Quilt Market Houston 2013

Posted on October 30, 2013 by Plaid Portico

Phew! That was a fun ride, but I am just a little exhausted. It was my fourth time at Houston Quilt Market, and some of the fun in going back is that I get to see people that I have met before, or collaborated with on fabric/project trades, AND meet new people. Well, and you just notice new things every time. Of course there ARE many new things every time, as every exhibit is different market to market.

It all started out with the Quilt Market sign-up catalog..and what is that on the cover? Hey that’s Tara‘s quilt! I know her! How did her quilt get on the cover? She submitted it to the exhibit. It was accepted and the powers that be chose it for the quilt image of the show for all their materials. Pretty exciting. It was part of the “Modern Quilt Guild Showcase 2013”. A fabric designer by day working directly for Michael Miller Fabrics, Tara‘s avocation has long been quilting. She started quilting when none of her peers were. These days she primarily uses solids and is known for her original designs and modern yet detailed compositions, and use of metallic threads.

Tara Faughnan and her Fireworks Quilt

So what were the trends this year? I remember last year seeing such a large amount of white everywhere. This year everyone was touting their color ranges. There are so many companies now with new lines of solids, blenders, tonals and batiks and there were swatch installations everywhere showing the ranges in colors in these lines.

There were also a couple big splashes made at Quilt Market. One was at schoolhouse with the Andover Fabrics Downton Abbey presentation. More on that later on this blog. The other thing was the debut of Cotton + Steel, a new division of RJR Fabrics. From a small corner booth the 5 women making this happen made a surprise intro into the market –their collections will debut at spring Quilt Market. The big intro to their company is this absolutely stunning video. You MUST see it. Nothing like it in this industry. It is… dreamy. Everyone from the designer community is excited for them and looking to see what comes next. Cotton + Steel video

The designers of Cotton + Steel: Kim Kight, Rashida Coleman-Hale and Melody Miller. Not shown: Sarah Watts and Alexia Abegg

What was fun for me this year is having friends at the show to meet up with in between our respective events and tasks. Fabric designers Kim Andersson and Caitley Symons were running the gauntlet meeting with fabric companies to discuss licensing opportunities. They both do great work, and I look forward to seeing their designs on fabric in the future.

Kim Andersson, Tara Faughnan and Caitley Symons

And then I find Becky from Patchwork Posse and Heather from The Sewing Loft. Yahoo! I met these two in Salt Lake City at The Creative Connection Event in 2011 and then again at The Sewing Summit in 2012. They both have great blogs and sew fantastic original projects, and its been fun doing some collaborations with them. And in the middle is Caroline from SEWCANSHE, another great blog and I can’t wait to collaborate with her too.

Becky from Patchwork Posse, Caroline from SEWCANSHE, and Heather from The Sewing Loft

Oh, oh, oh, and there I see Diana McClun and Laura Nownes new edition of Quilts, Quilts, Quilts, hot off the press! I met Diana in my class at fabric design school and she has become a friend and mentor. Commonly known as “The Quilting Bible”, the previous versions of the book have sold a quarter of a million copies and they continued to write several more books. Breckling Press worked with them to create a new edition using more modern fabrics and palettes, so they redid the entire book with new quilts. I got to see most of the quilts in person and they are stunning. (Those are a couple of them on the table)

Ok, so this is a little about my personal experience at Quilt Market, but I have is a TON of photos and will be posting photos of cool booths, fabric designer booths and lots of photos of the quilts from the exhibits. It will be just the facts ma’am from now on with Quilt Market Houston 2013 coverage. So stay tuned…

sore feet….

Final reveal of the silk quilt

Posted on August 19, 2013 by Plaid Portico

Well I think I showed you all the quilt top when I first finished it. Here are photos of the finished piece, with the quilting and multi-colored binding done. It’s an improvisational quilt, and things are a little wonky, but it was a great learning experience especially working with some different weights of silk that I got in different places. It wasn’t meant to have curves in it, but I had to use my apparel tailoring skills to flatten it out, and I actually like how it created curved lines on things so when I quilted it I did it with big curves. Has to stop at some point in the fixin’ process, and in the end I kept it all wabi sabi for posterity.

