bee and honeycomb goodness. I keep thinking "bee-still my beating heart". 

Guess my mind is on Valentine's Day!

Thanks for wading through all of the pictures! As a reward, here's a shot of the giveaway goodies. A FQ set of all the fabrics + full alphabet panel and the growth chart. 

• I'd love to hear what kind of ideas you have for the fabric!
• Post your comment here before the morning of Tuesday 1/29/13. 
• Make sure you leave me a way to contact you. 
• And as always, international entries are welcome!

I'll post the winner (and hopefully my little Z zipper pouch) on Tuesday morning. Good luck!

p.s. And if I wasn't already spastically excited about Bright and Buzzy, there's ANOTHER collection to share. I am beyond excited and bouncing off the walls over here with glee. (And I might have had one too many cups of coffee today perhaps...) 

I'll do a full post about Holiday Sweet Tweets (and a giveaway) once I get my yardage shipment, but here's a few sneak peek shots. It's also just been released by Robert Kaufman and should be shipping to stores soon. Birds. Peppermint tufted ottomans. Sassy couches and striped chairs. (Insert big dorky happy dance here!)

Visit your local quilt shop day!

This Thursday, 1/24/13 is Visit Your Local Quilt Shop Day.  I am a huge supporter of local shops (as well as online retailers), so when FabShopNet asked if I'd be interested in being a part of their blog tour, I was of course tickled to participate. In my lovely and creative home town of Austin, I am so very fortunate to be able to have two amazing stores where I can always count on a welcoming smile, a laugh and an immediate creative infusion.

So why do I personally love local quilt shops so much?

When I was living in NY and struggling with a decision to leave my full time job in advertising, I allowed myself, for the first time in many years, the mental space to dream about what I really, really wanted to do with my life. I loved my job but knew it was time for me to make some major changes. During my soul searching and trying to identify themes where I was really in my happy place and felt the most joy, fabric, color, texture and creating things kept coming to the forefront. It sounds corny to people who aren't part of our fabric tribe, but there are few thing so creatively nurturing and inspiring as walking into a fabric store. And I love that if you're reading this, you likely know exactly, precisely what I mean.

The moment I walk in and see all the colors and patterns together it immediately makes me start to think about what gorgeous thing I might be able to make next. It just energizes me and makes me happy.  And it  was that joy and excitement that has always come from seeing all of those delicious bolts of fabric together in a shop combined with a desire to build a life for myself where creativity could be infused into my work that led me to the decision to finally jump off of the corporate hamster wheel and follow my dream of becoming a textile and surface designer.

So for me, I will be forever grateful for quilt shops and their owners. So get out there and go visit your LQS this week. And if you're in Austin, make sure you pop in and say hello to two of my local favorites.

Leslie Bonnell's Stitch Lab

Jessica Sloan's Remnants:fiber [culture]