7 Layer Studio

Creepy Crawly Shark Attack Piano Guys

I have a soft spot for Halloween.  And design contests.  So when I discovered that Spoonflower was having a design contest with a Creepy Crawly theme, I just couldn't resist.  Really, it was beyond my control.

Nevermind that I still haven't finished the dining room wainscoting, or that the weeds are taking over my yard, or that I still haven't finished installing the trim and painting everything from our last renovation project, or that things like laundry and dishes don't just go away when I'm busy with something else. 

The Creepy Crawlies were calling my name....

 

 

The contest isn't for an entire line, it's for one print.  But by the time I finished drawing all the different bugs and built the main print (the one with all the bugs in little frames), I couldn't help but keep going and use the bug images in different ways.  Plus I was determined to conquer, at long last, my inability to put things into repeat (kind-of important for a fabric designer).  I had never taken the time to really sit down and research/figure it out, so this was the perfect opportunity.  (I didn't have to do anything but choose colors with my first line for Benartex, they scanned my original artwork images and handled everything else).

I emailed some friends for help when I got stuck, which helped a lot - thanks so much Laura Whitton and Emilie Daly, for all the technical advice!  Illustrator is really a pain unless you know what you're doing.  I still know hardly anything about this uber-powerful tool, but I'm getting there bit by bit.  I think I've tapped into about .05% of Illustrator's capabilities by now. Whoohoo!

Anyway, after I finished the main print I played around for a few more days and pulled the rest together just for fun.  Please bear in mind that this isn't a fully thought out, perfect fabric collection - I was just playing around and  came up with some extra designs relatively quickly...so any of you professional designers out there, please judge accordingly.  :-)

If you'd like to go to Spoonflower and vote for my entry, please do!  The nice thing is that, although you can only vote once, you can vote for as many as you like - you just click on whichever prints appeal to you and at the end of the week Spoonflower tallies up all the votes and whichever one gets the most, wins.  There are some really awesome entries, I encourage you to click on over and check it out!  Voting for the Creepy Crawly contest is from October 11th to October18th.

In other news, Hyrum almost got eaten by a shark last week.

 

It was a close call, but he was able to fend off the attack

and, by the end of the day, the two were even friends.

He even got a sharkie ride!

But alas, they have to go their separate ways becase Mr. Sharkie is actually intended for my nephew.  My sister and mom came for a visit this past month to be here for Hyrum's 8th birthday and baptism (hence the family pics below) and I made skirts for my nieces.  Since my nephew likes sharks a lot more than skirts, I designed and made him this mega shark, which is probably bigger than he is!  Yes, I think he'll like it...now if I can figure out how to ship the thing....

Awwww...

Hyrum was so excited about his big day.  In our church we regard little children as innocent and, as such, they don't need baptism until they can really grasp the difference between right and wrong.  The minimum age for baptism is 8 years old, so turning 8 is a big milestone year!

Hyrum was especially thrilled to have Grandma and Auntie here to help him celebrate.

 

Okay, I know this post is going all over the place (that's to be expected when I don't post for a month - again - right?) but I wanted to share one more thing...

 

I am in love with the Piano Guys!!!

 

Words cannot express how incredibly awesome these guys are.  Their technical prowess is matched by their creativity and enthusiasm for their art, AND....they have an incredible sense of humor.

 

How wonderful that, despite their obviously massive talent, they don't take themselves too seriously ... you can tell that they are just having so much FUN!  Such an inspiration on so many levels.

They have tons of videos, these are some of my favorites.  To see them all, go to their website but beware!  They're addictive!  I've spent way too many nights watching their videos instead of going to bed at a reasonable hour - it's just such an incredible blend of gorgeous sound and awesome cinemetography that I can't stop....

I ordered their newest CD, can't wait until it arrives!

Okay, back to planet earth...time to clean the house and take care of all the mundane nitty gritties that I've been neglecting...sure hope that CD arrives soon so I can at least engage my eardrums during the joyful tasks of folding clothes and cleaning toilets!

 

 

Attempting Applique

My fabric line, The Garden Club, is FULL of images perfect for applique.

My trouble is, however, that

1) I don't have tons of experience with applique and

2) I don't have a sewing machine that can do a blanket stitch or even a good satin stitch, believe it or not.  It's a high-horsepower, light industrial workhorse with very little, um, finesse.

So when I set out to make this quilt for Benartex's display at Bernina University, I had issues.  I didn't have enough time to hand-applique all the shapes within the white squares plus all of the little flower blossoms scattered about.

My machine couldn't/wouldn't do any standard applique stitches.  So I ended up using the raw-edge technique that is growing increasingly popular, but to be perfectly honest I'm not a raw-edge kind of girl.  Life goes on, though, and at least it was much faster than doing everything by hand!

