Tuesday, November 30, 2010

The lucky...

winner of the Paula Ozier giveaway is:

Alisa Stedman.

For those of you who played along, thank you!

Monday, November 29, 2010

Featured Sponsor - Aunt Bea's Fabric

Maya from Aunt Bea's Fabric has popped in today for a chat....


FQ:Tell us a little about how 'Aunt Bea's Fabric' came to open its virtual doors?
AB: Bea started about 5 years ago, from an overflowing sewing room that turned into an EBay store, and then an online shop of her own. She asked me (Maya) to come in and be on call, if she needed to go out of town, or had a really busy day at the shop... and before long we were working side by side. Now I do the ordering, focusing on Japanese and user friendly apparel fabrics (denim, knits, lawn, and double gauze, oh my!).
We believe that everyone has someone who they learned to sew from (an Aunt, Grandma, or teacher) and these people are all 'Aunt Bea's'. I taught my 12 year old sister how to paper piece hexagons last winter while we watched 'Glee' and had the thought that I was an 'Aunt Bea'!

FQ:Do you have a team of helpers?
AB: We do! The ladies you see writing for the blog are all part of our "store team". Maya, Bea, Jean, Sara and Samantha! We have lots of different areas of interest and skill levels, but all share a total love of fabric and sewing. I love that if I have a sewing question I can take it in to the shop and ask and get 4 different thoughts on how to solve my problem.


FQ:What has been the best thing about having an online fabric store?
AB: I love being able to work with prints and color and be around inspiring materials all day. I'm so happy knowing that I'm sending out a package that will inspire someone to create. I love that it is part of my job to read a million sewing blogs and see what people are making.
I am also amazed by the kindness of the people we send fabric out to. I love hearing about charity projects they are working on, it is so inspiring and wonderful to use your skill to make something to comfort a stranger. It warms my heart!

FQ: You stock a wonderful array of both quilting and apparel fabrics ~ is it hard deciding which lines to stock?
AB: I usually go with my gut! I read lots of blogs and try to see what people seem excited about, and I make sure that I am excited about it. We can't carry everything, but we can carry lots of beautiful prints I am excited to send out in to the world to be made into beautiful things.


FQ: Do you have a favourite fabric designer?
AB:I adore Naomi Ito's prints. I love how her collections have similar themes each year (floral, dots, stripes) and play with scale and color. I think they look like watercolors and sometimes like they were drawn with a marker. So dreamy!

FQ: It must be sew tempting being surrounded by so much fabric yumminess - do you find time to sew for yourself?
AB: I just moved into a new house with 1,000 windows, so that is what I'm sewing these days: curtains. When the leaves start turning I get excited to do some hand quilting and get cozy. I love this time of year for sewing.


FQ: Does your passion lay in garment sewing, small project sewing (like bags & pillows for example) or quilts? or everything!?
AB: I usually have a little bit of each going on :). I have an amazing piece of (heavy!) vintage silk I am going to make a dress out of, a few alteration projects, a tote bag, and 3 quilts that just got pulled out to start working on again. Is that normal, to have 7 projects on the horizon?



FQ: Aunt Bea's Blog 'Make It Sew' is full of helpful tips, techniques and tutes - what do you enjoy most about blogging?
We have blog meetings where everyone brings a project they are working on and sit and have food, chat, show and tell, and plan our next few months of blogs out (very loosely- if inspiration strikes, we follow it!). Jean teaches a beginning sewing class and has been sewing for over 45 years. She helped me figure out that my vintage silk is indeed silk with a lighter and a corner of my fabric! Sara is learning all about garment sewing and has an amazing enthusiasm that I enjoy reading, and has some fantastic plans for vintage sewing patterns. Samantha has a no fear sewing and knitting style, trying projects with and without patterns, and she has a great eye. Bea is always weaving personal stories in with her blog entries, and is wonderful at pointing us toward new blogs.
I love to make simple projects that show off prints, and I recently showed off some family made quilts that I was excited to share about. Seeing the blog grow has been one of my favorite recent additions to Aunt Bea's.
Thanks for chatting with us today Maya!

