I'm still here!
and I come bearing gifts....



Nope, I didn't fall off the face of the Earth. I've just been totally buried in work, which is a lot better than being totally buried in snow! I was just telling my friend this morning that during the Winter months I basically become a hermit. I hate to drive in the snow and I hate what the frigid temps do to my skin and my mood, so I opt to stay in the warmth and safety of my home... for months! Cabin fever? Sure. Winter blues? Of course! But the upside is that I GET TONS OF WORK DONE! :)

Case in point, in the past few weeks, I've:

• Turned in a new fabric collection to Michael Miller that I am completely, totally in love with and am counting the days (or months) till I can share with you all!
• Completed about 75% of the book and can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel! It's dim but I can see it!
• Conducted a phone interview for a national publication... more details to come!
• Accepted and designed a cool project for another national publication... (you guessed it) details to come!
• Turned in my paperwork for Spring International Quilt Market and Schoolhouse
• Turned in my paperwork (and payment *gulp!*) for the SURTEX licensing show in New York. Big Apple... here I come!!!
• Planned out MODKID 2011 sewing pattern production.
• Got very little sleep due to all of the above.

Oh, and since I didn't think my plate was full enough, I prepared a sweet tutorial for this easy patchwork pillow that I call French Window (although Jon thought it looked more like Tic Tac Toe... to each his own!)



It uses my newest fabric collection, Sanctuary, now in stores worldwide, and like I stated above, it goes together like a breeze. Not to mention that it's fun to look at during those dreary, cold Winter months... a nice little reminder of warmer, more colorful days to come! :)

Here's what you'll need:

• (1) One 24" pillowform. We used one the nice folks from Fairfield sent over to the studio.
• (9) Nine 6 1/2" x 6 1/2" squares of assorted Sanctuary fabrics. We used: Building Blocks in Seafoam and Sherbert, Orchid Feng Shui in Ocean and Berry, Dahlia Lama in Seafoam and Espresso, Zen Garden in Pear and Sherbert and Glass Tiles in Aqua.
• (6) Six 1 1/4" wide x 6 1/2" high strips of solid white fabric
• (2) Two 20" wide x 1 1/4" high strips of solid white fabric
• (2) Two 20" high x 2 1/2" wide strips of solid white fabric
• (2) Two 24" wide x 2 1/2" high strips of solid white fabric
• For the pillow backing: (2) two 15" wide x 24" high pieces of fabric. We used Aromatherapy Sherbert.

Here's how you put the patchwork-y front together:
NOTE: ALL SEAM ALLOWANCES ARE 1/4"









And voila! You have a beautiful patchwork pillow front that looks like a french window (or a tic tac toe board!).



We did the back of the pillow envelope style, which is so easy and fun because you don't have to install any zippers or buttons and you don't have to hand stitch anything shut. The pillow just slips in and out of the envelope back for easy washing. LOVE IT!



Here's how we make our envelope backs:





On our sample pillow we sandwiched some lovely espresso brown piping in between the front and back of the pillow before sewing it together. It gives it a very professional finish, I think.

And that's it!

FINAL NOTE: I make all my pillow covers so the finished size is slightly smaller than the size of the pillow insert. I think it makes for a nicer fit, not too loose or saggy. ;)



Hope you enjoyed this little tute. Feel free to share it with your friends! And... stay warm out there!!

{the view outside my window}

I'm in the mood for... gift-giving!!!

Sanctuary is hitting the stores this week so I have prepared a few goodies for you all in celebration of its arrival. Here's a bad iPhone pic of me standing next to a freshly delivered stack of Sanctuary at my local über cool designer fabric store, Sew Much More. It was such great timing... I got there literally 5 minutes before the UPS man showed up with these!



But, first, believe it or not, we had THREE NO SHOWS, on the Quiltmaker 100 Blocks contest, so, as they say, you snooze, you loose! We've selected 3 new winners and this time we have a way to contact them... you learn something new every day, right?! So, congratulations to the new winners... I guess it was meant to be, ladies!

#20 TaniLove said...

Ok I've probably entered every drawing you've had in the last year and nothing. I love the block and the fabrics, it would be so fun to win since I'm getting ready to embark on trying to make a quilt for my chickies, I'm not so optimistic but I know they will like it no matter what, for a while anyway ;) Would be so nice to learn some techniques and get started with that fabulous fabric!

#202 Quilter Kathy said...

OMG...a new magazine and new fabrics?!? I would think I'd died and gone to heaven! Surely that is what heaven will be! Love the block and expecially love the envelope enclosure on your pillows!

#284 elena said...

