Quilt Market Debut

Fab fabric everywhere! Minneapolis hosted the International Quilt Market last weekend and I got to experience it all. Thanks to Modern Yardage who decided to exhibit there and concentrate on selling our quilt labels and panels at wholesale to retail shop owners.  I've done art shows with booths and trade shows in New York, but this one was very unique. Modern Yardage owner, April, had been to several in the past and worked with me via email for a few months on creating the look of the wall panels, what to use for props and sewn samples. While she was busy printing up quilt labels, I was upholstering my dining room chairs with them.  While she was making quilt label bunting and a creative quilt label quilt, I was draping quilt label sample packs over my art show frame. There are 13 designers with Modern Yardage and many of them design quilt labels and panels and kits that were shown in the booth.

It all came together on move-in day with a few adjustments once everything was in the booth. My side had sewn projects using my panel designs from The City of Lakes, Poppy Hop and Amelia Harper Collections thanks to my many talented friends who can sew and embroidery.

That night was Sample Spree where customers wait in line to be the first ones in to purchase items directly from the companies. Anticipation was high for both attendees and sellers. The doors open and customers rush to their favorite table first for the best selection. We had a table ready with our packs of quilt labels and a banner menu of what was inside the packages. We kept extra packets under the table to replenish as they sold.

Here's another Minneapolis exhibitor, my friend Alyssa of Penguin & Fish and her embroidery kits, sample products, books and fabric samples. I really like her style.

 Here's another view of one aisle and the big stacks of fabric waiting for the doors to open.

I'm glad April took this picture showing how busy it was!

 We found out pretty quickly that we were selling something unique that customers were loving. Quilt Market attendees are just the nicest people, too, having a good time while shopping for their stores. 

We were off to a great start and looked forward to the next three days of the Market. More to come about my experience.

Celebrating Minneapolis in Fabric

 Many cities are identified by their skylines in art, but to me Minneapolis is defined by its lakes. They are the social network that is tied together with paths for walkers, bikers, skateboarders and runners where they can fish, sail, kayak, eat at restaurants and listen to music. The lakes are active in winter, too with x-country skiers, ice fisherman, skaters and fat tire bikers.

My City of Lakes fabric collection for Modern Yardage shares my experience of living near the lakes in Minneapolis. The main fabric design depicts all the activities and includes Minne the Sea Monster who shows up in a different lake each summer.Lake Harriet bandshell is alive with music all summer long. Lake Nokomis has a Monarch butterfly garden and celebration each year, while Calhoun and Isles is a hub for boats, kayaks and other water activities as well as offering great food at the restaurant there.  My coordinating prints have the names of the lakes and a tree and wave pattern.

My collection also includes panels celebrating biking, x country skiing and the Uptown area by Calhoun and Isles. The theatre marquee defines the popular Uptown area located south of downtown.

We all know that winter is long in Minneapolis and the best way to make the most of it is to find something we enjoy doing outside. I chose to highlight x cross country skiers because of the popular Loppet and Luminary Loppet thousands enjoy each February. The Lake names print works with that print as well as the snowflake pattern I developed.

Modern Yardage offers these prints in 3 different scales and in 4 different color ways to give you maximum potential for all sorts of sewing projects you can dream up! It's available online here. I have been working with the Linden Tree these past few months preparing for a local launch in my neighborhood with projects and fabric from the Marine color way for purchase. I am so excited to offer this special collection honoring this special city.

Historic Brucemore Mansion Card Project

Has this happened to you? I grew up not far from Brucemore in Cedar Rapids, Iowa but it was just last Fall that I took a trip from Minneapolis down to visit it for the first time. I appreciate it now more than I did growing up when history and architecture weren't as interesting to me.

It started as an inquiry from the Gift Shop Manager, Kaycie, asking if I'd be interested in illustrating the mansion for a card for them. I take into account if I like the subject matter, if it's of interest to customers, a worthy historic and supported site and if I can take my own pictures for reference.  Yes, on all fronts and I went over with my Mom for a tour of the estate and house last October.

Brucemore is a 26 acre estate containing a 19th century mansion that 3 different families called home.  You can learn more about these families and the history of Brucemore on their site here.

Kaycie met us and gave us a walking tour of the grounds past the carriage house, which is where the Visitor Center and Gift Shop are located, as well as the gardens, green house, outdoor theatre, pond, book bindery, servant homes and around the front of the home that has a massive yard facing one of the main streets in Cedar Rapids. Here are a few of my pictures from that day:

My focus was on the front of the house where I photographed sections and details I needed for my illustration.

