Introducing... Club Havana

I am over the moon excited to introduce you to my newest fabric collection for Riley Blake Designs, called Club Havana.

This line was inspired by a vacation we took with my extended family last Summer to celebrate my parents' 50th Wedding Anniversary. My mom is Costa Rican and my dad is Puerto Rican, but one of their bucket list items has always been to go to Cuba, so we had to make it happen. I loved Cuba so much that I knew right away I needed to turn those scrumptious colors and vibrant imagery into some wearable art.

Once you step off the boat onto the streets of Havana, one of the most striking and memorable things you'll see is the abundance of American classic cars painted in bright, fun colors that are cruising the streets. These are called "Boteros" and are mostly used as taxi cabs for tourists or more affluent locals. Of course, I couldn't resist taking a few dozen pictures.

As soon as I saw these cars, I knew that I wanted this line to have a rougher, more "hand drawn" look & feel, much less tight and vectorized than all my previous lines. I started doing some rough sketches in Photoshop, and I immediately loved the result...

The "Boteros" print was born, and the rest of the line took shape from that point on.

I drew the rest of the line, including lots of florals, some happy pineapples, a very tropical IKAT print and a rounded cross, using the same loose hand drawn style as I had used for the Boteros print. View the full collection here.

This is truly one of my favorite lines I have ever drawn because it came from a place of happiness and love.

Next, I would like to share with you some sewn samples made with the Club Havana advance yardage. I knew I had to make a Stella Purse, because this is the very first pattern my mother designed for MODKID, many years ago. It's a very structured bag with a modern look and feel. It features a zippered panel closure with one outer pocket and two inner pockets.

I also made a pair of Natalie & Nate rompers because I wanted to showcase the sweetness of the Pineapple and the Boteros prints together...

Our dear friend, Maryanna Powel, of Marvelous Auntie M, sewed up this gorgeous Houndstooth Quilt using the 6 color ways of my Rounded Cross print. How fun is this?!?

And last, but certainly not least, the 3 color ways of my Pineapples print was selected to be printed in a super soft Jersey Knit, and I am beyond thrilled about it because I LOVE sewing with knits!!

Courtney Davis, of Sweeter Than Cupcakes, made the Modkid Malibu Dress for her oldest daughter and a Laguna Summer Top with Spring Break Shorts for the youngest. The result is the perfect sister set!

Missouri via Instagram

This year, due to busy schedules and whatnot, we decided to take our Summer vacation at our neighboring state of Missouri. At first, it felt like we might be cheating ourselves (and the kids) out of a wonderful experience, but soon enough we discovered two things: 1. there is LOADS to see and do in Missouri, and 2. the kids really don't require much to have the time of their life. It helped that my sister and her family were also there for a conference, so we got to spend a lot of QT with their kids.

I did bring my big camera, but duh, I forgot the charger back at the office, so I relied on my trusty old iPhone and my new favorite app, Instagram, to document our travels.

The bulk of our vacation was spent like this...



...which was fine by me because my biggest wish was to have a stress-free trip. Mission accomplished! I caught up on all the family gossip while working on my tan and watching the kids splash around in the water.

But, like I said, Missouri has LOTS of to offer. In between walking trips to Cheesecake Factory (yes, we had one that close to us!) and occasional drives to Starbucks, we did manage to catch a few local attractions and do a little sightseeing.

We were lucky enough to be able to catch the Lantern Festival at the Missouri Botanical Gardens. Now, if you have been a long time reader of my blog, then you already know how much of a fan I am of MoBo... so much so that I based a whole fabric collection on it! But the Chinese Lantern Festival takes the gardens to a whole other level of awesomeness!

We got there at 7 p.m. (an hour before they light up the lanterns) and were greeted by this:



Inside the park, we new it was gonna be awesome when we saw this:



And this...



And then it got dark and they lit up the lanterns and ohhhhh myyyyy!







I did bring my big camera into the park and got a few dozen shots before the battery died, so if I get a chance I might do a whole post just on this show later on, but if you are in the St. Louis area this Summer, do check it out! It was AMAZING!!!

The following day, we headed about 60 miles south to the Meramec Caverns... another must see in my book!

Yes, this photo was taken with my phone, believe it or not! Looks like a postcard, no?



It is that beautiful in there. I have tons more, but after a while they start looking quite repetitive, so I decided to keep it short & simple. ;)

We took a boat tour along the Meramec River and that was so much fun too.



Sydney was representing that day. (yes, I did take a picture of my 7 year old's butt with Instagram!) haha



The breeze was cool on the boat, even though the temps that day were in the high 90s!



The following day, we visited a local indie fabric shop, Fabric Nosherie (a.k.a. "The Nosh") and chatted it up with owner, Shannon. (below photo courtesy of Shannon)



This shop was seriously one of the coolest places I have stepped foot in. Just take a peek...







I found out while I was there that Laura Gunn was also in town and was scheduled to visit The Nosh that day. We seriously missed each other by about 2 hours... waaaaah! We are definitely planning a little something something for later on this year, though. Stay tuned!

And, of course, we couldn't leave St. Louis without spending a long and crazy afternoon at the City Museum. I've also blogged about this place before (oh my, the kids were so tiny the first time we went!)... total visual overload here!!!