I used embroidery floss to do a simple running stitch around all of the applique shapes plus some of the details within the birdhouses, which is an effect that I really like.

My friend Sharon came to the rescue once again on the quilting and binding = I did her son's senior portraits, she did a beautiful job on the quilt.  Bartering is great, isn't it?  I sure think so.

And, despite puncturing my leg on a rock (hit an artery = an amazing amount of blood!) which necessitated an ER visit, stitches, and a tetanus shot, I was able to get the quilt sent off in time.  Fortunately my neighbor was able to wrap my leg well so that the bleeding stopped and I was able to do more work on the quilt and get it sent off to Texas before going in to the ER.  Just 4 or 5 hours after the accident....no biggie, right?  My husband, who came home from work after hearing about my injury, thinks I'm crazy.  I hate to admit it, but he's probably right.  :-)

Trunk Show, Anyone?

 It's time for some trunk shows!  I've divided up all the samples from my booth at Quilt Market into 3 groups, which can be loaned to quilt shops around the country for use in shop displays and to demo my fabrics and patterns.  If you own a quilt shop in the US or if you'd like to see my samples at your favorite quilt shop, please email me and I'll send you details!

Shown above is Trunk Show A.  Everything you see in the photo will be included.

This is Trunk Show B, and again all that you see will be sent off...except the furniture, of course!

This is a detail of the things in the B trunk show.

...and here we have Trunk Show C.  This one won't be available until late July because Benartex will be using these at Bernina University in Texas.

I'll miss seeing all my projects (and those clothespins!) for awhile, but that's okay.  I'll be happy knowing they'll be brightening up people's quilt shops all over the USA.

I've been working on several projects with my fabric, some of which are headed for quilting magazines and, as such, can't be published yet.

But here's a cute little butterfly I was experimenting with!  Hazel giggled with delight when she saw it, and couldn't wait until I finished it.

All you professional quilters out there, please don't laugh at my clumsy attempt at free-quilting around little shapes...my humble machine is not set up to do such things with ease, and I was just fooling around with this initial prototype.  At 1:00 in the morning, which probably explains a lot in itself....but Hazel doesn't mind if the stitching is all crazy.

 

Right, Hazel ol' girl?

Patterns To Go

At long last I finally have all 7 patterns ready to sell!

As can be expected, there was a huge learning curve with these, and of course it took much more work and time than I had anticipated, but it feels great to finally have them in hand and ready to go.

There are 4 quilt patterns to start with, as you can see.  Each one has full-color yardage, cutting, and assembly instructions and charts.

 

 

 

 

Here's a peek at the inside:

They all have very detailed cutting instructions with charts depicting time-saving strips that can be sewn and pre-cut to save time in block construction/assembly.

These quilt patterns are designed for the beginning to intermediate quilter; although as you might have guessed, a beginner would do well to start with one of the more basic quilts rather than the Argyle - that one is solidly in the intermediate category.  If you have made a few quilts before, though, you could handle it.  The Argyle just takes more time and precision than some of the others.

I also have these 3 non-quilt patterns, which are kind-of hard to see in these pictures.

 

Here's a better picture of the Eliza Skirt.  It's made up of 4 different fabrics, but they're strip-pieced like a quilt so it's not as time-consuming as it may look.

 

 

 

 

 

...and here we have the Hazel Skirt.  Boy, was it fun trying to take a picture of this one!  Hazel was leaping off rocks, bouncing around, and generally having a great time...as all 3-year-olds should be doing, right? 

Just not when I'm trying to take a good picture of her skirt!

This is the Infinity Tote pattern that I also sell as a PDF file on Etsy, except that for the hard copy version I made all the bags in my own fabrics and completely revamped the design layout of the pattern.  So it's the same information, but a different format and all-new photos throughout.

...and we mustn't forget our dear garden friends, the Huggable Slug and Sir Snake!

The slug is my favorite, although I have to say I think my kids prefer their snakes = all the better to whack eachother with!

Okay, time for details about where you can get these patterns, if your heart so desires...

After much thought and deliberation, I have decided NOT to sell these individually through Etsy or by creating my own website.  They are only available wholesale.  Let me repeat that in big letters in case any of you are breezing through without reading the text...

I'M NOT SELLING MY PATTERNS AT RETAIL PRICES TO INDIVIDUAL CONSUMERS.  I AM ONLY SELLING WHOLESALE TO QUILT SHOPS AND DISTRIBUTORS.

The reason?  I do not want to spend the bulk of my (already small amount of creative) time shipping out small orders and making umpteen trips to the rather inconveniently located Post Office.  I'm a one-woman show at this point, with no plans or resources to hire an office slave anytime soon, so I need to be very careful how I budget my time between my family, this business, my church and social life, and the never-ending list of house projects.  Not to mention household chores (ugh).

