house wren studio

take and shake

Beautiful autumn days here in New York. My friend Lynne asked me to meet her for a walk at the park. In the distance we could barely see a man hanging off the Tappan Zee Bridge in protest of something. He was apparently holding up a sign, eating his lunch, dangling halfway between bridge and water. All the fire departments were called to their rescue boats, circling beneath. Helicopters overhead. He was still there when we left. I felt bad for all the folks stuck in the bridge traffic and the volunteer firefighters called from their jobs. (He's down now. Stubbornly but safely.)

Having some fun with the Hipstomatic shake feature in my phone. You never know what you'll get. Just shake it up and the films and lenses change randomly. 

Do you see a face too?

Can you see the silhouette of the little chickadee flying away from the feeder?

 

Last day for this masterpiece, but he sure got scarier with age....and mold.

dropped everything for a dumpling

Thanks for all the kind words about Quilt Market. I have more things to share, but had to start with this. One of the people I finally met was Kathy Mack from Pink Chalk Studio. She's a good friend of Jone's and the three of us had dinner one evening. A highlight in all ways. 

This morning I was visiting Kathy's blog and saw her post about this cute, cute Dumpling Bag from Keyka Lou. 

I had almost everything here to give it a try. 

I pieced my fabric scraps together to get the fronts right side up. Different patterns on each side. (Add seam allowance where the pattern fold line is and press the seam open flat.)

I even had an old zipper here (* long time since I sewed in a zipper). No interfacing though so I used muslin and basted it to the back of the front instead (but left the lining as is). That worked just fine.

My fabric line doesn't ship until January, but I could make a bunch of these with my pre-press samples for holiday gifts. Or use up some of my crazy vintage stash.

So, go visit Kathy and then visit Keyka Lou. Make some dumpling bags!

Yummy.

walnut hill farm :: blend fabrics :: quilt market

I told Anna that it was a Cinderella moment. Seeing my designs collectively displayed in her booth was amazing. Everything that happened up to that moment and then forward too was as lovely as a fairy tale. The booth was gorgeous, the collections were gorgeous, the designers were gorgeous, the sales team was gorgeous and yes, the buyers were too!

Among other places, my collection is going to Japan, Spain, England, Holland, New Zealand and Australia. Wow!

Anna enlisted a team of designers to make samples using the fabrics for each collection. I loved the big tuffet pillow! 

And the crazy quilt!

And still felt proud of the projects I made and brought. 

What a thrill to see my name up there followed by Walnut Hill Farm. The collection is named for the place where I grew up outside Saint Louis. It's all inspired by my mother's personal style and the nostalgia my grandmother instilled in both of us. 

Back to that Cinderella moment. I was telling Anna that it felt like that and she laughed and said, Well, yes, and I had a real Cinderella moment today. My shoe fell off getting into the cab and the bellman picked it up and put it back on my foot! 

It goes without saying that Anna was the real Cinderella at this gala although everyone at Blend made each of us feel like major princesses. I'm grateful for and wildly impressed by all that Anna did to bring her vision - and ours - to market. Brilliant.

And gorgeous.

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I'm having trouble linking and getting the site to load correctly. If you are interested in more information about Blend fabrics, contact Joe Spiegelberg 855-817-0604 (joe@blendfabrics.com) or Clarinda Nelson 952-913-8406.

a beginning and a bit of an end

I cannot wait to share all the details of my trip to Houston and Quilt Market. Even the flight away from home was magical. (How I love NY!) The weekend unfolded in the best of ways and I will be back soon to show and tell.

But first, my focus is re-entry. There is still snow on the ground here and there and our poor broken tree teetering ominously. The old lilac was crushed too. Wish I could mend it with needle and thread.

Plenty of happy things to think about while we snip, saw and bundle. Still trying to take it all in!