Quilt Market Fall 2012 - Take 2

As promised - Quilt Market Fall 2012 - Take 2...

So many fabulous projects and so many fabulous people to thank.  Where to start....

How about pillows...  I need to first thank Darcy from www.moderncozy.com (who also happens to be based right here in Atlanta) for making all the solid fabric pillows (and drawstring bags - which I will get to a little further down)... She is an absolute life-saver!!
The top pillow, the Cathedral Window below was made by Tiffany with our Bella collection - You can find more of these fabulous pillows as well as much more on Tiffany's Etsy shop - warmnfuzzies.
                                  
The next 2 pillows - the zig-zag pattern with from Blomma and the fan pattern made with Anna Griffin's Chinoiserie collection were done by Amy from www.duringquiettime.blogspot.com
  

Next up... Bags!!  We had so many & are so happy with how they are turned.  Huge thank yous go to all the fabulous designers who created them for us, our fabrics and for our booth!

Mother & daughter dynamic duo Clara & Jennie from Clover & Violet created the bags for us above using their 3 of their fabulous patterns.  From left to right... The Madeline Bag featuring Animal Parade, the Libby Bag featuring Bella and the Claire Bag featuring Global Bazaar.

When searching for the best projects to show-off our fabrics & make for market - Etsy is my best friend!!  I found some of the most talented people willing to help...  Kathi from Sisung-Callura Designs is one of them.  She has so many wonderful bags in her Etsy shop... You definitely need to check it out!!  Here are a few of her designs...  The duffel bag and tote (on the left ) featuring Bugs and the beach tote featuring Blomma.

Last, but certainly not least are 2 bags made from 2 wonderful people - The drawstring bag (which was 1 of 3 that she made) featuring Anna Griffin's Chinoiserie collection is done by Darcy from www.moderncozy.com.  The second pattern & bag was created by Lynn from the Handmaiden's Cottage (Lynn also did those fabulous Tea Party dresses for us) featuring Timber & Leaf.

            

And finally the softies... Everyone always loves the softies and who could blame them especially after seeing these...  

The plush foxes featuring Timber & Leaf were created and made by April from I Sew Lucky - Her Etsy shop carries fabulous plush animals & dolls as well as this same characters as book ends.

Hans, Greta, and Ruthie Bear not too mention the adorable fruit pin cushions (featuring Bugs, Hope Chest, Gabbie and Anna Griffin's Juliet collections) are all the fabulous creation of Kim from Retro-mama.   This is our second market featuring Kim and her softies...  She has been a great partner to us and I really look forward to working with her more in the future!!

The next 2 softies and their creator were a fabulous find for us.  Jill from the Etsy shop Love Jill contacted us about making a skirt & the next thing she knows she is making Piper & Sprouts (the giraffe & elephant & yes that was plural) and the bug softies (plus a fabulous snake that is not pictured).  You can find the Piper & Sprout patterns in her Etsy shop plus so much more...

Last and certainly not least were the ring stacker's.  Amy from the Etsy shop Pattern Play is another market veteran - last time she made us the wonderful ornaments from out Tinsel collection and this time not only did she design the ring stacker's, but some wonderful soft blocks.  The soft ring stacker's were a huge hit especially featuring 2 of our children's collections - Little Monkey (above) and Animal Parade (not pictured).

There were so many other wonderful projects & I could go on forever...  I do want to everyone again for all their help!!  If anyone is looking for a specific project from this blog or our other market post just drop us a line & we would be thrilled to get you in touch with the designer.  Cheers!!

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Quilt Market Fall 2012

Fall Quilt Market was this past October in Houston... Between Blend and Anna Griffin, we introduced 11 new collections with over 100 fabric options.  Seems like we spend months and months preparing and it is over like that!  Dozens of quilts and projects were designed and made and displayed in our booth and I wanted to share some pictures as well as the fabulous people who helped along the way...

Here is our booth!!  It looked beautiful with the ivory and white walls and carpet that really helped set-off all the collections.  We had 2 quilts for every collections (one is the free project that can be downloaded from our websites), 2 tables full of fabulous projects and 6 dress forms showing off some beautiful little girl's dresses.

       

          

What did I tell you... months and months of preparation!!  Now let's get back to those dresses...

People oohhh'ed and aahhh'ed over them - They were a huge hit and I need to give credit where credit is due...

     
These beautiful dresses were designed &/or made by some very talented ladies...

-Top left dress - Made by Amy (from a Simplicity Pattern) from During Quiet Time blog featuring Hope Chest from Josephine Kimberling.

