Color-Full Day Ahead

Rise and Shine! So much going on today...

By the time you read this, i'll already have hopped the train to NYC for a color seminar given by the IFDA at the NYIGF. I go every year to keep on top of all the new trends in color and materials that we'll see in the home furnishings and accessories markets for 2012. I'm really excited because Crystal Gentilello, Editor-in-Chief of Rue Magazine, will be speaking. If you haven't checked out Rue, you might want to. It's packed with quite a color-splash of fresh, stylish and creative ideas for decorating your home.

I'm also kind of afraid because Doty Horn from Benjamin Moore paints will be speaking too, and every time i hear her, i just want to race to the paint store and get the tarps and rollers out! You see, i suffer from a rampant form of color-ADD. You can ask Pete. Or maybe you have it too? There was a stretch where each time Pete went away for a business trip, i'd re-paint our dining room. Or kitchen. Or living room. It hasn't happened for a few months though, because i finally settled on some colors i really love (at least for now). I love the names too. Our living room has three walls that are Big Bend Beige and one that is Mt. Rushmore Rock:

My studio workspace is Palladian Blue (also Benjamin Moore):

And our dining room is Ginger Ale (Glidden):

Let's see if they stay these colors after today!

The second part of today's happenings is that the wonderfully talented Karrie Lyn of Freckled Whimsy has designed a beautiful quilt using Central Park that is being featured on the Moda Bake Shop! Look at this beauty:

It's called "Geese in the Park" and you can download the all-original (and free!) recipe on the Moda Bake Shop. Karrie sent this little blurb about her inspiration for the design:

"This quilt was inspired from the fabric, Central Park, or in a more general sense, the outdoors. Where I'm from, in the fall, we have geese everywhere – and I mean everywhere! When I saw this line, I knew I had to make a quilt with it. One day I was walking to my car, trying to avoid these said geese, and I had an idea! I started making flying geese blocks and just playing around with them and this quilt is what came out of that. I truly love the line of fabric and I think the flying geese block was perfect to go with it. Thanks, Kate, for such beautiful fabric. I truly enjoyed working with it!"

Karrie, thank YOU for bringing your talents, time and efforts to this unique and beautiful project! I love it! Also, Leah at Burgundy Buttons has done it again and packaged this up as a kit—just for you. Here's a picture of the box:

And here's the little 4" x 4" fabric quilt label i designed--that will also be included in the box:

Finally, the grand-finale of the day is that the inimitable Pat Sloan has invited me to chat with her on her fabulous (and LIVE) Creative Talk Radio show!! Pinch me, pinch me (and then toss some water on me after i pass out, ok?)!!

I just adore Pat and am a frequent listener of her show, so it's an honor to have the chance to share some time with her! If you're around, come listen in or join the live chat (Pat will tell you how). The fun begins today, yes TODAY, Jan, 31st at 4pm EST. Oh and there's a giveaway that you won't want to miss out on! More details to come...(after i regain consciousness, that is. I mean did i mention this show is LIVE? aka: not pre-recorded, aka: unedited aka: potentially blooper-full) Should be fun!

XOXO

Someone is happy today! Happy Quilting Melissa Corry, that is! Her talents are gracing the Moda Bake Shop today with her adorable quilt design called "Hugs and Kisses from the Park". It is such a fun idea and just in time for Valentine's Day! Melissa sent this little blurb to share the inspiration for her design:

"Growing up, we visited Grandma and Grandpa each summer and the trip was always filled with lots of laughs and more importantly, lots of love. Our favorite thing to do was to play at the park across the street with Grandma and Grandpa. When I saw your collection of Central Park I knew I wanted to design something inspired by my grandparents. Grandma and Grandpa would always sign letters to me with XOXO. My mother explained that it meant hugs and kisses. I always cherished those little X's (kisses) and O's (hugs) from my grandparents. And that is how Hugs and Kisses was inspired."

Isn't that so sweet? It's always a joy to learn about the sources for inspiration.

Melissa used only one Central Park jelly roll (plus white sashing) to make two quilts. I love they way she separated them by color which gives the same design two different looks:

and here are the backs:

Melissa actually appliqued the words "hugs and kisses" on the back! So cute!

