I finally got my hands on Issue One of the UK-published Love Patchwork and Quilting magazine. Have you heard the buzz about it already? Well, it's all true! I couldn't stop myself from flipping through the entire issue from cover-to-cover the moment it arrived.
The fun started right away with a simple, cute and free "Festive Bauble" kit that's attached right there on the cover. How smart is that? It's complete with fabric, felt, ribbon and even a button!
This first issue includes more than 25 inspiring projects including:
The talented Lynne Goldsworthy's striking and beautiful Block of the Month quilt design.
And, i was delighted to read a terrific interview with the industrious and savvy Kathy Mack of Pink Chalk Fabrics ... whose advice for a new quilter is, "Be fearless and enjoy the journey!" What a wonderful message from a wonderful person.
So it turns out that Franny and Lou also look forward to Moda deliveries from the UPS guy. But they just like the empty box, whereas i happen to like what's in the box...
which i will be showing you...soon!
In the meantime, i had to catch my breath this morning when i saw Kathy Mack's beautiful project using Flurry! She is one of the participants for the "Fat Quarterly Basic Grey Designer's Challenge", and her project is dazzling. You won't want to miss it, so click on over! Kathy gives a wonderfully detailed "how to" on the Fat Quarterly blog as well.
Those are only two of the things i'm having a hard time keeping up with lately! Another you may have noticed is my poor ol' neglected blog. But you didn't come here to read about excuses, so let's just sweep that little fact under the proverbial rug, ok? ok. *wink*
My friend Kathy over at Pink Chalk Fabrics has been hosting "Where I Sew" month on her blog. Maybe you've been following along? The idea is simply to share some peeks of our sewing spaces — that means you, too! There is a "Where I Sew" button down there on the right sidebar that looks like this:
Click and it will take you to a page where you can add a picture of your own sewing room to the mix. It's been such fun (in a droolie kind of way) to see the variety of creative spaces that people have made for themselves. I've certainly picked up lots of great ideas for storage and shelving — you can never have too much of either. Kathy invited me to participate in the feature part, and today is my day! Go on and have a peek, but i have some confessions to make about the photo:
• My work table usually has piles of well, work on it. So yes, i admit it, i cleaned up before snapping the picture.
• I pieced the Fandango quilt top on my sewing table last December and have not gotten around to finishing it yet. It's my first UFO! I have to say it's kind of driving me nutso to see it folded and just sitting there on the shelf. But as you can see, i moved it closer to my sewing machine. Maybe that will do the trick?? Am i in denial?
• My entire work space, including where i sew and run my entire business is 11 feet 3 inches by 11 feet 2 inches. When a space is that small, believe me, every inch matters.
Kathy's online fabric shop is wonderful and her blog is informative and fun with great sewing tips/tutorials and info on trends in the fabric industry. In fact, i knew her blog long before ever meeting her in person and once we finally met at Quilt Market last fall, i felt i had known her forever! She's just that kind of person. Thank you, Kathy, for putting together this fun event and i can't wait to see where you sew!
And i leave you with...zucchini!
Those shades of green and the bright yellow blossoms are so beautiful, aren't they? But seriously, how do these things grow so fast?! It's gotten out of control around here. We're picking them by the armfuls and the situation has quickly gone from a gardener's delight to a cooking conundrum in a matter of days. All of these are sitting on our counter right this very minute:
This may have to serve as my official Quilt Market recap since i pretty much stayed in my booth the whole time and didn't roam around to take pictures of everyone! But surely by now you've seen lots and lots of photos of the fun that was had there and next time you'll just have to join us.
When i arrived in Houston, i met up with Joanna and we set off to do a little prop shopping for our booths. We had three places we wanted to go, but only made it to two because i read the wrong directions first. Does that make sense? I'm sure it does to my hubby! It's a recurring theme when i'm in the navigator seat. But it does lead to unexpected adventures and Joanna is certainly a fun person to have an adventure with. So we ended up in Spring, TX which is such an adorable teenie place that is packed with antique-ie gift shops and lots of eye candy. On our way into this one, i just had to take this pic for a certain someone. Joanna obliged my request by jumping into the frame: Then we were off to unpack all our boxes and start booth setup. Which brings me to a GIANT THANK YOU to Lissa, Joanna, Liesl, and Deb for responding so helpfully to my first-time-with-a-booth S.O.S. and for sharing their Quilt Market how-tos with me. Had it not been for them, none of my boxes would have arrived on time, i would have had bare poles and ugly white curtains, stark tables and nowhere to put all the stuff i brought. So thanks to them and to Heather and Melanie for their expert shelf-assembly, my booth went from this:
to this:
And if it hadn't been for Sherri, i would only have had one quilt to hang! Just look at this beauty she made: It's called "Carousel". You can read more about it on her blog. And, there's some very special news we'll get to share about her quilt...soon (eeek,so exciting!).
I have to say, once the booth was put together and my anxiety about all the logistics had subsided, i loved every minute of it. You know why? Because i got to meet so many creative people from shop owners to blogland friends to fellow designers — people who i admire for all sorts of reasons. And after chatting it up with everyone who stopped by, it was so clear to me that the common thread that ties us all together is that we're doing what we love and willing to take chances on our abilities in order to sustain our creative lives. What could be better?
One of the people i was lucky to meet was Kathy Mack, owner of Pink Chalk Fabrics. It was the first time i had met Kathy in person, though i felt like i had known her forever! In fact, thanks to some pointers i found on her blog, she unknowingly helped me through a sewing-with-laminates-conundrum (you can read her tips here)! On day two, Kathy came back to my booth with her flip video camera and asked me to give her a tour. I can't believe i'm going to share this with you! When i get in front of a camera (of any kind) my brain goes ______________and all i hear in my head is "blahblahblahaablahahablahh". But i managed to get some sentences out and if you weren't able to come to market, you can have a look around:
Kathy, i so enjoyed meeting you. Thank you for including me in your video tour and for making it as painless as possible with your kind and warm spirit.
Here are two other great gals: Julie Herman of Jaybird Quilts and Kim Knight of TrueUp. I adored meeting Kim and always love seeing julie — who, by the way, is toting quite an impressive resume of placements in quilting magazines. Way to go! I seriously think i could have giggled the day away with these two! Once julie took the lense cap off her camera (she's actually trying to hide here), she snapped some pics of my booth and was so nice to include them on her blog in her market recap.
Here's my wonderful booth neighbor Deb Strain: You only have to meet Deb once to know how incredibly sweet she is. Not to mention unbelievably gifted and prolific!
And i can't believe i captured so much talent in one picture!! Lynn of Kansas Troubles, Karla of Sweetwater, theKathy Schmitz, and Sandy of American Jane. (thank you all for finally looking at the camera! sheesh...i almost had to pay them to pose! but you know i ♥ you all)
And here's one of me and Joanna in her beautiful booth and i mean beautiful! The pictures on her blog do it much more justice than mine. Hmm...we were moving along so well there, but i've run out of pictures...
So you'll have to just imagine what the Moda party was like, what silly things people were wearing on Halloween, what the booth breakdown looked like (wait, you don't want to do that)— and then what it was like to come home to see my sweet hubby, and to kick up my feet for a whole hour before diving into designing my next line of fabric. The promise of a blank page is always an inspiration to me. What oh what will it be this time..