Aunt Bea’s Fabric are offering FQ readers a first time buyer 10% off coupon, with the code FQPub3. Happy Shopping!

Sunday, November 28, 2010

We Need YOU!

Here at FQ Head Quarters we really value your comments and feedback. Therefore it's important for us from time to time to ask you, our valued customers, to help us get a better understanding of what you want from FQ, where we can improve, to consider suggestions, or just to have a pat on the back to say hey, you guys are doing OK!

We would love it if you could please spare us a couple of minutes of your time to take part in our anonymous reader survey.

If you would like to take part in our survey please join our newsletter at the bottom of the page and we will send the survey directly to your inbox. (those already on our newsletter mailing list will already receive it automatically:))

This is your chance to tell us how it is!

We would like to offer a little something as a thank you for taking part in the survey. Thanks to Windham Fabrics, we have a 3 fq bundles of Spa by Rosemarie Lavin just for you!

Since this is an anonymous survey we have no way of knowing who has taken part! So we have decided to do a random drawing from people who have signed up to receive our newsletter.

So, to enter the draw, please fill in your name & email in the box below to take part in our survey & join our newsletter. You can choose to unsubscribe whenever you would like.(those already signed up to our newsletter will automatically receive the survey & be in the draw, no need to sign up again)







































The survey will be open until 19th December and 3 winners will be selected at random after this date and announced here.

If you have any problems signing up to our newsletter please don't hesitate to contact us at customerservice@fatquarterly.com and one of us will come to your rescue.

Need some inspiration on how to use Spa? Check it out - John designed and created this incredible tree quilt for our Fussy Cut Issue (Issue 3) using the fabulous mix of browns, blues and greens of the delicious Spa fabrics by Rosemarie Lavin.


If you would like to purchase some Spa fabric, you can find it at the following online stores...
Fabricworm,
Harts Fabric
Fat Quarter Shop

Saturday, November 27, 2010

What some...

lovely people have said about Fat Quarterly!
 
Rita from Red Pepper Quilts on Issue 3:

'I have read my copy of Fat Quarterly Issue 3 from cover to cover, and I can reassure you that it is brimming with projects ranging from quilts and play mats to bathmats, bags and an adorable embroidery pattern by Cathy Gaubert. Fat Quarterly Issue 3 focuses on fussy cutting and includes a well written and informative tutorial with numerous project to try out your new learned cutting skills.

Great reading comes in the form of numerous articles, my favorite being a feature on digital textile printer website Spoonflower, as well some excellent color theory information. Oh, did I mention the Special Offer Coupons from Sponsors? There are serious savings to be had!
'

Ashley from Film in The Fridge on Fat Quarterly:

'This is the magazine I've been looking for! Fat Quarterly provides up-to-the-minute information about what's going on in the fabric, sewing and quilting world. This wonderful e-zine is packed with tutorials for a variety of great patchwork projects, interviews with designers, bloggers and shop owners, giveaways and of course, photos of gorgeous fabrics! 

The team behind FQ is an incredibly talented bunch and their hard work shows - the information is timely and is exactly what I want to read. I love the quilt projects (of course!) but there are such a great variety of projects included -- truly something for everyone!'

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Featured Designer - Kristen Doran

One of my favourite local fabric designers is Kristen Doran. Kirsten is Sydney based and produces some stunning screen printed designs that are both fresh and unique. 

FQ: Tell us a little bit about yourself and your artistic background? "I am a graphic designer/textile designer/mother (of two awesome little boys). I hope they will grow up big and strong, make their fortune playing NBA basketball and buy me a loft apartment in NYC. But until then I spend my days selling hand printed fabrics and trying my hardest to ignore the housework."
FQ: Everyone has a dream - what's yours? Are you living it? "My dream is to sell fabric to a store in NYC. In a few months a new craft store will open and... they have ordered some of my panels. Insert insanely wild happy dance here.

