Surtex Wrap Up

My booth at Surtex

Surtex went smoothly this year with flying into New York City and getting a cab drive right to Javits for the set up on Saturday. The banners turned out great this year from US Press and reflected my emphasis on showing more work on the walls. So many manufacturers quickly glance at your art on the walls to determine if they'll even stop to look at your portfolio so your booth design is critical.  Set up takes just over an hour for us and then off to the hotel to check in and a walk down Broadway and Times Square for some fresh flowers to put in my booth.

The show ran Sunday thru Tuesday with Monday and Tuesday being the busiest.  I got to meet with a couple companies I have licenses with including Dale from Check Advantage.  What a nice guy and the future projects with them sound really fun.  I met a few new potential clients and will be sending them emails and samples in the coming days.  Fingers crossed that I continue to build my licenses with companies! You need a lot of patience in this business.

Minneapolis is well represented by creatives both as rep groups and individuals. I was so excited to meet Lucky Nielsen who was in the row next to mine and who lives pretty close to me back in Minneapolis.  Can you say, 'small world'?  Also had Lindsay Nohl from Light Grey Art Lab, Minneapolis stop by with a group checking out the show.  K&K from Minneapolis had a great booth again this year and I met Lisa Blades from Duluth exhibiting for the first time. Minnesota has its share of companies viewing the art work as well including Target, Midwest CBK, Garven, among others.  I met Mary and Julie, two new fabric designers from Modern Yardage who were walking the show. My booth neighbors were wonderful and I was grateful to meet and talk with Amy Biggers of Snowpea about organizing my licensing images better and copyright issues. I don't have a rep, so I have to learn from others who have experience and will help me.  I got up the courage to introduce myself to Josephine Kimberling who's work I follow. A warm friendly person who's booth was near Kate Spain, another person I admire.

Surtex can be an emotional roller coaster; you wonder why more people don't stop, you wish you had a few more art pieces to show, you see how talented these younger designers are and then someone will stop by and say 'I just love your work' and you smile and feel more confident.  I really appreciate all of you who gave me the 'thumbs up' on Facebook when I posted my booth set up. Your support means a lot to me.  

The National Stationery Show is going on next door and I love going over to look at the companies, big and small. Thanks to my retail reps at Square One for stopping over to visit me during the show.  The furniture show in the lower level is wonderful, too, for seeing great interior design.  I put on a lot of miles and was grateful my new shoes were kind to me this year. Mitch wasn't so lucky and had to buy a new pair of shoes after a day of walking.  We celebrated the end of the show by dining at Carmines.  It's in the Times Square theatre district and we faced out towards the busy streets watching the crowds and enjoying our meal.  A great way to enjoy New York. 

Getting served Spaghetti at Carmines. Delicious!

Heading to Surtex in NYC

Booth #553 art mock-ups

Tomorrow I head out to New York City for Surtex, the surface textile design trade show. This is my third year exhibiting my art to show manufacturers in home decor, paper goods and retail how my style can help sell their product.  Saturday will be spent flying in, checking into our hotel and rushing to Javits to set up my 10 x10' by 5 pm.  When it goes smoothly, it doesn't take too long and hopefully our luck continues.

Banners of my art hang around the walls and this year, I'm including a few more visuals of my art mock-up on products as you see above. I have my goldfinch and sunflower art as potholders and tea towels, the blueberry pattern is shown on dishes and the cardinals are convincing on totes, pillows and dishes.  My latest dragonfly art looks really nice on bedding and I hope grabs the attention of a company looking for new cabin style comforters.  There's also a shelf in my booth to show more items including some items from The Linden Tree made from my Poppy Hop textiles.

I'll be meeting Dale, my contact from Check Advantage, the company who prints my art on checks and labels.  They've been a great company to work with and am looking forward to talking with him.  I will also be meeting with some new contacts I've made here in Minneapolis and New York as they walk the show.

The National Stationery Show is going on as well right next to Surtex and I love seeing all the different companies, big and small exhibit their lines.  My retail reps at Square One will be there meeting with clients and always stop over to see me.

My goal is to continue to meet manufacturers whose products are great for my Craftsman Nouveau style. Each year I feel more confident and learn so much by attending. Wish me luck and I'll post pics from the show next week.

LInden Tree Owner: Melissa Pederson

Melissa Pederson, Owner and sewist at The Linden Tree Shop

The driving force behind The Linden Tree Shop in Minneapolis is its owner, Melissa Pederson. She is also responsible for making so many wonderful items out of my Poppy Hop fabric and displaying them in her shop.  It is her dog, Jackson, who modeled the lovely dog bed she made for him on my brochure cover.  He is a regular at the shop and loves to greet customers who come to shop.  Melissa's daughters, Lindsey and Sydney, are also frequently at the shop helping Mom when they can.

