stuff about artstuff.

"Meet the Designer" Interview

Hey everyone!

Have you checked out the Henry Glass blog yet?  It's a fun place for everything fabric-related, featuring neato projects and quilts and goodies and giveaways.  If you haven't, today would be a great day to hop on over to see for yourself.

Why today?

Well, today there is a "Meet the Designer" interview with me!  That's pretty cool, right?  And while you're enjoying all the fun stuff on their blog, go on back a page or two where you'll also see a "Meet the Designer" interview from January with my good friend Shelly!

In addition to the blog, be sure to check out Henry Glass on Facebook, where you'll find even more goodies, giveaways, and fun stuff. 

And finally - I have been waiting to share this with you but will give you a super double top-secret uber-sneaky sneak peek of my new softie flannel fabric coming out later this month, called "Buttercup Babies". . . I can't wait to show you the rest of it!

Stay tuned for more details, here and on the Henry Glass blog, website, and Facebook Page!

So Lucky.

Sometimes the extra bonus goodness I get to experience from this crazy job I have is just too much, I really am constantly blessed in spite of myself! 

Art Licensing can create a very distant and removed lifestyle for artists.  Most of us who do this work alone in our studios, often quite isolated from the real world.  On one hand, that's something I enjoy about it - I tend to be happy with what may seem to most folks like an unnatural volume of peace, quiet, and privacy.  On the other hand, we are so far removed from the end consumer that it's difficult sometimes to grasp the big picture - departments and focus groups and agencies and committees, manufacturers and distributors and sales reps and retailers; the list of entities separating a licensing artist from the person who buys and lives with our products is pretty vast.  But that's just how the machine works; I could never make and sell my stuff like they do.

You don't go into this field expecting to make friends or share warm fuzzy moments.  But it happens.  The mentors, muses, and dear friends I've been blessed with make my life full and happy. 

One such unexpected friendship began a couple months ago.  A nice woman in Kentucky wanted to make a rag-quilt for a Christmas present for her grandson who loves camping.  She was searching the web for flannel with squirrels on it (!) and stumbled on my Etsy shop where I still had yardage from my At The Lake collection.  Who knew I was about to make a friend?   

We chatted online, one thing led to another, and when she had finished that one, made 2 others with more of my flannel - then offered to make me one for me.  I almost tear up just telling you about this (talk amongst yourselves) how sweet and generous is that?!

It arrived when I was in Atlanta attending AmericasMart last month.  I could hardly wait to open the package, but I didn't share it with you right away because as you can see, the blanket and I had some very important work to catch up with that first day home.

If you don't believe that this holds a prominent and beloved place in our household, take a closer look at all the pet hairs that have embedded, literally woven themselves into the fabric.  Curling up on the couch on chilly winter evenings here means there is at least one furry family member on top of you, usually two.

But in spite of the hairs, isn't that cool?  I love it, and it fits perfectly into our decor and lifestyle!

And finally, this amazing gift:

The happy recipient of the original quilt drew me a picture (look at that awesome tent and camp fire -  I love this!).

And like a true Southern Gentleman, charmed me to death with sweet compliments.

New friends, and physical, tangible reminders right here to treasure; I have so much to be thankful for, to fill my heart and make me smile - next time you catch me being a grouch or curmudgeon, you have my permission to just slap me.  I mean it.

Art Imitates Cat.

So this one might fall under the "better late than never" category, and I suppose I ought to apologize for that.  But you know how sometimes you set little goals and to-do lists for yourself in a certain order of how you believe they need to happen, but one tiny detail holds you up for some silly reason and then the whole process falls apart and the entire thing hangs dangerously on the edge of never getting accomplished, ever? 

Oh.  No, it's just me? 

Ok then, never mind.

Anyhoo, as many of you already know (no thanks to me!) The Cat's Meow has been in quilt shops for months now . . . you can still find it here and there on the web, and even some cute quilt patterns here, here, and here.  And finally (fanfare, drumroll, ta dat dat dat da!) I have yardage available in my Etsy shop.

Those of you paying close attention will also recognize some of the kitties in this group from greeting cards you might have seen in everybody's favorite gourmet discount grocer, or here on my blog (or Flossie's!).

Most of you are already familiar with my constant studio companion and muse - but did you realize that every single kitty in the collection is modeled by Miss Flossie herself?  This isn't the first time Flossie has inspired a fabric group, so I suppose it's not surprising that when Harriet from Henry Glass came to me last year to brainstorm about a cat-themed group, I went straight to my "used pictures from Flossie's blog" file folder and started sketching (these are just a few of the inspiration-photos straight from Flossie's blog).

  

  

 

 

 
And all 10 of these kitty pictures are still available as prints in my Etsy shop!

Fitting, but not at all unsual, HRH herself is cuddled up in a blankie on my lap right now, overseeing the writing of this post.