After a long awaited trip to Ted Drewes, we headed back home ... full bellies, happy hearts and head full of great memories. This was one of our best vacations yet!

Where are you spending your Summer vaca??

Spring Break 2011
... and the WORST trip to IKEA EVER!!! :(

First of all, I want to thank all of you for the most wonderful comments and warm wishes regarding our MODKID HQ. We are thrilled about this new adventure and are working tirelessly to make it all come together. Of course, since not everything always works out how you'd expect it to, we signed the papers just days before we were supposed to leave for our Spring Break trip.... something we had planned a long time ago. We couldn't cancel it because reservations were made and other family members were meeting us there too, so that would've been just plain rude. Plus, the kids deserved a fun trip (Jon and I did too, but in all honesty, we just wanted to move into the office right away).

So, we packed our bags and headed to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, where it was all about fun in the sun — a far cry from the 30 degree weather we left behind...





On one particular day, the sun was out and the skies were clear but it was just a tad too cool to go in the water, so we took a nice walk on the beach and I took the opportunity to shoot some photos for a new pattern coming out in April (yes, folks... it's SNEAK PEEK TIME!) :)





Another day, we found out that Savannah, GA was just a short 35 minute drive from our resort so we decided to make a day of it. Jon and I had visited before on our 5th wedding anniversary, but we really wanted to go again with the kids and my parents.



A rare shot with me in it...



I just adore the architecture in Savannah. All that exposed brick and stone make my heart sing. The history and culture is palpable in every nook and cranny of this place.





Loved this dragon lamp post!



The kids loved it too... thank goodness!







Then, as I tweeted our location, a sweet tweep told me to check out Savannah Bee Company and boy, am I so glad she did! This place was AH-MAZING! Honey tasting, bath soaps and other products made with wax, a place for the kids to play and watch movies...it was just so cool!



And of course... bee and honeycomb imagery EVERYWHERE (you know I felt right at home!)





On our way back home we spent the night in Asheville, North Carolina, a town that Jon and I have been wanting to visit for quite some time now. It was everything we expected and more!

The night we arrived, we had dinner at a wonderful Thai restaurant with a relative I had never met before! This is Josephine, a cousin of mine from my paternal grandfather's side of the family.



The next morning as we drove through the picturesque Historic Biltmore Village in search for a place to eat, we accidentally ran into Waechter's Fine Fabrics. I immediately recognized the name because they appeared in an episode of "On the Road with Austin and Santino" in which I had spotted several of my MODKID patterns made up into store samples. What a treat!

Sydney looked out our car window and shouted... it's mama's fabric on the window! They had a wonderful display of knits right on the front window!



Inside, the place was a sewist's paradise!





We even got our picture taken with the owner, Joyce Yarling, holding one of their fine creations... a Sydney Hooded Dress made with dupioni silks, created for the Holiday issue of SEW WOW magazine (pages 109-110)



The nice ladies at Waechter's told us to eat at Books and Breadboard. What a lovely cafe! Wonderful service, food and presentation. (You know I'm a sucker for nice packaging!)





The rest of our day was spent galavanting through Asheville. We drove by the Biltmore Estates, visited the Grove Arcade and spent some quality time at a park across form the Courthouse.







Photo opps galore!



It was the perfect trip!

So here's the part where you feel sorry for me:

When we got back home, Jon and I headed to IKEA so we could get some things for the office. I had a specific list (on my iPhone notes app) and a budget in mind. We were so proud of ourselves for keeping to the budget while still staying true to our aesthetic. When, BAM! My iPhone4 gets stolen practically in front of our eyes! :( I say "practically" because I did walk away from it momentarily while I looked at a piece of furniture, but it was gone in a flash! As soon as I turned around and saw it was gone, I yelled over to Jon to call my phone. He did and the jerk actually answered it! Jon heard some muffled voices for a few seconds (like they had their hand covering the speaker and were trying to decide what to do) then they hung up. We called it like a thousand more times and never heard a response so they must've turned it off immediately. JERKS! I spent some quality time with IKEA security and visited the Lost & Found and few times, exchanging numbers just in case, but nothing.

And before you all start telling me about Find My iPhone and Mobile Me or any other tracking device, let me just say that I was stupid enough not to turn on the Find my iPhone setting on my lost phone so there's no way to track it. I also did not have it passcoded (yes, stupid, I know!) We have tried everything under the sun to find it, believe me! Of course, after we figured out it was a lost cause, we deactivated the service and changed all my passwords, etc. so at least the jerk can't get into my accounts or use the phone. They can still sell it in the Black Market but oh, well, what can I do? In the meantime, I'll be using this lovely replacement because I'll be damned if I'm gonna spend another $700 on a new iPhone just 2 months before the iPhone5 is released!



In case you're wondering, that ^^^ is my old iPhone 3GS that broke right before Spring Quilt Market, last year. And the year before that I had a broken booth. Hmmm... hope there's no correlation! I can make & receive calls with it but the screen is way too damaged to type on it so I can't email, tweet or text. :(

Anyway... that was my sob story! Now, make me feel better by voting for Flora & Fauna at the Modern Madness game over on FatQuarterly. I am so proud of my girl, F&F, for making it into the Sweet 16!!! :)

xoxo