The pattern is available for (free!) download from the Moda Bake Shop. And as i mentioned yesterday, the fabulous Leah at Burgundy Buttons has put together these kits so you can make both quilts. She even has the backing available if you'd like to make them look just like the photos!

And here's the little 4"x 4" fabric quilt label i designed that will be included in the box:

Be sure to go visit Melissa and let her know how much you love her design!

And Melissa, thank you so much for sharing your talents with us and for all the time and care you put into this great project.

xoxo to you, too!

Yum!

Hope you're hungry because there are sure to be some delicious treats coming out of the kitchen this week! No R.S.V.Ps necessary, just bring your fab(ric) appetite! 15 of your favorite Moda Bake Shop chefs have been included in a beautiful new book from Stash Books called
"Fresh Fabric Treats".
You can pre-heat your oven and pre-order it here or here.

And...complimentary of the chefs, each will be giving away a copy of the new book and a fabulous Moda pre-cut! Also, for a chance to win a fat quarter bundle, fat eighth bundle, jelly roll, layer cake, and a charm pack (a $200 value!), be sure to comment on every chef's Progressive Dinner post starting tomorrow, January 20th. Winners for each of the individual drawings will be announced at the end of the Progressive Dinner.

Here's what's on the menu, and don't forget to save room for dessert!

January 19

Stash Books

Moda Bake Shop

January 20

Amanda Jean of Crazy Mom Quilts

Roslyn Mirrington of Bloom

Vanessa Christenson of V and Co.

January 21

John Adams of Quilt Dad

Monica Solorio-Snow of The Happy Zombie

January 22

Kimberly Walus of Bitty Bits and Pieces

Melissa Mortenson of The Polkadot Chair

January 23

Natalia Bonner of Piece N Quilt

Vickie Eapen of Spun Sugar Quilts

January 24

Rachel Griffith of P.S. I Quilt

Lissa Alexander of Moda Lissa

January 25

Julie Herman of Jaybird Quilts

Sweetwater

January 26

Angela Yosten

Jenny Garland

Catching Up

Whew, so much to share this week. First off, i'm tickled silly that Verna yardage is now shipping! So despite what Punxsutawney Phil said, Spring is coming early! Yippee! The Jolly Jabber asked me to share some thoughts about my first fabric line hitting the shops. Hard to put into words, really..but you can read more here. Hmm, just realized I use the word "Yippee!" a lot (with varying number of "ee"s and "!!!"s). What can i say? I get excited. On that note...

...thank you all so much for loading my inbox with wonderful notes of encouragement, kind thoughts, and inspired creative visions. It's an immeasurable joy for me to be able to share what I do with you (with help from the amazing Moda, of course)! I never realized that quilters are secretly spreading an epidemic of happiness. All I have to say about that is...count me in!

Which is why, when I learned that the Fat Quarter Shop had picked:

for the:


I signed up immediately! One look at the incredibly talented group of designers who were contributing their block designs, and that pretty much did it for me! I mean look at this list:

Anka's Treasures

Bonnie & Camille
Bunny Hill Designs
Fig Tree Quilts
G.E. Designs
Heartspun Quilts
Me and My Sister Designs
Minick and Simpson
Miss Rosie's Quilt Company
Pieces from my Heart
This & That
The Pattern Basket

You can read more about the Block of the Month here (and even get a sneak peek of one of the blocks!). Mind you, I'm really new to all of this, have only a general idea of how it works, and my sewing skills...well...they're improving. So why not head over to FQS to sign up — and then let me know you'll be doing it too so when I need help, I'll know who I can turn to! And if you don't participate, this adorable quilt kit is also available:

(this one uses the super fun panel! How can you resist!?)

And just this morning, I saw that another cuuute Verna quilt recipe is on the Moda Bake Shop! It's called "Easy as Cake" (amen, thank you Konda). When I clicked on the link to Moose on the Porch Quilts, it dawned on me that 1) I've only seen a moose in the road, but one on the porch? Wow! and 2) I actually have one of Konda's books! Simply Charming is on my desk rightthisveryminute. I guess it's fair to say that the words "easy" and "simple" are incredibly appealing to me. As are "fast" and "fun" (in case you're looking for a book title for beginning quilters).

