Come see me at Quilt Market this weekend!

I'm beyond excited for Quilt Market this weekend. Literally bouncing from foot to foot! Modern Whimsy is going to be officially launching and I am ridiculously spazzy. And the fabulous team at Robert Kaufman has so kindly asked me to visit their booth for a meet and greet. (bounce, bounce, blush, blush...)

So if you're in Houston this weekend, please swing by and say hellooooo!!! :) Would love to get to meet you!

Max's Wonky Donkey Quilt

A few months ago I got an email that absolutely just tickled me. I heard from Michelle, who was making her very first quilt. And the quilt was to be for her nephew, Max, who can be frequently be found cruising about wearing his wellies. Turns out they are pretty much the only shoes he'll wear. :) 

So of course, my Donkeys and Wellies fabric and Kate Conklin's Wonky Donkey pattern fit the bill for Michelle and Max's quilt. I was touched when Michelle sent me a picture of Max's finished quilt. Isn't it darling!? Just perfect for a wellie-lovin' little boy! Have fun with your new quilt Max!

Also, a quick reminder that I will be retiring my Donkeys in Wellies and the Polar Bears fabric at the end of the month. They're 15% off through the 31st of October, so this is a great time to stock up on these colors before they're gone . (Here are more details on when Robert Kaufman will have the new colors/designs available...) If you need more yardage than what's listed in the store, just let me know and I can set up a custom listing for you. :)

UK edition of my book shipping!

How excited am I to get to share the news that one of the editions of my first book, Designing and Printing Fabric has started shipping!! YEA!!!

The UK edition (soft cover), published by A&C Black is available.I've been watching Amazon UK like a hawk and late last week learned that it started shipping last week. So unbelievably excited!! You can find it here.

The US version, published by Chronicle Books, will be a hard cover edition and has a slightly different title (Mastering the Art of Fabric Printing and Design). I've learned that the US edition won't be available until sometime this spring. The mysteries of book publishing, right? :) I'll keep you posted on the US edition and share any news I receive.

The book is broken into 6 sections:
Understanding Patterns
Sourcing Inspiration
Designing Patterns
Understanding Fabric, Inks & Dyes
Hand Printing
Digital Printing
Going Pro

The first 2 chapters are filled with information on the basics of pattern design, defining your color palette and inspiration for your designs. The 3rd chapter is filled with tutorials for creating digital pattern repeats.

Chapters 4 and 5 include guidance on a variety of methods for dyeing, stamping and screen printing fabrics. I was fortunate enough to get to collaborate with some immensely talented women who are experts on those topics, so you'll find tutorials and information from Malka Dubrawsky (Stitch in Dye), Jesse Braytenbach (Jezze Prints) and Lara Cameron and Tegan Rose (Ink and Spindle).

Chapter 6 covers digital printing in depth and walks you through the process of understanding how to set up your files and manage your colors.

The final chapter includes advice for going pro and features interviews with some truly amazing and talented leaders in fabric design. I was so humbled to be able to interview so many people who's designs are included in my own fabric stash and their fabric is a part of so many quilts and goodies I've sewn over the years.

I can't express how thankful I am to have been able to write this book and for all the help and support I received along the way. It's been a tremendous journey from sitting down to starting to write the book during the summer of 2010 and seeing an actual copy of the printed book this fall. Thank you all for your never ending encouragement and support!! It's meant the world to me. I can still hardly believe that I actually have an ISBN number that's recorded in the Library of Congress.

Angela Adams makes an appearance at my house

I have literally had dreams about owning a hand tufted wool rug by Angela Adams. Her eye for pattern is just simply gorgeous and I've coveted her designs from afar for the longest time. (To say that I have a design crush on her would be a dramatic understatement...) But I haven't ever had a space that would do her rugs justice (nor have they been in my budget to date...)

So when I found out that she has a new line of candles available through Crash Candles, I was all a twitter and I just have to share my little treasure with you. I snapped up this little lovely (called Forrest) and it's happily living in my bedroom. It's soy, smells amazing and I finally have a tiny little Angela Adams design in my house!! To see more of Angela's candles for Crash, click here. And while you're there, make sure you check out the Lotta Jansdotter candles as well. I wouldn't be at all surprised if I asked Santa for a little box of Crash candles this year. :)

Bye Bye for now Donkeys and Bears - Final Sale on 2 more collections

And by now, you know what a Final Sale means!! Robert Kaufman has picked up 2 more of my collections. Super duper mega excited!!

