Was your Instagram feed full of images from Quiltcon over the weekend? I know mine was and it was so inspiring. This humongous quilting conference in Austin, Texas hosted by the Modern Quilt Guild is amazing and the quilts look positively incredible (be sure to check out the winners. Unreal!). I was so bummed I couldn’t attend. So when the lovely people at Cloud 9 fabrics, the premier organic fabric company that just happens to be in New Jersey (represent!), asked me to stitch up some items for them to bring to Quiltcon, I was thrilled.Not only did I get to play with some of the upcoming fabrics they are releasing but I also got to have a few stitches of my own at Quiltcon…even if they were there having a good time without me.
It was a last-minute thing so I dropped everything and got sewing. I made this lovely blouse for Michelle, one of the owners as well as a designer and all-around inspiration, to wear on the floor during the conference. The fabric is Rave On from an upcoming line called Let’s Have a Party, it is a scrumptious voile fabric from designer Avril Lovreti.
The colors in this fabric are so interesting and intersect in a fascinating and sophisticated way but the fabric manages to be playful and fresh. Very cool. The blouse pattern is Blossom from In-House Patterns and it’s a loose, relaxed fit top.
I also made two simple half-aprons designed specifically for vendors at craft shows. The pattern is from Blissful Patterns and is simple but very cool, each apron has a little zipper pocket and pockets for business cards and pens. It’s sleek.
These were made with the amazing Cirrus solids collection, a yarn-dyed collection of rich solids, all organic (of course). The colors are so, so delicious. The prints are from two of my favorite artists, both of whom I’ve been following for a long time. The cactus print is from the amazing Geninne Zlatkis whose bird sketches are literally all over the place…on cards, games, journal covers. She’s amazing. The bird and leaf print is from another surface design icon, Skinny La Minx. Her nature-inspired, organic shape prints are amazing and I have long coveted all of them, it’s even possible her prints are some of the first unconventional fabrics I discovered and possibly the first thing I pinned onto my textiles board!
It was a dreamy little commission and it was extra fun to see them pop up on my Instagram over the weekend. I certainly wasn’t in Texas but a little something of mine was! Wahoo!
Funny side note: I was, of course, talking about Quiltcon a whole bunch to my husband last week as I was sewing all of these lovely things. Well, on Saturday he left for a business trip to England and he stopped in at Liberty of London for reasons he is unwilling to divulge (!). He did tell me that he was chatted with someone in the fabrics department (!!) and she was complimenting quilters and discussing how hard quilting is when he asked her if she had heard of Quiltcon, the big conference. She hadn’t! So, he told her all about it! How funny is that, my husband informing the staff at Liberty about a quilting conference. Go baby! 🙂
Pat says
Beautiful. Love the blouse. What great stitch witchery!!!
Melissa Q. says
Thanks!
Crafty Ashley B says
LOL! I absolutely love the story about your hubby! Mine has picked up a lot of the terminology which boggles his mind! 🙂
Melissa Q. says
It’s the sweetest, isn’t it!