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??

MODKID Virtual Sample Sale!

Ever since we announced our First Fridays Sample Sale a few weeks back, we've received tons of requests to have these items available for online shopping, for those who don't live nearby. Well, ask and you shall receive!! Emalee and Jessica have spent the past few days cataloging each and every piece in our sample sale stash... dozens upon dozens of girls' clothing, women's clothing and home accessories!

These pieces are available at our Etsy store and all are one-of-a-kind and will not be duplicated, so once they're gone... THEY'RE GONE! We are not currenty accepting custom orders, so everything is sold "as is".

Our Etsy store is divided into 3 categories: Girls' Clothing, Women's Clothing and Home Accessories, for easier shopping. Just click on the category you are interested in and it will filter those items for you.

BONUS: Spend $100 or more in our Etsy store and you will receive 1 free sewing pattern from our 2012 Summer release. No coupon code necessary. This offer expires one week from today (6/26/12).

Happy shopping!

Spring 2012 Quilt Market Recap

Yes, I know it's been almost a full month since we went down to Quilt Market in Kansas City but I've been a bit preoccupied with too many things to count. This was my 9th Quilt Market attending (my 8th exhibiting) and I've finally learned the secret to it all: Get Help and Have Fun! I can't lie and tell you that doing these type of shows is not a hair-splitting, brain-aching, back-breaking experience, but this time I was determined to change that. And yes, I still stressed over all my public appearances, because after all these years, I still haven't gotten over my stage fright.  So, between schoolhouse and 3 book-signings I got so many butterflies in my tummy I could've just floated away... but I survived, I had fun, and I'm here to tell all about it.

Our booth this Spring was all about Heaven & Helsinki and Sewing MODKID Style. We started building this booth literally months ago at our studio. Our walls went up before Spring Break. We chose this purple hue called Robes For the Queen (from the Disney by Behr collection at Home Depot, which they just discontinued, sadly) because it was the perfect match to the darkest purple in Heaven & Helsinki. Soon enough, we were filling our booth up with fabric-covered goodness.



There were a dozen kites, some suspended above us, others perched on the outer wall. We had a wonderful quilt, made again by members of the Central Illinois Modern Quilt Guild, then finished, quilted and bound by the über-talented Betty Woodruff, who also concepted the original design based on my Fair Isle print.

We had these larger than life banners facing the main aisle that showcased photos from our MODKID Fashion Show video, which we also played on a flat screen TV in the booth...



We had plenty of sewn samples, some on dress forms and some on hangers, along with pillows and fabric-covered chairs...



A wall of framed fabric swatches formed a nice colorful border around Lars, who was the main attraction apparently...



We brought some help along with us this time, so here are Emalee (left) and Jessica (right) on the last day of the show, right before tear down. We seriously couldn't have done all of this without their help and positive dispositions.



And since my mission was to have fun, I couldn't leave the show without capturing this silly shot of Team MODKID!



Now, I mustache you... what do you think of our booth?

To everyone who hiked all the way to the far end of the convention center to see us, I want to say THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart! It's always so nice to see familiar faces and meet new friends. xoxo

Open House & Sample Sale

I am super late on my Quilt Market Recap and believe it or not, I am still editing photos and trying to wrap my head around it all. Sooooo much! But in the meantime, I thought I'd let you know that we'll be opening our doors for tours and holding a HUGE studio sale tomorrow, Friday, June 1st, if you are local to the Central Illinois area or just passing by.

There'll be lots of items up for grabs, all at 20% off list price (including lots of one-of-a-kind sewn samples!!). The last time we opened our doors to the public was 6 months ago!

Details are below... click on the image to enlarge:

Heaven & Helsinki KNITS!

I spent all last week in Kansas City at the International Quilt Market, then half of this week in Des Moines at the Meredith Corporation headquarters, but more on all that real soon (as soon as I download my 300+ pictures and wrap my head around everything I experienced in the past 2 weeks). But, more importantly, I am way overdue for a new knits reveal! I promised to blog this last Friday, but time got away from me, so I apologize. This all worked out for the best, though, because now I can actually share the video we all got to see at schoolhouse last week... YAY!!!



