The Booth

More to come I promise! 2nd day of set up was long long long. We skipped out for flowers and returned to finish up and fluff! Then ran out to change and run off to our cocktail partay.... I had to stand in front of sales reps, fabric execs and all other designers and explain myself... well describe my inspiration for Chloe's Imagination.... I did it.... lots of laughs! And fell into bed for a great nights sleep before the start of market.
Yesterday was first day of the show. The doors opened at 9:30am and a flood of wonderful people came through the doors! Great first day and here's a sneek peek at the booth! And me of course hehe!
More pics to follow... and news of patterns, fabrics and ideas....
thanks for reading!
T

Booth set-up begins

Today was the first day of actual booth 'set-up' at the International Quilt Market here in Portland Oregon. We started our day with a lovely breakfast back at Milo's City Cafe... wonderful eggs benedict... wow! so once that was done we ran a few errands and made our way to the convention center to check in and start setting up the booth. We found our empty space and waited for the crate to arrive via forklift... And it finally arrived.... so sitting right in the middle of the isle Kevin promptly begins to unload the carpet and walls to create the booth.
Once the walls start to go up the lighting is next and I am in the way. I am also doing some last minute stitching.... so I am sitting right in the crate. I was out of the way.... I look so leisurely don't I? well I will tell you I also passed several screws up to Kevin on the ladder. But being the perfectionist he is, he manages just fine on his own! The walls are precise and perfectly placed, carpet is neatly covered in plastic while he uses his drill and nails and climbs on his ladder.... Across the way is the fabulous crew from Westminster Fibers / Free Spirit Fabric, the 3 lovely ladies here are from customer service. Very important people who make sure our customers are taken care of... Here is Jeff (sales) who is very funny and makes me laugh. well, the name is right!



Tomorrow is day 2 of set-up. And by the end of the day the booth will be completed, fluffed and pluffed with perfect walls and shelves, accessories and furniture and props in place and the oh so lovely finished sewn samples and quilts and clothing all in the new fabric collections for our lovely fabric and quilt stores to see and select so you can purchase the fabrics , to make and create some lovely things. stay tuned for finished booth. The transformation is truly something!
PS We went to the Mexican restaurant mentioned in my last post, and let me tell you the food , margaritas were fabulous. The company was enlightening, funny and superb - thanks Amy, David and Chris!

Restaurants in Portland Oregon

All are recommendations, and sadly we will not have time to visit all, but the ones we go to I will tell you all about....

Milo City Cafe - Broadway
The best eggs benedict we have ever had. A must! We also had lunch there the first day, and again delish food. I had a simple but tasty Mediterranean Chicken Linguini dish, Kev had Snapper on cous cous. A fab bloody Mary by the way. It was a late lunch! Very reasonably priced.

WILDWOOD (NW)

LAURO KITCHEN (SE HAWTHORNE)

POK POK

MOTHER'S CAFE - Great for breakfast.

NUESTRA COCINA - 2135 SE Division Street.
A lovely little place, I highly recommend. Rustic and elegant, dining outside or in, the staff were wonderful and filled with locals. First come first serve, casual and reasonably priced. The margaritas were wonderful, pomegranate, blood orange, apple, traditional lime to mention but a few, I had pomegranate and it was so very luscious! We had wonderful starters of mint meatballs and a cheesy chiles and more. At our table we had fish served on a sea of beans, lamb shoulder served in a roasted wrapped banana leaf with a warm coleslaw, Chile dish, and super cool Enchiladas. You know how cool Mexican food tries too hard so it moves away from its perfect original magic? Well Nuestra Cocina doesn't. Flavors are fresh, distinct and perfectly Mexican. I highly recommend!

NOBLE ROT

CASTANGNE CAFE

LE PIGEON

PAZZO (downtown)

PAPA HAYDEN (Desert Place)

PARK KITCHEN (we have resos Friday)

Anyone know of any of these plse comment....

Portland Oregon

First let me start with a little peek at one of the new quilts debuting at the International Quilt Market in Portland in just a few days. And oh, Henry sitting on the quilt, as usual... "Where's your ball, Henry?"