The Donkeys in Wellies and the Polar Bears will be released by RK in January 2012 and shipping sometime this coming Spring. The new color stories are really different from what I've had in the store and can't wait for you to see them once they start hitting the streets next year.

So if you need any of the Donkeys or Bears or want to stash away some of these color stories  or have a project underway that needs donkeys or bears, stock up now... I'll have them available through the end of October ONLY and they're 15% off in celebration of this Final Sale. If you need more yardage than what's listed in the store (or if the listings expire when I'm not looking), just lemme know and I can set up a custom listing for you. I'll be printing as needed to fill orders for the rest of the month. :)

-Fat quarter: regularly $8.50 - now 15% off = $7.23
-Half yard: regularly $17.00 - now 15% off = $14.45
-One yard: regularly $34.00 - now 15% off = $28.90

One exception to the sale...The Donkey and Bears Holiday pillow panels WILL BE available for sale through the end of the December. Sorry, but the pillow panels are not included in the sale. 

Duvet. Check!

Yea! Brand new duvet has officially moved onto the bed. And I just love it!

Finished size is 90x90. Which felt simply gi-normous when I was putting it all together. It was pretty much comedy of errors watching me manhandle all that fabric through the machine. Serious kudos to those of you who can quilt such giant pieces!

Next up, I'm going to do a few quilted pillows for the chair in my room. You think I should use the left over pieces from the duvet cover and put them together in a way other than string piecing? Or should I use different fabrics all together? I don't want it to be too 'matchy matchy' so I'm leaning towards all different fabric but I just have so many great strips left I hate to just put them into the scrap bin. Oh, decisions decisions!

Here's the duvet :)

Exciting news - NEW journals from Urban Smart on Amazon.com!

I did a little happy dance this morning in my kitchen!

When I exhibited at Surtex this last May, I was lucky enough to get to meet with one of the wonderful folks from Urban Smart. And they licensed 6 of my designs to include on these super cool journals!! The journals are printed on Rock Paper, which is an ultra environmentally friendly paper that's made utilizing lime stone. And the paper is both water and tear resistant. I'm a total journal junkie and when you write on this paper, your pen just glides along. I simply fell in love with them and have been so excited about having a few of my designs featured on these really great products.

Drum roll please....I'm super excited to get to tell you the Urban Smart journals are available for sale on Amazon, so go take a peek if you have a second.

View journal

View journal

View journal

View journal

View journal

View journal

Duvet cover - Almost done!

Well, I'm slowly but surely continuing to make progress on the duvet cover. The top is pieced! I LOVE the way it's coming together and I can hardly wait to get it finished and on my bed. Even if my points don't quite match up (at all!), I still love, love it.

Next up is piecing together the two halves of the back fabric (more gorgeous DS fabric!) and mastering the 10 button closure. I'm hoping to get it wrapped up before end of week. But I keep getting delayed by cuteness like this! I love the way when Dexter decides that its time to groom Fiona that the best way to do that is simply to park on top of her. Dorks.

And although not specific to this duvet, entirely too cute not to share. And no, he's not supposed to be sleeping on that fabric but how could I move him?

Nor is she supposed to be hanging out up here!

Duvet cover progress!!

Making great headway on the duvet cover and having so much fun sewing these blocks.
If I counted correctly, I think I only have 4 more to go!

Next up:
- Laying everything out (I really should figure out some sort of design wall...)
- Figuring out if I need/want any border sashing
- Piecing together the back
- Sewing everything together
- Doing happy dance!

New duvet cover in progress and a new pressing table

I made the duvet cover I have on my bed when I was living in a postage stamp sized apartment in Brooklyn a few years ago. I called my little apartment there Carb Corner. :) It was 3rd floor walkup above a bagel shop and across the street from a bakery. Every night the bakery would bake bread for the next day, so walking home from the subway after a night out, all you could smell in the air was butter and fresh bread. And then I'd wake to the smell of fresh bagels in the morning. I think the only reason I didn't double my weight was all the walking!  But I digress (and am now craving bread...)..Back to my duvet...I think it's really gorgeous and it's definitely one of my favorite projects.

My duvet with my beautiful Zoe cat who I miss so much... Sniff.