My next dream is to hand deliver fabrics to a craft store in NYC. I hope to be living that one soon. 
And then there's the dream of my own office and all the fabrics OUT of my house. A little gallery to showcase my work on the weekends would be nice too."
FQ: How would you describe your designs? "One of the hardest questions to answer. So I might just take the easy way out on this and direct you here: www.kristendoran.com 

FQ: Can you describe to us your design process? "Think, think, think. Procrastinate. Think. Sketch. Hop on the computer and work madly into the small hours of the night until a print is done. Look at it for the next few days. Make some changes and then send to the printer."

FQ: Your website showcases some of the wonderful things you create for yourself. Clothing, stitching, bags etc. Do you have a favourite craft? "Hands down, embroidery. That's where it all started for me as a kid and I've loved creating my own designs."
FQ: How do you juggle motherhood and designing? "It's both hard and easy. Hard because there's so many distractions. Easy because I get to do what I love and spend lots of time with my children. Before kids I spent many years working in offices and it has given me a great appreciation to be able to work from home."

FQ: What's next for Kristen Doran? "At the moment I'm at the thinking stage (procrastinating) about a couple of new yardage prints. And I have a few embroidery patterns on the boil, almost ready to get printed. I'm also thinking about running a few workshops locally and as soon as I've done a test run on some willing friends I'll get that up and running."

Kristen blogs at: http://kristendorandesign.blogspot.com/
You can find Kristen's fabric here: http://kristendoran.bigcartel.com/

Monday, November 22, 2010

More for Me Monday with Paula Ozier!

Inside Issue 3 of Fat Quarterly, Katy was lucky enough to chat with Paula Ozier of Paula Ozier Designs and share with us all her wonderful bold designs and prints that include Russian dolls, Maneki Neko (lucky cats) and tattoo-inspired swallows.

Paula is very kindly offering one lucky winner a set of 6 fat quarters of their choice from her range!

For a chance to win, read Paula's article in Issue 3 and answer the following question set by Paula.....


"Where did Paula study Textile Design?"


Please email us your answers to winstuff@fatquarterly.com with 'Paula Ozier' in the subject line, thanks!

A winner will be drawn from the correct answers and announced here next Monday.

Good Luck! It's such an awesome prize! Thanks Paula!!!

Sunday, November 21, 2010

{Modern} Relief


Heather of { House } of A La Mode has gathered together 17 Modern Quilters to join her in making quilts to donate to a fund raising raffle for charity this Holiday Season. Heather explains what {Modern} Relief is all about.....

{ Modern } Relief is a simple concept. We are Modern Quilters uniting through the holiday season by bringing the warmth of our quilts and the warmth of your hearts together for others in need. This season, 2010, we will be supporting World Vision. We hope YOU will join us in taking a stand against hunger by participating in our fund raising raffle. Please let me introduce to you World Vision.

World Vision is leading the effort to end hunger.


In the next seven seconds, another hungry child will die.

World Vision is on the front lines of the fight against hunger. Today — and every day — we’ll distribute nearly 600 metric tons of emergency food aid, nourishing the hungry. We’ll give local farmers the seeds, tools, and training they need to grow their own food and feed their own communities. And we will plead the cause of the hungry in halls of power all over the world.

Please join us in creating a world without hunger — a world in which no child dies for want of nutritious food. This site offers in-depth information on hunger, its causes, and how it can be stopped. You can learn more about key hunger-related issues and share what you discover with friends and family. Use this link to begin your journey.

Please meet the members of this season’s event and view their donations that they have generously provided to this fundraiser raffle.

Heather from { House } of A La Mode

Amy from Amy's Creative Side

Elizabeth from Oh, Fransson!