While I’m showing “bright colored things”, might as well show you a line of ten designs coming out on gift wrap with Studio-Seneca Fine Art, sold through gift stores. There are paisleys from my Paisley Sea and Woodland collections, and some designs from my holiday collection “merry, merry” and Patty-O. Will be selling these myself also in my Etsy store in a few weeks.

Got my second quilt back and after binding will be taking some photos, AND have my third quilt top about halfway finished. Moseying along on my “Sew Sundays”!

Whose house? The Wise House!

Posted on August 11, 2013 by Plaid Portico

I found out about The Wise House since they carry the Lilly Loray line of kitchen textiles that I was involved in the design work for, and then I fell in love with their site and their products. They have a number of items they have custom made for their store that are simple and stylish that I find infinitely appealing, including lavender heart trios, funky peg bags, and superduper door stops, and my favorite –the hipster handbag! Love!

The Wise House has three styles of the reversible bag, the Hampton Hipster Handbag for the stylish woman on the go, the Midi Hipster and the Girl’s Hipster. The fabrics are sourced in the UK and the bags are made by hand by a local seamstress, Carla, who formerly owned a shop on Portobello Road. There are also future plans for seasonal collection using corduroy, wool and tartan.

The Hampton Hipster Handbag from The Wise House

Midi Hipster Bag from The Wise House

Girl’s Hipster Bag from The Wise House

The Wise House is a shop selling cheerful, original and mostly practical things for people and their homes. It is owned and run by Lucy, who is passionate about finding, designing and making things that are not found on every street (or web) corner.

SuperDuper Door Stops from The Wise House

Funky Peg Bags from The Wise House

Lavender Heart Trios by The Wise House

The Wise House launched this ‘Bless This Home’ limited edition unframed Giclée art print, taken from an original pen and ink drawing by Kent artist Lydia Bevan, who made the design exclusively for The Wise House. Each art print is one of just 220 prints, hand signed and numbered by the artist.

Bless This Home art print from The Wise House

Quilt Market #14, more quilts!!

Posted on November 29, 2012 by Plaid Portico

Nearing the end of Quilt Market Houston 2012 coverage, and there are a few more posts to go. Here are more quilts from different categories that caught my eye because they are just amazing for a variety of reasons. I’m sure you won’t need me to tell you why, so take a gander and enjoy!

Dear Friends by Michiko Yanagihara and 8 friends, Gotemba, Shizuoka, Japan

details of Dear Friends by Michiko Yanagihara

Super Star by Marilyn Badger

detail of Super Star by Marilyn Badger

Syzygy by Rochelle Stibb

detail of Syzygy by Rochelle Stibb

Prometheus by Ferret

detail of Prometheus by Ferret

Once Upon a Time by Sharon Schamber

detail of Once Upon a Time by Sharon Schamber

Tangled Up by Ruth Anne Yax

No Direction Home by Barbara Oliver Hartman

Windmill on Bluebonnet Hill by Kay Marburger

Departure by Kiyomi Takayanagi

Green Message by Naoko Takeshita

detail of Green Message by Naoko Takeshita

Tree of Life by Allison Lockwood

Quilt Market #12: Alison Glass

Posted on November 26, 2012 by Plaid Portico

Well, amongst all the visual stimulation at Quilt Market one does stumble upon certain things that stand out. For me this year there were a couple designers out with their first fabric collections that I was very attracted to. One was Alison Glass with Andover Fabrics, Inc.

I saw projects made out of her new collection “Lucky Penny” at an Andover meeting before Quilt Market even started and I made a beeline right over there. I was entranced. It was different, with a unique palette and quality of linework. Totally appealing. Then I had the pleasure of meeting her and was delighted. By the end of Quilt Market, it still stood out for me, and so here are some shots of some projects using Lucky Penny by Alison Glass with Andover Fabrics, Inc.

: Lucky Penny by Alison Glass for Andover Fabrics

: Lucky Penny by Alison Glass for Andover Fabrics

: Lucky Penny by Alison Glass for Andover Fabrics

: Lucky Penny by Alison Glass for Andover Fabrics; Oh, and then there was …”the quilt”. Alison designed the quilt and Lisa Sipes did the machine quilting. Amazing! It made its way all over market. We all got a close look at it at the Andover sales meeting.

