Perfectly Imperfect

Note before viewing: There are no special effects or smoke-and-mirrors magic tricks going on in these pictures. That's my hubby standing on a chair with arms stretched high overhead, holding my quilt up in our back yard. He was so patient and did such a good job you can barely see his fingers! Thank you, Sweetie. I wish that breeze hadn't been blowing through, otherwise i'd have been quicker and then your arms wouldn't have felt like they were going to fall off. I'll try to be a little faster next time : )

Many of you may already know this pattern. It's called Sweet Menagerie by Roslyn Mirrington of Bloom and it's on the Moda Bake Shop. I picked this pattern because i've wanted to try to make a nine-patch for a while — either the kind you can see or the disappearing kind. This pattern looked fairly straightforward (except for the borders), and I really loved how quickly and fun-ly it went together (except for the borders)!Uh, but as a beginner, there were no detailed instructions for the backing or measurements for the binding...so i winged it. Thank goodness for Google and a few clicks later this handy, happy binding calculator turned up.
One other quite mysterious thing happened...my finished quilt size was about four inches longer and two inches wider than the instructions had outlined. Hmm, anyone care to explain what i did? Beginner quilter magic maybe? It's perfectly imperfect and I really love how it turned out!

Looking at these pictures now, I suppose i could've ironed this quilt before photographing it, but that just seemed silly. Especially because those are happiness wrinkles formed from curling up under it since last weekend when i sewed the last stitches on the binding. Remember that. Happiness wrinkles.
Not crow's feet :)

Double Whammy!

Two posts in one day! A rare occasion for me, but I just learned about Jenny's tutorial on the Moda Bake Shop and wanted to share it with you! How totally adorable! Jenny, do you have any idea how desperately we need to make one of these?? This is ours now:

Well it won't be like this for much longer...thanks to you!
BTW, that's my Quality Control Expert hard at work. He's testing out some batting to make sure it's cuddle-worthy. Long day ahead for him.

Verna Quilt

Remember how i may have mentioned that i didn't take any photos of the quilt made with my very own fabric line at Market? Well, thanks to the delightful Julie of jaybird quilts, i now have a picture! She sent this to me over the weekend. Thank you Julie! This 42"x42"quilt will be available as a kit on the Fat Quarter Shop's website soon.

Moda-fied at Market!

I'm a bit behind on blogging, and can hardly believe it's almost been a whole week since the Market Madness in Houston! As a newcomer, I really had no idea what to expect nor did I realize exactly how crazy quilters can be. I'm referring, of course, to Sample Spree (which I'm happy to have survived). For those of you who have been there, you know what I'm talking about. If you've never been, it's almost hard to explain! More on that in a minute, but first, a confession: as a newbie, I was so overwhelmed by the whole experience that I hardly took any pictures! I'll share what few I did take and will try to do a better job next time.

Prior to heading to Houston, the inimitable Cheryl Freydberg invited me to visit the sprawling Moda headquarters in Dallas. Wow, what an amazing place it is! I was so happy to meet Mr. Mark Dunn (founder and owner of Moda), Moda Lissa (marketing visionary), Alison (one of the talented designers of Urban Chiks, who gave me a great tour of the facilities) and the whole wonderful sales team. They all made me feel right at home, but since this was the first time I'd met them, I felt a little awkward about taking pictures. So, alas, the only picture I did take there was of one of the aisles in the warehouse! But what a lovely warehouse it is:

On our way to Houston, Amy, Tom, and Stephanie (three of the fabulous Moda sales reps) told me about the "Sample Spree" and how out of control it gets with people running around to grab the newly released pre-cuts. Naturally, I didn't want to miss this! The line of people waiting to get in looped around so many times it looked like someone had just announced that Bono of U2 was personally giving out free concert tickets! One woman told me she had been on line since 3 pm. — the doors didn't open until 8pm! Here's a picture of the Moda booth just before the doors opened:

and here's one less than 30 seconds after the doors opened:

Did I take any pictures of all the clever and creative Moda displays? No!

Did I take any pictures of the incredibly talented Moda designers? Only two!

Did I even take a picture of the quilt kit featuring Verna? No!

