Cloth Paper Scissors

Oh what fun it is to be published... So right on the front cover is a little sneak peek at my 'Sherbert Girl Necklaces'.... Whew wee... I open the mag, and there on page 66 (clickity-click) is my stiff self... I hate photos of me you see. And then a series of perfect pictures taken at the International Quilt Show in October last year. This is my booth where I stand all day long and simply visit with stores, publishers, designers... It's a nice time to rest actually after months of pre-show prep work. I am very hands on and so have calused fingers... I LOVE IT! The pictures in the article show the kids clothing (by the way sewing patterns are in the works for all of this)... Back to the article, I turn the page and one of those sweet hangars I created for the kids clothing is beautifully photographed along with one of my hand-made tassels. Oh, I must make a pattern for these tassels... And then the article goes on with pics and my instructions for the Sherbert Girl Necklaces! So go pick one up or go online to Cloth Paper Scissors to subscribe. You're going to love this pub! Collage, art, scrapbooking, jewelry, 3-dimensional art and much more. It's like art and handmade on steroids...


Ok, so also look at the inside back cover. That lovely lady is called "Luv"... isn't she cute? This is actually, a Free-Motion Applique sewing project Cloth Paper Scissors' sister magazine and TV Show is using for an online Quilting Arts Festival. Whew that was a mouthful. You'll see my smiling mug sitting at a desk illustrating how to create "Luv" out of fabric. It's a very innovative online video-class you can take in the comfort of your home. A brain-child of Quilting Arts Editor, the fabulous Pokey Bolton. Anyway, I was invited to participate in the event, and now Luv is going to be available to everyone. Note: Luv is one lady in a series for my stationery collection called EFFERVESCENT. Here's Luv on paper ~ she's available at www.cidpear.com online. I also do a lady with a cup of tea and two laughable girlfriends holding their cocktails... A very fun sewing project. So check out Quilting Arts festival, I hope to see you there!

Chloe's Imagination

These are just a few of the new fabrics debuting this Spring in Portland Oregon. They are superb... I am so excited about this collection. This colorway is called Fairyland Coco, and its lovely in soft lavenders, and light dreamy greens, and warm beigey-ivory, but anchored in dark chocolate. There's a lovely modern toile in this collection I created from two perfectly relaxed but majestic peacocks, sitting in leafy branches, eclectic flowers you'd find in 1850s wall paper, and a birdhouse you'd want in your garden. The toile is called Cade's Treehouse.

The entire collection came from childhood memories in Africa, playing in our large back yard. It was picturesque with enormous trees and birds including a little HooPoo which whistled all afternoon long. We'd dance and play, and climb these trees until dark. An archard traveled the East end of the garden beyond a thick, leafy and high hedge of orange hibiscus flowers. This was truly a garden like none other - a mix of traditional English flower beds, but rough and wild flowers tangled themselves in patches. Trees were surrounded by flower beds, and the only seemingly planned plants were the fruit trees. And these were ringed with a circle of rocks to prevent the grass from growing up to the tree trunks. We had one enormous avocado tree and I remember my father running from it, tearing his shirt off his back and waving it around furiously. After a while we realized he'd obviously disturbed the hive in the tree; he was saved from the black puffy cloud of bees by diving headfirst into the pond. Kenneth the gardener was not amused! This second image is from the colorway I called AZUR TEA.
Anyway, I conjured up some of these fabulous memories from this garden and put some of them into the collection. You'll find perfect little ladybugs, those infamous bees, birdhouses, and trellises, veranda shade and that leafy hedge. It's also I think an eclectic mess of English organization and pattern, but also a sense of a wild flower garden with nature filling in to finish it's character!
This is called Pink Veranda and you can see it's toile "Cade's Treehouse" is in pinks and an soft acid green background color; I pulled in brilliant blues and of course that dark chocolate brown. The depth of the blue and the brown with the airiness of the pink and greens creates that drama I so crave in my fabrics...

One more, but not the last, here I called Marigold Palace - it's sherbet orange, chocolate, golds and a touch of pink. Eclectic to be sure and one of my favorites in the collection. I can't wait to get my yardage so I can get crackin'.... The large blue flower in the center there is called Fortiny after my fabulous great aunt... Fortiny is an amazingly strong woman with a voice to kill for - she was on the BBC radio for years. She was always one of those woman you didn't mess with... you know the kind. And a fabulously elegant worldly woman... who at 80 is now living a quiet life on the most southern tip of the African continent where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Pacific... in a small village called Fish Hoek!

I say not the last colorway because there is one more, and it was so fabulous right off the bat it was approved. It's called Oberon's Red and let me tell you it's gorgeous... We didn't have time to photograph it, so we'll leave that as a surprise. I hope to see you in Portland and if not, please email me or Sarah Amerhein at Westminster Fibers/Free Spirit to reserve your bolts. Oh my are you going to love this one! And for those of you looking to buy retail, check out the store listing or email me and we'll get you hooked up.

Always a pleasure and I am pleased I got this little post in.... The kids are off school today and we had a glorious morning of errands, the pet shop, visiting the studio, going to the postoffice (it was closed, today is a holiday), ice-cream and now they're playing with the neighborhood kids! Thank goodness!
All my best, Tina

ROSE CUMMING

I recently had the most amazing chat with Mark Lipinksi of QUILTERS HOME MAG. He is a scream... truly. We laughed out loud the entire time. Anyway, he asked me who I'd love to meet (alive or not), and I replied oh oh ROSE CUMMING. I stumbled upon her in a rare article... Isn't she lovely? I adore her crazy hair (much like mine if I grew it out...) And apparently it was scarlet.  Anyway, this is what I learned:

Rose Cumming was a dramatic decorator and designer. She designed fabrics and wallcoverings too. We're talking in the 1920s and 30s... a time I would have loved to live in...