This obviously means less money for me, but more free time and less stress = totally worth it.

IF YOU ARE NOT QUALIFIED TO BUY WHOLESALE, PLEASE ASK YOUR LOCAL QUILT SHOP OR ONLINE FABRIC STORE TO CARRY MY PATTERNS.  THANKS!

I know that the Fat Quarter Shop will be carrying all of my patterns, I'm not sure about anyone else yet.  If you are a shop and would like to carry my patterns, please email me via the button at the top of my sidebar and I'll send you the details!

Okay, moving right along...

I experimented with the whole floating flower thing in my wide-mouthed vase the other day.

It was actually supposed to be an underwater flower thing, but those hydrangea blossoms were just too persistently bouyant.  And my vase was too short.

 

I suppose I could have tried harder to weigh down the blossom clusters, but I kind-of like the way they hover at the top of the vase. 

The leaves, however, stayed put nicely due to all the glass beads. 

Stay, leaves, stay!  Good boys.

I was tired of my Christmasy picture on FB, so I tried to get some springy shots a few weeks ago...but of course since I was using a tripod+timer most of them turned out blurry because the camera didn't have my face to focus on when I pushed the button.  (Gotta get a remote!) I got lucky on this one.  Never mind that I'm all hunched over with my shoulder in the bushes in an attempt to get the greenery BEHIND me rather than BESIDE me.  My eyes are in focus! So that's the one I kept.

 

I kept this one, too, even though my eyes are not in focus.  But hey, the flower is!

 

 

This was also the day that I tried photographing my new spring skirt (yes, that's my fabric...I must say that I REALLY love this skirt because of the colors).  The rocks are very sharply focused, but not much else is!  Ah, well.  It gets the point across.

Please disregard all the wrinkles in the skirt....it had already been through an entire Sunday of Hazel and Hyrum taking turns squirming on my lap at church!

Did I ever post about this?  Just a little baby dress for a friend.

Okay, for my friend's BABY.  It would be a tad too small for my friend.  This fabric is from my stash, it's an older version of Joel Dewberry's Aviary line.  Love it.

Well, I think that officially ends tonight's Show-and Tell session.  Next on the docket is a big update on the Sewing For Orphans project, which (thanks to a LOT of wonderful people) is just about ready to ship to Bulgaria!  The first box, that is...there are thousands more orphans to sew for, so don't put away that sewing machine yet!  I'll share all the details, photos, and thank-you's in the next post.  TTFN!  (for those of you who don't speak Tigger, that's TaTa For Now)

 

Look Ma! I'm on TV!

While at Quilt Market, I was totally honored by an interview with the wonderful Sharon Pederson of The Quilt Show!  She is so much fun, and didn't even chuckle when I totally got stuck and stumbled through my sentences in the middle of the interview.  Thanks Sharon, for keeping a straight face through my (obviously) novice appearance in front of the camera - you're a great sport and I really enjoyed your visit to my booth!

 

 

I also feel like I need to make a disclaimer about my description of One Heart Bulgaria...I mentioned how they meet the orphan's physical needs, but failed to mention all that they do to enrich the emotional well-being of the children as well.  Among other things, OHB provides music lessons, hires "grandmothers" to come love and and play with the orphans, teaches Bulgarian folk dancing, and provides vocational training so that when they turn 18 the kids will have skills to live on their own.  I can't say enough good things about OHB.

So anyway, those of you who have never met me in person can now hear my goofy voice and see me tilt my head to the side WAY too much!  :-)  And all these years I thought it was just something I instinctively did while saying cheese for a still camera....but now I know it's just what I do ALL the time!  My hair is thicker on that side of my head....yeah, that's it....

ps.  I have all 4 quilt patterns printed, the skirt one is ready to print, and the bag and slug patterns are on the way....thanks for your patience, it won't be long now!

To Market, To Market...

What a whirlwind week it has been!

I had such a great time at Spring Market in Salt Lake City.  Not only did I get to create the booth you see here, but I got to reconnect with old friends, make some new ones, and meet so many wonderful quilters!  It was a fantastic experience.

I had been dreaming of this moment for years, and planning this booth for nearly a year, so it was great to finally see it in tangible form.  I could not have accomplished all you see here without the help of so many people!  First I want to thank Karen and Sharon for dropping many of their other activities once my fabric finally arrived (11 days prior to leaving for Market) to help me with the quilts.  Actually the only thing I did on the quilts was piece the Argyle (the big blue and green one on the wall) and the Ascension (the whirling one on the bench); they did all the rest!  Karen pieced 3 quilts and quilted 4 of them, and Sharon quilted the Argyle and did the hand binding on 4 of them.  A HUGE THANK YOU to both of you!  There is no way I could have done 5 quilts plus all the other stuff by myself - you totally saved my bacon.

