Chloe Madness!

Last Thursday I was out and about with the kids when the studio called to tell me two large boxes had arrived loaded with fabric... We dropped everything, and scrambled off to see the finished bolts....
"It's CHLOE's IMAGINATION"... I screeched...

Going through the design process, from inception, through reviews of swatches we call 'strike-offs', final approvals and then into production has taken almost 5 months... It was a smooth one too, just 3 rounds... I am never quite sure about when the final bolts will arrive (I know within a week or two or so when they call) so when they do it's a surprise. Anxious, because I know that's when all heck breaks lose and the extreme madness of production begins... All prep work has been basically done ( I am never finished, always a new idea lurking in my sleepless head)... so now we have the fabric... and just 6 weeks to show time! Ahhhh...
Then I had to decide which I'd take home to the home based studio where we can start chopping and cutting and sort into quilt, apparel, toys, home products and other crazy miscellaneous stuff I love to prepare for market.... each gets bins for project work and then shuttled off to miscellaneous and talented cutters, sewers and quilters. Me being the designer, chief cutter, pattern grader and head seamstress.... oh and iron-mistress.
Are you getting the idea? My home and home studio are filled with fabric, people, children... and me! I take up a lot of space emotionally, creatively and well in every way! So my children and Kevin are so very involved in putting up with me. I run around like a mad woman with some piece of fabric, pattern or tool in my hand. I bathe the kids with the blackberry in one hand... well I'm not that bad, but almost. Kevin has been cook this weekend... Mellie models for me... she loves it. She sits with me at the machines and passes me scissors, pins and drives me batty most of the time, and I love it.
It has truly been a nutty weekend. We're talking about 40 x twenty yard bolts...

Well so far, the quilts are well underway... wait till you see them. I have seen one completed top in the lavender and chocolate colorway (Fairyland Coco) in a quilt called THE PLACE SETTING... Patterns will be available at market and through your local stores... Keep posted for where to purchase them. On the blog find the posted quilt pattern called SLEEPY AFTERNOON to give you a small taste.... We'll have this quilt on display at the Free Spirit Booth. It's a beaut! We used the gold and tangerine color way I called 'Marigold Palace'. Check it out.

This show I have many more quilts... I'm calling them the QUINTESSENTIAL QUILTS. They are accessible, moderately easy, and striking quilt patterns. For a start in the actual quilting world (which I am new to) I wanted to start simple, easy but catchy... so they mischieviously don't look easy but, believe me, they are! You may watch me grow as a quilt pattern designer over time, but for once in my life I am taking that slow. I am completely in awe of quilt designers... and quilters. Ahh, Kaffe Fassett & Lisa Prior Lucy - unbelievable, Denyse Schmidt is a goddess (www.dsquilts.com), and what about Carol Taylor (www.caroltaylorquilts.com)... she's a genius... I digress...

So quilts are underway.... patterns are in motion (print production), clothing, hats and toys are in production... and wowee... I had time to play. So I started with an old love of mine... MILLINERY. I love hat making! While in Cleveland I took classes from an eccentric and lovely man called Dennis... who was with Balenciaga in NY in his early years... A fabulous personality who inspired me at a time of soul searching...
It's funny how things we do in past lives (within our life) come back to us.... So breaking out the millinery bits and pieces, my old patterns, a block (to look at for inspiration)... I crafted a few fabric hats. Kevin, who has seen press and the fabulous picture of the perfect Amy Butler in her sun hat laughed at me. He said it's ahhh, not quite like Amy is it Tina? Here's my version!
Oh and Mellie had to join in! Here she is in a fab top hat I call Metro-Topper. Mellie is a ham, just like her ma! The hat I am wearing is called TRILBY... I used 'Cade's Garden', lined and under brim in 'Fortiny'. Mel's topper is in same Fortiny but lined in Heaven - all from Marigold Palace colors... Divine! Don't know if they will make the cut but they were awesome to make... I also created a sweet little bird cage and crazy bird inside (all out of the fabrics), and an owl who is simply just charming... Take a look! I am having way too much fun... The owl's fat belly is in a fabric from the collection called TRELLIS and it's gorgeous... when you see it's vine-ey pattern weaving its way through a quilt block it's truly something... Well, just a few items for you to see... more hats and clothing are underway. And all fodder for the book I am about to begin... so enjoy and let me know what else you'd like to see! MY best, T