(i know, i can't believe it either)

But, here are a few from the Moda Bingo party:

Mr. Mark Dunn, Sandy Gervais and Ms. Fig Tree herself, Joanna Figueroa

...and a closer look at their shoes:

Mr. Dunn just needs to tap his heels together three times and say "There's no place like Moda Home" hee hee! Come to think of it, maybe he wore them in honor of Sanae's new line, "OZ"? Hmm...

Here's one with two super sales reps, Jane & Gene, me, and John (the I.T. guru). At least Jane and Gene remembered to take off their name tags.

Here's me, Joanna, and Angela (aka: Moda Home Mom). It was so nice to get to hang out with them! Unlike me, Angela took lots of pictures of all the fantastic Moda booths. Check out her blog to see all the colorful sites!

I also had the chance to meet with the wonderful people from Moda's mill in Korea who work so hard to make all the beautiful fabric! Nice to be able to goof around with them in the Moda photo booth, too. Who can resist a hot pink feather boa?! (Not Jeong, that's for sure!)

and another one of Park and me...(i like these glasses because they make my nose look so small):

Other highlights include meeting the great people from Hancock's of Paducah, The Fat Quarter Shop (here's a link to their blog the Jolly Jabber), some of the Moda Bake Shop contributors, the international sales reps, and so many quilt shop owners, pattern makers and people who share a passion for making beautiful things.

It was an honor for me to meet all the Moda designers and to see their wares so beautifully and creatively displayed. So much to aspire to!

What a memorable trip. I'm so impressed by all the hard work that went into putting so many details together — right down to the Moda "playbook"! I'm very grateful to be a part of such a delightful group of people, and thankful to be able to contribute my designs to their colorful portfolio. Like I said before, "Pinch Me!"

Viva Verna!

At last, Verna has arrived! Here's a glimpse of my very first finished fabric collection (pinch me!) for Moda that will debut at the Quilt Market in Houston in October. After months of fine-tuning, I can't believe the fabrics are finally folded, rolled, and bundled! This collection is a celebration of spring with earthy browns, april shower blues, vibrant sprigs of green and blooms of pink, yellow and tangerine. I'm determined to make something with these...eventually...once I can get myself to cut them up. Oh, and once I actually learn to quilt.

Yes, I am truly a beginner in this area, but have been practicing with a rotary cutter and have gotten better at sewing straight seam allowances. Woohoo! Luckily, I also have a great teacher/consultant/mentor. My aunt Julie has been quilting for many years using everything from her father's bow ties to her son's boxer shorts for piecing materials and inspiration. She recently told me that when she and her family would go on road trips, she'd often scout out local fabric shops for pit stops, but that her family would sit in the car while she went in to browse! I actually never knew she had such a passion for this craft so it's been joyful for both of us to connect through this mutual interest. We've had some of our own "road trips" to quilt shows and shops and I think she's happy to have some company walking the aisles...I know I am!

Julie is well into her third year of being (pancreatic) cancer free. Each time we get together, I'm so deeply grateful for her presence, her generous spirit and her perspective. In some small way, I hope the fabric I designed holds some inspiration for her because she is truly an inspiration to me.

Verna

What an exciting week this has been! Last Saturday i received a package of swatches for my first line of fabric for Moda! This is the first step along the way in moving the collection closer to production. What a joy to see all these colorful patterns come to life in exciting and surprising ways. The line is called "Verna" and is a celebration of spring—which to me is a season about hope and optimism, and when the teeniest flower seems so big. Verna will be in fabric/quilting stores next Spring. The picture above is but a sneak peak (hey, have to give you some reason to check back!).

This is the very first time i've seen my art applied to fabric and it occurred to me that color adaptations from paper to fabric are as amazing as what happens when you fire a piece of pottery. There's a certain degree of unpredictability that i simply love and (yes, i'll admit it) am addicted to! I think part of being an artist is diving into the creative process and not always being able to see or know the outcome ahead of time.

So, back to Moda! After oohing, ahhing and then staring at the large pile on my drawing table, i had the daunting task of sifting and sorting through about 200 different color variations of all the patterns i had designed in order to select only 40. Yes, you read that correctly...40. I spent most of the week taking patterns out, putting them back in, revising some colors, mixing-and-matching...until...yesterday...it all clicked into place. I could hardly believe it and am so excited to share it once it's completed! Stay tuned.