Shop Hopping ~~ Runs with Scissors

A nice Saturday morning in Sacramento started with a visit to Runs with Scissors in Citrus Heights.  Marie has a must-see store--and lots of Villa Rosa patterns made up and kitted!  Pretty displays, lovely layout and fun, fun, fun.

Here are some of the models we were partial to:

 Eureka--I love the balance and variety of prints here.

 Brides Dream














Night Light--A nice traditional style collection from Moda.

 

 Busy Bee with some solids to tame the busy-ness.

Emma Grace

And here we are, all kitted up--compact and cute.

Sew Katie Jean

I took the day off to head down to north of Sacramento for some much needed shopping and change of scenery.  The route home took me through lovely Lincoln, home of Sew Katie Jean.  I surprised Katie with my drop-in visit.  It ought to be my second home--Villa Rosa pattern samples are everywhere!  She loves vintage things, and has fresh and clever displays with her special pieces and her carefully curated fabric selection. 
Couldn't get in the front door without bumping into Villa Rosa!  SOCIAL CLIMBER here, in pretty yellows and grays from the custom 2 1/2" strip rolls that Katie cuts and sells.















Right across the room is a DAYBREAK.  Katie tells me this and LA FRANCE are go-to's for Charm Packs.



In the next room are a lovely batik SQUARE DANCE, and tucked on a chair--FOLKLORE in a cheery vintage kitchen style.
 

Hanging in the classroom are SHOW BIZ and BLUE GIRL.  Love how Katie used a panel fabric in the center and corners!

Even more with a little Show n' Tell.   ARCTIC FLAME with larger prints in the middle, and small prints top and bottom--love this variation!  And here we have my favorite GRANDMAS GIRL--from a Moda Christmas Layer Cake.  I think I need a new cover!

Visit Sew Katie Jean in Lincoln, California or via social-- Website, Blog, Facebook, and more..

Back to work

Back to work after all of the running around.  Including the always fabulous Quilt Market.  We introduced an Auto-Ship program for our retail stores.  And the new Seamsters Union--details to come as we figure it out.  We have buttons, though!

A little finishing up.  What a mess I have after all of the promo tours this year.  Got the binding on the PRISTINE made in Hoffman's Splash from Gen 6 Bali pre-cuts.  I have almost everything made up in our patterns.  Most are available for trunk shows, especially if you have stock you might want to clear out before Gen 7 comes out in the Fall. 

If you want to view more, check out the Top Models section of the website.  And soon the Pinterest pages for Hoffman Bali Gen 6

Pattern Partners with Windham

We are now partnered up with Windham Fabrics to show off patterns made up in their fabrics.  First are from our friend Lily-Gonzales Creed.  She has two collections due out in April--Farm to Fork and Ninjas Don't Sweat.  Check out her great graphics and colors.  Who would have thought bacon and eggs could be so cute!

We have done these 2 special cards for the lines, and also made up another model in Farm to Fork.  CLOUD NINE uses all twelve prints with an off-white solid background.  Jessica has made a TABITHA JANE tote from Ninjas Don't Sweat.

Day 8, Quilt 9

I was just putting away a box of brown fabric in Jessica's Friends of Annie stash, when 2 fabrics just jumped together.   There happened to be 16 1/2" of one, 19 1/2" of another, and when I found another piece to make a third, I had enough to do a little SNOW RUBY.  An hour or so later, a top was done and two pieces of fabric used up.  This quilt was designed when I had just certain amounts of 3 fabrics from the charity stash, and I highly recommend it for community service projects. 

SNOW RUBY changes looks when the lights and darks are mixed around.  CLOUD NINE is the same block, with the light in a different position.

Day 7, Quilts 6, 7 and 8

There was a Quilt 5 in between.  It just needs the border--running out of fabric is my excuse.  It is also a not published pattern yet, but coming soon. 

Here are 6, 7 and  8.  Two will be new patterns.  The third is LESLIE in a new fabric line by a designer you all know.  And that is as much as I will say about these 3 for now.  Stay tuned.

What I can tell more about is the new DUET.  I had so much fun designing and making this pattern.  I have made 3 now, and have plans for more fabric combos.  My original here is pairs of Kaffe Collectives and batiks.  The pattern is designed for jelly rolls.  I cut mine from fat quarters and fat sixths.  Can't decide which I had more fun doing--choosing the pairs or the actual sewing.  It just so slick the way it sews together.

Day 1, Quilt 4

I am officially done in.  But when Quilt 4 pieced more quickly than I thought, it had to be finished before bed. 

STARFIRE here is made from the 6 corals from Monaluna's Raaga line.  With this low contrast group all the same color, I thought it might make a good background to the eggshell solid stars.