-Middle Fairytale Handkerchief Dress - Pattern designed and dress made by Jen from Tie Dye Diva Patterns featuring Anna Griffin's Olivia collection.

-Top right Pillowcase Dress - Pattern designed and dress made by Melinda Little Lizard King featuring Anna Griffin's Chinoiserie collection.

     

2 more dresses...

Left Square Neck Dress - Pattern designed and dress made by Jen from Tie Dye Diva Patterns featuring Global Bazaar from Josephine Kimberling.

Right Tea Party Dress - Pattern designed and dress made by Lynn Jefferies from the Handmaiden's Cottage featuring Maude Asbury's Gabbie Collection.

    

And last, but certainly not least is the Ruffle Dress - Pattern designed and dress made by Melinda from Little Lizard King featuring Global Bazaar by Josephine Kimberling.

Get you patterns today at:
www.tiedyedivapatterns.com
www.littlelizardking.com
www.etsy.com/shop/handmaidenscottage

And check out all these collections (coming soon) and many more at:
www.blendfabrics.com
www.annagriffin.com

Oh - And Blend is now selling fabric by the yard!!!
Go to www.annagriffin.com - products - quilt fabrics and buy some today!!




Besides these fabulous dresses we had so many other wonderful projects to showcase our fabric... From bags to softies to pillows - a little something for everyone!!  Here is a sneak peek at the projects... Stay tuned for my next post and find where you can get yours...  Cheers!

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Designer Josephine Kimberling

Hi Everyone!  I'm Josephine Kimberling, one of the designers thrilled to be working with Blend Fabrics, stopping by to let you know a bit about myself as well as my new fabric collection Hope Chest.

I am a licensing artist who specializes in creating surface patterns and design solutions for a variety of companies.  About a year and a half ago I left the corporate world of 12 years to work for myself.  I grew up in Stockton, CA and moved to Seattle, WA to attend the Art Institute of Seattle where I earned a degree in Graphic Design and Illustration.


In addition to fabric, my artwork can be found on a growing list of products such as stationery, life organization, magnets, rubber stamps and even cake decorations!  I'm still coming down off of all the work that follows Surtex, and have some exciting, but still secret, things to come down the pike.

You can find me on my website, blog, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Flickr and Linked In.

WEBSITE:  http://www.josephinekimberling.com

BLOG:  http://www.josephinekimberling.blogspot.com

FACEBOOK:  http://www.facebook.com/josephinekimberling

TWITTER:  www.twitter.com/patternsavvy

PINTEREST:  http://www.pinterest.com/josephine/

INSTAGRAM:  http://followgram.me/josephinekimberling

FLICKR:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/josephinekimberling/

LINKED IN:  http://www.linkedin.com/in/josephinekimberling

When creating my Hope Chest collection, the novels of Jane Austin and the beauties surrounding 19th-century England inspired me.  I consider myself one of the lucky girls since my husband enjoys watching movies like Pride and Prejudice and other British drama's with me.  We seem to watch so many and each time I see them, the colors, the textures and the collective types of fabric designs really strike me.  With Hope Chest, my aim was to create a fabric collection that captures my love of this period and that combines a modern and handcrafted take on a romantic sensibility.  Uniting the hopeless romantic with a dash of modern style and delicious color.

I just wrapped up my Hope Chest photo shoot a few weeks ago, received the pictures and am thrilled to share some of them with you today.  You can see more of them on my website, Facebook and Flickr.  If you are interested in knowing which sewing pattern I used, please swing by the inspiration page on my website for details.

With my background in fashion as a textile designer, my focus for my everyday fabric collections is to create a line of prints that women can see themselves wearing.  While I'm pulling everything together to make my vision a reality in my photo shoots, I focus on using sewing patterns that are relevant to the fashions going on now, and strive to mix my prints in a way that would inspire the wearer to feel very put together and pretty.

Like many artists, art and drawing have been a lifelong thread throughout my life.  Believe or not, I started out drawing realistically with pencil - things such as people, landscapes and horses.  However, my first job was working as a Textile Designer for Nordstrom and something just clicked.  It was where my style, aesthetic and cumulative art knowledge truly started to develop a life of it's own.  I also stopped drawing in shades of grey and my love for creating unique color combinations took over and flourished.

