A belated Quilt Market post.  Why? Because I spent the week after Market in Iowa!  Yes, IOWA!  And I loved it.  But more about that in an upcoming post–or two.

The day before Market starts is a crazy day of classes and presentation called Schoolhouse.  I presented two Schoolhouses, one for Fabric Shop Network on a program I’ve written called Stash Pot Pie.  The other was for Timeless Treasures, who manufactures my fabric designs.  My friend, Karen Montgomery, also designs for Timeless.  Her  presentation was right before mine.  We both showed up in the hallway a little early, only to discover we had dressed alike!

My new Dear Dorothy fabrics and quilt looked great in the Timeless Treasures booth.  It’s so fun to see my name up there–almost as much fun as seeing it on the selvage!  The quilt is a free to download pattern on my website, and, of course, kits are available!  The dresses are from patterns by Izzy and Ivy.

I also discovered some of my toile fabrics used by the talented designers from Beach Garden Quilts.

There was a new exhibitor there, Chitter Chatter Designs.  Mom’s the designer, but her daughter and her mother were both there helping her.

This was my favorite new booth, Hemma Designs.

I don’t know what I liked best–the fact the “Hemma” is Swedish for “At Home” or their fresh, new designs.

Make new friends, but keep the old…….

Here I am with Jill Mead, editor of Quilts and More, Elizabeth Stumbo graphic designer for Quilt Sampler, Linzee MacRae, Pam Viera and Monica.  Hmm, I wonder what’s afoot?

You probably already know that my sista friend, Monica, had her first fabric line debut at this market–Holiday Happy.

Her Gnome-A-Claus is so adorable!

I know someone who’d love a green sewing table!

And in the quilt exhibit area, was this quilt, entitled Remembering Sweden by Helena Sheffer.  If you’ve ever been to Stockholm’s Old Town, you’d recognize it immediately.

And, oh, I even had dinner in Hell’s Kitchen!

Wow, I’m in the new Fons and Porter magazine–and I didn’t even know it.

I got suspicious last week when I started getting lots of orders for the Sweet Pea bundles and dress panel.  Then my friend Loretta came for our Redwork Christmas Party, and she had a copy of the magazine!  Jean Nolte designed the quilt, and all the little dresses are embellished with ribbon or rickrack or lace or aprons or pinafores.  It’s just adorable!

I always have fun making samples with my own fabric lines, but it’s so exciting to see what other people do with it.  Thank you, Jean.

As a dedicated fabric designer, I take my research seriously.  Since my designs are based on prints from the 1920′s, 30′s and 40′s, it’s important that I surround myself with materials from that era.  Recently, even though I was on vacation, I took time out from my schedule of spa pampering and relaxing and devoted an afternoon to research.

In other words–I went to the antique mall!

I’m always on the lookout for quilts, quilt blocks and tops that let me see a good representation of fabrics, like this Apple Core.  Why look–this quilt maker used red AND orange.  Way to go!

She was also very frugal.  Over half the pieces in this top are pieced.  In other words, she didn’t have a big enough scrap to cut out an apple core shape, so she pieced her scraps together first.

I have an image of Sunbonnet Sue in my mind–the Sunbonnet Sue that my Grandma Kennedy made.  All other Sue’s are compared to her.  This Sue comes pretty close–and she has some pretty fabric in her dresses!

Many of you have heard me say this before, but LOOK!  Quilters in the 1930′s used orange–real orange!  Not peach, not buff–ORANGE!

Besides quilt tops I find other things that are great fabric resources–like this little lingerie bag.

And, of course, clothes pin holders.  I have seen (and collected) lots of these over the years, but never one with feet!  Isn’t it absolutely charming!?!

Ah, the sacrifices I make for my craft……..

Perfect for your favorite Sweet Pea!  

Isn’t this little bag just adorable?  My friend Robin, who stitched up the Sweet Pea Jumper for me, thought any little girl who had such a cute jumper would want a little purse, too, so she just whipped this up!  Amazing, huh?  And she took lots of photos during the process so I could post this tutorial.  If you’d like to make it, here’s how she did it.

Purse Tutorial

Fabric Requirements

2) 8″ squares of Sweet Pea Doll Panel

8″ x 21″ lining fabric

2″ x 8″ bottom fabric

2) 1″ x 24″ strips for drawstrings

Instructions

Insert the 2″ x 8″ piece between the 8″ dress panels.  The bottom of each dress should be facing the inserted piece.  Press seams open.

