Delayed, Snowed In and Tired!

Marny hard at work "kitting" baby Dip Bowls....
and totally color coordinated!

jill here...It was a great show but when you're ready to get home, it can't be fast enough.  Our second flight was canceled so we spent the day in the Dallas airport.  As far a airports go, its a good one to be stuck in...we were comfortable, fed and really grateful to leave on the last connection to DSM.

Surprisingly, we received lots of snow today and it changed plans again.  Tomorrow I'm sitting still and getting reorganized.  Hopefully I can figure out the iPhone connection to my computer's iPhoto.  We have lots of really wonderful show quilts to share.

So check back and we'll share some of the modern!  Hope you're warm and fed with a sewing machine close by.  Later,...

Quiltcon Off and Running

Here we are in the Austin Convention Center!  We hate to say the weather is good but someone described it as a "Chamber of Commerce" day...one that everyone wants to believe is the norm and not the exception! 

Jill hard at work setting up the "trapeze" system.

To the left of center is the Monaluna collection
...moving into the Benartex!

Baby, baby and Picnic...

Marny, on site, looking very relaxed.

Front and center, someone said "My, your display is very modern"!
Thats what we're going for.

This is our "friends" section: Carolyn Friedlander,
Debbie Grifka and Shea Henderson.  They like methods like
paper piecing and applique!  

"Glinda, the Wise Owl"...designed by Lindsey Buck.
This is a full color, step by step illustrated knitted pattern!
Sells for only $5.00.  We take orders and will ship!

We'll be back with some photos of all that is happening ...
well at least some of it!

later

Modern Quilt Kits at Quiltcon Part III, Architextures and ?

Good morning! We're off to the Quiltcon convention center on a cloudy (maybe rainy) day.  Here's the last of our kitted quilts !

 Leftovers in Carolyn Friedlander's Architextures...
rather city sketchy, don't you think?

Baby Dip Bowls from our book PICNIC.
The fabric is Bloom from Michael Miller.

Have a great day.  We'll be back soon....

Modern Quilt Kits Part II at Quiltcon, Monaluna Fabrics

Austin we've arrived.  Travel was as smooth as it could be and even early.  We walked over to the convention center in 57 degrees where we were greeted by Ellen Rushman's friendly smile.  Way too easy.  We registered for our badges and checked out our booth site.   A convention participant should not have a problem seeing our habitat as we're straight down the center isle.  Quiltcon will have a  big transformation before the show opens.  After the quick tour, a margarita was in order along with some really hot Mexican food.  Yum!

As promised, these are a few more of our patterns that are kitted with Monaluna organic fabric!

Supper Club with Llama love as the focus, herringbone and mod boxes!

Full view of Supper Club.

Brioche created with Gum Drops Blue the baguettes are Little Birds Blue,
Mod Boxes and Brick Wall.  We can do this in a red version as well!

Recipe Cards with Birds Too, adding in Little Birds Red,
Weave Green and Waffle Green as the background fabric

So we'll post again daily.  Tomorrow we have a few more kits to preview and then we'll be spending the day getting our booth designed.  Stay tuned....

Modern Quilt Kits at Quiltcon! Part I, Benartex Googlies

We are busily packing and getting ready to go to Austin for Quiltcon.  Booth set up is Wednesday.  Quiltcon itself takes place Thursday-Sunday.  Hopefully we can share lots through the week.  We're learning and vending so every minute will be jam packed.  

Today we want to share three of the new samples that we have kits for.  We will post three more tomorrow and the last two on Tuesday!  They are all so CUTE!!

Three Modern Quilt Relish patterns made up in Googlies from Benartex fabrics.

Our pattern Nibbles made up using Stars Bright from the Benartex Googlies collection designed by Michele D'Amore.

Here you see Cheddar No Crackers sewn with Stars Pastel used as the background.  (Again a Googlie fabric from Benartex.)

Leftovers uses Googlies Allover Black.  We love all three of these pieces of Googlies because they are nondirectional and so wonderfully accented with solids! 

So come back and look tomorrow please.

Quiltcon to the Wire...Austin on the radar!

jill here....Down to the wire, the last samples are off to the long arm quilter.  Boxes have been sent to Austin.  We have 7 brand new samples and they are really cute.  Did we tell you our theme is Baby?  The catch is that we're still awaiting the delivery of some fabric to kit these cute little devils.  Even if all the fabric doesn't arrive, the samples will be eye candy.  We'll give you more of a preview next week as we fly off !

