Festival of Quilts 2012

I am back from my first visit to the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham followed by two fabulous days at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. There were so many beautiful sights to remember that I have given myself the gift of a weeks peace and quiet to digest it all. So I have been hibernating in the studio and doing some meditative quilting on the Illinois Album quilt.

I have been working on this piece off and on for two years... more off. But my goal is to have it finished by the end of the year. As I stitch leaf after leaf and bury every thread a therapeutic calm envelopes me... my ideal summer vacation. And I think how lucky I am to be part of this exciting world of art and design.

The Festival of Quilts lived up to all my expectations. The exhibits featured some of my all time favorite fiber artists. Pauline Burbidge and Anne Woringer had breath taking displays of their work.
In fact, most of the inner galleries showed very exceptional and contemporary work. But the competition quilts were a sampling of traditional to modern. I spent a lot of time signing books, Patchwork Sassaman Style, in the busy Lady Sew & Sew booth.

While at the Festival we stayed in a nearby town called Solihull. One evening after the show I went for a stroll to look at all the quintessential English houses... just like the ones on the BBC Mysteries that I love so much. When I came upon this house I was floored!! Any other Inspector Morse fan will understand why. The red Jaguar is the clue.

After the Festival we took the train to London. Our hotel was in walking distance to our object of desire, the Victoria and Albert Museum!! This is a place I've wanted to visit since my college days so my anticipation was peaked. My heart palpitations were audible. Here is the dramatic front entrance. Safety cones, believe it or not.

This is the courtyard in the center of the museum, a very popular place to have coffee (in a William Morris paper cup, ahhh) and cool off by the wading pool. The cafe had wonderful food, which just enhanced the special atmosphere. The weather was warmer than expected and by the end of the day we were ready for a pint and a pub meal.

Between the museum and our hotel there were lots of high end boutiques and shops. One of the best surprises was that the Conran Shop was just down the block! It is built around an old Michelin tire building. I have been a fan of Sir Terence Conran since working at the Crate and Barrel 35 years ago.  He is one of this centuries grand guru's of design. In fact, his famous The House Book was one of the initial books in my extensive design library and has influenced my own adventures in design.

So you can see that I was in "designers heaven" for the entire trip! But this month brings several teaching jobs, which lead up to Houston Market. It's hard to believe the year is three quarters over.
Time to start sewing and crafting for the autumn season, so stay tuned.

A Rainy Day At Last!

It is a delightfully dark and rainy day as I do the countdown for the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, England next week. The forecast predicts that it may be raining there, too. If so, I will be prepared because my wonderful Susan has whipped up this fabulous raincoat!

It is made, of course, with the Early Birds laminated plum Curlicues fabric and lined inside and under the collar with refreshing plum Prairie Poppies. The pattern, McCall's 7204, is another that has been in my collection for years.

Sewing with laminated fabrics can be tricky because the plastic laminate can stick to itself and to your sewing machine. To overcome this dilemma you can purchase a Teflon coated sewing foot or try using painters tape on the bottom of your existing foot.

Susan even made the perfect hat for an exhilarating ensemble from Vogue Accessories pattern V8405. The hat band repeats the Prairie Poppies and is finished with a rosette topped with a felt bead.

I love this photograph! Susan looks very mysterious... like a character in a Miss Marple story! It started to rain just as we finished shooting.

Don't forget to stop by the Lady Sew and Sew Booth, attend the Designer's Dinner or drop in for my Fabric Design lecture if you are at the Festival of Quilts.

New Dress & Birmingham Exclusive!!

It seems as if the deadlines are a constant dilemma here in the Sassaman studio! But I love to design and stitch, so any excuse to spend quality time in the studio works for me.

Happily the new fabric designs are beginning to gel and I hope to have them submitted before I leave for my first visit to the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, England.

I am so excited about this adventure and I am especially pleased that my fabrics will be sold for the first time in the UK. Lady Sew and Sew will be the exclusive vendor for the Early Birds fabric which will be featured in their festival booth. They also carry it in their stores and on their website.

I get letters from fabric fondles from aboard looking for Sassaman fabrics, so I am hoping that the introduction of Early Birds will open the door to a further exchange of creativity with my European fabric friends.

I will also be doing book signings at Lady Sew and Sew and a lecture about designing fabric at 4 pm on Thursday, Aug 18. If you have European quilting buddies attending the festival, please encourage them to come to the lecture. They can pre-book lecture tickets at the Twisted Thread site.

Hope to see you there!

My super helper, Susan, has been busy, too! I'm a fan of the fashion designer Claire McCardell, so this wonderful pattern adapted from a McCardell halter dress has been patiently waiting in my collection for several years. It is Folkwear pattern #258. Susan is a skilled dress maker and she did a beautiful job.

This design features a gathered skirt, a beautiful fitted bodice with tucks at the neckline and topped with a sassy white collar. It has pearl buttons, side pockets and a zipper under the arm. Doesn't the poka dotted bow and white belt finish it off perfectly? White pumps or red?

