Juicy Bits

125: sweet as strawberries and the king of super-heroes

I really do love halloween.  It makes me sad that I don't get the opportunity to dress up very often anymore.  I may need to throw a party again sometime soon.

But that's OK, I can live vicariously through my kids.  :)

So I did get the chance to sew again this year.  Next year Quilt Market is on Halloween, so I don't know how that's going to go.

Aurora requested Strawberry Shortcake.  But not your regular old Strawberry Shortcake.  She has a new look, you know.  A new movie came out on DVD recently.

I thought this was a great idea, very sweet and pretty simple too.  I took a t-shirt and sewed the skirt onto the bottom.  This lovely strawberry fabric came in handy.  Then came the accessories: a hat, a bag, tights, and even a jacket.  Sadly the strawberry buttons for the jacket didn't make it in time.

I have to say, the weather at Halloween here in the Northeast drives me crazy.  Some years it's freezing.  Like you need to wear a million layers and even a coat over your costume.  That's often a pain.  But then you have a party or something to go to indoors and you'll sweat to death.  I put the turtleneck under Aurora's this time and had the jacket, but even though it was raining it was like 65-70 degrees out so no need for the jacket.  Frustrating.  

I think this might be generally cute enough that she can just wear it as regular clothes.  If you love the little strawberry patches, you can get them at Fabrichound.

And yes, that is pink hair.  we sprayed it, which is a big mess, but perhaps less annoying than a wig.  She only colored it 2 of the 4 times she dressed up.

Now, Theo didn't get to decide.  I went with a generic super hero.  We were calling him "Super Theo!"  But, yes, it is an Elvis jumpsuit.  I just added the "T" on the belt and the back of the cape and lengthened the cape a little.  I had originally planned for a mask, but it never happened.  And I know the hairdo isn't exactly The King, but more of a cute greaser.  

I wish it was possible to get a clear action shot, as he was very excited he was "gonna fly".  The running/flying shots all look something like this:

But I did enjoy this jumping one.  Definitely an action hero.

What a cutie!

Hope you all had a great holiday.  We had a grand total of ONE trick-or-treater because of the rain.  Yikes that's a lot of left-over candy!

JT

124: quilt market round-up part 3: all the rest

Happy Halloween.  I know I'm very behind the game here, but I'll share the adorable halloween pix next, for now I have to wrap the loose ends of quilt market.

 Basically this is everyone I remembered to get photos of.  I don't know why, but I'm so paranoid that someone will be offended that I didn't mention them or post a photo of them.  I guess because I met plenty of new amazing talented artists and shop owners.  There is so much out there I could never hope to capture it all.  

So in the spirit of brevity (and so I can just get on with "regular" posts already) here they all are:

Echino/ Seven Islands - I think this is my favorite picture from market.

Patricia Bravo of Art Gallery fabrics being interviewed by Bari J.

 

Fig Tree Quilts

 

Lila Tueller

Pink Fig Patterns

Angela Yosten at Moda Bake Shop

Patty Young

Paula Prass

Michelle Engel Bencsko at Cloud 9

A gang at Serendipity Studio including designer Kay Whit, Caroline, Myrinda, and Traci.

Some Free Spirit quilts - Heather Bailey's (designed by Scott Hansen)

Jenean Morrison's new line.

Anna Maria Horner's new flannels (also designed/sewn by Scott)

Tanya Whelan

Brandon Mably with his and Kaffe Fasset's fabric.

Kati Cupcake

Melanie and Rosalie of Melly and Me

123: quilt market round-up part 2: windham

Back again with some more Quilt Market goodness for you.

Today it’s all about Windham.  I mean, if I don’t toot my own horn, who will?

So here’s the sad thing: I didn’t take a picture of the whole booth.  Totally snubbed the reproduction fabric lines, which Windham does so well.  Oops.  And that means you don’t see the overall theme of the one room schoolhouse that won us 2^nd prize.  But you can go see it on the Windham blog.

Here’s Laura accepting the ribbon.

 

But I did get photos of the designer’s stuff.

Here they are from left to right:

 Allison Jane Smith. 

 

Flutter is her 3^rd line with Windham.  She also has 4 books she’s published.  Wow.

 

The quilt was hard to photograph with the lighting.

 

Paige Stanley Miller

 

This sweet, timeless collection is called Juliet.  Pretty, right?

Bari J. Ackerman

 

You all know Full Bloom, right?  Well, this is her latest and greatest called Art Journal.  Her signature hand-painted look. 

 

And see that quilt?  That’s gonna make an awesome kit, right?

 

Me!  (Jessica Levitt)

 

Well, if you’re a regular reader, you already know what the collection looks like.  It was fun to see it all together like this.

 

I’ll try to do some posts with each project I made at a later date.

 

Genevieve Gail

 

She’s back with a beautiful new collection called, Gypsy Garden.  The colors are amazing, and I love the “weathered” finish to the designs.

And let's not forget Anna Griffin's amazing booth.  A beautiful, sophisticated Christmas line.

We each had to do a block from our collection for the blackboard.  You’ll notice there’s one from Rosemarie Lavin’s new Feelin Groovy.  Sadly she didn’t have a quilt there…

 

Here’s a closer look at mine:

 

And I’ll leave you with our resident “Fabric Pimp”, Mickey Krueger.

 

Next up is basically "everyone else" that I managed to get photos of.

 Ciao.

