Voices in Cloth 2014: Part Five

Posted on May 13, 2014 by Plaid Portico

Only one more round to go after this, so enjoy. More quilts from The Voices in Cloth 2014 Exhibition put on by the East Bay Heritage Quilt Guild. Part Five:

Swamplandia by Patt Bagdon

Japanese Puzzle by Mabry Benson

Japanese Eggplant by Susan Lambert, quilted by New Pieces

Two Minds: Mixed Emotions by Sally Pooler

Moon Over The Mountain by Robin Halprin, quilted by Kathy Ritter, New Pieces

Where No Man Has Gone Before by Sally Socolich

Pacific Moments by Mirka Knaster, inspired by Christine Barne’s book The Quilter’s Color Club

Return to California by Mary Risard Burnett, quilted by Melissa Quilter

Blue Moon by Heather Jacobson, quilted by Kathy Ritter at New Pieces

Moroccan Tiles by Dana Prichard, quilted by Sue Fox

J Puzzle Number 2 by Margo Weeks, quilted by Rebecca Rohrkaste

J Puzzle Number 2 by Margo Weeks, quilted by Rebecca Rohrkast

A Circle Game by Mary Jo Morris, design from Kathy Doughty’s book Making Quilts

Prison Grid by Cele Stauduhar, quilted by Melissa Quilter

The Original Scrap-Bag™ in Pop Rox

Posted on May 4, 2014 by Plaid Portico

I was pretty happy when Jamie Kalvestran sent me photos of Pop Rox on her popular Original Scrap-bag™ pattern. I LOVE her bags. Jamie is an experienced product designer as well as a sewing pattern designer and print pattern designer. AND she blogs. There is her print & pattern design blog, A Pattern a Day, her sewing pattern blog, Scrap-bags, and Small Town Gardens. Her patterns can be found in independent quilt stores or you can always get a downloadable pdf through Jamie here.

Take a look at this Original Scrap-bag™ with Pop Rox, and of course I’ve picked more of her things to show you after that, including more bags and quilts, and a link to a pdf catalog to all the cool patterns for her Chickadee fabric line with Andover fabrics. Kind of to die for!

Pop Rox in The Original Scrap-bag™

Super Simple Modern Quilt by Jamie Kalvestran

Buttons Bows & Yo Yo’s by Jamie Kalvestran

Big Easy Tote Bag by Jamie Kalvestran

The Bayport Bag by Jamie Kalvestran

Chickadee by Jamie Kalvestran

Swoon Sewing Patterns

Posted on April 8, 2014 by Plaid Portico

Next up on the Pop Rox round-up is Swoon Sewing Patterns who made the gorgeous Coraline clutches. Swoon has super high quality patterns for mostly bags and lots of bags they have! The best part is that you can buy the patterns right off their site and have the option of a downloadable pdf OR a paper pattern. Yes, and there are also freebies and tutorials, particularly on the blog.

First we’ll show you the gorgeous Pop Rox clutches, then I have to show you more of their bag patterns. Their style is “simple and clean”. I like that. And if you don’t think you are up to sewing, but you like their bags, check out the Etsy store DiedelBug Handmade. You can also find they patterns on YouCanMakeThis.com, Swoon Patterns Etsy shop, Craftsy, and Go To patterns & Co.

And tune in for special fund-raising sale notices on their Facebook page they will be doing to help fund a new small specialty sewing shop. The commercial space has already been leased!

Coraline Clutch by Swoon Sewing Patterns

I also like that they show their patterns made up with lots of different kinds of fabrics. So many great bags–some I haven’t seen anything like it before. Love the Betty Bowler Bag! Take a look.

Betty Bowler bag by Swoon Sewing Patterns

Dorothy Day Tripper bag by Swoon Sewing Patterns

India Hobo Bag by Swoon Sewing Patterns

Levi Utility Bag by Swoon Sewing Patterns

More booths from Quilt Market Houston 2013

Posted on November 6, 2013 by Plaid Portico

Nel Whatmore

Tula Pink

Heather Bailey

Monaluna

Alison Glass

Anna Maria Horner

Carolyn Friedlander

Ann Kelle

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….

Urban Spools

Posted on December 21, 2012 by Plaid Portico

Michelle Kitto of Urban Spools whipped up this bag in classic fashion before Quilt Market. Her workmanship is always amazing, and I would love to take some classes and hang at her Urban Spools Sewing Lounge if it was in my neck of the woods. Alas it is in Dallas–lucky for some of you! I met Michelle at the Fabric 2.0 party at Quilt Market 2011, and we met up again when she visited San Francisco, and of course this year again at Quilt Market 2012. She really took the plunge opening up the sewing Lounge, offering classes and long arm services, and its been fun hearing about its growth.

This media bag she made came from a pattern from Serendipity Studio‘s Media Frenzy Book. Cute!

Bag by Urban Spools with a Serendipity Studios pattern using Licorice Fizz fabric

Bag by Urban Spools with a Serendipity Studios pattern using Licorice Fizz fabric

Bag by Urban Spools with a Serendipity Studios pattern using Licorice Fizz fabric

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 #13: Carolyn Friedlander

Posted on November 27, 2012 by Plaid Portico

Carolyn Friedlander Quilt Market Houston 2012

The other designer whose booth and work I was incredibly attracted to at Quilt Market Houston 2012 was Carolyn Friedlander. Her quilt patterns, wonderful on their own, were a fantastic vehicle to showcase her fabrics from her first collection with Robert Kaufman, Architextures. Check it out!

Carolyn Friedlander

Stripes by Carolyn Friedlander

detail of Stripes by Carolyn Friedlander

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

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.