Quilters Take Manhattan 2013!

Posted on September 30, 2013 by admin

If you can believe it the image above is a quilt. Last Saturday at Quilter’s Take Manhattan at FIT we had the priviledge of hearing its’ creator Hollis Chatelain speak about her inspiration, process, and evolution of her style. This incredible quilt is called Innocence. She was in the Peace Corps in Africa and this is a moving portrait of a child she encountered.

In this detail of the eye you can begin to see the amazing free motion long arm stitching pattern that was inspired by other children performing various roles in the culture!

Here you can see two more of the children’s faces in the phenomenal stitching drawing! We got to see and experience many other of Hollis’s passionate quilts which she says come from her dreams but depict seriously relevant world issues. To learn more about Hollis visit www.hollisart.com

We also got to hear from the four members of Semper Tedium Amy Orr, Katherine Knauer, Paula Nadelstern, and Robin Schwalb about what inspires their unique quilts and how their construction and materials make their work so distinctive. I found their retreat style workathons so interesting and they take a celebratory approach by making lovely meals for eachother at their places on the north fork of long island! If this sounds intriguing you’ll want to check out Go Tell It! Videos on your Youtube channel: www.youtube.com/user/QuiltAlliance

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Surtex 2013!

Posted on May 22, 2013 by admin

Marty, Renee, and I had such a fun time exhibiting at Surtex over the last 3 days! Here I am in our travel themed booth with vintage furniture that our favorite antique dealer Michael Smith of Adelaide helped find and renovate! It was exciting to meet with companies like Galison/Mudpuppy, The Design Department, Daily Like, Andrews & Blaine Ltd., Paper Magic, Two’s Company, The Libretto Group, Little Bee and many more! We’re discussing several programs and soon I’ll have some exciting news to report..

Last year at ICFF we were so impressed by Surface View’s booth that we decided to hire them to make our wall murals. We’ll happily be reusing this view of Paris in our new workspace! The purse shaped red lunch tote with poodles was sewn by Andrea Deal.

Here’s Marty with the newest member of our studio family – she’s Bon Vivant named after my Paris fabric collection! I had the idea of making a dog coat out of some of the cloth and many thanks goes to Nancy at The City Quilter helping us create it! From our new samples we have plans for three new patterns!!!

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Happy Mother’s Day!

Posted on May 12, 2013 by admin

I’m remembering my lovely Mom today with her favorite flowers! She used to love picking lilacs especially in Maine where we have a hedge in front of our cottage. If you’re lucky enough to be with your Mother today, enjoy celebrating her!

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Happy Cinco de Mayo and..

Posted on May 5, 2013 by admin

I had a blast making this wall art for my grand nephew Rhys! In the backround I used a piece of my composition notebook texture (from my Bon Vivant fabric collection for Windham) and I blew up and repainted this motif from “Dachshund Day” (from Fine & Dandy)! Used a black Sharpie marker over the gouache and on some citron paper scraps, and trimmed it in some ribbon from M & J! Happy Birthday Rhys!!

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Showering Rosa & Juan with double happiness!

Posted on April 20, 2013 by admin

Last night we celebrated the upcoming birth of our dear friends’ twins which will be happening any day now.. It was a bit of a housewarming too as they just moved into their new place on Norfolk Street. I had the idea of a balloon shaped flower arrangement with macarons. By the way the macarons at the new Lafayette bakery are my new favorite! I took some over to the florist Adore to help inspire the lively palette of color!

I covered wooden letters with printouts from my new Fine and Dandy print collection for Sarah and Victor – the names of the twins. Rosa’s tomato and mozzarella pops were quite a hit!

I gave Victor a car shaped stuffie that we made from one of my patterns with my Bon Vivant fabrics from Windham. Sarah got a baby quilt made with cloth from my first Windham collection Juliet.

A You Tube video inspired Rosa to make these funny favors – love the baby sock!

The diaper cake they made had all kinds of surprises!

Juan & Rosa live dangerously close to The Doughnut Plant..

and other fun places like Economy Candy (those are marshmallow pops Rosa made)!

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Happy Easter – from Chaos to Couture!

