Category Archives: DIY

Project Week!

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OK, this week we are back to highlighting projects.  We have both Licorice Fizz projects AND Tokyo Rococo projects to get caught up on and I hope to tell you a bit about the people who have designed and/or made them.

But first, I will show you what I have been doing.  Not much! Having moved and renovated a new studio, sewing projects fell by the wayside.  Plus, I sew for fun only.  I have been inspired to start sewing again after I started designing fabric and getting to know some wonderful quilters, sewing pattern designers and sewists. I just had to get my hand back into it.  And I am extremely rusty, so whatever comes out comes out and in time the quality will improve.   I will sew a little with my own fabric, but also with my fabric stash. More on that later. (I have a great new storage place for my fabric stash!)

So here we have the last project I did with Tokyo Rococo, some placemats.  I think I would use a thinner batting next time, or even a thick stiff interfacing instead.  But it was a way to get my feet wet.  I actually just started cutting trapezoidal strips and sewing them together and pressing until I had shapes larger than a placemat and then trimmed them and sewed them together with a single piece print backing.  Yes, I got tangled up on the edges, and after resewing a couple sections, decided to keep them all rough and wabi sabi.  Plus it will be fun to compare it to projects I make in the future, in hopes of steady quality improvement. Have to start somewhere and if I get stuck in pursuing perfection, nothing will ever get done!

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Next up, I am dying to make something using my raw silks from Asia.  I originally collected a ton of this fabric to make a large duvet cover using all squares.  But now I want to make an art quilt or large wall hanging.  I probably won’t add any prints, but want to add a little 3D element…stay tuned.  I have a few drawings for inspiration, not sure if I will plan it further before I start sewing. But looks at these colors…..

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AND, I am reading Kaffe Fassetts autobiography.  It was passed on to me by Diana McClun who is working on an amazing book project of her own with Laura Nownes. I was lucky enough to see many of the new quilts going in there in person a couple weeks ago–absolutely BREATHTAKING.  They were floating around in my mind’s eye for days. More about that when the time comes. IMG_8467

Quilt Market #7: more booths

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Ok, let’s start this week at a look at more booths from Quilt Market 2012 Houston.  A word about the booths.  Some are open, some are closed on one or multiple sides.  The fabric companies and larger distributors have huge booths that allow them to configure them in a variety of ways.  A huge surprise for me the second time I came to Quilt Market is that people did entirely new booth designs and had entirely different locations year to year, and so it was again this year.  Makes it a lot more fun looking around.

The large booths are hard to show because it is a show to sell to shop owners after all, and so many booths were set up in such a way that you really would be taking pics of the sales floor with people doing business, and the booth design would just show as background.  But I have a few snippets here and there. Besides Surtex, this is one of the more visual shows I’ve attended in the last several years and I have gone to a variety of them. In addition to all the fabric design on display there are quilt designs on display, the huge quilt exhibition, and fashion and home furnishings in prints print prints.  And color color color.

Let’s take a wander down the aisle…

Emily Herrick, quilt designer, author of Geared for Guys, and fabric designer for Michael Miller Fabrics with her latest quilt designs using cotton couture solids by Michael Miller

Art Gallery Fabric’s Pat Bravo’s new collection Rock n’ Romance

A corner of the Blend Fabrics booth, with Josephine Kimberling and Sarah Watts latest collections

Westminster Fabrics’ Booth

Westminster Fabrics’ Booth

Alexander Henry Booth

Sarah Watson’s booth with her collection Luxe in Bloom with Art Gallery Fabrics

Sarah Watson’s booth with drawings and inspiration for her collection Luxe in Bloom

Patty Sloniger for Michael Miller wit her new collection “Les Amis”

Laurie Wisbrun for Robert Kaufman

Booth for Kanvas, a branch of Benartex

Next up, more quilts from the Quilt Exhibition at Quilt Market Houston 2012

Quilt Market 2012 Report #3

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All right, I have so many photos it is going to take a long time to sort through them all, so I shall post in small groups at a time. So stay tuned, as we will have Quilt Market Houston 2012 content for at least a month here. First of all, let’s recap.  Who attends Quilt Market?  The intended buyer is the quilt store owner.  The exhibitors therefore are anyone that wholesales to quilt stores including fabric companies, sewing equipment companies, notions and distributors, and pattern companies – of which there are many and varied!!