First of all, let me tell you a little bit about the new Heaven & Helsinki knits. These new knits are jerseys (not interlocks, like my previous ones) with a fiber content of 58% Cotton, 38% Poly and 4% Spandex. They are seriously the softest, smoothest knits I have ever worked with. The addition of that teeny-tiny percentage of Spandex means that you can use these for bindings or anything that requires extra stretch, like neck bands, sleeve bands, waistbands or yoga bands, because they have amazing stretch and recovery.

But what most of you will be pleased to hear (as was I) is that the addition of Poly means an incredible decrease in the shrinkage factor. I couldn't believe it when I heard that these new knits shrink less than 1% so I needed to find out for myself. I cut a piece of fabric at 36" long by 63" wide (the full width of fabric!). I took it home and washed & dried it in Normal cycles. As a matter of fact, I just threw it in with some laundry I needed to do because I wanted to make sure it didn't get any special treatment. When it came out of the dryer, I laid it flat and it measured 35.5" x 62", which means it had shrunk a grand total of 1/2" on the length and 1" on the width!! I let it sit over night and then I took it to the studio to sew up my schoolhouse dress... it did not shrink any further over night and as a matter of fact it had almost gone back to it's original length by the time I started cutting! Wooohooo!



So, what about the designs? There are 20 prints in this collection including 6 near-solids which we are loving for bindings, waistbands and such. There are some prints that you'll also see in the woven version of this collection and a few that are new and unique to the knits.

Here is the whole collection, but you can also see it here. They ship in August, but if you want to see them for yourself, we do have some knit scrap bags on the website (along with some Heaven & Helsinki woven scrap bags!) Make sure you specify you want H&H, or you might get an assorted variety.



Now, without much further ado, I want to present to you the video that we showed at schoolhouse last week. It features all the projects from my book, Sewing MODKID Style, sewn in Heaven & Helsinki. This was definitely a labor of love and we couldn't have done it without the help of our assistants, Emalee and Jessica, our adorable little models and the contributions from our sponsors, Chooze Shoes and Fox & Hounds Studio.



Hope you enjoyed the video! Let us know what you thought of it. An abridged version will be found next week on our Amazon page.

Now, for a few quick links:

• Purchase signed copies of Sewing MODKID Style here
• Purchase Heaven & Helsinki KNIT scrap bags here
• Purchase Heaven & Helsinki WOVEN scrap bags here
• See Heaven & Helsinki and pre-order it for your store here
• Join the Sewing MODKID Style Flickr Group and share your creations here

xoxo

Evolution of Lars

(and a book winner!)

I have a super fun project to share with you guys today as we head out to Quilt Market, but first, I need to announce the winner of the Sewing MODKID Style book copy. Thank you all for your lovely comments and for following along with the tour. Random.org chose comment #15, which is.... drum roll please...

VickiT 4:14 PM, who said:

I cannot wait to see Heaven & Helsinki Patty. Of course, I'm still in LOVE with Lush. I am still hoping to buy some of that gorgeousness this month.

Anyway the first thing I would love to try making from your book when I get my copy (hopefully one I will win) would be the Yoga Pants and also the Bloom dress. I might even attempt making a shortened version of the Bloom dress as a shirt to go with the Yoga Pants.

Congrats, Vicki!!! Please email your address to info@modkidboutique.com and Wiley will send you a copy of my book right away!

So, who is this Lars character, you ask? Well, he's nothing less than our Heaven & Helsinki booth mascot! We are so in love with him... we've even joked about buying a crate for him to travel down to Kansas City and putting a leash on him, water bowl, treats, etc.

He started out when I spotted him at our local Neighborhood Thrift while Jon, Emalee and I were shopping for Mid-Century Modern furniture for our booth.

He was made of resin or something, not quite sure, but we all knew he'd be perfect (with a few minor alterations)!

We spray-painted his antlers, hooves and nose.

Then we spray-painted it again and again and again until he had full coverage (boy, that hot pink color is hard to cover!)