Posted on April 1, 2013 by admin

When our dear friends the Crandalls invited us for Easter yet again I decided to put a punk spin on the desserts! We’ve all seen coconut cake but have you seen it as a Bowie – esque bunnyhead? Ahhh, Alladin Sane (if you haven’t heard an amazing Bowie show recently opened at the V&A in London)..

For the Couture dessert I chose Jacques Torres white choclate lamb. It struck me as the sort of thing Valentino might be serving.. (BTW this theme is borrowed from the upcoming Met Ball & exhibit “Punk from Chaos to Couture”)

Here the lamb is joined by an egg friend that I found at Sugar & Plumm. My fav is his macaron headphones).. The card you keep seeing is by the fabulous Maira Kalman! Hope you enjoyed your holiday!!

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Sharing the Love!

Posted on February 13, 2013 by admin

I wanted to make some valentines for my grand nephews Rhys, Henry, and Eben. I whipped these up last night using 3 of my Bon Vivant fabrics from Windham 32164-1 (Red Paris Map) 32169-1 (Red poodle) and 32167-7 (Black Texture), black felt, Strathmore Bristol board, Fiskers pinking shears, acid free Elmer’s Craft Bond adhesive and a Sharpie marker!

Step 1 – draw the smallest heart shape on a heavy paper and cut out your template. Tape the template to one of the fabrics and cut around the edge with pinking shears.

Step 2 – Place your fabric heart down on the next piece of fabric or felt (tape or pin) and cut a slightly larger heart out.

Step 3 – Spray the back of the smallest heart with the spray adhesive and press onto the larger heart

Step 4 – Place the combined hearts onto a piece of bristol board and cut a slightly larger heart out

Step 5 – Spray the back of the combined hearts with adhesive and press onto bristol board.

Flip over and write your message with a Sharpie marker!

P.S. If you prefer to use the grey paisley fabric in the backround it is #32165-4 also from my Bon Vivant collection from Windham fabrics. Enjoy your Valentines Day!

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A Magical New Year!

Posted on January 3, 2013 by admin

We got to ring in 2013 with our nearest & dearest on Monday evening! Marty and I got inspired by Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus! I made my bold tent-like stripes by just placing 7 strips of black satin ribbon on my white tablecloth.

I made my black & white striped trees by starting with streamers. Pulling a needle and thread through the top edges created the gathered ruffle which I pinned onto styrofoam cones. Turned red ornaments upside down & pushed them into the tops with a bit of wired star trim to finish!

I baked the white snowflake sugar cookie cakes on the left (served with licorice fudge) and made plates of brownie bites and meringues sprinkled with mini snowcaps! Bruno Bakery made us the dangerous Black & White Mousse Cake..

We had fun asking the Magic 8 Ball questions and conjuring up spirits at a glow in the dark Ouija board!

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Choclate Peppermint Snowflakes!

Posted on December 6, 2012 by admin

Now that I’ve baked my first batch of cookies, it’s really starting to feel like the holiday season! This recipe called called Double Choclate Peppermint Crunch Cookies is on the Epicurios website but I can tell you that I simplified it slightly. I decided to use all the melted choclate inside the cookies, I also used my Wilton snowflake shaped pans so that each piece didn’t need to get rolled into a ball. Another timesaver is getting crushed candycanes or Peppermint snow at Williams Sonoma! I gave them to one of my best customers this PM – The City Quilter & they were a big hit! Enjoy!

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Hitting a Holiday note at Adelaide!

Posted on November 25, 2012 by admin

On Small Business Saturday we visited one of our favorite NYC retailers and friends Michael Smith. He staged this fabulous Christmas window and interior at his vintage inspired Adelaide 702 Greenwich St. (at W. 10th) in the west village! Instead of a tree he decided to trim the piano in Santa’s threads..

Marty and I were delighted to find a top hat shaped ice bucket and round playing cards printed on the reverse with a cool black and gold geometric! They’ll be perfect for our magic themed New Year’s Eve party..

It’s always worth stopping by for a truly unique gift selection and starting next week they’ll be new mid century Scandinavian items. Season’s Glamorous Greetings!

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