Ok, so we left lovely weather in Raleigh North Carolina on a 6:15am flight, and arrived in Portland Oregon this afternoon... rainy and a little cool, but pleasant! The perfect crate of goodies, walls, furniture and props left Raleigh last week.... I have suitcases of finished sewn items in the lastest fabrics, and of course boxes too are expected to arrive at the hotel tomorrow and Thursday. So a little quiet before the storm, Kevin and I checked in to the hotel, answered email and a few calls, and wondered out for a late lunch. 2:30pm here in Portland. And we found MILO'S CITY CAFE (on Broadway and 14th) Oh what a wonderful lunch we had. It's a local joint, a place I can see my lovely friend Susan Walters in. Casual, relaxed, local patrons and fabulous food.
Then we wondered off and found, yes, two of my most favorite types of stores.... are you ready? Stationery/Papery and a Shoe shop. Oh joy! What more can I ask for....

THE PAPER GARDEN
On NE 15th street
sweet tiny little shop with the usual 'good' suspects, but sadly no Cid Pear stationery.... sweet little gifts of stationery, gift wrap, soaps, journals, stamps, paper accessories, desk necessities; and in the back a little corner dedicated to kids stuff including those lovely little dish sets you see in high-end stores... I had a set for each of the twins. Bibs etc; and some soft kimonos and cotton pyjamas for us grown up girls.... very cute place.

and

HALO SHOES
Fantastic little rustic shop filled chocolablock with unusual and fabulous shoes shoes shoes for both men and women, a few belts and bags. I made a purchase OF COURSE I did! spoke with lovely Jean who recommended a few restaurants (listed below)...
Anyway this super shoe shop offers online service so check out WWW.HALOSHOES.COM

--

And to top of off all this glory, we stopped by PEETS COFFEE & TEA on NE Broadway & 15th for Kevin's coffee and my tea.... and a fresh oatmeal raisin cookie.... G l o r i o u s. Great place and I highly recommend....
and back to the hotel for a nap. Oh lovely stuff. We also received a call from the kids, and the baseball went well. They won and apparently Junior who can't even swing the bat actually hit the ball (without the T). Jonty was so delighted for him. Amelia was discussing what a 'caper' was, Alex was studying, and Grammy managed to get them all the places they needed to get to today! What would we do without the woman?

A great first day, thank goodness we didn't have to set up the booth today. We made an extensive to-do list for tomorrow, which is the start of set-up. stay tuned for more on Portland, restaurant list to follow, and have a fab week.

Happy birthday Lola! (More on my childhood friend, Lola who I may actually get to see on Friday!)

T

Pre-show prep.... update

Quilt show debuting new collection CHLOE'S IMAGINATION and new colors or ANNABELLA is next week. I have been working together with Nancy and her daughters from QUILTS LIKE CRAZY right here in North Carolina. These ladies are talented quilters, seamstresses and knitters. Nancy's shop is half quilting and half knitting and the stuff they do is truly amazing.
Anyway, they called today and said "Your quilts are almost done!" I can't wait to see them and show them off at Market. For those of you who don't see my booth and display at the trade show it's quite an amazing event. Again, we're all making many arrangements to have items sewn and created for display all in our new fabrics. I am in the middle of all that chaos. Fabrics come in in bolt-loads... haha... and surrounded with them always alters the production 'plans' slightly. Once I have them and see them I make the adjustments, last minute revisions and of course I get productive myself. I design all the clothes I show for both kids and adults. I am one of those designers who designs as I cut the fabric. The patterns then get cut from my fabric cuttings believe it or not. Adjustments to those patterns are made as I create the garments. It's a crazy method but works well for me. I have the perfect clothing collection for little ones... We'll share loads of pics when they're available. And they show well in the new collections. I can't wait for you to see.
We slipcovered a few items for the booth this year. One of my favorites is a tiny arm chair belonging to my twins... actually Amelia now has the chair in her room. When she gets it back I am going to have to redo her whole room to fit the chair. It's that cute!
Well, tired me is off to relax. Kids are in bed, and I am tired, tomorrow is a new day and more preparations to attend to.
Thanks to all who read my blog.
Best
Tina

WWW.QUILTHOME.COM

Oh my goodness...
I just received the lastest email newsletter from quilthome.com and I just can't believe how wonderful these folks are. This is the greatest website... I have ordered from them a few times myself.... yes I do buy things to sew with.... they have awesome customer service, and best news... they carry ALL my fabrics, and yes will carry my patterns too... coming soon. Anyway, check them out HERE, and you can see every collection I have done! WOW.
Shown left is BUTTERFLY TG13 in coral... I love this one!