Sunset Lodge Wedding Quilt

This one is a beauty, isn't it?  A lovely lady named Naida created this quilt with my Sunset Lodge flannel fabric for a wedding present for her grandson and his bride.

The folks at Henry Glass got us in touch when Naida was in a panic without the yardage necessary to finish her project - and it wasn't available elsewhere. Fortunately I had what she needed and the quilt was finished just in time to get it to her long-arm quilter with a couple weeks to spare (!) to get the binding finished before the wedding!

Naida was nice enough to share this picture of the top before the quilt was finished - this is a big one, folks; it took 2 people holding it over the edge of a second-story deck and another with the camera to get a shot of the whole thing (thanks to Naida's helpers for this!). 

What an amazing gift!  I'm sure this beautiful piece will be treasured for generations to come.  And if you'd like to see a larger picture, head over to my Facebook Page!

For All the Lodge-y Babies Out There...

It's always fun to see what creative people do with my fabrics, and here's one I might have never known about if it wasn't for my good friend Sue.  Last month while vacationing at the gorgeous Mohonk Mountain House she stumbled on these little beauties in the gift shop.
Tuthilltown Tots creates beautifully made little baby gift sets: cute bibs, little hooded towels, and "Boo-Boo Animals" (little washcloth guys!) and this set features some of my Lodge fabric from last year.
What a perfect match, don't you think?
Thanks so much Sue for sharing these pictures!

Show And Tell

One of my favorite things about getting to do this for a living is seeing where my art finally ends up - from a few coasters on an end-table or a picture on someone's wall to amazing creations that talented folks sew and craft with my fabrics and scrapbooking supplies.

Because it's always rewarding to get to see when your babies find good homes.

And each little product with my designs on it is just that - my babies.

Whenever I get a chance, I'll share them here on my blog, but too often I don't get around to blogging as often as I'd like, and pictures or links to neato stuff gets sort of buried in my "stuff to blog someday" folder.  So to simplify things a bit, now in addition to every-now-and-again blog posts where I share these fun things, I'm starting a new photo album on my Facebook Page for this specific purpose - just for show-and-tell.
2 very attractive models show off matching gardening aprons made from my April Showers panel by Henry Glass.

If you've sewn something with any of my fabrics, crafted with my scrapbook designs, or if you've just got a really cute corner of your home where you've incorporated my art in some way, I would love to see - and share - pictures of that.  Please feel free to drop me a line and share a photo or a link, I'd love to hear from you and see what you've been up to!

In the meantime, check out a few of the projects already in the album.  I'll be adding more as I dig up photos that nice people have sent me over the years (and find folks to make sure I have permission to share on The Interwebs!) so stay tuned!

It's Officially Summer!

And you know what that means in much of the Art Licensing world:

Christmas!

Those of you paying really, really close attention might even remember what I was working on last summer (bonus points duly awarded).  And now this summer I can finally share with you what that was all about.
Many of you already know about my genetic obsession with Christmas and decorating for the holidays.  My Granddad actually designed and built their family home with holiday decorating and enteraining large groups in mind.  The place was a wonderland from November to January, the hum of his little handmade motors buzzing quietly in the background as festive figurines danced, angels flew, snowflakes fell; whatever Granddad could imagine some crazy little decoration might do to make it more interesting, he figured out a way to wire and mechanize it somehow.  The whole place moved, glowed, blinked . . . it was truly magical in every way.
And there were elves.  Lots of elves.  Everywhere.  I suppose this, along with the fact that grownups like to tell little children that Santa's elves are "always watching" had a lot to do with my recurring childhood nightmare that creepy little beings were hiding in the tree outside my bedroom window watching me while I slept.  But that's another issue for another day.  Many of those elves live with me now, and we're all quite happy and peaceful about it.
One Crazy Christmas Eve is a super fun holiday collection full of sweet, friendly elves (not stalkerish at all, really) and oodles of retro style inspired by the decorations we grew up with.
If you follow my Facebook page you probably already know this, but the group is now available at The Fat Quarter Shop (and was featured on their own Facebook page last week).
I can't wait
to make something
with this...
But wait, it gets better: there's actually a storybook in this one.  No really, a for-real storybook!  Harriet, one of the amazingly creative designers I work with at Henry Glass, wrote the cleverest Christmas story especially for this (what fun this was to illustrate!) and there's a 1-yard panel with the book pages and instructions for sewing your own soft-book!  How cool is that?
Um, Flossie, I'm trying to show the people what the book panel looks like.
Please?
On the Henry Glass website there's even a neato quilt pattern - just click "New Free Projects" to download the PDF.
So, in the spirit of the season, Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good summer!  Enjoy!

Spring.

I know, it's not really.  But it will come eventually.

It always does.