Day 1, Quilt 3

This LESLIE is one I started the other day from Jessica's Friends of Annie donation fabric.  There is nothing I love more than making something work from a finite bunch of fabric.  A pieced border from 3 prints was a way to use up pieces that looked good, and it adds to the whimsy feel of the quilt fabrics.

Day 1, Quilt 2

Much on the same vein as the SPICE DROP, I did the GOLD MEDAL quilt here.  It is from just one colorway of Dowry--the Charm Bracelet.  It feels much less busy, with just one print each, and the gold squares to "calm" it down a bit.  Fast and fun as always, and I like it because it keeps all of the prints right side up--almost all of them are directional in this group.  The kit is listed.

Kitty approved--laid it down on the bed while I wrote.  Little mister came out of another room and found it--his young cat radar is working.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year, Happy New Projects, Happy New Fabric!  And while we are at it--let's use up some of the old.  Time to see the fabric bundles and scraps turned into quilts and accessories--gifts and charity and some keepers, too.  New fabric is around the corner--I am working with some we just got in today, as a matter of fact.

So here we go in 2014 with RoseCard Patterns...

DAY 1, QUILT 1

SPICE DROP in Dowry by Anna Maria Horner.  It takes 14 fat quarters, so I have chosen the Charm Bracelet and Brass Locket colorways--lots of warm golds and corals with the turquoises.  Kit is listed on the website.

Fun with RJR

RJR Fabrics is launching their new pre-cuts, and we get to play with them! For starters we have 3 projects using Pixie Strips--40  2 1/2" Strips.

BLOOM CRAZY

WHAT'S BUGGING YOU?

ADVENTURES

Brilliant FOLKLORE

Some quilt picks just work better than others and this is one is brilliant, quite literally.  This gorgeous Tonga Batik group features fabric printed with 4 medallions.  Hoffman is also introducing medallions that they call Bali Tiles.  Hoffman's will feature several colors in each of the 3 packages, all to coordinate with one of their Gen 6 Bali's. 

I have more of the Tonga and Bali's to play with.  From the current collection of RoseCards, I can see ANGEL FACE or  WILD THING.  INTRIGUE is the same block as FOLKLORE here, so it would work.  Four squares in the center of a little GYPSY could work.  Use it for the 9 1/2" squares in OPENING NIGHT.  Cutting into half square triangles like TOWER BRIDGE opens some possibilities.  Do I really need to sleep tonight?

Watercolor Bali's

Finishing up some of the quilts from Hoffman's 1895 Watercolor Pre-cuts.  So we have a little show and tell here.

First is THE LADY that Dorothy made up in Breakers.  We used a soft Bali print for the background and got a nice ocean wave look here.

The pretty pinks and purples look like they are made for a little girl.  So I made up BLUEBERRY HILL without a border.

Then there was the Taffy Bali Crackers 10" squares.  I made the triangles for TOWER BRIDGE, thinking it would make a nice grassy garden.  It was a little too boring, so punted--and scored.  I took a pack of Kool-Aid Bali Snaps 5" squares.  I added them to the corners of the dark side of the blocks, magic corners as we call them, stitching on the diagonal.  And now I have a garden in bloom--and a new pattern to come!

More from Grandma Pam

Just a quick little BUSY BEE--another from the donated Moda fabric.

Charming Bali Snaps

So glad Hoffman added to their pre-cuts with 5" squares!  I have had all of the collections to play with since they were introduced.

Here are some things current and some things future.  I am having a blast with the newest Gen 6 collection that I have the privilege to play with.  Before I get done, I will have models of all of the Bali Snaps, Crackers and Pops in all the colorways--Seaholly, Pacific, Splash, River Rock, Tidepool and Volcano.  They are due out in the fall--better get yours ordered!

Rum Raisin from Gen 5 is here first.  Grandma Pam just had to play with this one from our newest releases: GALAXY.  For the background, she chose 508-Breakers.  This lovely light blue gray allows all of fabrics from Rum Raisin to show off.

Hoffman has added collections of their hand-dyed Style 1895 to their precuts.  I have been trying them alone--and with other fabrics.  I had to see how they played with prints.  The Caramel collection has a leather-like look, so I put it together with cowboy prints in LA FRANCE.  I used two different prints instead of just the one Border fabric--love the effect.













 Now on to the future, I have done GALAXY, too.  This is the Volcano group, with 319-Snake for the background.  I added a 5" Border from the group and it finished up a nice throw size.

Another future group here is River Rock that I made up into NIGHT LIGHT.  The Four Patches are made from 401-Tortilla and 508-Breakers.  I wanted subtle colors so they would not overpower the soft River Rock fabrics.



Much, much more to come.  Back to the machine....