A peek inside our living quarters

The newest issue of GenerationQ magazine (Winter 2012) is on its way right now to book stores and quilt shops across the nation and I am excited to announce that it includes an 8-page spread on our home and studio. This is the one that features my buddy, and fellow fabric designer, Thomas Knauer (and his adorable daughter, Bee), on the cover. It's definitely a must get!

I let privacy go out the window and, for the first time ever, take you inside our home to show you where we cook, eat, hang out, and visit with friends. We even show you our daughters' bedrooms (yes, they picked up for a change)! Then, we take a little stroll over to the MODKID studio — which is about 10 minutes from our home — and visit with Emalee while she sews up a quilt that will appear in a future issue. Oh, so much to share! In this issue, you'll learn about my decorating style, my influences and background. Also, I speak about our transition from home-studio to full-fledged studio space... and all the trials and tribulations associated with that.



Psst... I've made this picture small on purpose... because I want you to go get the issue and read the article. In addition, you'll get some amazing projects, product reviews and more cool stories to peruse!

Go get one... NOW! If you can't find it at your local quilt shop or book store, here is a list of online retailers that carry GenerationQ magazine.

But, I do happen to have an extra copy of this issue in my hands and since I'm letting go of my hoarder tendencies, I am giving it away! If you'd like your chance at winning a copy of this issue, please leave a comment below. Don't forget to leave a way for us to contact you if you are the lucky winner. A winner will be randomly chosen next Wednesday, November 14th.

Best of luck!!

A Very Mod Christmas

I love living in a small-ish town where everyone is so supportive, helpful and genuinely excited about being a part of our little business. The friendships we have made in the past few months of having our MODKID HQ here are absolutely priceless!!

Last month I told you guys about how the Modern Quilt Guild ladies pitched in to create some of the most amazing quilted projects I've ever seen. Well, this time Jon, Emalee and I were blessed with the help of our friends, The Barrs, and 4 wonderful girls from Illinois State University's Apparel, Merchandising & Design Department: Megan Bjorn, Alethea Hemauer, Paige Kent and Jessica Lottinville. Talk about The Season of Giving... these wonderful people worked tirelessly to create our amazing window display for the upcoming December First Fridays event, which is in just 3 short days!

It all started out with a super cool idea by my friend Nikki. She came here one day talking about floating trees and Christmas light waterfalls. Shortly thereafter, Emalee, Nikki, Megan, Alethea, Paige, Jessica and I were brainstorming, sketching ideas on paper and figuring out the logistics.

Several shopping trips later, we were ready and eager to get started. The Sunday after Thanksgiving Jon and Justin hung our Christmas light waterfall, complete with a soft curtain of white mesh to soften it up a bit.



Then yesterday, the Merchandising girls came by to get the rest of the display done. The floating tree proved to be the most challenging part, since the ornament strings kept twisting into one another and tangling themselves into a colossal web. Luckily, Em & Em gathered up the patience to untangle each and every strand. A million thanks to sweet Emily Parks (currently referred to as Ms. Parks by her adoring students) for stopping by and helping us out!



How many people does it take to put up a floating tree? Well, it appears the answer is seven! And one photographer. haha



Even as we were hanging the tree, those pesky strands kept gravitating towards one another... eeeek!



Then it was time to get the base nice and leveled (easier said than done, by the way!). A little higher here! No, a little lower there! This strand needs to go 1" to the right! No, your other right!



We all let out a huge sigh of relief once this little project was finished! Then it was time to step back and admire the masterpiece... ahhhhh.



The rest of the display went together without a hitch.

Wrapping faux presents...





With cute ragged fabric bows...



Making the windows nice and "snowy" (you'd think by now and in the heart of the Midwest, we'd have some real snow, but nope!)





And adding the finishing touches... TADA!







A million thanks to the Merchandising girls, Megan, Alethea, Paige and Jennifer, for all your help, your smiles and your positive attitude. This is BY FAR the coolest window in Downtown Bloomington (at least in my eyes)! And a special thanks to their teacher, Elisabeth Reed, for connecting me with these great girls.

Also, a million thanks to Nikki Barr, Justin Barr and Emalee Grambo for all of your help and super cool ideas! It was definitely worth all the headaches and late nights, no?

And last, but not least, big hugs and kisses to the adorable MODKID models, Sydney, Sophie and Anna for being such great troopers and coming out to model for my First Fridays invitation. It turned out so awesome!!!





If you are in the Central Illinois area, please stop by and see us this Friday, December 2nd from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. We will have music, refreshments and live window display PLUS lots of items for sale! In addition, all of the other businesses downtown will have activities, food, displays and sales going on. There's even pictures with Santa and free gift-wrapping at a few venues. This event is not to be missed!!

Well, hello there!

So nice of you to pay us a visit. Please, please, come in. It's so cold outside.