Beautiful pillow. Love Flora collection and this color is energizing, great!!!
Would love to win a copy and of course a fabric lot by you :D

TaniLove will receive the magazine AND fabric bundle. The two other winners will receive a copy of the magazine. Please contact us at info@modkidboutique.com with your mailing address and if not... I'm tracking you down! haha

Sooo... back to the Sanctuary freebies. Valerie Haberer, owner of Sew Much More, had come up with this fabulous idea of doing fabric bolt tags with the designer's logo (or that of the actual fabric collection) so her customers could easily identify them, so I brought her these cool Sanctuary tags to put on her bolts (again... bad iPhone pic).



I also brought her some generic Patty Young Designs tags to put onto all her other PY bolts since I didn't have a lot of time to make these up for every collection... plus at the time I didn't know what all she had still in stock, etc. But aren't these fun?!



So... I thought since these were so well-received, I'd share the wealth with all my lovely shop owners out there since you are all so sweet and supportive. I've laid these tags 10-up on a 8.5" x 11" sheet with crop marks, so they are ready to print & cut. I printed mine onto card stock so they would be more durable and cut them out using an X-Acto knife and self-healing mat, but you can easily cut these out with scissors.

For a high-res PDF download click HERE for the Sanctuary tags and HERE for the Patty Young tags. Or...click on the thumbnails below to go directly to the Flickr image in JPG format.





Here's an idea for online shops: print these out onto label sheets, cut them out and use them as stickers to place on fabric packages before you ship them out to your customers.... ding, ding, ding... GENIUS! (and cute!) ;)

I haven't forgotten about all my lovely fans out there.. I wanted to share some great gift-giving ideas for the Holidays, and one of my favorite things to make... PILLOWS!! These pillows were among the most photographed items in my booth this past Quilt Market, so I'll walk you through how to make these quick & easy gifts for your family & friends.



First off, the Dahlia Lama pillows. These are BIG and striking but oh, so easy to make. The Dahlia Lama print has a 24" repeat so we decided to use a 24" pillow form to showcase the full design. Find the repeat on the fabric and mark a perfect 24" square using a water-soluble fabric marker. The flower bunch should be perfectly centered within the square. You can use the tiles on the background as a guide for keeping your lines straight. Cut this square out with your rotary cutter & ruler.



Make the envelope closure by cutting two pieces of fabric at 24" tall by 15" wide. We used Zen Garden for the backing. Hem these back pieces or leave the selvedge edge exposed as we did then layer these onto the front square right sides together, overlapping the back pieces in the middle. We added a strip of bias tape to the edge to give it a touch of flair, but you can do this with piping or just leave it off entirely. Stitch all around. Clip your corners, turn and VOILA!



Here is is in the warm colorway...LOVE IT!





Now, how about this sweet patchwork pillow?



For this 18" pillow form we cut 16 squares of fabric at 6" x 6" each. If you want to make yours just like ours here is the breakdown by fabric design, clockwise from the top left corner:

Geo Bloom Seafoam: two 6" squares
Orchid Feng Shui Ocean: two 6" squares
Orchid Feng Shui Seafoam: two 6" squares
Building Blocks Seafoam: two 6" squares
Glass Tiles Aqua: two 6" squares
Temple Tiles Ocean: two 6" squares
Temple Tiles Seafoam: two 6" squares
Zen Garden Pear: two 6" squares

Sew these right sides together in rows using a 1/4" seam allowance. We inserted piping in between the horizontal rows before stitching them together.

For the envelope closing we cut two pieces of Orchid Feng Shui Ocean at 18" high by 12" wide and sewed them like we did the above pillows. We also inserted piping on the edges for an extra touch of flair.



Last, but not least, this sweet pillow in yummy candy colors was made using my Hummingbird Patch template from my Pillow Trio sewing pattern. Check it out!



HUGE THANKS to the great folks at FAIRFIELD for contributing all these wonderful pillowforms for our Quilt Market display and to Emily and Emalee for sewing up these beauties. :)

I have many more tutorials coming your way on the blog, so please stay tuned. But before I leave, I also wanted to let you all know that I started a Sanctuary Flickr Group so you all can share your awesome creations with each other. Confession: this was a gift from me to me because I *LOVE* seeing what you all make with my fabric. ;)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Pillow Talk

I had surgery this morning. It was a relatively short procedure but its results are drastic and permanent. So as not to weird out any male readership I might have out there, I won't go into much detail. I'll just say that I've been having, uhm... "female problems" for several years, well pretty much ever since my last labor & delivery. These "problems" left me with severe iron deficiency and the anemia brought on a whole slew of new problems. Those of you who've been long time readers of my blog may recall this incident last year.