Lucky Penny by Alison Glass for Andover Fabrics, quilted by Lisa Sipes

Quilt Market #8: More Booths

Posted on November 12, 2012 by Plaid Portico

Continuing coverage of Quilt Market Houston 2012, here we have some of the popular fabric designer’s booths. May I also mention that these are also incredibly nice and wonderful people. There is not a single designer that I met in the last few years at Quilt Market that wasn’t friendly, genuine and open. Make no bones about it though, they are also all very hardworking. Such is the creative community!

Amy Butler Booth, Quilt Market Houston 2012

Amy Butler Booth Quilt Market Houston 2012

Tula Pink booth, Quilt Market Houston 2012

Kaffe Fassett Booth, Quilt Market Houston 2012

Laura Gunn’s booth, Quilt Market Houston 2012

Anna Maria Horner’s booth, Quilt Market Houston 2012

David Butler, Quilt Market Houston 2012

Joel Dewberry, Quilt Market Houston 2012

Valori Wells, Quilt Market Houston 2012

Daasserini sporting Tokyo Rococo at Surtex

Posted on June 1, 2012 by Plaid Portico

Ok, a little fashion show Friday!

When my goddaughter was out visiting and helping me with Surtex prep on her spring break I sent her packing with some Tokyo Rococo fabric and she just whipped up a few creations for her Surtex wardrobe. I am dying to get her to Quilt Market sometime, she would be right at home. She is one of those people that just “makes things” at every turn. Infinite creativity, just like her mom.

We had fun doing little photo shoots during breaks at Surtex. Here are some pics!

Day 1; she just sewed this little number up from imagination without a pattern. Cute!

Day 2: circle skirt, she did this one when visiting. just whipped it up
A needle and thread always at hand she was making some edits at the hotel in NY

Day 3: This one actually did start out as a pattern, but you wouldn’t recognize it now, she edited and edited and got this sleek little number in the end (it used to have puffs and frills)

I like both horizontal and vertical placement of the patterns here

This is all about what accessories and styling say about someone. Just ignore the dress and look at the braid, the pearls, the nails and the ink…just love this girl. No she doesn’t sew for anybody else–just me, she’s all mine! For now…..

Waterfall Chevron Quilt

Posted on May 29, 2012 by Plaid Portico

I had such a good time watching this quilt evolve and I am immensely grateful for the experience. When Diana McClun told me she wanted to make a quilt for me with my first fabric collection I was pretty excited to say the least. I learned SO MUCH watching this project take shape and communicating with Diana and Laura at times through the process. I watched one of their quilting video’s during this period, and am still slowly making my way through their first book, Quilts, Quilts, Quilts.

And I am as surprised as some of you that with this experience I have officially been bitten by the quilting bug and have started sewing again, armed with a hand me down Jenome from my late mother-in-law. Diana is amazing and I am grateful for her mentorship as she certainly is that for me, and also for her friendship. A gift to be sure.

And very cool that their quilt is featured in McCall’s Quilting’s July/August Issue in stores now. They are also all very nice there!

How does one really capture the real feeling of a quilt through photographs? Well, I will be spending a lot of time trying to find that out in the next few years. Here are some of my first attempts with this quilt that I will always treasure.

Diana McClun and the “Waterfall” chevron quilt by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes, quilted by Creative Quilting

Urban Spools Sewing Lounge is Open!

Posted on May 25, 2012 by Plaid Portico

As I was in the final hours getting ready for Surtex, Michelle Kitto of THE Urban Spools posted “Pillow Talk”, and boy did that make me smile. When living in Taiwan we had some Indian rice sorters outfitted with similar pillows I had made from emboidered silks I had collected from China, in a “pincushion” pattern (as that is what my pincushions all looked like when I was little–its a new world out there in pincushionland) So this just warmed my heart and it looks so nice with the orange sides and bottom. For a tutorial, click HERE.

I met Michelle at Quiltmarket in Houston. She is a professional machine quilter, quilting teacher, has an etsy shop, does custom orders and marvelous tutorials. But the COOLEST thing happening is her new Urban Spools Sewing Lounge in Dallas, Texas. It is NOW open and had its first class! The mission of The Sewing Lounge is to provide a place for people to come and hang out, sew with friends and have a place to learn in a warm and encouraging. Long arm services also provided! I want one of these in San Francisco…

Check out Michelle’s cool Tokyo Rococo project (so great, right?)…