Place this piece right sides together with the lining, matching one end.  Stitch.  Press seam open.  Now match the other short ends.  Stitch.  Press seam open.  The lining piece is longer than the panel piece.  Find the center of the insert and the lining.  Pin together.  Press outer edges.

Make a 1/4″ clip at the seam line of the lining where it lines up with the insert.  Repeat on both sides.

Turn under area from clip to make a narrow hem from clip to seam.  Stitch.

Pin the side seams.

Sew up sides of lining and panels, leaving hemmed area unsewn.

Mark a diagonal line 1″ in from each corner.

Stitch across market line to form a gusset.

Turn right sides out through hemmed opening.  Top stitch both sides where the lining meets the panel.

Make drawstrings by folding long sides of 1″ x 24″ strips toward center.  Press.  Fold in half and topstitch.  

Insert one drawstring left side, bringing it all the way around.  Knot ends together.  Insert the second drawstring into the right side, bringing it all the way around.  Knot ends together.  Fill with special treasures for your special little friend!

Yesterday was the drawing for the Red and White Delight quilt kit give-away.  

“blop” was the winner of the Quilt Kit!  I used a random number generator, and her number came up.  Congratulations.  I hope you enjoy the quilt.

We interrupt this Ohio adventure for a quilt kit give-away!

This Red and White Delight quilt is featured on the cover of Quilts and More–and it uses my fabric!  The quilt was designed by Maebeth Oxenreider, and the folks at Q&M were nice enough to let me offer kits for the quilt on my web site.  One cool thing that Q&M does is show fabric requirements and cutting instructions for lap, twin, queen and king sizes.  There’s even a pillowcase kit!  Here’s the queen size – photo courtesy of Meredith Corp.

So, I thought it would be fun to give away a kit for a lap sized quilt.  It finishes 42″ x 52.”  I’ll include the magazine, of course, so you’ll have the pattern.  This give away is worth $46.98.  All you have to do is leave a comment and on June 8, I’ll use a random number generator to pick a winner.  Oh, and if you want a bigger size, you can apply the $$ toward a bigger one.  Hope you win!

Another Inspiring Week

I had a ball at Quilt Market.  Just a few days before I left, I found out that I would be teaching a Take and Teach class, so I had to quickly cut some kits for the project I was teaching.

Market was in Pittsburgh, PA–quite a lovely city on three rivers.  

I got there a day early so I could go visit Karen Montgomery and her quilt shop, The Quilt Company.  

I shared a cab with Marti Michell and we enjoyed Karen’s shop and hospitality.

That evening I met up with friends from the Fabric Shop Network, a trade organization, and we took a dinner cruise.  Here I am with Debbie Welsh from Quilting Possibilities in Forked River, New Jersey.

It’s always fun to see the trade show floor start to take shape.  A LOT of work goes into setting up the booths.

But the most fun was seeing the Sweet Pea display in the Timeless Treasures booth!  The Sweet Pea Jumper, the Lollipop Quilt and the Baby Doll Quilt all looked adorable.

There was even a tuffet covered with the Wood Rose print yo-yo animals made from an Indygo Junction pattern.  

Bob came out of the last day of Market, and we spent a week vacationing.  Now it’s home and back to work getting the next fabric line ready!

Hey look–it’s me!

Well, it’s my name, anyway.  I can’t tell you how exciting it was the first time I saw my name on the selvage edge of a bolt of fabric.  That was a BIG day for me!  When my first fabric line came, my bbf Monica made a Market sample for me, and she very carefully trimmed the selvages and put them in a little bag for me.  I might not have thought of the on my own.  Thank you, Monica.  

About a year ago at Market, Kris from Cozy Cottage spotted something new at Market that she thought was hot–plastic cups with a piece of batting between the inside and outside layer.  The idea was that you’d make a mini quilt and personalize your cup.  I LOVED it.  I bought them for my girl gang–and I’d found the perfect thing to do with my selvages.  

But now, I have two more bins full of selvages.  I need to make something else.  I’ve been visiting Karen Griska’s blog.  She’s written a book about selvage quilts and has lots of inspirational photos on her blog.  

I think I’m in love

I’ve spent the last few days appliqueing circles–not my favorite thing, but not that bad, just time consuming.  The number 7 stitch on my Elna made it quite easy.  And, it’s paid off.  I love the results!  This is the sample I’m doing for Quilt Market with my new fabric line called Sweet Pea.  Eventually it will be a free pattern.  I posted about the line on the My Quilt Village blog this morning, but I didn’t have all the blocks done then.  At this point, it’s just up on the design wall.  I still have to decide on borders, but first, I’m off to get these blocks sewn together!