I made 3 skirts denoting the 3 colorways...

...and I made a flower box to display the 7 patterns that I am selling.

Some local friends helped with the backdrop curtains and some pillows (thanks, Whitney and Murray!)

 

Once I got to Utah, a bunch of us (thanks Edith, Emilie, and Star!) worked on these cute and easy flowers made with yo-yo's and fabric-covered buttons, which were scattered in the flower box and the "bushes".   Edith and Emilie also worked with me for the day and a half it took to set up the booth.

I had hurriedly made this appliqued sign before I left, but as you can see it has issues.  All you professional quilters out there, don't look too closely!  I spent my flying and airport layover time working on the hand-stitching on it, but didn't ever finish it.  Ah, well.  It got the point across, anyway.

Here's my favorite li'l critter, the Huggable Slug - isn't he just, well, huggable?  The pattern for the slug and his pal Sir Snake is coming soon!  And all net proceeds from this pattern will go to One Heart Bulgaria.

Speaking of One Heart Bulgaria, my Sewing For Orphans project was enthusiastically received by a lot of women who were excited to bring the project back to their hometowns to work on.  This makes me SO happy!  Hopefully the project will really start to snowball from here.  If you are unfamiliar with OHB and/or SFO, please click on the icons in my sidebar for more information.

Here's a closer look at the bags for my Infinity Tote pattern.   Isn't that the cutest wagon ever?  My friend Emilie borrowed it from a neighbor, cleaned it all up and sanded the rust off, then when I got into town we painted it together.  Love it.  She also painted her garden bench red just for the booth.  And she found the white stool that I recovered with my fabric so I could have a place to perch during the show.  Not to mention helping me set up and take down the booth, printing more business cards at her house after I ran out the first day, and driving me everywhere for several days.  Thanks for everything!

Here's Emilie Daly, in all her stylish splendor.  She's a prospective designer and her impressive portfolio attracted a lot of attention from several fabric companies, so keep a lookout for her name in the upcoming year!

 

 The little birdies and flowers in my prints are perfect for applique, as you can see on my Eliza-sized mannequin.  I made both mannequins to be the sizes of my girls, for obvious reasons. 

 

 

Now Hazel, whenever she sees the blonde one, shouts, "That's me!  That's me!"

I had Mod-Podged fabric to fit underneath the "stepping stone" spaces I cut in the fake grass, but made the mistake of cutting the fabric before decoupaging it = shrinkage!  Some pieces didn't even quite fill the gaps, but with a lot of carpet tape Edith and I made it work.

Here I am in another matchy-matchy outfit.  I inadvertantly scared so many people when I was sitting calmly in my chair - when I moved around they totally jumped because they thought I was a mannequin too!  Nearly gave one lady a heart attack. 

For any of you who are awaiting the release of my patterns (I didn't have time to get them printed before I left, despite spending all day last Monday trying to do so), please look for the pattern images to appear in my sidebar.  I've still got to get a lot of ducks in a row before I'm ready to fill orders, but it should happen in the next week or so.  Thanks for your patience, and to all of you who helped me this month (including my Mom, who came about 2 weeks before I left to help entertain the kids so I could sew, and of course my husband Steve, who took a week off of work to play Mr. Mom in my absence), thank you, thank you, thank you!

 

 

 

Christmas in April

   
 
If anyone had told me that I would be ecstatic about my long-awaited fabric arriving 11 days prior to hopping on the plane for my first International QuiltMarket, I'd have thought they were crazy!

 
 But after bracing myself for an arrival date of May 2nd or May 3rd, and actually receiving those oh-so-exiting fabric laden boxes 3 days BEFORE that date, it really, truly did feel like Christmas!

What a huge blessing it was to get my fabric a few days early!  Every minute counts at this point.  Thanks, David (CEO of Benartex), for working so hard with the mill in Korea to make this happen.  I almost had to cancel and wait until Fall Market, which I really, truly, did not want to do.

I can't tell you how excited I am to FINALLY be able to share these images with you!  My fabric was created from collages of hand-printed textures that I made 3 or 4 years ago on good ol' Gretchen, my giant etching press.  Let me tell you, it has been extremely difficult to keep these images under wraps for so long!

 

 

This is my favorite print.  At least for today.

 
I'm super happy with how it turned out in all the colorways.

 

This pink polka dot one is also among my favorites, but at this point it's just a small border flanking one of my panels.  Hopefully next time I'll be able to have it in a full print.

 

There are 7 prints in 3 colorways (including 2 panels: one of birdhouses, one of butterflies), plus some luscious blenders in "solids" and stripes.

 

Can you say color?  As you can tell, I obviously do not have an aversion to bright, saturated chroma!

Next time we'll bring in a bunch of gorgeous neutrals, but we had to stop somewhere.
 