Nettie from a quilt is nice

Aneela from Comfortstitching

Brioni from Flossyblossy

John from Quilt Dad

Kate from One Flew Over

Ashley from Film in the Fridge

Katy from i'm a ginger monkey

Tacha from Hanies

Amanda from Sasikirana Handmade

Jennifer & Jessica from Twin Fibers

Nova from a cuppa and a catch up

Ryan from I'm Just A Guy Who Quilts


Julie from Jaybird QuiltsJacquie from Tallgrass Prairie Studio

Alissa from Handmade by Alissa



The Guidelines:


- To enter this raffle please click on the PayPal button, this will bring you to the { Modern } Relief PayPal account.
- The cost to enter this Raffle is $10.00 per entry.
- Entries are unlimited, so please feel free to give till your heart’s content.
- Winners of the raffle will be chosen by a random generator on December 1st, 2010.
- Each { Modern } Relief Quilter participating in this event will post the entire list of winners for the donated quilts on their blogs during the second week of December and the grand total of our contributions to this cause.
- Additionally, they will also contact their personal winners at that time too.

We THANK you!







Saturday, November 20, 2010

Breaking News...

Our very own John will be on Pat Sloan's Creative Talk Radio on Monday 22 November at 4pm EST.



Go to http://www.creativetalknetwork.com/ to tune into the big event!

***************************************************

And we have a winner!!!!!

The number generator picked number 21



So congratulations to Adrianne!



Please send us your postal address to customerservice@fatquarterly.com

Friday, November 19, 2010

Sarah Fielke - Material Obsession 2



Who is Sarah Fielke? Tell us a little about the person behind the name and the team that helps her tick.

I’m just a girl who likes pretty things. I love anything creative and always have – I draw, and sew, I like to sing and I read a lot. I have always loved making things with my hands, patchwork and embroidery, cooking, painting.

I would love to be able to tell you about my vast team of stunt sewers and house keepers, but there’s just me and my hubby! Damian runs Sewn, which is actually his business, I just write for him and his business partner. They have other websites they own and run as well. We both work from home, which has its good and bad points! I’m very lucky to have some marvelous friends who baste my quilts for me sometimes as I can’t do it myself, and of course my fantastic machine quilter, who turns things around for me in the blink of an eye when I’m up against a deadline.

What's an average day in your life? Share it with us...

Not very glam I’m afraid. I get up and have a cup of tea while I answer my emails and chat to friends on Facebook, then get my boys off to school, and usually spend the rest of the day sewing, drawing or writing and doing mundane things like the washing! There is always a quilt on the design wall and hand appliqué or quilting that needs doing. I teach classes twice a week from home so some days there’s that going on, or friends dropping in to sew or chat. Boys come home – homework, football practice, violin lessons, dinner – then sewing in front of the TV.






Most people will recognise you from the Material Obsession books. How has your life changed since the first book was published?

When we did the first book I had no idea that it would make the splash that it did. I knew that people liked my quilts and that they were somehow different than the norm, but nothing more. When you have a successful book like that, doors open for you where they would not have opened before, and I have had some wonderful opportunities offered to me since the first book was published.

When the book came out I was working full time in the MO shop – since then I have sold the business and I work from home, designing and writing and teaching, which is much more what I enjoy and more satisfying to me. I wouldn’t have been able to do that without the success of the first book though, plus a lot of hard work!




Material Obsession 2 has just been released in the US. It's a wonderful book, with a very interesting premise - explain the idea for the book and the notion of two...

I had the idea for MO2 before we even wrote the first one. When I decided I wanted to do a book I went to Kathy and explained the whole theory I had in my head – that the first book would be called Material Obsession One – One being not only the first book, but also your first quilt, or the first idea you have when you start a new project, the jumping off point.

Two was how to take the One idea that started you off and go off in two different directions to make the idea your own – which is why the quilts are in pairs and we both started with a similar idea germ and made our own interpretations of that idea.

My ideas for book premises went up to about 5 or 6 – I was getting just a little bit ahead of myself J We presented the first 3 ideas to the publisher when we first met with them. I may still use some of those ideas in future books, there were some good ones!


Do you have a favourite quilt in the book? (Mine is Fruit Tingles - I'm yet to start it, but I've got it on the list!).