JT

122: quilt market round-up part 1: some of the stars

Well, I­’ve made it back from Quilt Market.  Of course it was a blast and totally got the creative juices flowing, but at the same time, I’m sort of tuned out to work right now.  Just can’t quite get back in to the swing of “regular” life, if you know what I mean?  Except I'm totally enjoying family time, these last few days.

 

Anyhow, I will give you all a “market report”, as I know that’s what you want.  That’s what I’m all about.  Giving ‘em what they want.

So today we’ll start with some of the stars of or fabric and sewing world.  You know, the household names.  

 

I took a ton of pictures, but not nearly as many as last time.  It turned out I didn’t have as much time to walk around as I did then.  In fact, I didn’t see everything!  How can that be?  So if I don’t have pictures of your booth it may be I never saw it or I forgot to take pictures.  Oops.

 So these are some of the bigger names.  Not all, mind you.  I mean, I didn't even know Jay McCarroll was there.  

These first ones are the lovely Amy Butler and her new collection Love.

 I got to meet her this time around.  So sweet and humble as everyone says.

 

Next up is Heather Bailey.  Oh boy, did her booth impress.  She won first place.  Obviously.  

Seriously, I just wanted to move right in.  

I love the new collection and I’m excited some is coming in oilcloth.  I’ll be buying some of that up, before it’s gone in 5 seconds.

 

 

And now we have Anna Maria Horner.  Yes, she pulled this off with a 5 month old baby.  Is she human?  I think not.

 

No really, she was super-sweet and her baby Roman, was just adorable.  This fabrics looks pretty, but wait til you feel it.  So luscious.

 

And even a shot of the infamous Allie and Juliana:

I’ll include Sandi Henderson’s booth here too since she won Best Merchandising.  Another gorgeous line I’ll have to add to my stash.  And patterns too!

 

I’ll include the other Michael Miller designers in another post.

Next up is a close look at the Windham booth (we won 2^nd place for multiple booth!) and my section in it.

JT

121: consider this

your official invite.  If you'll at Quilt Market, come meet me.  I mean it.  I'll be hanging at the Windham booths.

Life's crazy with all the prep, but I had a little fun today.  I actually got to drive out and visit the Windham offices and warehouse.  I guess I'm a total fabric geek, but it was thrilling for me.  Seeing all those bolts stacked up, and inside seeing all the different storyboards and swatches...

I can't wait to see stacks of my own fabric. 

JT

***Notes: 

The bag hanging on the chair is made from the Catalina Sling pattern by Pink Sand Beach Designs.

The Dress is the Gracie pattern from Sandi Henderson.

The larger bag is Black Forest by Melly & Me.

120: in a field of gold

I know things have been pretty quite here lately.  I have some gorgeous pictures of Theo's constrcution party to share with you, but I just don't have the time to put it all together.  And we had the most marvelous day for Aurora's birthday at the farm...could not have been more gorgeous.  So hopefully soon with those.

But for now how about a peek at some of the samples I made with my spoonflowered Timber?  

What's taking up all my time lately is making up samples for Quilt Market.  As soon as I take some pictures I'll share those too.

These picture of Aurora modeling for me are from the same day I took the ones of her pillowcase dress.  What a sport she was.  :)

JT

119: with the young 'uns

When I posted the portraits of me and my man, I promised the kiddos too.  I realize this is mostly for my family, but they are out there reading too, so I have to throw them a bone.  I mean my mom needs to be able to pull up the blog for her co-workers and brag, doesn't she?

So, without further ado....

All photos are by Christianne Ebel.

JT

118: with this ring...

Thanx for all the kind words and fabric love.  For the most part I know it seems a little quieter in blogland during the summer, so it's especially nice to hear from you all.  

(You know I think I say "you all" a lot.  I should just give in an say "y'all"...I did live in North Carolina for 4 years...)

Anyway, this is just a little side project.  Some friends are getting married in a few weeks and asked me to make a ring pillow.  In all my wedding planning, it was actually something I hadn't done before.

They're going for a rustic, woodsy feel and said the colors were shades of green and deep purple.  This is what I came up with.

Now back to my regularly scheduled workload.  :)

JT

117: a beautiful thing

Look at that nice fat stack of my very own fabrics!  That's right, Timber strike-offs have arrived...

This is only the first round but I have actual yardage because even though it still needs to be color corrected, this is what I have to make samples with for market.  And it even says my name on selvedge and everything.  It's for real...I swear!

I must say, it's a little intimidating to think about cutting into it.  I feel like I need to plan out every last thing I might want to make, so I don't run out.  I mean it's not like I can go to the store and buy more!

Anyway, I'll be getting busy with it soon (after I get more work done on Aurora's party, that is).  If there are any of you domestic sewing goddesses out there that are wanting to help me make samples or maybe give me free patterns to use for my samples, just give me a shout out.  I always give credit where credit is due.

ciao.

JT

116: can you dig it?

If you were wondering if we had a big "do" for Theo's birthday, well, of course we did.  I tried to restrain myself, because, after all, he's only two.  So simple but stylish was in order.

I can't share all the details yet, since I don't have the pictures to show you yet.  But as you can tell from these invites, it was a construction theme.

I didn't design the invitations myself.  They are from Tinyprints.  So adorable!

And I decided since I wasn't doing the work myself, I needed it to be a complete set with thank yous and even address labels.

I promise more soon...

JT