I had already cut off all the borders to the panel sections by the time these pictures were taken, so here is the bird border in the 3 colorways.  This is not a print - it's a border on the birdhouse panels. 

 

 

This one, however, is a print, and it's called Chatter Chain.  Because what bird doesn't like to chatter?  Okay, I'm sure some birds don't, but work with me here (wink).

 

I had also already cut apart the butterfly sections.  Here are the two butterflies that come in a single, 24" wide panel.  They're 16" square, the perfect size for so many things!  Quilts, wall art, applique on skirts and shirts, etc etc.

 
So, without further ado, please allow me to introduce you to The Garden Club!

 

 

 

I have a huge list of people to thank regarding this fabric line - I have been blessed with so much help, encouragement and support along the way.  But it's really late at night (edit: morning) so after market is over I promise I'll do a full write-up with booth pictures, my "how I got started" story, and all that fun stuff.  And all my thank you's.  But now I've got to hit the sack so I can have energy to sew up a storm this week.  I'm not sure if I'm going to have time to post again before market, so if not, wish me luck!  And thanks, everybody! 

 

PROGRESS

 
I suppose, based on the title, you were expecting to see a bright and shiny new studio by now, right?  (sigh)

 

Well, believe it or not, things are getting closer to completion.  All the junk walls are ripped out (in my side of the basement, anyway...we're not touching the other half yet), the ceiling lights are cut in, and most of the wiring is done (all thanks to Steve...thanks honey!)

The poor man has spent most of his spare time the past couple weeks crawling through the attic, drilling holes through beams and studs, and cutting into everything to string a series of wires and cords from the garage circuit breaker up, over, and down into this part of the basement.  It has been more work than either of us had ever imagined.

And this is after he played demo derby (I helped the first day, then gave up partly because I was overwhelmed and partly because our kids tend not to get along so well when unsupervised (understatement).  Plus I've been hard at work on my new patterns...the only thing I CAN do with no studio in sight!

 

Isn't this a charming little picture window by the stairs?  Someone, at some point, had cut this "window" out to, apparently, let in some natural light to that part of the basement.  Nice concept in theory, poor execution.  My kids were constantly trying to jump down into my studio - over furniture and piles of stuff - from that space = bad idea.

So the window is getting covered up, and I'm getting a beautiful set of glass-paned french doors at the base of the stairs instead.  Can't wait, can't wait...

We ended up hiring a handyman friend to frame in the walls and doors, plus finish up the electric work.  Now we "get" to install a bunch of sheetrock and I "get" to do a bunch of mudding and patching on the walls and ceiling.  I'm jumping up and down with joy, can you tell? 

Actually, if I didn't have 5,000 other things to be doing right now, it would be fun for me.  But since I'm trying to finish a bunch of new sewing patterns (quilts, clothes, and bags) for the upcoming QuiltMarket, plus build my booth for Market, plus get everything set so that when my fabric arrives I can sew like a maniac to get all my samples done, I'm a little overwhelmed.

BUT on a happier note, and speaking of my fabric, lookie what showed up on my door Friday evening.....

 

My first round of strike-offs!!!  I hope I don't get in trouble for sneaking a few pictures (Susan?  Am I in trouble?) but I was just too excited to keep these to myself.

Hopefully it's enough of a view for you to get excited to see more, and not enough that some cheater pirate person can steal my images and copy them before mine are finalized = every fabric company and designer's  nightmare.

So what's a strike-off, you ask?  It's a trial run proof that the manufacturer makes and sends back to the company/designer for approval before production begins.

 

Some turned out great, others have serious color issues due to the difference in printing procedure between paper printers and fabric printing.  Because none of my work is flat color, it can become super challenging to avoid too much color "smooshing" and blending in undesirable ways.  For example, little bits of green and pink can combine to create a muddy brown color, which is totally different than what the paper printer produced.  Fabric colors are printed wet-on-wet, so the colors, when overlapped, can morph.

 
But I'm very pleased, overall, with how they turned out.  I made all sorts of notes for the marvelous Jill (the fabric/computer expert who has miraculously turned my artwork collages into repeatable, printable fabric) to work her magic, along with the help of the printers in Korea.  Here's hoping that all goes well in round 2 so I can get my hands on that fabric in time for Market!  Keep your fingers crossed for me, okay?

 
 
Oh - I almost forgot to show you the logo!  At least what I have so far, anyway.  It could change.  Plus, since I'm such a genius at Illustrator (not), I haven't figured out how to plug the textured images of my fabric into these shapes.  And I don't have time to figure it out right now...so flat color will have to do at this point.   What do you think?

It's Official

Guess where I just returned from?  I'll give you a hint:

It's the home of the Chrysler Building, which you see in the photo to the right.  It's also the home of the Empire State Building, which I (along with hundreds of other tourists) was standing atop to take these pictures.