Apparently, just prior to WWI, Rose and her sister traveled to New York from their sheep farm in Australia, on their way to England. Women were not allowed to travel across certain seas, so they were stranded in New York city. Oh dear! After a while, Rose decided she's better get a job because they had no source of income, and so she asked a friend (who happened to be the editor of Vanity Fair at the time), what should she do. He suggested she become a decorator, and Rose said...

"Perhaps I would, but first tell me what it is."

Oh my goodness, my kind of person right there! "Oh ok, what is it?' So she began her career... opening a shop and studio on Park Avenue. A complete iconoclast in 

every way. Starting with leaving the lights on in her shop window, at night! What? Apparently no one did back then (we're talking 1920s/30s). Rose's design technique ~ creating unexpected and seemingly random arrangements, and color combinations. Mixing furniture, trinkets and accessories from all around the globe and error, together! She also broke rules by using unexpected materials like Mylar, silver lame and plastic ~ cellophane curtains! I love this chick!

Rose's favorite color combinations included violet, teals and limey green; brilliant orange and raspberry reds; and purples and pinks together. Yeowsa... not afraid of color was she?

Cumming fabrics are bold in design and color. She created new and re-colored English floral chintzes. In those color combos it's a wonder her style was described as 'dramatic' and 'fairylike'. Her fabric biz is still around and currently owned by Dessin Fournir. Apparently when she dies in the late 60s, her sister took over the business until she sold it. How amazing.... 

My only question for this amazing woman is why is there not more material written on her. Come on someone out there, please write this woman's story! I wanna read all about her.

Paper Butterflies

Well, last year at one of the trade shows we do, we created hundreds of butterflies. They floated around large paper lanterns we had. They looked superb... Anyway, today I decided we should show off these lovely fluttery things... so a little picture to whet your appetite. I can't wait to make these out of fabric too. How wonderful... We also are working on a pattern for butterfly wings for kids... We can make it out of paper but I am making a fabric version for my daughter! She's such a little fairy she needs a new set of wings each week... So enjoy.


DOWNLOAD BUTTERFLY PATTERN HERE

Annabella

I just received my samples hot off the 'press'? They are the new collection ANNABELLA in colorway I called 'rachael'. It's a pretty collection, here's the whole thing! Nine different patterns.
Clockwise from top right: Beatrice, Venice, Klara, Rochelle (bottom center), Bliss, Mila, Nikki, Suzanna, and center is Annabella. The colors include soft pinks and rose, darkest chocolate (almost black), white-ivory, a little sage green, and clear blue.

Of course I immediately tore into the box, pulled out the yardage and began cutting. Laying the first quilt on the floor I am working with just 4 of these beauties in a large patchwork pattern. Designing, naturally, as I go on. I am using Bliss (bottom left corner) as patchwork squares over the foundation patchwork quilt. I dreamed of free-motion quilting in large gerber-daisy patterns here and there... but we'll see how it goes. Stay tuned for the final result!

See more colorways coming this spring!

HANGAR PATTERN free

Download pdf pattern HERE.

Hangars

I design clothing, and I especially have fun designing and making clothing for kids. I have a 5 year old twins, and as babies through their toddler years, they were always dressed in the little duds I created for them. (Side note: Now that they're 5 nothing I make will do.... it's what the other kids are wearing and that's that...Oh my... ) So, I relished in designing and creating a collection for the fabric trade show last market, without boundaries. Using my own fabric collections...
I used a mix of the Zazu and Georgina fabric lines, and a touch of Bamboo from the Tropics collection. Well, when it came to hanging the little outfits, I had planned to use these wonderful wooden hangars I'd saved. But when I hung the clothes, the hangars seemed drab... so I created my very own hangars and they worked beautifully. They were easy and so very cute...

Cloth Paper Scissors

A while back I fell in love with the most amazing magazine called CLOTH PAPER SCISSORS. If you have not picked this up, you need to. It's loaded with mixed media collage, fabulous and oh so talented artists from all around the world. This is the kind of forum which allows us to be completely creative. A sister magazine to the ever amazing QUILTING ARTS magazine, which is also truly, a work of genius. So when I displayed my fabrics at the last International Quilt Market in Houston, this sweet lady walks up to me and introduces herself as the Editor of, you guessed it... both of these incredible magazines! Well, I almost fainted right on the spot and probably spoke a million miles a minute in complete and utter star-struck agony! Her name is Patricia Bolton and she's a lovely person, who must have a crazy schedule and very busy life... But you'd never know it. As generous as she can be and she finds the time to create.... Here is a shot of the booth at market in October 2007.

So, a few weeks later, Patrica known as Pokey, calls me and asks me if I'd like to submit a project for the March/April 08 issue of Cloth Paper Scissors.... Aghast... I said "Oh yes please...." So pick up the issue and delve into the pages. I know you're going to love it... and a quick peak at the project.... Perfectly lovely necklaces for your daughter, cousin, mom or grandmama... or maybe the boy who loves to dress up! Anyway, they're called SHERBERT GIRL NECKLACES... and they're made with all sorts of things in your stash of fabrics, papers, beads, buttons and ribbons.... just wait, you're gonna love 'em. And if you're not a subscriber already, you're going to want to get this publication from now on!
Best, TG