Well, I tried some temporary solutions that did not fix my problem but just left me with less than desirable side effects. I had had enough, so I did it. After this, I won't be able to bear children anymore, but don't feel sorry for me. I am totally at peace with this. Jon and I had decided, even before getting married 10 years ago, that we wanted 2 children. That was always the plan and we were both so happy that we felt the same way. See, we both came from small families (Jon has one brother, I have one sister) so we are used to, and comfortable with, the dynamics of a small family. This just feels right, like it was meant to be, you know?

So now it's done and I am recuperating. In preparation for today, I went out a couple days ago and bought myself a nice synthetic down pillow (nothing against the real stuff, I'm just deathly allergic to it). And I've surrounded myself with all my favorite "comfort items": my laptop, my iPhone, TV remote, 7-Up & crackers (just in case), pain meds (of course!), pictures of my kids (to make me smile) and even a vase full of fresh daisies to brighten up the room. I know it sounds weird that I would find comfort in my computer & cell phone, but I do... I would go absolutely batty without them.

So now I just sit.
And wait.
And heal. (kinda nice not doing anything for a change)


Another thing that always makes me feel better is to give gifts... especially when I know the recipient will totally and utterly love it! I know that anyone who reads my blog must love fabric. And pretty things. And pretty things made with fabric. And how about pretty things made with fabric by ME? Ahhh, I see I got your attention! ;)



So, let me tell you about these 3 pillows. I made these for my Quilt Market debut of Flora & Fauna and they were a huge hit. So much so, that our Australian distributor, Mac's Crafts, took them home with him, along with my Hummingbird Quilt and a few outfits, to display in his booth at the Australian Quilt Market. In the meantime, while my beloved pillows were Down Under, I decided to develop a sewing pattern for these but since I didn't have the originals in hand to photograph for the instruction booklet, I had to make them all again. I didn't mind, it was a labor of love.

Well, the pattern is done and off to the testers and then I got my pillows back from Australia and I did a double take... I have 2 of each now! haha! So, how would you like to win one of these? I'll give away the original pillows... the ones that traveled Down Under without me... lucky ducks!

Up for grabs we have Hummingbird Patch:



And Ragged Blossoms:



And Busy Bee Hive:



I will draw 3 winners, 1 for each pillow, one week from today. And since it is Gift Giving time, I won't be totally offended if you re-gift these. ;) Just leave me a comment below this post to enter. If you've experienced anything similar to what I did today, I'd love to hear of your experience. If not, you can tell me a funny story or a joke or a sweet poem to make me smile. Or just pop your head in and let me know you're here. :)

If you don't win, you can still grab the pattern, available in January 2010, along with 5 other brand new MODKID patterns. I'm super excited about this release... wait till you see all the fun stuff we have in store for you! I'll do a full reveal in a few days...



Retailers: this pattern along with the other 5, will be up for pre-order in about a week or so. Contact Jon at jjyoung@modkidboutique.com if you'd like to be added to our mailing list.

Introducing ... Flora & Fauna

It's finally here and I'm so friggin' excited about this new collection of mine that I squeal every time I see it!

A couple of months ago I did an interview with True Up in which I shared a bit of a background story on my concept of Flora & Fauna. I said (and I quote) "for this collection I had to go completely out of my comfort zone. I deviated from the structured, linear feel that I am so accustomed to and went with a more free-flowing, organic set of designs. This was my way of proving to myself that I could do something completely different while still staying true to my style."

So here it is, in it's full glory. It was a labor of love... I hope you like it!!











I just LOVE how the four color stories play so harmoniously together just like elements in nature!

I'm sure you all want to see some sewn items, don't you? Of course, I had to do pillows first! I always do pillows first.



Check out the back of my pillows! I used the selvedges as the edges of my envelope backing. Heehee. Oh, I crack myself up so!



I tweeted the other day when I was making these sweet little hexes. Oh, GOSH, I love these bees so much it hurts!!!



My dear friend, Valerie, sewed up this Nina pattern for me in record speed. Doesn't Sydney look so "Mod" and "cosmopolitan" in her Flora & Fauna ensemble? This sweet little 2-piece set will be on display at my booth at Quilt Market and after the show, it will become a store display at Sew Much More.



OH, and I almost forgot! The collection comes with a bonus "double border" design. I am so in love with these! Oh, the possibilities... skirts, dresses, curtains, quilts, pillows. I cannot wait to see what you all make with them. The Double Border Daisies come in all 4 colorways.



So, what do you think of Flora & Fauna? I am so excited that I want to share the wealth. I have a small stack of fat quarters sitting here in my studio just begging for a new loving home. Leave me a comment and I'll pick 2 winners to take these home. It'll be a small assortment of prints, but OH so sweet! Let me know if you have a favorite print or a favorite colorway. Tell me how the collection inspires you, or anything at all. I just want to hear what you think! :)

A week of firsts...