Such a beautiful fit! The perfect summer dress. The fabric is, of course, from the Early Birds fabric line. The dress is made with the Strawberry Serenade design in the blueberry colorway. The classic poka dots are from the Strawberry group.

The coordinating bag is one of Melissa Peda's timeless designs. The wooden handles and green ball fringe place it in the same romantic fashion era as it's counterpart.

Back to the Drawing Board

The hot weather and a tight deadline have added incentive to spend lots of time in the studio this month.
Since Westminster has requested two lines of new fabric per year I now have until September 1 to complete some new designs. I love to immerse myself in designing, but I'm not fast so it's a bit frantic.

Here is our latest quilt from the Early Birds line. It is the Fancy Nine Patch recipe from the new book, Patchwork Sassaman Style. It is made with just four fabrics. The blocks are made with four fussy cut squares from two different colorways of the Prairie Poppy fabric. The blue and black border is a selvedge to selvedge cut of the blueberry Cheeky Checks. The border is  the blueberry Prairie Poppies again. Solid black squares anchor the corners.

Above is the fabric in it's original form. Below you can see the wonderful swirl that was formed by fussy cutting and stitching. The graduated greens really radiate nicely.

Just a reminder... tomorrow is the last day of our wonderful Blog Tour to celebrate the new book. Don't forget to check into Nancy Zieman's blog for your last chance of winning a copy for yourself.
In any case, you can find it at your local quilt store or online. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to visit our generous blogging friends.

July 6th Blog Tour Winner!

I have drawn the fortunate winner for my day of the Patchwork Sassaman Style Blog Tour!
It is Caryn, who says she is a new quilter. Hopefully this prize will encourage her to join this devoted
bunch of fabric fondlers and become a dedicated quilter. Congratulation, Caryn!

Don't forget to follow the rest of the tour. Today, July 8, our blogger is Gloria Hansen, extraordinary quilter and computer wizard. Her digitally designed and printed creations are unique in the quilting world. She has a regular column Professional Quilter Magazine to help us all better understand the technical side of our business. Her book, Digital Essentials, is a constant companion next to my computer. She also has a successful business, GloDerWorks, designing user friendly websites. Learn more about her on her blog and try your chances of winning again.

Jane's Day to Host the Tour!

Welcome to my blog! Those of you who are regulars here, know that I often begin with a weather report to set the scene. And you know, too, that I love bad weather. But HOT weather is not included.
It hasn't been this hot for years. Even the studio, which is basement cool, has warmed up to an uncomfortable degree.

Greg has been diligently watering, but all his best efforts can't keep up with this heat. But it is amazing how sturdy most of the prairie plants are.

I got several emails this week asking about the quilting on the Folk Art Flag from last weeks post. Here is how I did it... I draw my quilting lines on Golden Threads paper and pin the paper to the quilt. Using 12wt thread through the top of the machine and a matching color of 50wt in the bobbin, I stitch right through the paper.

This paper has revolutionized my quilting life! I used to mark directly on the quilt with a soft pencil which took lots of time and was not as precise. Golden Threads paper tears off beautifully and leaves the stitching undisturbed. Then I pull all the thread tails to the back, tie and bury them with an Easy Threading Needle.

You can read more about my quilting and designing techniques in Patchwork Sassaman Style. In fact,
I will give away a signed copy of the book and a Curlicue bundle of half-yard cuts (from the Early Birds collection of fabric) to a randomly selected reader who leaves a comment below. Good luck, everyone!

PS... There is a new link to my webstore at the top of this page, just incase the website is still under construction.

July Blog Tour July 2 - 28!!!

Today is the first day of the Big Blog Tour to celebrate the publcation of Patchwork Sassaman Style!
So don't forget to visit Laura Wasilowski's fun site today for a chance to win your own copy. For a list of participants, scroll down to the previous post.

Above you can see our latest project. I'm usually not a big fan of patriotic paraphanalia, but once I realized that the Early Birds line contained lots of red, white and blue this quilt immediately came to mind. The Blueberry Poka Dot and the Strawberry Checky Checks stand in for the stars and stripes.

Its simply four flags surrounded by royal blue sashing and corner squares of the checks. We couldn't resist stitching up some pillowcases to play along using our Pint Sizes Pillowcase pattern.

I wanted my flag to be optimistic, peaceful and feminine so I quilted it with 12wt. threads in wavy lines over the checks, crisscrosses over the dots and scollups around the borders.

It would be fun, too, to do the reverse with the Strawberry Poka Dots and the Blueberry Checks.
The back of my quilt is finished with the Strawberry Serinade fabric in the Blueberry colorway and trimmed with our last piece of the vintage Night Life (bugs) design from the Prairie Gothic line*.

This quilt is the perfect size (aprox. 57"X 79") for an after beach snuggling wrap or summer porch blanket. We are tempted to package this flag top pattern in kit form, depending on the responce we get from you. So leave a message and let us know what you think!


*All fabrics are designed for and produced by FreeSpirit.