Next, the girls took our hundreds of Heaven & Helsinki scraps and Mod Podged him. Oh, the fun they had! I did learn a valuable lesson that day: always put my hair up in a bun when working with Mod Podge! My hair is so long now that even with a ponytail on, I couldn't keep it from dipping into the glue pan and splattering everywhere.... niiiice!

Anyway, after he was completely covered in scraps, we let him dry overnight. The following day, I blinged his eyes... each eye has about 25 rhinestones! Yes, Lars is quite in touch with his feminine side, wouldn't you say?

A couple coats of Polyurethane Spray to make him nice and shiny, and VOILA!

If you'll be at Quilt Market this week, come meet Lars at our booth (Booth #3024-26) and take away one of our catalogs ... you can't miss it!

Spring/Summer 2012 Releases

Heaven & Helsinki and 5 new patterns!

We are gearing up to exhibit at the International Quilt Market next week (May 17 - 20) in Kansas City and are just so excited to show all of our new goodies! In addition to the Sewing MODKID Style book and the Andalucia reprint, we are also showcasing a brand new fabric collection and five brand new sewing patterns! So without much further ado, let's get started...

My newest collection for Michael Miller Fabrics is titled Heaven & Helsinki:



As the name and logo imply, it is a Scandinavian collection with a nod to Mid Century Modern design. Those two things, by the way, have been an obsession of mine for most of my life. I grew up in a very "Mod" home designed by my own father, who at one point studied under a pupil of Frank Lloyd Wright's. The furnishings and décor in my childhood home were also very "Mid-Century Modern"in style... we had a Danish dining room table and some pretty funky Mod lamps throughout the house. I clearly remember our family room sofa, low profile, straight lines and with that wide wooden frame around the cushions, a style typical of Scandinavian design.

So I drew inspiration from all of this plus from some of my current furniture pieces and décor, and sprinkled in some current trends in fashion and design, to bring to you this collection, which makes my heart go pitter-patter every time I gaze upon it.

The collection is made up of 31 prints, divided into two colorways, Retro and Metro, printed on premium quality quilting cotton.





We have had a blast creating pieces with these prints and I simply cannot wait to show these off...



Let's begin with the garments, which are always my favorite part. Here you see from left to right: a Gretchen dress, a Julia skirt with a piece of fabric wrapped around the torso (for lack of time to make another top), a Hannah 2-pc short set (new Summer pattern), a Natalie & Nate girl romper, and finally an adorable Claudia dress (another Summer 2012 pattern).



Here are some close ups. Don't you just love those Puffy Birds?!



The little houses, which I call City Block, are so fun to use for borders and skirting like this...



And of course, we have Tulips galore!!!



Check out this chair Emalee covered in my Loves Me Not (Metro) fabric. The pillows are from our newest mini-pattern...



Of course, my mom has made some AMAZING purses for us to take to Market. That woman never ceases to amaze me! Check these out!! We will be making patterns for future releases out of these, for sure!



Here are a couple of close-ups...





We also made an AWESOME quilt, of which I'm only showing you a tiny portion, because it really deserves a post all its own. It involves the Central Illinois Modern Quilt Guild again.... you guys are gonna LOVE this one!!



Finally, we will have 5 new patterns at Quilt Market, and these are so new they're not even up on our site yet. You are seeing these here first! :) And I promise to do a full write up of each of these when I return from Market.

CLAUDIA
Claudia is a sweet dress with a paper-bag-style skirt, a Peter Pan collar and side-seam rounded pockets. The pattern includes options for 3 sleeve lengths, all with ruffled trims, plus a long sash-style belt. Zipper closure at center back for easy dressing. Mix and match designer fabrics for a boutique look! Sizes 2T - 10 (Girls)



HANNAH
Hannah is a set of adorable flat-fronted shorts and capri pants with inset pockets, contrast cuffs and a flared hem reminiscent of nautical sailing pants. Pair them up with our easy-to-sew Carefree Cropped Top and she will be the cutest girl at her next beach or pool party.  Sizes 2T - 10 (Girls)


MORGAN
Morgan is a playful, color-blocked dress with a very Mod style for knit fabrics only. It features side inset pockets, a contrast hem band and inverted box pleats in the center front and back. Mix and match designer fabrics for a boutique look! Sizes 2T - 10 (Girls)



MINI-ADDISON
Here by popular demand!!! Dolly version of our very popular Addison dress, with the same vintage style as the girl's version. For 18" and 15" dolls.