Don't know what came over me but all of a sudden I got the urge to try my hand at two things I had never done before. Check out my very first quilt! I call it LOLLIPOP and I'm just so excited about the way it turned out... exactly how I dreamt it up in my head!



Here's a closer look. I pieced these "lollipop" shapes out of something sorta like a pinwheel shape that I drew up late one night in Illustrator. These crazy ideas often pop into my head in those wee hours of the night, just as I'm about to doze off... then I have to sketch it up real quick before I forget it all. I thought it would take a while to get it to work, but to my utter delight, the first lollipop I sewed up worked like a dream, so then it was just a matter of reducing and enlarging the pattern to get the other two sizes.



I pieced a quick background out of four 1/2 yard pieces of assorted Clover Dots that were cut at a diagonal, then appliqued the lollipops on top and Voilá! The quilt uses 11 different prints from my Mezzanine collection so it's a pretty good showcase of the line.

I also made my very first piece of women's apparel. I wish I could say this was as easy-peasy as the quilt, but I'd be lying. Those of you who follow me on Twitter already know I almost threw my seam ripper along with this tunic out the window last Sunday. I actually had to set this project aside for a couple of days and then come back to it because I was about to lose my mind!

On top of that, I think I had gotten so used to only sewing children's clothing that I had my sewing area all set up for working with tiny pieces of fabric. Once I started working with much larger pieces (especially for the quilt) I was knocking stuff off my sewing table left & right! I had to reconfigure the whole space to accommodate my new larger projects.



Well, I must've just been having "one of those days" because when I came back to it, head cleared and ready to "make it work"... I made it work:



Phew! It would've been a shame if this sweet little tunic ended up in the gutter just because of a bad sewing day. I truly adore the way it turned out and am still having a hard time deciding if I should actually wear it to Market or just hang it up on my booth...



And speaking of booths... that's another first! Jon and I are currently building our first trade show booth ever. We did have a booth at the Fall Quilt Market last October, but we didn't actually build anything (except for a couple of cheap IKEA furnishings). This time, though, we are building a full display with hard walls, custom-made shelving, columns and a bunch of other super neat surprises that I simply cannot wait to show you! Here's a little sneak peek as it sits in our garage nearly assembled:



The quilt I showed above is also sitting on one of the booth walls. Stay tuned as I will reveal more & more of the booth as we get it all finished up...

Market Prep, Part 3.
Hanging out on THE GOOD side for a change...

I decided to give my fingers, eyes and ever-diminishing sanity a break and work on a fun project that definitely falls on THE GOOD category... another patchwork pillow, this time showcasing the softer shades of Andalucia.



In the "Petal" colorway, you will find soft pinks, flirty fuschias, citrusy greens and crisp whites. Bright oranges and chocolate browns make cameo appearances every now & then too, so they can play well with the deeper shades of the collection.



I got news yesterday that the sample yardage should be arriving late next week so I got brave again and put scissors to my strike-offs. You may notice that the patchwork in this pillow is not perfectly matched, which, believe me, bothers me more than it will ever bother you. But the pieces I had left of some fabrics were so tiny that I couldn't even get a perfect 4" square out of them, so I had to borrow space from others...



I love how well this medium pink baby-wale cord plays with the quilting cottons... so soft to the touch. I can totally see a girlie nursery decorated in these colors/prints.



Candy, my Papin Pullip doll, even came out to play. She thinks this pillow is hers but she may have to fight Sophie, the "Queen of Pink," for it.



I'm thinking Candy may need a new outfit made to match the rest of this décor, but I'm not good with sewing teeny-tiny things. Anyone out there up to the challenge? I'd love to bring her along with me to Market. She is excellent company... hardly ever disagrees! ;)



Finally I wanted to share a Pumpkin Fair find from this weekend. Yes, we went to a Pumpkin Fair but it was so rainy and muddy and yucky outside that I didn't dare bring my SLR with me so there are no good pictures to share, but something good did come out of our little outing. I came across a local artisan mother & daughter team selling these adorable bracelets made out of old typewriter keys... how cool is this?! I fell in love with this one immediately and clutched it close so no one would swipe it from me.





They were also selling these clever photo holders made from vintage cameras. One of these days I will share with you my extensive collection of vintage cameras. I actually had one just like this one already but was surprised to see this one come with the original flash bulb (my other one has no bulb).



Me thinks my new Andalucia Moo cards (should be here soon!) will look smashing displayed on this old Kodak Duaflex II.