I think my favourite quilt in MO2 is Sunday. It’s hard to translate how that quilt feels when you touch it into a photograph. The fabric I used is a Lecien self- stripe, with one of my favourite Kaffe Fassets on the back. The result is that the two fine fabrics combined with the hand quilting has made the quilt drape beautifully and the back has a lovely ripply feel to it. I don’t usually use plain fabrics (you may have noticed!) but I just loved making that quilt. It is on my bed and I enjoy looking at it every time I walk through the room.

The quilt I enjoyed making the most though was Charlotte Sometimes. I LOVE doing hand appliqué and all those little inside curves in the flowers really floated my appliqué boat.




Now that MO2 is out, what's next? Any more books in the pipeline? What tricks do you have up your sleeve? (tell us about sewn, dolly quilts etc etc)

I’ve always got something up my sleeve! At the moment I am writing for Sewn (www.sewn.net.au) obviously, that will continue into the foreseeable future and we have lots of amazing things planned, including the launch of Sewn Europe which will involve a lot more European content and features. I have projects coming up in Down Under Quilts, Quilter’s Companion and also Quilter’s Newsletter in the US. I also write my blog which I LOVE (Hi bloggy friends!) www.thelastpiece.net

I have just finished writing my third book, which is a book on my own this time. It will be published in Australia in 2011 and will be called, From Little Things. It has been SO exciting doing this book by myself and I am thrilled to see what my wonderful publisher comes up with for the layout. I am illustrating the book myself this time so that is another exciting happening!

I am running a wonderful dolly quilt program with my friend Amy from Mrs Schmenkman Quilts where Amy makes the quilt one month and I make it the next. The best thing for me is that I end up with 6 of Amy’s beautiful little quilts for my wall! People can sign up to get the 12 months of patterns or buy each pattern separately. You can see some of the quilts at my online shop, or at Flickr everyone is having such a great time and it’s not too late to join up.

I’m also running a Dolly Quilt program through Rhinetex in Europe – if you are in Europe and want to find out more about it, contact your local patchwork shop and ask them to ask Rhitetex! It’s called Sarah Fielke Dolly Quilts and it is fantastic fun, each shop is running the program a little differently so you are best to contact the shops directly.

Last, but I think most exciting, is my first fabric line which was released at International Quilt Market in Houston in October! It's being produced by Lecien and is called From Little Things (like my next book!) *pics below*
Drawing+fabric+quilts = one very excited Sarah.

And so you see that there really isn’t much more room up my sleeves at the moment, in fact I’m lucky I can fit in my shirts.


From Little Things

We have one copy of Material Obsession 2 up for grabs - signed by Sarah herself! Just leave a comment on this post and we'll pick a winner in a week's time. It really is a fantastic book, absolutely packed to the brim with inspirational quilt projects.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

And the winner...

of the So Fun Fabrics gift voucher is:

Jessy said... I hadn't actually heard of So Fun Fabrics before but it looks like a great selection - I would love to win!

Congrautlations Jessy! Please email your details to customerservice@fatquarterly.com to claim you prize.

Monday, November 15, 2010

A Chat with Designer 'Ann Kelle' & A Giveaway ;)

Today we're chatting with Kelle Boyd, aka 'Ann Kelle' the designer responsible for bringing us the vibrant, fun and colourful designs Remix, Urban Zoologie & Metro Market

FQ: Hello Kelle! Tell us a little bit about yourself and your creative background.

KB: My background is in public policy. Right out of graduate school, I started working for the Mayor of Nashville doing exactly what I thought I always wanted to do. However, I was stressed. Very stressed. In search of a stress relief, I went to a craft store one day. I’ll never forget that day. I remember walking the aisles of the store, searching and searching. I left with a canvas and some paint. That was the day my childhood love of art was rekindled. Two year later, I left my career in public policy to launch a line of stationery at the National Stationery Show in New York. A week following the show, my designs were being presented to Target. Now, my designs adorn all kinds of stationery products, found in stores such as Target, Barnes and Noble, Wal Mart and many other retail stores and most recently, fabric.

