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Showing posts from May, 2007

NYC series-4-The Show

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I almost forgot why I went to NYC to begin with. Of course. The show . Work, right. I explained a little about my process of developing product before I left. This is the fourth year that I've exhibited my design work here. The first year or two it was extremely instrumental in gaining my first clients. This is where Donna found me too, and expressed interest in me developing my first line of fabric with them. I remember thinking,' yea, fabric, always wanted to do that'. So this booth is a little 10'x10' piece of me and what I'm about as far as design goes. Unlike Quilt Market, most of what is up on the wall are the very latest designs that aren't even on product yet. So its more like an idea bank, or your copyright vault. I do always have examples of my already produced items up to show a range of ideas and forms. So that I don't let any big cats out of the bag, I only get to show you the one wall with mostly finished product. Is that so

NYC series-3-Mock Birthday

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I hope you're having fun going through my NYC photos at a meaningful and focused pace. I'm trying to instill that type of process to every aspect of my life these days. Focused, not rushed. Huge challenge.Anyway, you've seen some color on the streets and some gorgeous windows . Now let's go in to one destination . I'm fortunate enough to have a mom who has always appreciated my taste even if she didn't employ it for herself. We both looked forward to getting on the other side of these windows, as much for the delightful experience of it as for the contents of the shopping bags as we exited. Now that they've opened a few more shops in the Manhattan area and everyone has calmed down a little bit about this store, the dressing room lines are less obnoxious. I am just as happy looking at the quirk and glee tucked into every corner with their clever merchandising tricks as I am to buy things. I'm certain that's the way we all feel and why we all

NYC series-2-Color

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Pure color. Enjoy. xo~Anna

NYC series-1-Window Shopping

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Remember me? What a week I had! Good in so many ways that my New York posts will come to you in a series. This may go on for a week or more! And in each series its so hard to narrow down the photos as I was incredibly snap-happy! Perhaps the first thing that comes to mind when we think NYC is the shopping and no doubt, we did plenty. The window shopping is like no other, so today I wanted to show you some of my favorite windows. Most are just what you would expect, an artistic staging of what you see in your malls and catalogs like the JCrew window above. But the oversize wonderfulness of it all just about knocks you over and beckons you to enter even when you've flipped every page of their catalog twice already. I was suddenly mad for madras all over again as I have been for a while. I desperately tried to think of a reason (and a way) to purchase those red silk ballet slippers that were priced in the several hundreds. But instead I just came home with a picture and the dr

Painted Garden

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Its showtime for me again . Headed to New York tomorrow for my design show where I'll meet with clients to go over new ideas and product concepts. Not just quilts and fabrics this time, pals. It's hardcore product pitch time in many categories and normally I work on this show for a few months. I didn't quite have that much prep time this go-round. We'll just let the art speak for itself. Anyway, for visual aides today we have my "Painted Garden" series. Above you see the first painting in the group called "floral frenzy". And here you see some melamine dinnerware, that was created from it. Cute huh? And perfect for the patio and slippery fingered children (and adults). The next painting in the group is called "Beautiflies". And these are the cute little giftbags that were created for that collection. Fun. I never quite get over what a thrill it all is. Work? Yep it's work. But getting my product samples in is like Chr

Mommy-ness

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Just a few images of mamas. Isn't my mom beautiful!? I love this picture of her taken her senior year of high school. Happy Mother's Day mom! One day late. Appropriate since I was two weeks late, I guess. She is such a wonderful mom. I've learned so many things from her, but most important, I think, are the things that just rubbed off on me. Patience, cheerfulness and a spirit of adventure. This was taken on my first Mother's Day. 19 year old me and 3 month old Juliana. I had never babysat a day in my life. But I practiced patience learning how to be a mom. I stayed cheerful when I wanted to cry. And it definitely felt like Jeff and I were on a grand adventure. Still does. Lately I feel like I've barely even been a mom between my work and traveling . All the same I was still startled into wakefulness yesterday morning by a loud group "Happy Mother's Day!" followed by lots of elbows, knees, and giggles piling onto me in bed. Then came t

Making a Splash

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As I had mentioned last week, while at quilt market I was able to give a short talk about my new line and talk a little bit about the new generation of sewers and why are there so many more of us than there used to be. I paraphrased a lot of this article which makes such great (and funny) points about the addictive nature of sewing whether you're new to it or not. I also had some visual aids, of course, showing a range of projects for all different skill levels. I thought I would share a few of those with you. I ofcourse showed both of the quilts . You've already seen some of the shots of Juliana in the taffy tunic, and above is Eleni wearing some fun no-sew party items. Her little crown was lots of fun to make and her wristlet doubles as a napkin ring. The wand she is holding started out as one flower in a potted bouquet of wands. And since my attendees were mostly fabric store owners, the point I was making is that it doesn't matter if people are quilting with

Dechox program

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Home again. What a supercharged and dreamy market that was! I am so so so tired. All for good reasons. Let's run down a few.... Chocolate lollipop is selling like ...chocolate * My Schoolhouse class was a packed 15 minutes of babbling fun (I was the one babbling everyone else was perfect)* I made fast friends handing out these * Westminster 's adoption process of Free Spirit Fabric is now complete and we couldn't be in a happier home since the buy * Having days to chat on and off about work and life with the likes of Amy and David , Denise , Robyn , Valori , Joel , Tina , Kaffe , Jennifer , Erin , Tanya ...and so many more. With dear Heather , of course chatting simply wasn't enough. Overtalking each other with bubbly energy and excitement practically around the clock made for a little extra time in front of the makeup mirror each morning to try and erase the damage from lack of sleep. Things like sleep and meals just started feeling overrated. Things lik