As the Geese Fly so Does Time

Saturday morning at 7am as I met the tow truck driver to get the Market lot cleared (the cars are just relocated to another area of the parking lot), the crisp Fall air and inky darkness was a gentle reminder that summer is behind us. As the Geese flew overhead practicing their V formations the last Spenard Farmer’s Market was on Saturday. Officially, the majority of my volunteer commitment as the Market Vendor Coordinator and PR point person is finished… well for a couple months at least! And not a weekend too soon! Our real estate swaps are keeping me busy with paperwork and cleaning but are going well. We’re waiting for the final reports from the home inspections that were both completed on Friday. It’s still all a bit stressful but exciting at the same time. I need to make another pass through the house and studio for even more purging and donating.

 

My new Vistaprint business cards arrived last week and I love them! Fun, affordable and easy to order with their existing templates. I also ordered some new gold foil embossed seals for the ABC Books and my art prints. Gold foil labels always add to the packaging. I used Maverick Label because of their quick turnaround and low prices. The labels are due to ship this week and we’ll see how their quality and turnaround is. It’s also time to design a new fabric design for the Quilted Raven. I already have several new designs drawn out and now it’s time to get them in digital form to see how the fabric will paginate. I’m happy to report that ALL of the bolts of the “Batik Raven Fabric” SOLD OUT this summer at the Quilted Raven! The popularity was partly due to the design and to the effective color ways that Jana had selected. 

Gus earned his Brown Belt in Tae Kwon Do at Champ TKD Saturday. Thank you to Master YU, Ms. Young and Instructor Timmy –what a GREAT Do Jang Champ TKD is!

Back To School -Already?!

Not only have the birds been practicing flying in V formations but I made my first school lunch of the year yesterday morning as Daddy-O turned into a pumpkin because the teachers had to return to school. When Gus goes back to school (next Tuesday) I do the "It's the Most Wonderful Time of Year" dance but when Derek goes back I’m lonely for the first couple of weeks and have to recreate my daily routine and schedule making for a much more productive work schedule. Before the school year routine set in we were able to get in a fishing trip to Whittier last week. We did more fishing than catching –but that’s OK, in our house there is no such thing as a bad day of fishing! PLUS my friend Margaret D. turned me onto these WONDERFUL little treats called “Sofia Champagne” in a can!! Technically it's sparkling wine -but who cares when you can toss a lovely octagon, foil quad-pack in the cooler!

My latest art quilt was inspired by some FAB fabric I picked up at the Quilted Raven. Jana has the most beautiful collection of batik fabrics. A series of deep blues inspired me to want to make a flying crane with the contrast of the bird against this series of blues. I may turn it into another pattern to help fill out my line of art quilt patterns. Currently my designs have more Pacific Northwest

themed designs and I’d like to offer a wider variety of designs to larger markets. I’m finally feeling a bit more comfortable with my sewing machine and the back of the quilt looked much better after the free motion stitching. I’d been having a hell of a time with the correct tension setting and the thread would tangle up and frustrate the cr@p out of me. It’s been total operator learning curve errors, sprinkled with immediate high expectations and extreme impatience.

My approach to this quilt was a bit different as I created the design as I made it with no pattern before hand. Normally I start out with a drawn design in hand. I also learned that I need a deeper stash of colors in my fabric inventory. I had no whites whatsoever and not enough contrasting colors for the crane’s wing shadows and had to do a bit of shopping right in the middle of my piecing.

To make a pattern based on my finished design, I knew it would be tough to see my piecing details after I did my free motion sewing so I made a black and white copy of the crane after it was cut, pieced and ironed into place on the quilt backing. The black and white copy did a good job of highlighting the areas that I need more contrast and provided me a great base design that I can scan and drop into Adobe Illustrator to digitally create a pattern.

Happy Birthday to Gus-Gus who turned 14(!) on Sunday.

xOx

Fans are Friends Too!

Downtown Anchorage was hopping yesterday! The sunshine had the visitors from near and far happily shopping, eating and sightseeing. The new Batik fabric I designed for Jana’s Quilted Raven store arrived in time for the summer season and has enjoyed positive sales and comments. I wanted to get a peek at the new bolts and color ways of the finished product and decided to pop into the store yesterday. When I walked in several shoppers were happily picking out fabric gifts for quilting friends at home and for their personal stashes. Tracy M. from Louisville, Kentucky was impressed with the selection and even more happy to meet “the designer” of some of the art quilt patterns

and the Raven fabric. I was greeted with hugs and photo opportunities! What a boost for any artist’s ego! Tracy’s husband Nat was the ultimate gentleman and a very PATIENT shopping partner while all of us laughed, shared stories, iPhone photos, perused and talked all things fabric and quilting! You’ve got a keeper Tracy! As we said in the shop yesterday “we HEART Kentucky!” The success of the fabric is due to the colors Jana selected just as much as the design. The “Ravens on Branches” has been selling as fat quarters as well as by the entire bolt! The design process was a bit longer than I’m used to as we waited months for the first strike offs to arrive then another few months for the actual fabric to arrive in the store. With the success of this design, Jana and I have several

others in the works. Jana has one of the nicest collections of quality batik fabric found anywhere and this was echoed by the customers yesterday!

Visitors to the Quilted Raven, Nat and Tracy M. from Louisville, Kentucky