"Architextures" fabric line
 for Robert Kaufman

We plan to keep the booth simply modern.  What initially seemed like a lot of extra space has now become filled ( at least in our imagination).  The third designer showing some of her patterns in our booth is Carolyn Friedlander.  We met Carolyn via the internet and have enjoyed seeing her at markets.  Her designs are intricate, very precise and paper pieced....modern but very different from our approach.  At spring market, her fabric line "Architextures" was introduced.  It's a very creative mix of color and her graphic background in architecture.  We have a new version of Leftovers created from this line...still at the quilters.

Carolyn Friedlander

Carolyn Friedlander is a quilt and fabric designer (with Robert Kaufman) working from her hometown of Lake Wales, Florida, an environment she enjoys for its warm weather, few distractions, and potent community of quilters and crafters. In her work, she draws inspiration from features of the Florida landscape—its long leaf pines, palmettos, water, scrub land, and sand—as well as her background in architecture. You can follow Carolyn and her work on her website (carolynfriedlander.com) and blog (carolynfriedlander.com/blog).

 Carolyn Friedlander's Blue Palmetto

Carolyn Friedlander's Local Quilt...9 blocks with stories!

So with binding, packing and preparing we anticipate sharing this inaugural Quiltcon.

'Till next Tuesday!

Quiltcon here we come

The time has come to get ready for our Quiltcon booth!  In addition to our new book Picnic and wonderful new samples and our own kits for several patterns we're going to have three other talented designers represented in our booth.  Two blog posts will introduce or reacquaint you with these three modern designers.

First up is Debbie Grifka of Esch House Quilts.  We met Debbie through the blog, she asked us to judge a challenge for the Ann Arbor Modern Quilt Guild.  We've been lucky to meet her in person at the last two Quilt Markets. (We're remembering a particularly tasty and fun dinner in Houston. yum.) The following is a bio she sent us.  

Debbie has been sewing all her life and quilting for the past ten years.  Her designs have appeared in such magazines as Stitch, Quilting Arts Gifts and Modern Patchwork and she publishes her own patterns as Esch House Quilts.  Debbie's quilt "Ephemeral Elegance", using her bias appliqué technique, won first place in its category at the American Quilter's Society Quilt Show in Paducah in 2011.  She is Vice President of the Ann Arbor (MI) Modern Quilt Guild and loves to share her passion for quilting.

Esch House Quilts Spell quilt, love the balance of letters, negative space and blocks!

Traffic Pattern from Esch House Quilts.  So cute!

Esch House Quilts Curried Plums.  This quilt will be in the Quiltcon show!  We're eager to see it in person.

Debbie is teaching machine, bias and hand appliqué at Quiltcon.  Wish we could be in one of her classes.

Next, we have Shea Henderson of Empty Bobbin Sewing Studio.  Shea creates and designs lots of fun kid oriented fabric items and quilts.  We met her at our very first Quilt Market!  We had one great dinner in Houston with Shea and another in Kansas City when we spoke at the KCMQG meeting in November.

Here is the bio information Shea gave us permission to paste from her blog.

Why the name “Empty Bobbin”? I picked that as my blog name years ago as I just love the idea of an empty bobbin– it means you have been sewing and sewing and sewing for someone special.

I’m a pattern person. I like learning from patterns and books, and I like my projects to have a defined size and shape before I start sewing. With clear and detailed instructions, you can focus all of your energy on creating something that really reflects you.

I live in Kansas City, MO, with my husband and our two (now three) precocious preschoolers. When I’m not designing, sewing, or writing patterns, I can be found leading the Kansas City chapter of the Modern Quilt Guild.

Shea Henderson of Empty Bobbin Sewing Studio

Shea's Card Table Playhouse.  This is so cute! 

Cover Up from Empty Bobbin Studio, treat you machines to a cover up!

We are thrilled we get to carry some patterns from Debbie, Shea and Carolyn in our booth at Quiltcon.
(Carolyn Friedlander is the third designer and we'll discuss her patterns and fabric in next Tuesday's post.) 

Thank you to so many wonderful local friends who made our book signing incredibly fun on Saturday.  (A special thank you to Lois for the chocolate hearts on a stick!  Delicious!!)  It was good to see lots of familiar faces.  We both worked at the Quilting Connection for years and it was very special to see so many of the customers and staff we'd grown to know and don't get to see any longer.  Thank you!!   

Till Tuesday then...