I worked on my drawing over the winter and sent Kaycie a pencil of Brucemore done to a card scale back in January.  It was challenging to simplify detail but leave enough to make it look right. Plus, there's always distortion with cameras, so it took many glances back over pictures to piece it all together.

After getting approval, I scanned my pencil drawing and added color in layers on my computer, starting with the background sky and moving forward to the house, front of house, and front lawn until it all came together like this:

The art has been approved and will soon be available in their gift shop. It was a fun and challenging project that has great meaning to me now. Thank you, Kaycie!

The inside of the house is wonderful, too! There's a plaster mural by a young Grant Wood in the sleeping porch. Go take a tour if you are in the Eastern Iowa area. Check out the list of other fun events happening there on their website.

Boot Buoys

What are these?  Something everyone needs!  Melinda Pfohl created these using my City of Lakes fabric to hold your boots upright in your closet. Ingenious!

My boots are always slumped like this and awkwardly stored. These Boot Buoys slip into your boots and hold the upright.

Melinda told me people will buy them as a gift for a friend and they like it so much, they buy them for their friends and so on and so on.  Such a smart design and they are light as a feather.

I liked the gray ribbon trim that matched my fabric. The sewing and design is very professional and beautifully packaged. I love the logo. She has made these in other colors as well. You may contact Melinda to get a pair for yourself or for your friend at pfohl.melinda@gmail.com. I enjoyed meeting her and seeing how she is using my City of Lakes lake names fabric from Modern Yardage.

Wild at Heart

Edible art? Yes! It's Valentine's Day week and St. Croix Chocolate Company released their "Wild at Heart" limited edition box of Chocolates containing two of my illustrations in coco butter on truffles. This project benefits The Wildlife Science Center near Forest Lake, Minnesota by donating some of the proceeds and also includes a buy one/get one free admission to visit their facility.

So how did this project evolve?  I had collaborated with Robyn from SCCC in the past with a ginkgo illustration topped on their handmade truffles and presented in handmade boxes covered in my ginkgo fabric. It was tasty and stunning, so I was eager to work with her again on this project.

Robyn liked my white snow owl and fox illustration and asked me to modify them to very simple color shapes that could fit on a 1.5" square shape.  So I eliminated detail, thickened line weights and sent her digital files that would be made into butter cream transfer sheets.

We chose The Wildlife Science Center based upon a recommendation by a University of Minnesota grad who spent time there for his undergrad study.  Here's a video of the Executive Director, Peggy Callahan, sharing a look at the Center and explaining their animal research and education.


These beautifully birch boxed chocolates are available to purchase at the St. Croix Chocolate Co. website here.

Minneapolis Lakes Convenience Quilt panel

My new convenience quilt panel for Modern Yardage is from my new City of Lakes Collection. It features our beautiful lakes and some of the fun activities we enjoy including biking, sailing, listening to music at the Bandshell, and fishing.  This panel comes as one large piece of fabric ready to quilt. I watched Lindsey at The Linden Tree sew my design from my Amelia Harper convenience quilt panel and wanted to test my own skills on this one. It was really fun to stitch together!  The longest part was hand stitching the binding because I didn't trust myself to stitch a straight line....I'm a bit rusty. 

If you want to sew one yourself, here's the link to order one. Have fun!

Finished quilt measures 36x54"

one piece panel with the design 

The large Uptown icon is a landmark between Lake Calhoun and Lake of the Isles. Minneapolis connects the lakes with walking and biking trails.

This section shows the Minneapolis skyline, the names of the lakes in script, a tree pattern and a pattern of the lakes with some icons like Minne the Sea Monster that appears in different lakes each summer.

Polka dots on the back side and a bright orange trim pulled it all together.

Small Framed Art

Frame my cards?  I hear people say they are purchasing my cards to frame and I always wonder how they turn out. Well, I tried it myself and wanted to share my results with you.

First of all I was inspired by the frames at Master Framers in St. Paul. They hosted an art event at their shop last weekend and I was one of five artisans displaying my cards and prints. While there, I looked thru their sale bin of small ready made frames and picked out a few to buy.

There was a nice variety of woods and metals to chose from.  My favorite frame deal came with a silk-like mat in it with a gray metal frame.  It worked perfectly with the colors in my thistle card.  I trimmed off the card and mounted it directly on top of the mat. Make sure you leave enough space around the card when you choose a frame.

I'll bring it along to my next art event to show how nice my cards looked framed.