Now that I'm working for myself, I feel like each day is full of things I love to do - like it's just an extension of me so it doesn't really feel like work at all.  I absolutely love it!  So, when I'm not 'working' I enjoy spending time watching Downtown Abbey on rerun or Pixar and Disney flicks, visiting Barnes and Noble for a few hours to stock up on magazines while drinking a chai tea latte, shopping for the latest fashions to update my closet or my home and exercising such as running, hiking, weightlifting and Pilate's.  My husband is my absolute best friend who I'm lucky loves everything I've listed above, except for the shopping bit and choice of drink.  We've been married for 11 years this year and time sure flies when you are having fun!

Working with Blend has been an absolute wonderful experience {Thanks Anna, Joe and Kate for absolutely everything!}  I also attended my first Quilt Market this year with Blend, which was absolutely awesome!  It was so fun to experience Quilt Market and to meet so many people.

I can't wait to share with you my next collection, which offers something completely different than Hope Chest.  Think vibrant and global... and shipping in January 2013!

Global Bazaar by Josephine Kimberling

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Blend Projects... Which one will you make??

Hello Blend Friends!  I wanted to share some fun and super-cute projects created using a few of our fabulous fabric collections.  Click on the links to find out where you can pick up your pattern or project... And don't forget to go to "where to buy" on www.blendfabrics.com to find out where you can pick any of these and more Blend collections!!

  

 Check out these two adorable little girl dresses created from our "Feather N Stitch" and "Believe" collections.  Full twirling tiers, sweet yoke details, and ribbons and rick-rack... It is never to early to start sewing the perfect summer dress for the little princess in your life!    

                                                         

Spring Fling (left) and the Summer Pinafore (right) dresses were both made from patterns from Kari Mecca's Sewing with Whimsy book published by Martha Pullen Company.  These two dresses plus many more fill the pages of this fanciful treat in children's sewing and embellishing.  Click here to find Kari's book and many others plus fabrics, trims, notions and more... www.marthapullen.com

Of course now that the little girl in your life has the perfect twirly dress... What else could she need???  

How about her own spectacular playhouse!!  

This is a wonderful new pattern from Ellie Mae Designs for Kwik Sew created from Blend's "Believe" collection by Jone Hallmark.  A fun and whimsical playhouse  covered in fairies and flowers and the ABC's... A wonderful surprise for every little girl!  Wondering where you can get yours... Stay tuned this is just a sneak peek...the Ellie Mae Design - pattern #108 - does not come out until spring 2012.

Now what would a project blog post be without any quilt projects??  Both these wonderful quilts were created by Metropolitan Quilt out of West Linn, OR.  Not only did Jeff and Debbie  do the fantastic patterns which are for sale on their website, but they made the actual quilts that were both featured at Fall Quilt Market this past October.


"Plumes et de Couture" is created from our Feather N Stitch collection by Sarah Watts.  A wonderful collection of novel conversationals, lovebirds and geometrics complimented with this great applique pattern... A must make for that special soon-to-be married couple or perhaps the new home buyer!!






"Versailles" is created from our Homespun Chic collection by Melody Ross (that just started shipping Feb. 2012... so hurry and get yours!!).  A fabulous mix of vintage ladies and sewing patterns, novel geometrics and whimsical florals are wrapped up in this fun and flirty quilt.


Stay tuned for many more fabulous quilts from Metropolitan Quilt... We certainly hope you love them as much as we do!!
www.metropolitanquilt.com


I hope you enjoyed some of our projects thus far!  We can't wait to see which project you make...Make sure you post them on our facebook page!!  There are so many more to come so check back soon & look for our next designer post by Jules Davis...   Cheers!

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Hello from Charlotte Lyons

Hi! I'm Charlotte Lyons, one of the designers for Blend Fabrics. My new collection, shipping this month, is called Walnut Hill Farm...

Walnut Hill Farm was named after the place where I grew up in Missouri... A place that inspired my childhood creativity and my love for handmade traditions. Now I live in New York, in a small town on the lower Hudson River with my husband, Andy.  Fortunately for us, our three grown daughters and their guys all live nearby... which means lots of happy times together!! Among my other favorite things (homemade birthday cake, pink houses, the hour before sunset), I adore buttons, colorful felt, quirky collectibles and vintage textiles. You can imagine that my home studio is pretty well stocked after decades of collecting... and a lot of those bits and pieces appear in my fabric design.

A stylist by nature, I share my inspirations through designing, blogging, teaching and publishing...The Home Companion Series with Mary Engelbreit and Barbara Martin and my own books:  Mothers and Daughters at Home and Between Friends - Projects to Share. After tackling nearly all the arts and crafts...painting, drawing, embroidery, rug-hooking, collage, quilting, knitting, papercraft, etc... It's been completely delightful to step into the wonderland of fabric design. I faithfully blog about all that, the old and the new, at House Wren Studio, my six-year-old blog. There's even more to read and see on my website and at my Etsy shop!!