Although it's not the tallest building in the world anymore, the Empire State Building is still plenty high.

And the view, as you can see, is spectacular.  It just boggles my mind how many people live and work in New York City.  Nothing but concrete and glass, as far as the eye can see.  Quite impressive, but my farmgirl heart was longing for expanses of grass, forests, and fresh air as I jostled my way through the crowds of people in the tower and on the streets below.

I can tell you right now, I would never, E-V-E-R attempt to drive in NYC.  I would seriously, undoubtedly have heart failure or, at bare minimum, a major panic attack.  Especially when (not if) I accidentally hit a crazy pedestrian who would aggressively dart out in front of the vehicle like I saw so many times during my short visit.  I'm amazed more people don't get killed crossing the streets, the way the taxi drivers speed through intersections and the hoards of people spill out into the road even when they're not supposed to.  CRAZY!

But I didn't go to NYC just to take in the view or analyze tougher-than-nails taxi drivers and nerves-of-steel pedestrians. 

I went there to officially become a textile designer under the Benartex label.  Yep, my efforts these past 3 or 4 years to design fabric and become acquainted with the wonderful world of quilting have finally culminated in a contract, and I'm so thrilled!

It was great to meet the Benartex team, and they were so good to work with - this is going to be a very fun and rewarding experience for me, and hopefully for them too!  Benartex is launching a new branch of their company, one that will cater to the younger, more contemporary look, and I'm proud to be a part of it.  I got to see some of the other new designer's works already in production process, and it's really great stuff - so be on the lookout!  Although the more traditional quilting fabric will always be the staple of Benartex, it's exciting to see them offering more contemporary designs to meet the needs of "younger" tastes as well.

I wish I could show you my first line, but I have to keep it under wraps until it gets much closer to Spring Market timeframe.   My fingertips are fidgeting to post some pics, but I must restrain myself.

This first line is actually a complete departure from what I had been working on for the past year, ironically enough.  After slavishly learning Illustrator and creating a complete line to present to companies at the last Spring Market, at the last minute I also included some examples of my monotype collages in my portfolio and that's what garnered the most interest.  So that's what we're going to pursue first, and if all goes well it's going to be GREAT!  If I do say so myself.  :-)  Here's hoping you all think so too!

So here are more pics of the interior of the ESB (because I didn't think to take a single picture of the Benartex office or people, silly me).  I'm not sure of the relevance of these plaques (they say Heating, Masonry, and something else that I forgot and can't read) but I'm sure they have a story.  The building was gorgeously appointed in the Art Deco style, with sleek marble and shiny metal everywhere.  Very fun to visit.

Look!  A mannequin parade!  Only in NYC.  These lovely ladies are "strolling" down the middle of the street.  See?  I told you the pedestrians are crazy here.  :-)

When my meetings with the terrific people at Benartex were done, I hopped on the bus and bid adieu to New York, but we will meet again - and next time, hopefully I'll get to go to the Met, Central Park, and see the musical Wicked.  I really, really want to see/hear that show.  I was in a hurry to get home because 1) it's not too much fun to be a tourist solo, and 2)  Steve had been holding down the fort with our 3 loud and rambunctious kiddos all by himself for 2 days straight and he was at the end of his rope.  Fortunately that rope had not harmed anyone under the age of 9, but I didn't want to press my luck (wink). 

Before I left, I jokingly warned Steve that he would probably be worshipping the ground I walked on by the time I returned, and I was right:  one of the first things out of his mouth was, "Honey, I worship the ground you walk on"...followed by something like "my threshold is 0.5 child.  I'm a half-child dad...and I'm ready to go back to the office.  Right now.  Even if it's 9:00 at night."  Suddenly that dreaded office job is a lot more attractive...funny how that works.  Not that I would want to trade places with him for a minute - I missed my noisy munchkins immensely, and even though their loud shenanigans drive me crazy, I wouldn't have it any other way.  Besides, I can't stand office work... or any type of 9 to 5 job, as a matter of fact.  And I'm very grateful to Steve for being willing to take some days off work to care for our children while I went to NY.

It's a healthy thing to be able to escape SAHM life once in awhile - I was able to regain a bit of sanity with so many quiet hours to myself, Steve was able to experience life as a stay-at-home parent for a couple of days (he appreciates what I do all day, every day, much more now), and now that I'm back I can appreciate being at home with my li'l darlings a lot more.  A win-win situation all the way around - at least from my perspective!  Steve might not quite agree...but he's been a great sport.

This parting shot of NYC was taken from the bus, after we had driven through a very long tunnel which took us under the water and into New Jersey.  Farewell, New York, it was fun!  And now it's time to go fall asleep to the sound of chirping crickets and cicadas instead of honking taxis.  Aahh, it's good to be home.