Jackson is one lucky dog with his custom dog bed

Melissa likes 'to let the fabric, not the sewing pattern create beauty' in what she sews.  Many times there isn't a pattern as with the dog bed she made for Jackson. She used three Poppy Hop prints in the top, bottom and piping and based it on Jackson's size as a Schnorkie (Schnauzer/Yorkie).   Below are some of the many items she made to spark your creativity and helped to show how my fabric looks on a variety of clothing and home decor items.  I am so grateful for her help and support of my fabric line for Modern Yardage.  Please support local shops like The Linden Tree who do so much for us.  They are our neighborhood treasures. Here's a link to their website for more info on shopping, sewing classes, store events and custom sewing.

Small pillow with piping using the Poppy taupe panel

Napkin ring using Poppy passion print

Cute skirt using Poppy passion and links prints

Poppy passion taupe on one side, soft fuzzy on the blanket's  flip side 

Girl's dress with shoulder ties in the store window

A simple summery skirt with Poppy dance

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.

E-Reader Project

 Carole Youngren is my guest blogger today, sharing her story on creating the E-reader sewing project from my Poppy Hop taupe fabrics. Carole is part of my fabric family from The Linden Tree who have helped create beautiful projects for my Premiere Collection with Modern Yardage. It turned out so amazing!  She has a wonderful eye for style as well as superb sewing skills. Enjoy reading about her process.



An Unexpected Design for Cindy’s Fabrics
by Carole Youngren

The sew4home website is one I read regularly to find ideas for sewing classes and projects. Around Valentine’s Day the website showed an eye-catching e-reader case. I was immediately attracted because it featured a metal zipper and interesting hardware. I liked the look of the chunky hardware on the sleek case. Originally I made the case in other fabrics, for my daughter who is a sophomore in college.

Cindy came into the Linden Tree about that time and we talked about interesting projects for her fabrics. While the skirts, table linens and shower curtain projects were easy to visualize in the fabric, Melissa, Cindy and I couldn’t immediately figure out what to make from the taupe/tan colorway. So I started playing around with folds of the fabric to see what combinations would look good together.

I originally thought of a skirt from the Dance pattern, except I was already going to make a skirt in the blue. I didn’t have enough fabric for a blouse. I started thinking of a purse. I pulled out some purse patterns from independent designers, but none of them seemed quite right. So I kept playing with the fabric.

Once I folded the Dash and Link fabrics into rectangles, I could see the shape of the e-reader case I had just made for my daughter. I picked up a spool of the tan webbing for the handle and was delighted to see that the colors matched nicely. I knew the black plastic hardware would pull the whole design together. Black and tan is such a classy combination! The bag is lined with the Dance pattern. That worked out well too, since the light background of Dance pattern makes it easier to see things inside.

The case is a more graphic design than the skirts, table linens and shower curtain and that made it fun to sew. Watching the project emerge was, I think, a successful lesson in creativity.

Project links:  To buy my fabric for your next project click Modern Yardage
                        To learn more about The Linden Tree click here.

Mother Daughter Poppy Hop Skirts

How adorable did these skirts turn out?  My friend and sewist extraordinare, Carole Youngren at the Linden Tree made these Mother/Daughter skirts using my Poppy Hop fabric from Modern Yardage for the brochure photo shoot. How fun to have Cara and daughter Ingrid model the skirts! Oh, I can't forget Ingrid's doll in her matching ensemble. Cara helps at The Linden Tree and also sells men's stylish pocket scarves she sews. The point of making Mother/Daughter skirts was to show off that the fabric is available in three different sizes or scales of print, so you could chose a medium print for the Mom and small print for the daughter. The same is true for all the coordinating prints at Modern Yardage.

Carole did a wonderful job sewing all these pieces.  Here are a few photos up close so you can see more detail in the skirts.  Ingrid's skirt is from Oliver & S Hula Hoop skirt pattern.  The outside print is the Poppy Passion blue in small scale with the reverse made in Blossom small scale.  There is a flip on the front and the back of the skirt which can be worn in reverse. It has an elastic waist band.

The doll dress is adapted from Joan Hind's book, Sew Today's Fashions for 18-inch Dolls.  It is made with the same prints as the daughter skirt with the addition of the Dash print used for the bottom ruffle.  I love the piping made from the blossom print between the two prints.  Again, the small scale is great for a doll.

The skirt Cara wore is adapted from Hot Patterns Plain and Simple A-line Skirt.  The waist band is from the Poppy Hop blue color way, Dash print, medium scale. Carole came up with the fun idea of attaching a denim pocket on the back.  So I bought a pair of washed denim pair of girls shorts and she carefully removed the pocket and added it to the skirt.  Love it!  What a fun creative way to customize your skirt.  The bottom is face hemmed in the dash print and the inside is lined.

I encourage you to send me pics of your skirt made out of my Poppy Hop fabric, available at Modern Yardage.  Share your creative combinations and designs with us!

Here's a look at the Poppy Hop Blue Collection.  Passion is in the front, followed by Dance, Blossom, Links, and Dash. You can get an idea of the three different scales from the photo and how these mix and match in many combinations.

My gratitude to Carole for sharing her talent and creativity in making these skirts.  Thank you, too, Cara and Ingrid for bringing them to life.