I love surprises!

Friday, October 1st, 2010

I picked up the Better Homes and Gardens Fall/Winter 2010 Quilt Sampler, excited to see

the Shop Hop Top stores.. I love to see how shops display and decorate.

As I flipped through the pages, I saw my patterns made into beautiful models on display in one of the featured shops!  It’s kind of like flipping through a favorite magazine and seeing a picture of one of your kids, and you didn’t know they were going to be photographed and pictured in one of the articles.  I was so thrilled and delighted Maetha Elliott, owner of Tiny Stitches quilt shop created models of  our patterns Cute as a Button Baby Jacket and Britches & Bloomers for their beautiful children’s section.

Sew smart that she has listed the products featured in the article on her website and has linked them for online purchase!  Love that easy button!  Congrats, Maetha, your store looks lovely in the magazine.

Quilt Sampler is available through January, so pick it up to enjoy

the beautiful shops.. maybe you will find a surprise, too, but at the very least, some really good ideas!

Material Girls opens their doors!

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

Congratulations to the hardworking gals at Material Girls Quilt Shop in Wichita, KS on your opening!  It was an exciting experience visiting this shop.  It’s what I call “the complete shopping experience”.

The displays and merchandising were fresh and fabulous.  From curb to cash register, these gals have done a fantastic job.  I bought a wonderful book, The Gentle Art of Quiltmaking, by Jane Brocket, C&T Publishing and have loved looking through it.

Delightful day of shopping.

Fons&Porter’s Baby Quilts

Tuesday, July 6th, 2010

Fun News:

Fons&Porter’s “baby Quilts”, which is due to hit newsstands July 27th features a beautiful ad (starring my precious granddaughter, Ava) for my new lines of fabric: Baby Business & In the Nest, Benartex Fabrics.    The magazine is full of great projects for those new arrivals and special toddlers. 

·         On Sale : July 27th – October 4th

·         Cover Price: $6.99

In this ad, Benartex offers a free quilt featuring In the Nest fabrics called ”Pocket Full of Posies”, by Janet Page Kessler.  This quilt was displayed at Spring Quilt Market, and is beautiful. 

To receive your free pattern, send 44¢ SASE to:

Many thanks to Benartex for this wonderful ad and pattern.

Every woman needs a creative space.

Thursday, November 12th, 2009

Setting aside a dedicated space for sewing and crafting is, to me, the difference between enjoying your project and completing it versus a stash of “someday” dreams and unfinished projects.

A “creative space” means different things to many people. I know lots of women who have sewing rooms, even large studios,  but whether your space is a separate, dedicated room, or just a small work table in a common area, the 2 most important functions it should serve are providing you the opportunity to personalize it, and having the freedom to walk away and come back to your work, undisturbed, when both time and inspiration are on your side.

I love painted furniture, this pink cabinet houses my stash of buttons, sorted by color, my scrap-book materials and boxes full of crochet embellishments, ribbons and trims.  Clear containers and a label maker are indispensable tools for organizing!  Vintage purses are another favorite for filing, sorting, grouping and transporting odds and ends I need for teaching.

Magazines, blogs, Flickr and other photo sharing sites are full of beautifully arranged and organized craft/sewing rooms of all sizes and for all types of crafts.  The following links are fantastic and dreamy..

Pink Studio, Quaint Handmade , here you will find photos of her lovely guest room/sewing room.  Her blog is also full of some of the most beautiful photography I have ever seen.

The Domestic Diva , she provides links for designing your craft room, chosing color, organizing techniques.. awesome information.  Plus, great sites to visit to see what other sewer’s rooms look like.

Flickr: you can spend hours here, I entered Creative Spaces and found a “pool” of kindred souls.  Click the link to see a wall of buttons I love!

For me, it’s about soft pastel colors, antique and vintage textiles, beautiful pottery that store my utensils, tools that match my color pallete, down to notepads and pencils and clips!

This is an imortant subject to me and one that I will talk about regularly on my blog.  Until a crafter feels inspired, comforted, and free to work, frustration overrides the joy of the project itself.  I encourage you to claim your space, surround yourself with what you love, organize it and maintain it!

More on this later!

Gifts that keep on giving..

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

For my birthday a few months ago, Bev. bought me the new Rachel Ashwell, Shabby Chic Interiors.  It is a beautiful book, inspirational rooms!  All of us at JCD are crazy about our books and magazines, Fortunately, while we have similar tastes and hobbies, we have different criteria for purchasing books and magazines.. so, we often will beg, borrow, share materials so that none of us ends up broke!  Not to mention that I have joined a book club (which I love) that can put a little ding in the cash flow.  I am calling it my continuing education – books are required.

Speaking of reading materials.. Steph’s birthday is this month, so Bev. and I  surprised her last week with lunch, brownies and gifts.  We usually pool our efforts and funds for gift giving.. Bev. made the beautiful “friendship” gift tag and I picked out these fabulous magazines and wrapped them with with some fabric I knew Steph would love, pinned the edges and topped it off with a fabric corsage pin (gifts within gifts!).

I bought Journaling, Where Women Create, Artful Blogging, and Stitch (open with awesome tank top), and had my hands full with at least another 5 or 6 that I had to walk away from!  I think she liked the gifts, we all had a hard time finishing our work and often had to flip through pages during “down” time.