  

 

Mission Accomplished

Well, as always, these things take longer than anticipated, but I'm FINALLY done putting together the portfolios of my fabric designs.  What a big sigh of relief that is!  I had narrowed it down to 4 of the major fabric manufacturers when I went to Quilt Market a couple weeks ago, and now I'm finally ready to send hard copies of the different lines I've created for official review.

I battled computer crashes (new computer, older, incompatible software = problems), printing issues, sewing machine glitches, and general time constraints to be expected when one has 3 l'il darlings who call me Mommy...on some days, over, and over, and over again.  :-)  It's a good thing they're so darn cute - it's impossible to say no when Hazel comes up to me with that sweet face of hers and begs, "Mommy, I wan' dan' wi' you!" (I want to dance with you).  So we go and "dance" to the demo music playing on our digital piano, and I swing her and toss her around (per her request) until I'm dizzy and my back starts to give out.  At nearly 40 pounds, that girl is hard to lift up to the ceiling repeatedly!  Hazel's version of dancing is very physically demanding, as you may have already guessed.
Then, when the big kids get back from school and unwind a bit, we go to the pool until after dinnertime so they can splash around before and after their swim team practice.  We have a quick dinner, shower, bedtime ritual, and they go to bed way later than they should.  At long last, Mommy has quiet time in which to work way later than she should.  But hey - the good thing is that when Hazel goes to bed late, she sleeps in the next morning....so after I get Eliza off to school I can sneak back into bed if necessary.  I used to be able to pull repeated late-nighters in high school and college, but if I try that stunt now I'm a complete (grumpy) zombie and accomplish very little all day long.  I've learned that sleep is a very essential thing for me...I just have a somewhat unconventional schedule.

 
 Another thing I've learned is that it's most emphatically NOT a good idea to try and fuse Pellon Decorbond interfacing onto linen-blend fabric without washing the fabric first.  Just FYI for future reference.  I've been using that interfacing for years on my bags, and I've never had it continually peel off like a Post-It note at the slightest provocation before, but that's what was happening on this project.  I'm assuming it was because the sizing in the fabric was inhibiting a good bond.  At any rate, it was a very unfortunate event and made these portfolios look much more frumpy than they otherwise could have been.  Trust me, even if you don't see any issues I can assure you that there are many bubbles and bumps that should not exist, but do.  I just hope the portfolios don't all self-destruct during shipping - if they are placed in a really hot environment during transit and get banged around, the fabric and interfacing might separate all over the place.  Ah, the many lessons I've learned from designing and making these little ditties!

In any case, they are what they are.  When the flaps get opened, the polka-dotted ribbon (did you really think I could make something without polka dots?) is holding the paper stack in place.  It's velcro-tabbed for easy access.  I really wish I could show you what I'm submitting, but I can't, so I won't.  Hopefully in 6 months to a year I'll have real fabric to show you!  Wouldn't that just be the most exciting thing on the planet?  Okay, maybe not to you, but it sure would to me!  Here's to future fabric endeavors,  dancing toddlers, and (now that this stage of the project is finished) a good night's rest.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

In a word, QuiltMarket was I N C R E D I B L E.  And look who I got to meet!  Those of you who are quilt fabric officionados know Amy Butler, but for those of you who don't let me just say she's like a rock star in the fabric world.  Amy was the one who pioneered the transition from basic ho-hum calicos to what the market is today = full of lively, diverse, and exciting colors and prints to create not only gorgeous quilts but garments and purses as well.

Despite all her success and fame, Amy remains astoundingly approachable and genuinely NICE.  I couldn't believe how kind and complimentary she was to me and everyone around her, and she didn't seem caught up in herself at all.  I was very impressed.  What an amazing woman she is!  I'm so excited about some of her latest prints coming out - there's one in particular that I can't wait to get my hands on to make things with.  Hooray for Amy Butler!

I also got to meet Sandi Henderson, which was very fun - after emailing back and forth a bit over the past few years, it was great to meet her in person.  Doesn't she (and her booth) look great?  Sandi just finished her first book, Bits and Pieces - a huge congrats to her on that!  She's also got a new line in the works that she's super excited about - I can't wait to see it.

And you may recognize Heather Bailey and Laura Gunn (Heather's sister-in-law) in this shot.  Heather's another superstar that the fabric world just can't get enough of, and Laura isn't too far behind.  Heather didn't have a booth this time, she was here supporting Laura for the debut of Laura's new line of easy-to-sew patterns. 

I got a little tongue-tied and bumbled my way through a couple of mini conversations with Heather, but oh well.  At least I didn't ask where she lived (see previous post for that story).

Camille Roskelly's booth nearly took my breath away, it was so full of gorgeous quilts from the fabric line that she and her mom work together to design.  They also do all the quilt patterns that were in their booth.  This photo simply does not do these quilts justice - they were so incredibly light, airy, and cheerful and the handiwork was fantastic.