Some of the fabric designers from the fabric companies have a booth either on their own or connected with their company, and many of those also have their own pattern business. Many pattern companies later go on to design fabric. What is a pattern business?  Someone who design original patterns for quilts, bags, apparel or anything that uses the fabrics that these store sells.  So the pattern companies display projects made with their patterns, and the fabric companies display projects made with their fabric. So it all makes for a varied and colorful display all around.

First off is Green Bee Designs and Patterns out of Nashville with clean trendy booth design and very appealing, modern sewing patterns and fabric choices for quilts, clothes and bags.  Alexia Marcelle Abegg is an artist, designer and seamstress, who also runs a sewing school.  She is joined by Rob Bancroft who has his first fabric collection coming out with Cloud 9 fabrics in November, and Michelle Abegg, who has sewn since a child, and creates sewing patterns with Green Bee. They were super nice and I am in love with that quilt.

Green Bee Design & Patterns

Green Bee Designs and Patterns

Green Bee Designs and Patterns

Green Bee Designs and Patterns

Next up for today is Me and My Sister Designs.  A corner booth with one of my favorite displays with mannequins wrapped in fabric, you can’t miss it and makes you look!  Very friendly, just like their fun friendly patterns, these two sisters started by quilting, then bought a quilt shop, and then designed patterns, and also have designed fabrics for Moda. Phew!  Take a peek…

Me and My Sister Designs

Me and My Sister Designs

Me and My Sister Designs

Me and My Sister Designs

Quilting Circles with “I want to cut you”

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Lauren of “I want to cut you” fame and the East Bay Modern Quilt Guild updated her progress on her quilt using Tokyo Rococo and it is simply stunning.  The tutorial for the quilt top can be found by clicking here, and for the quilting (gorgeous!) by clicking here.   All about circles! I love the combinations of neutrals with the quilt stitching and then the printed fabrics are like little accents on the rich layering of neutral textures.

Take a gander! 

Daasserini sporting Tokyo Rococo at Surtex

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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

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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!

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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?)…

More Tokyo Rococo Projects

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Patchwork Posse is at it again with this so cool scallop messenger bag using the blue “whisper” colorway of Tokyo Rococo.  I love this bag, and I also love how Becky takes her product photos outside.  Some are against fences, hanging from clotheslines,  or by her sewing cottage–which is where you can find the pattern and instructions for this bag–In the May edition of The Sewing Cottage Magazine!

Scallop Messenger Bag by Patchwork Posse

Scallop messenger bag by Patchwork Posse

AND, there is a double whammy coming up with McCall’s. McCall’s Quick Quilts June/July issue, which is on its way to newstands now has a project with Tokyo Rococo–a wonderful quilt named “Persimmon Park”.   I like that name!  Designed by Sarah Maxwell and Dolores Smith, quilted by Connie Gresham.  This quilt is fully patterned in the McCall’s Quick Quilts June/July 2012 issue, AND a kit of fabrics for the quilt top and binding is available from Homestead Hearth, http://www.homesteadhearth.com.  A sneak preview is below.

“Persimmon Park” Designed by Sarah Maxwell and Dolores Smith, quilted by Connie Gresham. 

And, stay tuned for a wonderful chevron quilt designed by the amazing Diana Mc Clun and Laura Nownes that will be in McCall’s Quilting’s August Issue, on newstands in May.  I actually get to keep that quilt and I am dying to see it in person.

That’s all the Tokyo Rococo news for now.  My next fabric collection, Licorice Fizz will be in stores in October.  Can’t wait to play with it!  But before that there are more projects for Tokyo Rococo coming in….