Doesn't look much like it now, at least here - and I'm guessing most of you are in the same boat.  Looks more like a sugary doughnut outside my window right now.  A bitter cold, hard, frosty, grey doughnut.  Ok, so winter might be losing some of its powdered-sugar charm at this point, but that's not what this post is about, it's about spring.  And new fabric.  Hooray spring, hooray new fabric.  Those are both nice, right?
My new April Showers collection by Henry Glass is available now at an independent quilt shop near you!  With 16 springy-fresh coordinates plus an adorable apron pattern, maybe our dreams of warmer, greener days won't seem quite so distant.

Soon I will have fat-quarter bundles and yardage available in my Etsy shop.  Right now, though, an extra computer is occupying the only fabric-measuring-and-cutting space in the house and it will remain there until I am sure I've retrieved all the important data from the tired, crippled old thing and gotten it safely into the new system (good times) but for immediate gratification, you can find it here or here right this second!

Shoppingstuff

If you haven't checked it out lately, I've been adding new items to my Etsy shop every day!  Prints, handpainted items, fabric, cards ... maybe even just what you need to finish your own holiday shopping.
 

All orders placed by Tuesday, December 21, 9:00AM PDT are guaranteed delivered by Christmas.

Dia de los Muertos

Halloween's not the only skeletonicious holiday just around the corner, don't forget the 3 day celebration following Halloween...

And for all your Day of the Dead craft-y sew-y needs (you don't think I'm serious?) Joann has brought back my fun flower-skulls pattern again this year!
You can purchase the fabric here or in-person at your local Joann store.

Lodge

Looking for some outdoorsy lodgey fabric in bright, fun colors?  Well, your local Joann store has just the thing: the new Artstuff Ltd. "Lodge" designs: 4 patterns planted firmly on the playful, whimsical side of mountain.  You know, where the sun is always shining.

My friends at Robert Kaufman did a great job with these!
I especially had fun designing the map.   It's a lighter, brighter take on my Trail Map scrapbooking paper in my Great Outdoors collection by Momenta.  I had so much fun imagining the places, drawing the details, and figuring out how to make it all fit together.
I wouldn't mind hanging out in this little cabin about now.
What?  Too close to the bear caves?  Don't worry, they're nice bears.  I made them.

Anyway, here's how to find them:
And as always, please show me what you make with my designs, I absolutely love that part!

Rock Star!

Here's one for the just-catching-up list:

My Rock Star fabric by Robert Kaufman has been in stores since spring (!) and you'd never know it but I've been dying to show you because I love it.  Who remembers my Tomboy Princess®  line of neato little stationery products from a few years back?  Well, if you do, good on ya' ... there are extra bonus points on your permanent record for today.

Just a little something for the roller-derbyin' motorcycle-ridin' sports-playin'  rock-and-rollin' tomboy princess diva in every girl (oh you know she's in there, don't try to tell me she's not).  You can find these 2 patterns in quilt shops and in several different online shops (click any of those 4 links to purchase, or check out your own favorite retailer to see if they carry it).

I am dying to see a little skirt or dress in these ... maybe line the inside of a jeans jacket?  Too flippin' cute.  I keep threatening to do it myself, but we all know how well that could turn out...

Fall is Time for Flannel

Although today is a gorgeous sunshiny (and warm, even!) day in Seattle, it's that time ... time for harvesting, baking, nesting, the crunchy sound of kicking leaves on a stroll, and in the evenings cuddling up with warmy softy blankies and quilts.  What's nicer than soft cuddly flannel?  I mean I realize I'm from the Northwest and our penchant for the stuff seems to be instinctual and unconscious, but humor me here.  Warm and soft is nice, right?

Which brings me to that "thunk" on the porch I mentioned yesterday...

Noah's Journey flannel is here!
Yes, the clever folks at Henry Glass have reprinted the collection, and this time on can't-resist-rubbing-it-on-your-face softy warmy flannel.
I mean just get right up close and feel this.
No, really close.
And this is just fresh-off-the-press straight from the factory softness.  Throw this stuff in the washer with a little Downy in the rinse and I may just crawl into a pile of it and not come out until Spring.

Fat quarter bundles and yardage coming soon to my Etsy shop, and of course your favorite neighborhood (and online) quilt shops!  Enjoy - and I can't wait to see what you clever and creative people out there make with it!

Sunset Lodge!

Well, you already know how I am.

That familiar, loud "thunk" on the front porch, along with Molly's maniacal screambarking reserved especially for delivery trucks ... it's like Christmas morning every time.
I can't wait to rip into the boxes and once opened I dance around and squeal like an idiot.  This is how much I love what they do with my designs!
Then, I rush to share the new arrival with you all here on my blog.

(insert record-scratch noise here)

Wait ... those first pictures were taken in June.  Um, here I am, rushing to - um, uhh, well.  I've really wanted to.  It's just been ... well, um...

