Page 32 – the long thread

March 11, 2014March 11, 2014

Sneak Peek: Framework

Here are the strike-offs from my upcoming fabric collection for Kokka, Framework. I think the Steps design above will be my new favorite for bags. And I am beyond thrilled that the fabrics pictured on the left below are all double-gauze cotton! There are three designs in double-gauze cotton and three designs in Kokka’s linen/cotton blend (on the right). If you’re not familiar with double-gauze cotton, read Rachael’s post here. These soft fabrics are ideal for clothing, baby things, and soft quilts.

I wish you could feel how soft these double-gauze cottons are! A few of these samples will be different colors, but you can see the basic color palette. This collection will debut at Spring Market and will ship to stores sometime this summer!

March 2, 2014

Garden Images

garden-images-from-kokka

Here are some images of my Garden collection from the Kokka blog. These were all samples shown in the Kokka booth at Quilt Market in October. You can find this collection at Pink Castle Fabrics, Miss Matatabi, Fabricworm, and Pink Chalk Fabrics, and others. I just got strike-offs from my next collection and you can see some sneak peeks over on Instagram.

February 22, 2014February 22, 2014

Tiny Houses

We just finished up our all-school auction project. Last year I made a quilt with the kids, with the children each dyeing a piece of fabric. I paper pieced that quilt and it took many, many hours. So this year, we decided to try an art project instead. Since I’d always wanted to make a quilt of little houses, we decided to make a project with tiny wooden houses, each cut from balsa wood in varying shapes. The finished piece is 36″ x 48″, so each house had to be around 2″ wide and tall to allow 386 houses to fit on the wooden background.

Once I’d cut the houses, I passed them along to our school art teacher Kelley, who had each grade use a different technique to design their houses. Techniques included Pollack splatter painting for the youngest kids, Kandinsky houses with pastels for pre-K, Mondrian houses for kindergarten, plus pointillism, tissue paper overlays, paper mosaics, acrylic and sharpie, and black and white Zentangles. Some of the houses were representational and some abstract. Kelley did an amazing job with the kids and we were both surprised at how much detail they were able to get on these small houses. Then I painted the background with acrylic paint, glued each house on with wood glue and varnished the finished piece. I think that all of the individual and unique houses coming together in one project is such a sweet metaphor for our school community.

February 7, 2014February 7, 2014

Working

working

At the beginning of the year I decided to make some changes to my blog. I am no longer accepting advertisements because posting regularly has become more of a burden and things seem to have changed. Blogging doesn’t feel like it did when I first began in 2007. Back then I felt like I was talking to friends, sharing ideas and inspiration in a community. These days it feels like that community has devolved to quick Instagram glimpses, character-limited tweets, and solipsistic Facebook posts. Don’t get me wrong; I often enjoy the brief communication and instant feedback, but there’s definitely something missing. Maybe I need to actually leave my house to find community.

Anyway, I’ll be posting less frequently, but I am still making things. I just submitted another fabric collection for Kokka, which will be shown at Spring Quilt Market. And I’m excited to be trying some new substrates in this collection! I’m working on a new book idea, but feeling overwhelmed by the process. So I’ve been trying to use time effectively and to find that tricky balance between work and family life. Not easy.

Above are some Instagram photos to show what I’ve been doing lately. Making baby things! Working on auction projects. This year, we decided to skip the school quilt and make a piece of art, so I cut 380-something tiny balsa wood houses and the art teacher is working with the kids to paint and collage them. And I’m working with my older daughter’s fifth grade class on this paper stampede project. You can see her horse samples above. I found the tutorial and templates from Ann Wood over on Design Sponge. And in the bottom left photo, you can see that I made a block using a design from each of my Kokka collections. This is a work in progress for an upcoming block tutorial. And on the bottom right is a sneak peek of a design from my next collection!

Oh, and I’m also hauling kids around town, mediating their constant bickering, and making mediocre dinners. But I don’t have photos of that.

January 17, 2014

Garden Collection for Kokka

My new Garden collection for Kokka is now available in stores! Right now Pink Chalk Fabrics, Crimson Tate, and Fabricworm all have it in stock. More retailers should be getting shipments soon.

Click on the images below for larger photos of each print.