Let me take your coats. It's really so nice to have you here in our home. What did you say about our tree? That you expected me to have one of those matchy-matchy Martha Stewart-like trees? Nope, not me. This is a big-ole eclectic tree with all sorts of ornaments we've collected through the years... anything goes, really.



We have our glittery ornaments, of course!



And some fun "smores" themed ornaments that the girls just adore (and me too)!







I truly treasure the handmade ones my kiddos have made for me. This is one of my favorites! Those snowmen are actually Sophie's fingerprints on the glass ball! Makes me smile every time. :)



And this is one Sydney made for me in pre-school:



And of course, our tree wouldn't be complete without some of our favorite characters:







OH, OK! You noticed that my gifts are matchy-matchy. I couldn't help myself. I fell in love with this wrapping paper I found at Hobby Lobby and just went crazy with it. The ribbons are from there too. I *heart* that store!



What, this? I just covered a large stretched canvas with some of my Fire Jester print from Andalucia. It coordinated so well with the wrapping paper... uh, there I go being all matchy-matchy again. Oh well.



Well, let's not stand in the entryway all day. Come on in and make yourself comfy by the fire. You can sit wherever you'd like.



Yeah, sure, you can sit closer to the fire if you're still a bit chilly. That's what it's there for. Oh, those are some gorgeous stockings my sweet Tia Olga made for my girls last year.



These? My girls love snowmen so I've decided to start a little whimsical collection for them. Yeah, I know, not much of a collection so far but you gotta start somewhere. By the time the girls are 18 we might need a whole room for these guys!



Awww... leaving so soon? Well it was so nice of you to stop by! Please come back anytime! And stay warm out there...

Here, let me get the door for you.



HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

My Studio

It took us a little bit to get it to this point but I'm finally ready and excited to show you guys what we've been working on for the past few weeks... the MODKID Studio! I apologize in advance for the lighting. This is a basement studio with only one smallish window so natural lighting is practically non-existent and studio lighting is hard to position when you have so many elements to block the flow of light.

Anyway, ready for your virtual tour? As you first enter the room, you see this:



The cutting table is the piéce-de-resistance. I dreamt it up one night and Jon made it happen for me. We took two Expedit bookcases from IKEA, turned them on their side and butted them together to create the base of the table. That was the easy part. The shelves are hollow at the back which is great because I can store long items that span from one side to the other. Then I told Jon I wanted a 1.5" gap in between the tabletop and the base to store flat pattern sheets and other large paper drawings. Jon built me a tabletop out of MDF with dry-erase board on the top (perfect for jotting quick measurements or notes!) then mounted it on top of the bookcases with two 1.5" spacers in between. PERFECT!

Here's a closer look at the cutting table:



As you walk toward the back side of the table, you see a better view of my fabric shelves (which are just two Billy bookcases from IKEA side by side) and a little sneak peek of my sewing table.



Around the other end of the room is my extra long sewing table. Believe it or not I used to have these 3 machines on a table that was about 1/3 shorter than this one. Now that I've been working with this much elbow room I have no idea how I ever sewed anything before. From back to front you see my 31-year old Bernina Record (my prized possession), my BabyLock Imagine serger and my White SpeedyLock serger (always set to the rolled hems function). The table and chairs are also from IKEA (yes, we shop there a lot!)



Turning around and facing the other side of the room, you get the left side of my cutting table. Here is where I store all of my sewing supplies... anything from cutting tools, to interfacings, tracing papers, you name it. I also have several bins that hold ribbons, fabric scraps and miscellaneous office supplies.



On the far right of the studio is my computer desk. This is an old desk that I purchased back in Orlando 10 or so years ago and has moved with me from house to house and State to State. It does the job. My new MacBook Pro sits up there on the half shelf and is hooked up to a 24" Cinema Display because this old lady has failing eyes and needs to see things BIG on the screen. The sweet little red task chair is from (you guessed it!) IKEA. (By the way, this is my interim chair until I can afford to get my dream chair. Hopefully my back won't be broken before then.)



Adjacent to my computer desk you will find this colorful little bookcase which houses some of my favorite things: sewing books, trade magazines, music CDs, kitschy toys and collectibles. Everything is at arm's reach in case I need to reference something or just play...



And last, but certainly not least, is the most comfortable spot in the studio. I have fallen asleep on this couch many a night when I'm just way too tired to get my butt up the stairs to my own bed. But, hey, I'm not complaining...

Hi Again!

It's very seldom (maybe never) that I post twice in 1 day but I was just so excited to find an email from the folks at Apartment Therapy telling me that they had featured my living room in their Roomarks section! WOOOHOO! Check it out!



And in case you were wondering, nope we don't live in an apartment... we live in a house but they like to feature "inspiring rooms." This is by far one of my favorite design blogs, supplying endless amounts of inspiration (as I've mentioned before) so it is quite an honor to be featured.

Thanks guys!