 
This photo is terrible, but I had to show it to you anyway.  I really loved this quilt, not only because of the adorable images and my favorite colors, but because of the fabulous quilting job the artisan did.  It's hard to tell from this picture, but it really was an amazing, traffic-stopping quilt. I hope I'm right in saying that it was in the Chitter Chatter booth, which sells quilt patterns.  Just lovely, lovely work.

I'm kicking myself for not taking more photos of people's quilts while I was there.  I think I was so busy just taking it all in that I forgot about taking pictures.  It was seriously a sensory overload walking through the enormous number of booths at QuiltMarket.  There were so many jaw-dropping exhibits and incredibly gorgeous quilts on display that I got a bit overwhelmed and didn't end up taking pictures of much of anything.  Bummer!  Next time, next time.

Here's my new friend Emily Taylor of Riley Blake Designs (yes, I cut myself out of this picture - I happened to look ridiculous in that one).  She and I spent quite a bit of time strolling down the aisles together on Friday, which was lots of fun.  We discovered that we have very, very similar taste in regards to what we do and don't like - we kept on pointing to the same things and even said the same things in unison (jinx-pickle!) a couple of times, which was hilarious. 

Emily designed the fabrics you see behind her and in the darling skirt she's wearing - isn't it great?  I love the lanyard she has too - it was made by Amanda Herring of The Quilted Fish (Herring?  Fish?  Get it?  Love the name!)

If you're a quilting junkie and haven't heard of Riley Blake yet, you soon will - they're rising fast and it's no wonder.  The fabrics they print are fresh and contemporary with just the right amount of whimsy.  Their booth at Market was so great - but of course I don't have a single picture of it.  Ack.

Here are Anne (Maxfield) and Valorie (Pillow) of Pillow and Maxfield showing their new line for Michael Miller called Pretty Bird, and pretty it is!  Love those birdhouses.  I had such a wonderful time talking with those two ladies, they were so sweet and such fun to talk to.  I monopolized their time for quite awhile as I showed them my portfolio and they gave me helpful hints and insights into the business, which I really appreciated.  Yet another example of the incredibly approachable and kind people I had the opportunity to meet at QuiltMarket.  Everyone was so nice and happy to help - it was an absolutely fabulous experience all the way around.  Quilters are awesome.

I also got to meet Joel Dewberry, another super, super nice and very talented designer, who took a lot of time to look at my portfolio and gave me some great feedback (thanks, Joel!) but I don't have a photo of him.  Or Lizzy House, whose upcoming line Castle Peeps is simply awesome and looks fantastic in the quilts she made for the occasion.  Lizzy and I have been emailing here and there for a couple of years now, and it was so fun to meet her in person.  That girl is a riot!  She taught a class on Thursday and it was completely packed, with people stuck outside because they just couldn't fit in the door.  Her sense of humor made everyone roll with laughter.  Go Lizzy, go!

So how did my portfolio review go, you ask?  Well, on the whole it was received pretty well and I have several promising prospects to pursue in the next month or so...I'll keep you posted!

 

And last, but certainly not least, are the 3 very awesome ladies who made my trip to QuiltMarket possible.  We had such a fun time together! 

Karen, Trisch, and Carol are going to be starting up a quilt store in Springfield VA in the fall called Quilters Retreat so this was the first QuiltMarket any of us had been to.

As you can see, they like their little hand-held communication devices very much.  I was making fun of them for how engrossed they were in texting or whatever else they were doing right before the plane took off on our way to Minneapolis.  They were telling me I need to get on the bandwagon and get a phone that they can text me on.  I've never texted in my life, isn't that pathetic?  I'm simply not a phone person, and since I don't have teenagers to keep track of yet, I see no need to engage in such things.

 

 

 
 I was proud of Karen and Carol on the way home from QuiltMarket - look, no phones!  They were working on the newly-learned technique for making rag rugs instead of being engrossed in digital communication.

Thanks, ladies, for all the good times, long talks, and happy memories!  I admire you all so much, and really appreciate you giving me the chance to come along for the ride.  It was just what I needed and I had an absolute blast.

I did miss my kids a lot, though, and especially at first I was always glancing around in a bit of a panic, thinking, "Where's Hazel?  She's disappeared again!"  Hazel is almost always with me, and it felt very strange not to be keeping track of where she is at every given moment.

Although it was a wonderful and much-needed break to go on this trip, I was looking forward to seeing my kiddos again and snuggling with them as I tucked them into bed at night.  I shouldn't have worried about how Steve was going to handle being on his own with all the kids for so long - he did a great job and even had the house clean and the kids all bathed by the time I came home Saturday night!  I was very impressed - gee, I should do this more often!