But I've been hankering for a change and have been collecting fabric for the last few months with big plans for a new duvet cover for my bed. It all started with the new collection of Denyse Schmidt fabrics for Joann Fabrics and I've been steadily adding to my pile of fabric with visions for my duvet. Last week I started digging through my collection of quilt books to figure out what pattern I wanted to make. Then I remembered an awesome string quilt from Elizabeth Hartman's book, The Practical Guide to Patchwork. It's a great book with some fantastic patterns and great tips.

As I was working on cutting strips the other night I realized that I needed a few more yellow and a few more red fabrics. (Well, maybe not 'needed' exactly ...) My friend Margaret, who owns Form and Fabric, just moved into a new space and even though her business is online only, she was nice enough to let me come drool over her fabric and pick up a few additions for my duvet. She's got a bunch of new stuff that I was dying to take home with me, but I was very controlled and managed to leave with only a few 1/2 yard cuts.

I'm making good headway on my blocks and have half of them complete. I've never done any foundation piecing and it made the process so easy. And my blocks are so tidy! I can hardly wait to see the whole thing come together. The green blocks are next. :)

One of the things that I quickly realized making a string quilt like this is that there was an awful lot of up and down to the ironing and cutting table. And then I remembered a little pressing table I spied somewhere on Flickr. So I traipsed off to Target and found this great little table for $15. I cut 4 pieces of batting and covered 1/2 the table with some of my Urban Circus fabric. A bit of folding and a staple gun later, voila a pressing and cutting table! I can even slide a tiny cutting mat under the fabric for storage. And the whole table can slide right under my sewing table when not in use. Love it!

So stay tuned for more duvet progress!  What's on your sewing table this weekend??

NEW Holiday Pillow Panels in the store

It's probably because it's still well over 100 degrees here in Austin and I feel as if I'm living on the surface of the sun, I've definitely got winter on the brain!

I love decorating around the house around the holidays and filling it with all my favorite festive goodies. So I printed up some pillow panels on upholstery weight twill using some of my holiday designs. Over the weekend I was able to spend some time sewing and stitched up 4 pillow covers. It was so nice to get some time away from the computer!! (And as an aside...I've fallen in love with using piping on my pillows. Sew easy!)

If you'd like to sew up your own pillows, all 4 new panels are listed in my store here and are ready to ship! The pillow panels each measure 18x18 so they're a great size. Using the piping, I was able to use an 18x18 insert in each cushion cover to make them nice and squishy. They would also make really cute and easy to sew gifts. Ohhh...don't you think the Santa Bear Dots would be really cute to make a garland from or to use as appliques on stockings or tea towels?

Giveaway winner!

What fun giveaway that was! I really loved getting to read all of your comments about your first sewing projects. It's such fun to take a little stroll down memory lane with you. And who knew there were so many of you out there who took Home Ec!?

My first sewing project was sometime in middle school and it was some sort of blouse at the local fabric store and I detested the process. I remember my blouse was a wreck and I could not get the hang of button holes. The next project was a giant orange felt jack-o-lantern pumpkin that I made for Halloween sometime in early high school. I had that costume for years and years and years. I think it finally started to fall apart after 20 years and it must have been given away in one of my moves. I took a long, long break from sewing after that. It wasn't until I was in my 30's and had an icky breakup with a boyfriend that I started sewing again. My mom suggested that I start a project to get my mind off my broken heart and I made my first quilt in less than I week I think. I just cut and sewed and cried non-stop. Pretty sad sight I was.  :) And at the end of the project I have what I like to call 'the break-up quilt'. It lived on my bed for many years and now it resides happily on my guest bed. I still totally love that quilt, which is sort of surprising since it could have turned into one of those things that has bad memories associated with it. But I think it's too pretty not to love! (I'll get some pics of it soon...)

And now on to the winner of the giveaway! The FQ pack + Pillow Panel goes to #24, Hannah. You can see all of her lovely projects on her Flickr stream here.

Hannah said: I think my first sewing project was making cheerleadering skirts for Halloween costumes when I was in 6th grade. I'm sure I had a lot of help from my mom, but I'm pretty certain that I did almost all of the actual sewing by myself. I just finished grad school, and until very recently, still had that skirt. Thanks to an elastic waist, it got lots of use by lots of people for lots of really random stuff over the years!

Hannah: Just email me and let me know which color story you'd like.

Nesting Chairs in Blue and Aqua

Nesting Chairs in Yellow and Grey