NORDIC SNOWFLAKE PILLOW
Our newest "LITE" pattern! Pieced and quilted pillow cover. Fits any standard 18" square pillow form.



So there you have it! There is one more reveal (for the Heaven & Helsinki knits) coming up next Friday, the 18th, but I would LOVE to hear what you guys think of the new goodies! And for those of you attending Quilt Market next week, here is the schedule of events again:

Thursday, May 17:

Schoolhouse at 12:45 - 1:15 p.m., Room 2503B

We will preview all the new fabrics and patterns,
then show a MODKID Fashion Show video (first time ever shown!)

4 books will be given away at the end, courtesy of Wiley,

and EVERY attendee will receive a free pattern from our Summer 2012 line!

Friday, May 18:

Book signing at 11:00 a.m. at the MODKID booth, Booth #3024-26

The first 20 books are free, so be sure to get there on time.
After that, books will be available for purchase at wholesale price.

Saturday, May 19:

Book Signing at United Notions, 3:00 p.m., Booth #110-117

Sunday, May 20:

Book Signing at Brewer, 11:15 a.m., Booth #2824-2833

Sewing MODKID Style Giveaway

Well, this is it, folks! The end of the Sewing MODKID Style Virtual Book Tour. I want to start by thanking all of the awesome bloggers out there who participated in this book tour and made it so special. I thoroughly enjoyed reading your reviews and seeing what some of you made from the book. I would also like to thank my publisher, Wiley, for being so supportive and generously donating books to be given away at each and every stop. And finally, a huge THANK YOU to all of you readers out there for following the tour and leaving your comments. I see lots of repeat visitors and that makes me smile! If you've missed the other stops and would like to visit, there is a full list here.

There is one more book to be given away and that is here. At the end of this post I will tell you how to enter, but first, I want to tell you that if you will be attending the International Quilt Market next week in Kansas City, MO, there will be many, many more chances to win a copy of my book. Below is the schedule of events for the show:

Thursday, May 17:

Schoolhouse at 12:45 - 1:15 p.m., Room 2503B

We will preview all the new fabrics and patterns,
then show a MODKID Fashion Show video (first time ever shown!)

4 books will be given away at the end, courtesy of Wiley,

and EVERY attendee will receive a free pattern from our Summer 2012 line!

Friday, May 18:

Book signing at 11:00 a.m. at the MODKID booth, Booth #3024-26

The first 20 books are free, so be sure to get there on time.
After that, books will be available for purchase at wholesale price.

Saturday, May 19:

Book Signing at United Notions, 3:00 p.m., Booth #110-117

Sunday, May 20:

Book Signing at Brewer, 11:15 a.m., Booth #2824-2833

Speaking of new products, I am head over heels in love with my latest fabric collection, Heaven & Helsinki. A full reveal is coming this Friday, so please come back and check it out. What some of you don't know is that, in addition to the 31 quilting cotton prints you see on that page, the collection also comes in a new-to-us knit fabric that sews up like butter and has virtually no shrinkage. I can't say much about it right now because it is not ready to be fully shown (it's not even on the MMF site yet!) but the full reveal will come in a couple of weeks and I promise it won't disappoint!

Here is a sneak peek of some of the items from the book sewn up in the new knits. This is also an image from the video we will show at schoolhouse.

From left to right: Mikayla is wearing the Mondrian Shirt, Yoga Pants and Fingerless Gloves, Anna is wearing the Bubble Dress, Leggings and Rosy Headband and Sydney is wearing the Shirrley Tank Dress and Rosy Headband.

All shoes are courtesy of Chooze Shoes.