Working with everyone at Blend to develop my vision into a cohesive collection and then seeing it come to life at Quilt Market has been pretty dreamy! Actually, it has been better than a dream...It's real!! The color, the quality, and the design integrity of the fabric is amazing - luxurious and beautiful!  Sewing with it inspired me to create a suitcase full of samples to take to Market. Check some of them out...

My favorite was probably the apron made from Button Box trimmed out with my never-ending stash of vintage trims. Proudly wearing it all over Market, I was stopped everywhere so people could admire it!

For sewing on the Go... I made a stitched cottage that had a secret pin cushion (under the roof) and a back pocket for scissors, buttons, trims...For whatever you need on the go!






At the last minute, I stitched up a cherry Christmas stocking and embroidered over the printed Hilltop pattern design. So Pretty!! I love the way that looks and think combining embroidery and fabric design has lots of potential in quilting and crafting.







Later this month, I am headed to sunny California to CHA (Craft & Hobby Association) and I am teaching a Sailor's Valentine class there based on embroidery with my fabric! I will also be traveling around the country (and France!!) this summer to teach, and I will be using my fabrics in all my class projects and looking for more ways to create patterns for crafting, sewing, and quilting.


I am excited that another collections is in the works...so stay tuned for Annika! This whole experience continues to be a designer's dream come true...The best kind of fun!! My deepest thanks to Anna, Joe and Kate at Blend. It is an honor to be part of the A-Team!!

~Charlotte Lyons
http://www.charlottelyons.com/
http://www.housewrenstudio.typepad.com/

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Hello from Jessica Swift

Hi Blend Blog Readers!! I am Jessica Swift, one of the lucky designers to be working with Blend Fabrics. I am here to tell you a little bit about myself and what I'm up to beyond designing fabric.

I am a surface designer and painter based in Atlanta, GA, though I will be moving soon, to a yet-to-be-determined city, because my husband is about to graduate from medical school and start his residency -- new adventures are coming!! I grew up in Boulder, CO and I earned my BFA from Ithaca College in upstate New York. You can find me on my website, my Etsy shop, on Twitter and Facebook...Whew!!

I have an eponymous line of products that I am growing: from items primarily made by hand in my studio to items that are being manufactured, beginning with my first line of rain boots, which debuted just a few weeks ago!

I also license my work to a variety of companies for different products including stationery, cell phone covers, stretched canvas, fabrics (obviously!) and more! Here are some images...

Have I mentioned that I am obsessed with color?? Ever since I was a little kid I have been addicted to funky color combinations...It amazes me looking back at things I loved to do as a kid and the things that captured and held my attention because they are essentially the same things I love today! That's how I know I am on the right path! So, color is my thing and it is infused in everything I create.

When I am not creating artwork and working on business stuff, I love to spend my time outdoors and practicing yoga. I love to travel as well, but not doing enough these days! I am working on a new licensing deal that will hopefully take me to India in March...So my fingers are crossed! Oh, and I love to eat! I am an 18-year vegetarian and I love to indulge in healthy, delicious food -- I am currently obsessed with making dehydrated kale chips and raw vegan sweets!

My first fabric collection for Blend is Preeti...If you have not seen it, check it out on the Blend website. Here are a few pictures...

Isn't it pretty? The colors are a little softer than those I typically use which rounds out my aesthetic nicely, don't you think??  

My second collection, Molokai will be debuting in a couple months -- Here is a sneak peek to wet your palette and get you dreaming about a Hawaiian vacation.

It was so amazing and fun to be in Houston at Quilt Market for the Blend launch -- I have never seen so many quilts in my life!! It was so cool to see up close and personal all the fabulous designers and companies I have admired for so long. Wandering around the show was exciting and mind-numbing all at the same time!! So much fabric...So much color...It was quite the experience!! And I got to hang out with my fellow Atlanta designer pals, Sarah Watts and Jules Davis (who also design for Blend) and stay in a fancy hotel! It was terrific to meet all the other Blend designers especially my hotel-roomie Sharon Kropp...What a cool lady!!

So, that is a bit about me.  I am so happy to be part of the Blend gang...Hope you are enjoying all our collections and are excited as us to what is coming next!! Thanks Blend crew for everything (so far)!!

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