So here it is, the end of September, and I'm finally getting around to taking pictures to show you.
I am pretty excited about this group; I really, really love how it all turned out. It was an extra special project for me, inspired by some of our own favorite getaways here in Washington State as well as my own family's neato vintage luggage & travel stickers, even my mom's old wooden skis.  And any of my family members who are looking closely at this ... yes, those are the backs of our Granny's postcards tucked into the main collage pattern!
And (drum-roll please) ... I've finally reopened my long-neglected Etsy shop and (tada) now have my fabrics available - by the yard, or in cute little fat-quarter bundles.  
I've just finished putting the first few up with more coming very soon, because...

Guess what Molly and I heard land on the front porch today?

Sorry but I'm going to leave you hanging on that one until I come back ... for now I'll just say that it's cute as ever, but now with extra cozy softy-softness.  I'll be back soon to tell you all about it!

Soon

I have lots to share with you but it's going to have to wait a little longer.  I've been supercrazybusy with new projects the last couple months, then I took a little time off for the extended-dance-mix of my birthday (ok, there was no dancing, which was fine, but it did stretch out over an entire week and was glorious). 

But back to reality here: there's stuff hitting stores I want to let you know about, new fabric out now, more coming soon, and suddenly its - fall?  Really?  Boy, I didn't see that coming.  No, really.  I didn't.  Go figure.

Today I finally did something that's been on my list for over a month: I cut gobs of fat quarters, cute little bundles of which will be hitting my Etsy store soon, and I can't wait to show you how nice my new flannel collection Sunset Lodge came out... 
...but as you can see from these terrible photos it's late in the day, I'm quickly losing daylight, there's a dog to walk, other stuff to finish... 
But I wanted to stop by here and give you a super quick, albeit grimly lit, sneak peek.  More soon, I promise.  And by that I don't mean more super quick grimly lit stuff.  I mean like, for real.  Actual details, the shop will reopen, all sorts of stuff.  So stay tuned, ok?

I'll be back.

How Cute is This?

Ooh-ooh-ooh, look at this! 
Cheri Campbell created this adorable little quilt with my Noah's Journey fabric for a very special baby boy (welcome, Rafferty!) and look how cute it turned out!  She used the big panel for the backing and the multicolor polka-dots in a courthouse steps pattern, perfectly framing the little animal squares.  Really nice design! 
Thanks Cheri, for sharing your beautiful handiwork!

Oh, and in sort-of-top-secret news ... rumour has it that Noah's Journey will be reappearing as cotton-flannel later this year!  I will keep you posted...

The Great Outdoors

 Are you a scrapbookingaholic?  If so, you should check out the new Momenta website.  They've been adding a lot of neato stuff including new digital products, free downloads, projects, even video instruction.

They're now selling their great products on the site as well - including my Great Outdoors collection!  It's all awesome quality - nice heavy papers and uber cool extra touches on the stickers and goodies.   I love what they do with my art, and I hope you do too!

I'm just waiting for someone to do some papercrafting with these products to somehow coordinate with a sewing project using my At the Lake flannels - I know there is someone out there who is totally into matchy-poo (besides me) and if you are, and if you do this - please send me a picture!  Matchy-poo makes me happy.  So does neat-and-tidy, but both tend to be a bit elusive in my world.  Oh well.

In the mean time, I hope you get a chance to enjoy the actual great outdoors this weekend.  I plan to try to take the weekend off (gasp) and enjoy some of this!

It may not look like much to those of you in other parts of the country - but after the drearily long and soggy few months we've had around here, this is pretty exciting!  Happy (almost) summer, everyone!

Happy Easter!

Hope you all are having a lovely spring weekend and enjoy the holiday!
 
(fabrics available this season at a Hancock store near you!)

Fabric Trends

Look what just arrived in my mailbox today!  It's the newest issue of Fabric Trends magazine, with an adorable pattern for 2 quilts featuring my Noah's Journey fabric by Henry Glass!

 
You can make a girl's version... 
or a boy's version. 
How cute are these?!  I love the clever applique treatment with the big ark & animals from the main panel.  Super cute quilt design, don't you think?

The spring issue will be hitting newsstands in a couple weeks, so if you aren't a subscriber you can find it then! 
You can order the full kits at Pinetree Country Quilts.

As always, I'd love to see anything and everything you make using my designs so please. if you create something, do share pictures, it would make my day!  Thanks!

Here They Come, 2 by 2...

I just got a happy little surprise in my email in-box: the new Keepsake Quilting e-newsletter. The new catalog comes out this week - and look at what's on the cover! 
My Noah's Journey fabric by Henry Glass!

You can request your own catalog here, or shop their fabulous website ... or of course, if you're in the area, visit their lovely shop in Center Harbor, New Hampshire.

They're offering this quilt kit on their website, complete with directions, fabric, and batting ... so simple you can"make this quilt in an afternoon"!