OK, folks, this is the moment you've all been waiting for: I want to know what the first item you would like to sew from Sewing MODKID Style when you receive the book. What is the project that most appeals to you? What are you most looking forward to sewing up? You can see the adorable Bloom Dresses Melanie O'Brien made for here daughters here. You can also see the Tie Strap Halter, Bloom Dress and Yoga Pants Melanie Dramatic made here. Jenny Fish sewed up more items than I can count (all so adorable!) here. And John Adams (a.k.a. Quilt Dad) made a pair of Stripwork Scarves for his sweet twin daughters here. Ohhhh, and for more inspiration, you can always check the SMS Flickr Pool... I even see the Harlequin Quilt in there! :)

Let me know what your favorite project from the book is in the comments below and I will draw a winner for a free book next Monday, May 14th.

Don't forget to check the blog this Friday (the 11th) for the full Heaven & Helsinki reveal and next Friday (the18th) for the knits reveal!! If you will be at Quilt Market next week, I hope you come by and visit.

Virtual Book Tour

Hello, all! Hope everyone had a very happy Easter! I'm still trying to come down from my chocolate marshmallow high... and that's while still trying to recover from our 9-day trip to FL. Oh, the laundry!

But on the upside, the Sewing MODKID Style Virtual Book Tour is well under way, so I wanted to give you guys a little recap and then let you know what's to come.

• Wiley Craft kicked off the tour last Monday with a little Q&A with yours truly. See it here.
  Then they came back on Wednesday to announce the winner (congrats, Pauline) and share a little behind the scenes peek at what it's like to produce a book, like Sewing MODKID Style. If you've ever wondered, look no further.
  
  
• On Wednesday also, Melanie O'Brien, of A Sewing Journal, did a wonderful review and sewed up a couple of adorable Bloom Dresses. Her contest closes tonight at midnight, so you still have a few hours to enter. HURRY! See it here.
  
  
• On Friday, Kathy Mack of Pink Chalk, shared some wonderful pictures of the book and blogged about her desire to have these pieces made in women's sizes (which I'm seriously considering). She is giving away yet another copy to a lucky winner and will choose her winner today. See it here.
  
  
• And finally, today it was Melanie Dramatic's turn and wow, she's not kidding when she says she wants to sew every project in this book. For the review, she sewed up the Bloom Dress, the Yoga Shorts and the Tie Strap Halter, and then this morning she tweeted a photo of her adorable daughter wearing the Mondrian Shirt and Yoga Shorts. So cute! She will choose her winner on Friday, March 13th. See it here.

Did you miss these chances to win a copy? Don't fret! Here are the rest of the tour dates. Make sure to visit these awesome blogs and leave your comments for a chance to win...

Wed., April 11th, 2012: Stop Staring and Start Sewing

Friday, April 13th, 2012: Generation Q

Monday, April 16th, 2012: Lil Blue Boo

Wed., April 18th, 2012: True Up

Friday, April 20th, 2012: Paige Hill

Monday, April 23rd, 2012: Boutique Café

Wed., April 25th, 2012: The Long Thread

Friday, April 27th, 2012: Sew Pretty Dresses

Monday, April 30th, 2012: Prudent Baby

Wed., May 2nd, 2012: Our Busy Little Bunch

Friday, May 4th, 2012: Fat Quarterly

Monday, May 7th, 2012: Making It Fun

Wed., May 9th, 2012: MODKID blog

Let's see, what else is new? Oh, I started a Sewing MODKID Style Flickr Pool so I invite you all to join and share your creations with us. Based on the looks of the current photo pool, I can confidently say that the Bloom Dress is a fan fave. :)

On FaceBook, we've been seeing a few more entries to the "Show Me Your Book" contest. I realized I never gave a deadline for this, so since a lot of you are just getting the book now or waiting to win a copy during the Virtual Book Tour, I will just wait until the end of the tour to announce a winner. Get those photos uploaded to our Modkid Fan Page, friends! Here's a couple of new ones...

Liz Mouse, one of my pattern testers, showing off her first creation from the book, the Banded Tank Top. She also did a mini-review of the book (I love coming up on these by surprise!). :)


Jenny Fish's adorable daughter showing off her Yoga Pants. Jenny's turn on the Virtual Book Tour is coming up soon!