OK. Did This Really Happen?
October 20, 2011 Hello friends!
Today I have some exciting/terrifying news, depending on what frame of mind I'm in at any given moment. I'm super proud of this news and I've been wanting to share it with you for a while, but I'm also kinda sorta shy & nervous about it too.
Deep breath. Here goes.
This past summer, Lecien got wind of my deep and abiding love for their Flower Sugar line. (See evidence of this love affair here, here and here.) If you've been reading my blog - even for just a little while - this romance is no secret.
Well, Lecien asked me - ME for heaven's sake! - if I would design a quilt using their NEW Floral Collection Flower Sugar fabric line and make it for their Houston Quilt Market booth to promote the line launch.
Oh and could I also write up a FREE pattern for it to be posted on their website so absolutely ANYONE in the whole entire WORLD could make it if they wanted?
Would I?
Oh WOULD I!!!!!!
First, I squealed (be careful what you wish for).
Then I freaked out 'cause - more often than not - I'm totally silly and forget to act like an adult.
And then reality hit and I had a small panic attack - omg, I am SO not qualified to do this!
I'm not an artist. I'm not a designer. I've never even taken an art class! (Well I started Art 10 in high school, but only because I heard they were teaching Ukranian Easter Egg making ... so I made an egg - white, pink & purple instead of the traditional black, red & orange - and then I dropped out.)
Where was I? Oh yes, spewing my insecurities. I'm just a stay-at-home mom who's been quilting for ... 25 years? and has made over ... 200 quilts? ... and has a deeply rooted passion for fabric and color and quilts of all kinds ... ... ... ok, well, maybe I do have enough skills & experience to pull this off.
Maybe.
But what if no one likes it? What if everyone hates it? This quilt isn't just for me and my little home, it's for the world to see and judge.
"Listen you ... (what's my new self-talk name? Oh yeah ...) you Smokin' Hot Quilter Chick, you can do this. You've made how many quilts? And you've taught how many classes? And you have a very strong sense of what YOU love, right?"
So then I took a deep breath, grabbed a pencil and started doing what I have loved doing for decades - playing with beautiful fabric for the pure joy of making something pretty that makes my heart happy. All I can do is my best, right? So that's what I did.
Oh, and there's also the thing about the Marketing Director of Lecien. She is highly regarded and I'm pretty sure she wouldn't have asked if she didn't have confidence in me. I had to trust that. (Thank you, Nireko!)
Well, I made the quilt in August and shipped it off early September. I'd show you pictures of it now, but I was a TOTAL MAJOR DOOFUS NIMROD and forgot to take pix. I know. I hang my blogging head in great shame over that boneheaded move.
But I CAN tell you it's called "Sugar Sugar". Here are a few of my preliminary sketches (and leftover flowers). In the end, I ditched the vines - they made the design too busy.
And here are the fabrics I used for the quilt. At least I can show you these. :)
See, I decided to take a very analytical approach to the design. The purpose of this quilt is to show off the fabric collection. For me, that means using all the colors and as many of the 27 prints as possible (I managed 25).
The pattern also had to fit on one page so the design needed to be simple for easy and short instructions.
Then I got it in my head that I wanted the subject of the quilt to reflect the fabric collection somehow ... you know, so people could associate the quilt design with "Flower Sugar". Easy. Appliqued flowers ... dozens of them!!
I also played around with the idea of adding "sugar" as a design element, but I quickly abandoned unsatisfactory attempts to depict sugar cubes and/or heaping teaspoons and settled on the idea of flowers scattered on fields of white ... sugar. ;)
Isn't this collection just delicious?
Oh, and I can also show you the trimmings from all 75 appliqued flowers. :)
When I get the quilt back (that may be a while, I just found out it's going on a little Trans-Pacific tour to Japan and then China for a few more trade shows!) I'll be able to show you pictures of it then ... and I'm sure I'll be subjecting you to a few more photos of it hanging in the Lecien booth with me standing in front of it - you know, for my mom. ;)
Tomorrow I'll show you something else I made with this fabric. You can probably already guess what it is if you've been following my blog for a while. You know ... with all the BAGS I've made? And the LITTLE things I've made?
Come on you guys, I simply canNOT put these dots any closer together for you! ;)
Reader Comments (62)
Oh wow you are famous now, can we have your autograph :). Congratulations such wonderful news and how exciting for you, cant wait to see the quilt.
yay kristyne! i cannot wait to see your creation!! the line is so pretty....i'm sure you did it justice. :)
That is so exciting! Can't wait to see the quilt in those fabulous fabrics.
Congratulations!!
Congratulations! I'm so excited for you - can't wait to see it! Such gorgeous fabric...
I'm so excited for you!!!! Love the pictures, love the quilt.. so awesome.
Goodness gracious I want some of that fabric NOW! It is simply divine. Congratulations on being asked to design a quilt.
Howdy, Ladies! By chance I found Flour Sugar fabric on sale at Pink Chalk Fabrics for $7.95/yard. They even have a free shipping promo going on if you sign up for their newsletter. ;0
Miss K, I hope it's okay that I posted this link!
http://www.pinkchalkfabrics.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=232_303&sort=20a&page=4
Congrats! I'm definitely going to have to get this one at sample spree! It's fabulous!
congrats! that is fabulous!!
Here is your quilt at Market: http://lockerz.com/s/151378042. Love the fabric and your quilt!
YAY!!! Mis SHQC's quilt at market!! I LOVE it! ;0
SHQC, stage one of you taking over the world started here ;-)
So that's what that green is. I don't own any Flower Sugar. It's not sold in the UK, so I'll have to get some off Etsy. I wants the grey and the yellow and THAT green. Maybe, I do kinda have a lot of fabric already....