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

Kaffe Fassett Quilts in “Where Have All the Flowers gone?” exhibition at Quilt Market Houston 2013

Posted on November 5, 2013 by Plaid Portico

“Where Have All the Flowers Gone?”, an exhibition at Quilt Market 2013 in Houston, show quilts designed by Kaffe Fassett and Liza Prior Lucy from their book Shots and Stripes. The exhibition was sponsored by Rowan for Westminster Lifestyle Fabrics. The quilts use interesting palettes in shot cottons and stripes.

AFRICAN STRIPE, by Kaffe Fassett and Liza Prior Lucy, quilted by Judy Irish

LADY OF THE LAKE, by Kaffe Fassett and Liza Prior Lucy, quilted by Judy Irish

KOREAN LOG CABIN, by Kaffe Fassett and Liza Prior Lucy, quilted by Judy Irish

RAIL FENCE, by Kaffe Fassett and Liza Prior Lucy, quilted by Judy Irish

X EFFECT, by Kaffe Fassett and Liza Prior Lucy, quilted by Judy Irish

AMISH NINE PATCH, by Kaffe Fassett and Liza Prior Lucy, quilted by Donna Laing

CHIMNEY SWEEP, by Kaffe Fassett and Liza Prior Lucy, quilted by Judy Irish

OVERLAPPING TILES, by Kaffe Fassett, Liza Prior Lucy and Rebekah Lynch, quilted by Judy Irish

AFRICAN COLLAGE, by Kaffe Fassett and Liza Prior Lucy, quilted by Judy Irish

LONG DIAMONDS, by Kaffe Fassett, Liza Prior Lucy, Sally Davis and Julie Stockler, quilted by Judy Irish

SQUARE IN A SQUARE, by Kaffe Fassett and Pauline Smith, quilted by Pauline Smith

STRIPED BASKETS, by Kaffe Fassett and Liza Prior Lucy, quilted by Judy Irish

TWO TONED BOXES, by Kaffe Fassett and Liza Prior Lucy, quilted by Judy Irish

TWINKLE, by Corienne Kramer and Judy Baldwin, quilted by Bobbi Penniman

STRIPED RICE BOWLS, by Kaffe Fassett and Liza Prior Lucy, quilted by Judy Irish

Quilt Market Houston 2013: booth pics

Posted on November 4, 2013 by Plaid Portico

So much to see! Here are some installations or booths I enjoyed enough to snap a pic. My favorite booth was this soft and textured mega pillar by Fairfield. Maybe it was because all the white and ivories were such an oasis amongst the other booths filled with mega color. I’ll even show you several sides.

Fairfield booth at Quilt Market

And someone creative is booth designing at Timeless Treasures. LOVE the shark tops. Don’t quite get it but I love it anyway. And more…

Timeless Treasures booth at Quilt Market

Check out the flatty cats (yes I have a weakness for cats) and cool pincushions at La Todera

La Todera booth at Quilt Market

Alexander Henry always good for some Day of the Dead and Halloween designs, this year making it part of their booth decor.

Alexander Henry booth at Quilt Market

Seven Islands/ Echino Booth at Quilt Market

Seven Islands/Kokka Booth at Quilt Market

Seven Islands Booth at Quilt Market

Love these balloons decorating Fish Stick Design‘s booth. Plus really enjoyed my conversation with Bonnie Ferguson.

Fish Stick Designs

Really fell for this recycled silk sari yarn from Leilani Arts. Sumptuous..

Leilani Arts, recycled silk sari yarn

A bit disappointed about the Michael Miller blue booth. Yes, its gorgeous, they always have a gorgeous booth. Whine… but I was going to do a blue booth for an upcoming show. Now I maybe will, maybe I won’t. Guess its a different audience so maybe I will…

Michael Miller Fabrics

LOL…Shannon Fabrics Dude Ranch

Shannon Fabrics

More booth coverage coming up and lots more exhibitions quilts too…

The Downton Abbey Schoolhouse: Quilt Market Houston 2013

Posted on October 31, 2013 by Plaid Portico

Well, schoolhouse started off with a one of a kind event. There was only one room open: the ballroom. Instead of people all milling around to twenty or so different simultaneous sessions, Andover Fabrics made a big splash with a Downton Abbey special, featuring appearances and talks by the award winning Costume Designer for the series, Caroline McCall and Production Designer Donal Woods (who also does Homeland and did 24).

Hearing them talk about the design process and decisions on set was cool. There was a sizzle reel of season 4 snippets and pics of a visit to the castle and the set by Andover president David Weinstein and design director Kathy Hall. We loved hearing what it was like behind the scenes. It was…fun. And different. And well done. Show biz meets Quilt Market. Here are pics of projects using the fabrics from the Downton Abbey fabric collection from Andover. There are collections within the collection for the Dowager Countess, Lady Edith, Lady Mary and Lady Sybil.

