GETTING READY FOR QUILT MARKET…

                                   This spring at Pittsburgh my booth will be for my "Cherie" fabric line.
 One of the fun parts of getting ready for Market is selecting the best blenders that go with your fabric line. I went through all of Art Gallery Fabrics Blenders and selected colors from all of the blenders that I thought looked the best with Cherie. I hope this chart might be useful to anyone who makes projects in the future. It was hard work to make this but worth it in the end! Now I can break down the elements for the specific projects. I am loving the color pallet as I select the wonderful AGF coordinating fabrics.

Each Cherie fabric will get a coordinate for its project. Sometimes a designer has to 'Stretch' the fabric for market because we do not get a lot from our strike offs. So it's time to get creative!
Jeni Baker of In Color Order is amazing at stretching her projects for Quilt market. She can take a quarter yard of fabric and somehow turn it into something remarkable and with not a lot of cost. She also said volume is good. Like pillows or things that fill your booth so it looks full.

This is one of the projects I moked up in photoshop that I plan to make when my fabric strike offs arrive. The pattern is called Candy Dish 16' square pillows by JayBird Quilts.
I am excited about the look of this pillow and I hope the real one will be as cute : )
anyways. I still have a lot of planing to do and a lot of sewing with some help from dear friends.
It's gonna be a mad rush to the finish! I hope you come see me if you go to market and anyone who has
any cute ideas or patterns they would like to share with me. I really welcome anything!
Think about going to Paris!   Much Love , Frances

SEW CAROLINE WEARING SAFARI MOON!

So excited that Caroline from SEW CAROLINE made this amazing blouse from Safari Moonl The fabric is: called soaring free clear found here. The Pattern is designed by Sew Caroline and you can read all about it on her beautiful blog here! Caoline is very talented and this is a very exciting time for her because she is part of the AGF limited editon and launching a fabric line in July and will be displaying it this Spring at the international quilt market Pittsburgh
You can see her beautiful collection here. The Limited edition fabrics are colorful and bright and easy to cut and sew. Thank you Caroline! I love love love this blouse and you are a beautiful model!
Thanks all for coming to my blog… Look forward to comments. Love, Frances

Introducing UTOPIA!

 Seriously excited to announce my third fabric collection with Art Gallery Fabrics! You ask another so soon with the launch of Cherie? Well yes why not! I was supposed to launch in portland of 2013 and due to not being quiet ready… when I was supposed to launch, long story in my not so easy journey with fabric design.  But I got to launch two at the same time and I am beyond thrilled. This collection is filled with intense colors and below you can read my concept behind it. This line is scheduled to arrive in shops OCTOBER 2014 see details HERE. 

Journey to an idealistic society, a city of incredible colors captured only in dreams, a place that is filled with vibrancy and ignites our deepest longings and hopes. Your imagination will be inspired you travel through …the enchanting trees and coves. The colors will pop off the fabric as it takes you to this magical land.

Art Gallery fabrics is now offering Voile and knits! So you can see the pieces from Utopia that are offered in Voile and Knits! So incredibly exciting! The quilty is number one in feel! I can't wait!

I hope you will enjoy sewing with this collection as much as I enjoy seeing all your projects! 

Love,

Frances

A GAZEBO AND A QUILT

Loving this quilt made by my friend Tina Wince and quilted by Pat Rollie. I love setting up the picture at the most beautiful home. It was a beautiful day for shooting. I hope you enjoy these pictures. Here is the info about the quilt…

Book –Quilt Love Simple Projects too Stitch & Treasure

The quilt pattern is called ‘Backyard Picnic Quilt” page 89

Elephant Softie Free Pattern

 I Adore this free pattern by Birch Fabrics! HERE is the  FREE PATTERN AND TUTORIAL        

Super simple and fun to make! I am showing you the pieces so you can see how easy. I used my name from the salvage edge on my Safari Moon collection as the tail! You can use any salvage edge just cut with pinking sheers. 

 This is so fast to put together it comes is 2 sizes! It is so cute in real life and great for a baby gift if you don't have a lot of time. I made one for a baby so I used felt eyes and the other for my friend's daughter who is 8 so I could use buttons for the eyes.

 The small size is super uber cute!

Thank You Birch Fabrics and Christina McKinney!  I want to make a million of these!