So what all this amounts to is that each day is full of surprises and I'm grateful for each one of them and each one of you.

Double Whammy!

Two posts in one day! A rare occasion for me, but I just learned about Jenny's tutorial on the Moda Bake Shop and wanted to share it with you! How totally adorable! Jenny, do you have any idea how desperately we need to make one of these?? This is ours now:

Well it won't be like this for much longer...thanks to you!
BTW, that's my Quality Control Expert hard at work. He's testing out some batting to make sure it's cuddle-worthy. Long day ahead for him.

Moda-fied at Market!

I'm a bit behind on blogging, and can hardly believe it's almost been a whole week since the Market Madness in Houston! As a newcomer, I really had no idea what to expect nor did I realize exactly how crazy quilters can be. I'm referring, of course, to Sample Spree (which I'm happy to have survived). For those of you who have been there, you know what I'm talking about. If you've never been, it's almost hard to explain! More on that in a minute, but first, a confession: as a newbie, I was so overwhelmed by the whole experience that I hardly took any pictures! I'll share what few I did take and will try to do a better job next time.

Prior to heading to Houston, the inimitable Cheryl Freydberg invited me to visit the sprawling Moda headquarters in Dallas. Wow, what an amazing place it is! I was so happy to meet Mr. Mark Dunn (founder and owner of Moda), Moda Lissa (marketing visionary), Alison (one of the talented designers of Urban Chiks, who gave me a great tour of the facilities) and the whole wonderful sales team. They all made me feel right at home, but since this was the first time I'd met them, I felt a little awkward about taking pictures. So, alas, the only picture I did take there was of one of the aisles in the warehouse! But what a lovely warehouse it is:

On our way to Houston, Amy, Tom, and Stephanie (three of the fabulous Moda sales reps) told me about the "Sample Spree" and how out of control it gets with people running around to grab the newly released pre-cuts. Naturally, I didn't want to miss this! The line of people waiting to get in looped around so many times it looked like someone had just announced that Bono of U2 was personally giving out free concert tickets! One woman told me she had been on line since 3 pm. — the doors didn't open until 8pm! Here's a picture of the Moda booth just before the doors opened:

and here's one less than 30 seconds after the doors opened:

Did I take any pictures of all the clever and creative Moda displays? No!

Did I take any pictures of the incredibly talented Moda designers? Only two!

Did I even take a picture of the quilt kit featuring Verna? No!

(i know, i can't believe it either)

But, here are a few from the Moda Bingo party:

Mr. Mark Dunn, Sandy Gervais and Ms. Fig Tree herself, Joanna Figueroa

...and a closer look at their shoes:

Mr. Dunn just needs to tap his heels together three times and say "There's no place like Moda Home" hee hee! Come to think of it, maybe he wore them in honor of Sanae's new line, "OZ"? Hmm...

Here's one with two super sales reps, Jane & Gene, me, and John (the I.T. guru). At least Jane and Gene remembered to take off their name tags.

Here's me, Joanna, and Angela (aka: Moda Home Mom). It was so nice to get to hang out with them! Unlike me, Angela took lots of pictures of all the fantastic Moda booths. Check out her blog to see all the colorful sites!

I also had the chance to meet with the wonderful people from Moda's mill in Korea who work so hard to make all the beautiful fabric! Nice to be able to goof around with them in the Moda photo booth, too. Who can resist a hot pink feather boa?! (Not Jeong, that's for sure!)

and another one of Park and me...(i like these glasses because they make my nose look so small):

Other highlights include meeting the great people from Hancock's of Paducah, The Fat Quarter Shop (here's a link to their blog the Jolly Jabber), some of the Moda Bake Shop contributors, the international sales reps, and so many quilt shop owners, pattern makers and people who share a passion for making beautiful things.

It was an honor for me to meet all the Moda designers and to see their wares so beautifully and creatively displayed. So much to aspire to!

What a memorable trip. I'm so impressed by all the hard work that went into putting so many details together — right down to the Moda "playbook"! I'm very grateful to be a part of such a delightful group of people, and thankful to be able to contribute my designs to their colorful portfolio. Like I said before, "Pinch Me!"