Pristine Junk

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

Bev. would do almost anything I ask of her in her job at JCD (some restrictions apply).  But, she doesn’t really sew enough that she is set-up to test a pattern.  She had been waiting and collecting things for quite some time, though to make herself a Junk Bag once the edits were done and the pattern was finished.

 At some point, we decided  I should make it for her, so she brought me a wonderful stash of linens, hankies, & embroidered pieces to chose from.  It was hard to decide!  I kept asking myself – “what would Bev do?”.  She has a very unique gift of being able to “edit” and her discerning eye has saved me many times.  Only Bev. can be Bev. – too much pressure!

 She loves soft, romantic, clean, crisp, vintage-inspired pieces in the way that I do, so it was a joy to make her bag, even if it was hard to have her “eye”.    She loved it in the end.. I love the brooch an the silk flower on the vintage tag.

There were a few things in her fabric basket that I didn’t want to send back when I was finished.  But,as she said, “now you kow what I’ve got tucked away”.  She brings her Junk Bag to work each week, but what I can’t get over is how pristine and pretty her bag looks!  I think it’s another of her special super powers!

Sweet Quilting Retreat

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

Last weekend at Picket Fence’s annual quilt retreat, I met wonderful, talented women.  This is Terri and her sister Marsha who was visiting from Missouri.  They both made Junk Bags, but with a crazy quilter spin to the pattern using wonderful, interesting embellishments.  I love seeing how they used their imaginations – crazy quilters find the most ingenious ways to use so many different elements in their quilts and projects.

Donna, Lisa’s daughter, who is in the education field, worked on finishing up the Mother’s Love quilt with the ruched borders.  Donna is also a knitter and crocheter and does wonderful work. 

Barbara, who I didn’t get a photo of, was working on two Cute as a Button Baby Jackets for gifts.   Baby girl  Lilly, has  a  L on the  pocket.  She fussy-cut the letter from my Sweetest Gifts fabric.  Both jackets are lined in cotton flannel.

Three glorious days in the quiet country sewing with friends and getting projects finished, what a wonderful treat!  Thank you Lisa for putting together a lovely experience!

PS: I promise I didn’t pay these gals to work on my patterns at this retreat, but what a wonderful  thing to get to see!  I learn so much watching others create and it helps me as a designer to see what the patterns and fabrics can become!

Christmas open house!

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

My dear friend, Lisa had a Christmas Open House at her quilt shop, Picket Fence on Saturday and  invited me to do a short presentation on making gifts and wrapping gifts and to introduce my Junk Bag pattern.

Click on the image to download a .pdf of this handout, also listed in Helpful Hints.

Steph and Bev joined me to help with handouts and door prizes.

I also got to see projects that friends are working on and projects they have finished.

How much fun are Wanda and Sandi having?  I love it!  Sandi brought her bag she made to show me.  She crocheted this lace.  I love this idea, very clever Sandi!  The crochet lace is Tamara’s pattern from the bed-skirt in one of my project books, A Mother’s Love.

Thank you, Tiffany!

Saturday, November 7th, 2009

 Tiffany of Creative Smocking, one of our fabulous distributors took some time to catch up with me at market.  Tamara, Steph and I carried our Junk bags (Steph and I brought two each so we could accessorize) and by this time in the day, we were all just tired. Tamara was so sweet about carrying one of Steph’s bags, (she had been toting a baby afghan around in another bag).  As soon as we sat still long enough, Tamara was crocheting! 

While we rested, Tiffany shook her head that she couldn’t believe she wasn’t wearing or carrying one of the products she sells – and faster than you know, Steph was emptying out the junk bag Tamara had and offered it to Tiffany to carry.  It was close to the end of the day on our last day there and we couldn’t pass up the opportunity for one of our distributors to carry our product!  Tamara couldn’t believe we were going to get all her stuff squeezed into our already full bags.

  Thank you, Tiffany for your kind words, getting the bag back so quickly and being such a sport.  We enjoyed the laughs and friendship!  Thank you, Tamara for being an even better sport and giving up your bag at the last second.  Shameless self promotion? – You betcha, a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.

And sometimes a girl has to take stuff away from her sister.  Tamara did an awesome job detailing our trip and has some fun photos of herself with all the celebrities we saw at market.  Check out her posts.

SCRAP-book

Friday, November 6th, 2009

Miss Ava has quite a toy stash at my house.  I made a junk bag with the Velcro closure to place all her toys in so when she visits, we can tote the toys around anywhere Miss Ava might plop down for play time.

This is the perfect solution for toy clutter in the living room.  The bag looks so nice sitting in the room.

I have learned over the years of sewing and making gifts for others that there will come a time when I want to revisit an idea, a technique or feel of a project.  Sometimes to show others, sometimes just to get the inspiration I need for the next project.

I start a scrap pile of small clippings of fabrics, trims, color dots from fabric selvaged edge as I cut my patterns out.

I have always done this as a reference because I sew for others, make gifts and often don’t have the item to look at later if it is a project I want to do again.  I learn so much as I go, I make special notes that made something easier for me in the process.

I collage all of the scraps and notes and a photo of the finished project for reference later.

The Junk Bag pattern and the Sleepy Bag pattern both have design board pages included that can be photo copied, scrapped and logged into your project notebooks.  I use the Keepsake Notebook pattern from The Sweetest Gifts (pattern book ) to cover each of my project books in beautiful fabrics.

You can keep the patterns in the notebook as well.  The front pocket holds scissors, tape or paper so making a scrap page is quick and easy.

I love looking through these books, the scraps of color, the photos and notes you have made to yourself about a particular pattern are wonderful tools to have on hand.

Have fun sewing, scrapping, dreaming!

Back from Quilt Market

Saturday, October 17th, 2009

I had a wonderful time at Fall Quilt Market this year.  I was joined by my sister, Tamara and local quilt shop owner of Picket Fence, Wichita (316-558-8899), Lisa Johnson and Stephanie, of JCD.  We took the Cowboys and Quilts tour and visited some delightful shops in different cities near Houston, followed by a tour of working ranch, George Ranch Historical Park. 

I thought the tour was well put together and the quilt shops did a wonderful job sharing what works for them in their individual shops. The shops we visited were The Feathered Star, The Quilter’s Emporium and The Quilters Cottage.   Steph and I carried our Junk bag, and Bling bag (made from Junk bag pattern).  The four of us also eagerly picked School House presentations and learned a great deal.

I don’t know how much Tamara will write about this trip, but since blogging for Leisure Arts, she has become quite a crochet celebrity! 

These ladies are from Missouri Star Quilt Co., a mother and her lovely daughters sat next to our group in one of the classrooms.  So friendly and full of ideas and talent! 

Tamara, Steph and I visited Moda’s Booth and loved this idea.  We got to pick our sign and this was for Bev. who wasn’t able to come.

I was very happy to have a sample of the Junk Bag displayed in Moda’s booth!

Part of the fun of Market is seeing friends and visiting.  We traveled to Houston only to run into Kansas friends, local quilt shop owner, Charlotte of Charlotte’s Sew Natural  and her beautiful daughter, Lily.

 Lani of  The Quilt Shoppe  webstore posed for a quick photo with me.  I have always enjoyed visiting with her and her husband, Sam.

Our freinds from Pine Mountain Designs Holly & Sandy had a lovely booth with some fun children’s quilts.  It was wonderful to see them again.