Downton Abbey nesting oval boxes and storage boxes by Quilted Koala

Authentic 1920’s Hat and One Hour Dress Patterns by eVINTAGEpatterns using Downton Abbey fabrics by Kathy Hall

Abbey Star Quilt by Mountainpeek Creations using Downton Abbey fabrics by Kathy Hall

detail of Abbey Star Quilt by Mountainpeek Creations using Downton Abbey fabrics by Kathy Hall

Ladies of Downton Abbey quilt by Tiffany Hayes using Downton Abbey fabric by Kathy Hall

detail of Ladies of Downton Abbey quilt by Tiffany Hayes using Downton Abbey fabric by Kathy Hall

Counterpoint Quilt by Mountainpeek Creations using Downton Abbey fabric by Kathy Hall

detail of Counterpoint Quilt by Mountainpeek Creations using Downton Abbey fabric by Kathy Hall

9 Easy Pieces quilt pattern by Mountainpeek Creations using Downton Abbey fabric by Kathy Hall

detail of 9 Easy Pieces quilt pattern by Mountainpeek Creations using Downton Abbey fabric by Kathy Hall

Edith’s Grand Entrance Quilt pattern by Tiffany Hayes using Downton Abbey fabric by Kathy Hall

Regal Mary Quilt by Tiffany Hayes using Downton Abbey Fabrics by Kathy Hall

Birds of a Feather Quilt by Lucy A. Fazely using Downton Abbey by Kathy Hall

detail of Birds of a Feather Quilt by Lucy A. Fazely using Downton Abbey by Kathy Hall

Simply Sybil Quilt using Downton Abbey by Kathy Hall

Ladies of Downton Abbey quilt pattern by Tiffany Hayes using Downton Abbey fabric by Kathy Hall

Lots of bags! Including Tahiti Tote, Manhattan Handbag, Tuscany Tote by Pink Sand Beach Designs

The Kathy Hall, designer of the Downton Abbey fabric collection

There was a HUGE crowd. I heard 1000, and then I heard 1500. The seats started filling up at 9:15, and the house was pretty full full at 9:45. We were captivated from 10-11, transported to Highclere Castle. And then there was the filing out where everyone got a tote bag. (even me and I don’t usually go for those things..) All I can say is I can’t wait for the next season to start!

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….

Diana and Laura at Diablo Valley Quilters

Posted on August 30, 2013 by Plaid Portico

Diana McClun and Laura Nownes spoke at Diablo Valley Quilters not too far away from me last week. Attendance at this meeting was huge, and it seems to be a large and thriving quilt guild. I also found out that Diana and Laura were some of the original founding members. It was a wonderful presentation where they brought a ton of quilts that they had made over the years and were part of their books and patterns they sold. Each quilt had a wonderful story. One really got a sense of their great partnership, and easy to see why their books were so successful! Since Diana is officially retired (hard to tell!) Laura continues their business and they recently collaborated on a new edition of one of their best selling books. (more on that at another time)

I went to this event with my camera intending on taking photos and blogging, but I enjoyed myself so much and met some great people so I didn’t really take many photos or notes. It seemed better to just experience it. In the end however, I do have some nice shots of “the silk quilt” Diana made for Laura, because it totally floats my boat. Love love love. I saw it in progress and was blown away, and it was nice to see it finished. I didn’t however get a shot of the whole thing, but hopefully you will enjoy snippets.

Without further ado, here are some informal shots of the silk quilt and the event!

Diana McClun and Laura Nownes

silk quilt by Diana McClun for Laura Nownes

quilts by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes

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

“Pi” Circle Quilt and Connections

Posted on June 6, 2013 by Plaid Portico

Well there is a pleasant bi product of having your art and design in the commercial marketplace–people who you used to know might see it and look you up!

My next door neighbor from childhood, Jeanne Gorton, contacted me after seeing my fabric through Andover Fabrics. What fun!! She has been a “hard core quilter for the last twenty years and is obsessed with fabric, fabric design and modern quilting design”. She belongs to the Genesee Valley Quilt Club which was founded in 1936!!

I sent her some Licorice Fizz to play with and LOVE what she came up with. This quilt was shown at the Genesee Valley Quilt Club’s “Magical Threads–Inspired Stitches” Biennial Quilt show in June at the RIT field house. There were 400 members involved in the show and 600 quilts on display. It was a three day show organized totally by volunteers. Yay Rochesterians! If you can make it through the winters, you can do anything.

She also sent me some photos of a couple of her other quilts. Love love. Take a look at Jeanne’s great quilts…

“Pi” Quilt Designed by Jeanne Gorton

“Pi” quilt top designed by Jeanne Gorton

Quilt by Jeanne Gorton

baby quilt by Jeanne Gorton

Improvisational quilting with Sherri Lynn Wood

Posted on April 7, 2013 by Plaid Portico

As part of the East Bay Modern Quilt Guild‘s show, Stitch Modern, they had a number of special events. One was a panel discussion on fabric design which I got to participate in which I enjoyed thoroughly, particularly meeting the other designers and sharing notes. But I have to say the highlight of the whole show, AFTER seeing all the great quilts, was the talk I went to by Sherri Lynn Wood.

As you may know, I am now dipping my hand into quilting, just for the fun and art of it, and I really connect with many of the modern quilts I am seeing out there, and I really like the improvisational quilting style in particular. I don’t really want to make quilts that look like someone else’s or follow a specific tradition or direction. In my work, I design all the time for the commercial market, so when I sew I want to sew what I want to sew. Period. So hearing Sherri Lynn Woods speak about the improvisational process was just what I needed to really dig into the improv quilt I had started and make it happen. And I did finish it shortly after. ….Ahem…. except the binding, but I will post when it is all finished.

Another very cool thing that Sherri talked about was Passage Quilts. She works with people ” through collaboration, consultation and commission to make improvised quilts from the clothing and materials from everyday life”. Love this concept. Hits me right in that spot. And she showed us one she made for her mother, Linda Susan Wood (1943-2003) which she describes as a “passage, bereavement, memorial quilt made from my mother’s casual clothes, Sunday dresses, bathing suit, robes and the dress she wore to my wedding”

Sherri is SUCH a good speaker, highly recommend if you get a chance. With a long resume of exhibitions, artist residencies and workshops, and with masters in both fine art and theology, she has a lot to share. Here are a few shots of the quilts she shared that day, but you might want to check out her site, daintytime.net for more!