FQ: Who is ‘Ann’ of Ann Kelle Designs?

KB: Actually, there is no Ann. Ann comes from my middle name. When I started in the design field, I was very shy about sharing my artwork. So, I decided to use a pseudo name that I created by swapping my middle and first name. Kind of confusing, I know.

FQ: Your designs and the colours you select are so fun & fresh! Where do you find your inspiration?

KB: Thank you! I have a lot of fun creating my designs and it’s nice to know that’s reflected in my designs. My designs are inspired by things we have always known and loved…from dad’s tie, spring flowers, ice cream, our favorite rock band, and even TV shows I watched when I was child. For example, the whale design was inspired by a sweater that Natalie wore on the 80’s television show, Facts of Life.

FQ: Describe to us your design process. Do you begin with pencil and paper and then scan into a computer or do you design directly on the computer?

KB: I design directly on the computer and I love it. I traded in my paint brushes because I was tired of cleaning up the mess.

FQ:Are you a sewer yourself? If so, what sorts of things do you love to sew?

KB: I’m a newbie sewer. I started taking sewing classes this summer. I have been chronicling my first ten sewing projects on my blog. I have a really awesome teacher, Christine Moyers, who if I could have just a little bit of her skills I’d be so happy.

FQ:Your new line is set to launch soon. Can you tell us about it, the inspiration behind it and the colourways?

KB:I actually have several new lines coming out that I am really excited about. One of the lines is called Ready, Set, Go. It’s a transportation line. It was inspired by the birth of my baby cousin, Aerus. They decorated his room in airplanes. The men in my family, young and old, love all things aviation. And so I thought, let me pay tribute to them because my designs tend to be a bit girly. After sitting down to design, the line expanded into trains, cars, etc.

FQ: We can't wait to see some sneak peeks! ;) How do you foresee this range being used?

KB: Quilts, baby bedding, back packs, all sorts of fun projects for little boys.

FQ: What’s the best bit about designing your own fabric?

KB: My favorite thing about designing fabric is seeing how people use it. I love seeing their creations. It always makes me smile.

FQ: Which of your designs is your favourite and why?

KB: I don’t know that I have one favorite design. I’m currently loving the argyle, stripes and butterflies.

FQ: What’s next for Ann Kelle Designs ?

KB: Hmmm, what’s next? I’m not sure. I started out in stationery and now I am in the fabric world. Maybe this is something Fat Quarterly readers could help me out with.........?

Thanks so much for chatting with us today Kelle!

You can find Kelle with all her fun designs & inspiring blog here & follow her adventures on her Facebook page here :)

Kelle is cleaning out her studio to make way for her new lines and has very kindly offered 3 (5 yard!!!!) bundles of fabric to giveaway to 3 very lucky readers!

After spotting our fun 5 week Remix fq bundle giveaway over on our Facebook page, Kelle offered to sponsor a 6th week on our Facebook page!!! Thank you Kelle!

For a chance to win hop over to Facebook & in the giveaway thread or on our wall answer Kelle’s call for help!

You’ll notice in the last question we asked Kelle ‘what’s next...?’ Well, Kelle would love your help & suggestions so if you have a suggestion and want to get your mitts on 5 yards(!) of scrummy Remix visit our Facebook page and pass on your thoughts....

3 Winners will be randomly drawn Wednesday 24th November and announced on our Facebook page.

*sorry comments on this blog post will not be entered into the draw

***Edited to add:***

We note the concern that some of you have about moving all our giveaways to Facebook. This is certainly not the case!

We currently have the giveaway for Kajsa Wikman's book Scandinavian Stitches on our website and we have A LOT of great giveaways lined up for you over the coming weeks. ;-)

There are a number of factors that influence where we hold a giveaway, whether it be on our website, on Facebook, in the magazine or for Twitter users. Most important to us is that we spread the giveaways around all our followers so that everyone has a fair chance of winning some great prizes.