Linden Tree Artisan: Sara Leffler Boehnke

There is an abundance of talent at The Linden Tree Shop. Sara shared her talents with me by embroidering on my Poppy Hop panel design which Melissa Pederson made into a lovely pillow.  It is extraordinary, as you can see from the pictures below.

Sara, a graphic designer and owner of Boehnke Creative, was involved with the Linden Tree from the very beginning. She met Melissa Pederson, the owner, at their girls' bus stop and their conversation led to Sara designing The Linden Tree logo in exchange for some handmade skirts for her and her daughters.  The logo has become a recognizable icon for the shop and graces the front of the building on Beard Avenue.

Later, Melissa suggested to Sara that it would be fun to have some embroidery patterns that coordinated with her fabrics she sells at the store. Sara was up to the challenge, but before she could design a pattern, she had to teach herself how to embroider!  She did her research, figured out how to stitch and designed her first pattern,"The Sweet Cupcake".  She was hooked and went crazy for embroidery and opened her Etsy Shop HoopTdo in 2012.  Click here to visit her shop.

Like many other artisans at the Linden Tree I've been blogging about, Sara was involved in making something special out of my Modern Yardage fabric Collection Trunk Show for The Linden Tree.
On my Poppy panel, she used a stem stitch and French knots to add a tiny bit of detail to the flowers as if light was highlighting some parts and shading others. The French knots add wonderful texture to the center of the flower and the pod. Sara said she felt my art had a Japanese influence, so she thought it would be fun to do a simple sashiko-esque stitch behind the poppies, and the circles reminded her of my 'Link' coordinate fabric design.

Be inspired by the lovely embellishing she did!  Thanks so much Sara for sharing your story and your talents with me. As I've said before, The Linden Tree is my fabric family, with so many wonderful friends and talented artisans.  Please support them by shopping at The Linden Tree!  Visit the website.

Linden Tree Artisans: Krista and Elizabeth

Elizabeth and Krista

Egads and Little Fishes and Tiny Crumb. That's the brands behind for these two talented friends, Elizabeth Childs-Caugin (Egads and Little Fishes) and Krista Hurcomb (Tiny Crumb).They are also two of the many people who helped by sewing items with my Poppy Hop fabric for the Linden Tree Trunk Show that I want to share with you.

First of all they are best friends.  Krista said they met at an ECFE class when their kids were all just 12 months old.  They bonded because they lived on the same street, both had family in Vermont, and because their kids loved each other.  When the kids were about three years old, Krista started knitting and Elizabeth started sewing and somehow they passed their hobbies on to each other.  They were both recruited by Melissa, to sell their work at The Linden Tree. I always look forward to running into them there.

Krista likes sewing zipper pouches, bibs, cocktail napkins and makes eye pillows filled with flax and lavender seeds.  She loves to learn new things and is always happy to find a clever technique or new approach to something.  Elizabeth likes making small projects like the key fobs and pony tail holders for the instant gratification but finds quilts enjoyable because of the endless possibilities and sense of accomplishment.

They both know a lot about fabric and were very helpful to me while designing Poppy Hop. They liked seeing my whole process from sketch to final printed fabric with Modern Yardage.  Please stop in the Linden Tree if you live in the Twin Cities area to purchase their work, or you can find their shops on Etsy.  Click here for Tiny Crumb and here for Egads and Little Fishes.

Eye Pillow with flax and lavender seed with taupe blossom fabric by Krista in the foreground.  Melissa made the taupe panel pillow.

Zipper pouches and eye pillow by Krista using Poppy passion tangerine fabric

Elizabeth's key fobs using a variety of the Poppy dance and passion small prints

Magenta eye pillows in front of my Lady Slipper print

Zipper pouches with orange lining of small blue poppy print 

Pony tail holders made by Elizabeth. 

All of these items make great gifts, too!  My family will be receiving some of these and I use my key fob all the time.  Thanks so much Krista and Elizabeth for making inspiring and fun items out of my fabric and sharing your fabric knowledge with me.