And for all you guys who are looking for ANNABELLA, guess what QUILTHOME.COM carries the first released color. New ones are coming, but the orginal acqua one is lovely.

All for now, TINA

An update of show prep

As you know I am prepping for the upcoming spring QUILT MARKET in Portland Oregon, May 08. And the countdown is on. As a designer for WESTMINSTER FREE SPIRIT, fellow designers like Kaffe Fassett and Amy Butler have set the standard for lovely award winning booths, displays and more importantly their quilts and sewn finished pieces... How does one compete with astounding Kaffe Fassett quilts? Last year the very talented newcomer, Joel Dewberry was awarded Best New Booth, and I must be immodest and tell you with pride, our lovely booth, Tina Givens, won Best New Exhibitor in Fall of last year. This year, fellow designers including Anna Maria Horner are prepping perfect and colorful and creative displays for their fabric collections... so we're all in this lovely competitive environment vying for shop buyers', licensees, and publishers' attentions. Eeeek. It's all very exciting. Set-up is fun but every one is quietly peeking at each others incoming walls, floor coverings, accessories and of course the quilts and sewn projects... What is truly amazing and to the credit of the big guns at Westminster Fiber, is the fact that we, the designers are all so different. So although we stand with a smile side by side there in some degree of competition, and in the end we smile broadly because we know we are all so different and so uniquely gifted with different ideas and designs and flavor. So one shop can easily buy fabrics from each of us knowing that each will have it's very own personality, none look alike. Publishers can interview and have very unique stories and images for each of us... Friendly competition is a lovely thing! It keeps us on our toes and it serves for a friendly and social environment, because it's also the time we all get together from all parts of the globe and share a drink, a laugh and a sigh of thanks to be together!
Shown above is a small section of a quilt top made for the show in Chloe's Imagination (in Pink Veranda colors).

Gifts & Do What You Love to Do!

So yesterday, late afternoon the kids were playing with their neighborhood pals and I'm sitting pondering new colorways for new collections, and the door bursts open and in come scurrying little feet. My home office is off a hallway between the backdoor and the kitchen. I hear water running, and cupboards opening and closing. Then all is quiet for a moment and then I hear my little boy's voice behind me "Look what I have for you, mom." And he's standing there with a teacup holding his green bouquet for me. What a gift! And how precious, I am so very blessed with these little human beings filled with love and kisses and hugs for their momma. And what's more, they bring me gifts! Now, the bouquet was 'pulled/yanked' from the neighbor's 'about-to-bloom' hydrangea bushes.... but all the same, he brought me flowers....
I thought I'd share....
Actually, of course there's more to this than the gift... I have been wide eyed and a little overwhelmed with the bolts of fabrics surrounding me, my new paper collection with C.R. Gibson about to launch at the National Stationery Show, and me sewing, designing and creating clothing with my own fabrics.... what a pleasure. DOING WHAT I LOVE! Which brings me to something I have been itching to do for a while. I am surrounded by people who tell me, how lucky I am to do what I love. And I thought, well they can do it too. It's a matter of determining what they love, and well, doing it. Taking step by step to make it happen. It may become something in the end they didn't expect to do, but I guarantee they'll be LOVING it. So I have started the outline of a 'how-to-do-what-you-love' diatribe of YOU SHOULD DO IT IF YOU WANT TO. Stay tuned... who knows where the 'diatribe' may go. It's all a journey right?

Annabella's new colors

Annabella in the 'Rachael' colorway was the first, see below in an older post. These 3 are the new colorways, 1st is called Gabriel, middle one is called Mink and the 3rd is Charleston. Fun and crazy are they not? These are debuting at Spring Market, so when available in shops and online I'll be sure to let you know. And if you're a store... better get em while they're hot! Call your fabulous rep right away!

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