My next fabric collection…DREAMER!

I can finally share my next fabric collection with you. (You know it is so hard to wait nine months before I can share.) But here she is…World, meet DREAMER!!!

This sweet, fresh, bohemian collection is filled with layered patterns I made both with my typical collage technique and by hand-painted watercolor. This collection is a love song to the earth and to our ancestors around the globe who were MAKERS and who lived in harmony with nature. read more

Fear of flying

So, I got a call about two months ago. It was Vivika De Negre from Interweave. I have always liked her when we’ve met at Market. She is lovely, warm and genuine. She said they’d like to produce a DVD of me doing some of my fabric collage and teaching design basics. She said they’d also film three segments for Quilting Arts TV on PBS on the same day. She said it would be filmed the week of March 24th…in a production studio…in Ohio. Solon, Ohio…just outside of Cleveland. read more

The idea of colors

A painting of mine from this year called The Ecstatic Beauty of It All (Carrie Bloomston)

I wrote in the last post here about the “idea” of colors. I also wrote about how we are instructed early by painting teachers to never use paint right out of the tube. This is such an important point and I want to explain it further here as it applies to every area of art, design, sewing, crafting, etc. read more

The Nest Quilt

Welcome the Nest Quilt! It may just be my favorite. In this, my newest pattern, we aren’t putting a bird on it (for once). Nope. This time we are becoming the bird. This pattern really exemplifies my branding and desire to help you Celebrate your inner artist. You will need to be wild and free like a bird as you create this quilt: gathering scraps, quickly placing them, and creating your own nest. There aren’t templates for every step. You are going to have to trust the directions and trust yourself–break some rules. Just let go, be free, and fly, little birdie. 🙂  read more

The Patterns are here!

Oh, I just love it when a plan comes together. Besides being a ton of work, this pattern business is absolutely so much fun. Even the hard work is fun. But there are exciting moments when months of effort, thought, and coordination come to fruition in one long-awaited PDF. It was all for this. All the designing, sewing, talking, quilting, photographing, more designing, much editing, and then here they are!   read more

LEGO sewing machine

The reality is, we spend most of our hours at the LEGO table..at least two hours a day: Lately, I have been making gardens—carrot trucks, flower vendors—anything natural—because LEGOs are so completely unnatural. I like the contrast. Big boy has been making vehicles. He tends to be more into movable creations than static ones—everything is on wheels…or pontoons…or is a spaceship…or floats…or is made of ice. These days it is all about the little LEGO people. Today, he asked me if I would be the husband. I agreed. I am sad that he now says “wife,” because for the longest time he said it “life.” “I’ll be the husband, you be the life.”

So, while I was there today safeguarding baby girl from ingesting the ten thousand eatable things, I made this sewing machine. Notice the throat plate and feed dogs? And then I used the inside of the smallest wheel for the flywheel- it really turns. There is a spool of red thread on top (I like that it is sitting loosely on a tiny black car antenna…as if the tensioner would adjust the tension just like on a real machine). And one tiny grey light makes the bobbin winder. But the best part is the needle/presser foot—it actually looks real—it is a tiny upside down hammer. The LEGO people have tiny tools. I think it is a Bernina activa 220- what with all the buttons and the computer screen… read more