Art Gallery Fabrics - The Creative Blog

I don't know if I told you we are sponsoring one of the biggest Quilt Shows in France: POUR L'AMOUR DU FIL. I love it and it would be a pleasure if I could travel there! But, I can't........ Agrhh!!

I knew of this show from my friend Carol Veillon, many months ago. She is the owner and editor in chief of the (I think) most prestigious quilt magazine in Europe, Quiltmania. She is one of the organizers of the show. We were working with some of my quilts to be featured in her publication and she told me if I would be interested to become a sponsor for this show. Absolutely, I said! What an opportunity, I thought... Why not show our american talent overseas? She is a great woman, and she's putting tons of love and effort for this show to be different and a success.

I thought that for many of you that are not familiarized with the nuts and bolts of quilting in Europe, it would be a great chance to know a little bit better.... and I decided to send her a couple of questions in an interview format. She gladly answered; I want to thank her very much her time and dedication.

Hi Carol, how are you dealing with the big task of being one of the organizers of this great show?

I am very thrilled and stressed, but happy because we are overcrowded with phone calls for reservations, so I think it will be great.

How the concept for this show was born?

I love quilts and needlework and I have the opportunity to travel worldwide to see beautiful work. I wanted to put everything together to the public in a different atmosphere and display here in Europe than in other existing shows .

How many years has this show been held?

This is the first edition and we are really thrilled!!

How different is the approach at quilting and needlework in France from US?

Speed. A quilt has to be done in a weekend; "showy" adding crystals to sparkle, brighter colors, machine quilting more developed; It looks a little bit caricatured for American actual quilts that we see on shows. Because beside these there are also beautiful traditional, contemporary, really good quilts too. These are the most significant differences between French and American Quits, and you have the fabrics!!! Beautiful new collections within almost all the fabric companies.

Tell me a little bit about the Exhibitions...

We are building 6 "houses":

THE TRADITIONAL HOUSE, filled with antique and reproduction quilts, needlework like antique lace, costumes, embroidery displayed among furniture and objects like in a real home with bedroom dining room, etc.;

THE FOLK ART HOUSE, where Barb Adams and Alma Allen will be working among their needlework and quilts, with recycled pieces like "ogre shirts" and old aprons from Maryvonne Deville Guyot;

THE KAFFE FASSET HOUSE, with Kaffe and Brandon in "live" who will work in their lovely studio (they will bring a lot of furniture of their London house to Nantes, where the show will be!);

THE LEA STANSAL'S HOUSE, a very talented French artist who is very good at everything: ribbon embroidery, quilts, knitting, crochet, she is so fancy and fabulous and her home looks like a fairy tale décor;

THE CONTEMPORARY HOUSE, filled with the new generation of fabric designers: ART GALLERY FABRICS Patricia Bravo and Amy Butler from America, Echino from Japan, who all brought quilts, bags, outfits that we recovered especially for the show; sofas, armchairs, and coaches with their fabrics that will be displayed in this house;

THE JAPANESE HOUSE, filled with antique and contemporary pieces from Japan: Yoko Saito, Shizuko Kuroha, Suzuko Koseki and Reiko Kato displayed in a very Japanese atmosphere. Quilters and embroiderers re known or not will work in every house to show to the public how they do.

Our goal is to give envy to the public to rush upstairs to the vendors booths to buy fabric, needles and threads to do something and not like in some other exhibits to show work that nobody else will be able or want to reproduce too far from the reality; it's not our purpose, we want people to have fun, to enjoy and say to themselves: "well, I saw a demo, it seems easy, I want to make it!"... They will also enjoy beautiful pieces exhibited and they will be able to photograph everything!!!

Exhibition: Patricia Bravo's fabrics

Who are the artists that will teach and give lectures at the show?

Karen Witt, Barb Adams, and Alma Allen, Reiko Kato, Cecile Franconie, Léa Stansal, but also Boutis, Japanese Embroidery, French Tapestry, and a lot of little workshops too that you can see on the website.

 Exhibitions

 Special Exhibits

How many vendors will the show have?

90 vendors.

Tell me about your magazine QUILTMANIA -- a true success in US, and what is the support and role that will have for this show...

I started the magazine in French language in 1997 and it was immediately a good success in France and in Europe (I translated in Dutch); then in 2001 in English version for America and the rest of the world. It's growing very well in America and we have now thousands of "Quiltmaniacs:!! A different favor, a little bit of everywhere maybe makes the difference... I am associated for the show with a partner specialized in shows because I have no competence in heavy logistics for the booths etc., but I have: all the exhibit part, workshops, artists and communications. The exhibition hall will be as big as the vendors floor, so there will be a lot to see and experiment!

Tell readers when will the show take place in case they want to travel to your beautiful country...

The show will be on April 24-26, 2009 at Cite Des Congres in Nantes, France.

How do you see the state of sewing and quilting crafts in Europe right now and what do you forecast for the future?

We have to work on that point and make it grow bigger with more quality shows, more teachers, and we are working on that with "Pour L'Amour fu Fil"!!!

Thank you Carol!

I guess if "the fundamentals of your economy are sound", why not take a week for you with a nice trip enjoying good wine, food, shopping and quilts, quilts, and more quilts?? Don't forget your camera and enough batteries to take million pictures!! For the ones that are traveling there, have fun!!!!!!!!!

Send me your comments: how would you organize that week for the trip to Nantes, France and what would you like to see there? At the show, what kind of special french crafts would you like to see?

Handmade rocks...... so let's keep on stitching

Patricia

I was working at my computer 2 days ago when I received an e-mail from one of my costumers, Charlie and Lindsay Prezzano, from Fabric Supplies. What a pleasant surprise!! Lindsay was telling me they are celebrating their first anniversary for being in business and --in honor of that, they are giving away two sets of four fat quarters of........... you guessed it! Art Gallery Fabrics REVIVE Collection!Hurrayy!!!!!!!

Of course I am thrilled! What an honor....... So I am posting these news for everybody can have the chance to enter their comments and win!

I want to introduce to you thewonderful husband-and-wife team who run this successful business:

They are a great couple and very good customers of mine. They carry most of my fabric lines and it's another welcoming and secure place online for all of you to shop Art Gallery Fabrics.

They also have a very wide and hard-to-find selection of fabrics from other designers.

I recommend you to visit True Up and read the whole interview. It tells you that with love, passion and determination you can turn your regular business into "extraordinary"...

Here is the interview.

Then visit their shop to take a look and go back to True Up to make your comment and win! You have time until March 30 around noon. These are the fabrics for the winners:

Thank you Charlie and Lindsay for your warm concepts about my fabrics, your support and congratulations on your first anniversary!!

Handmade rocks...   so let's keep on stitching!

Patricia

You may think how far behind am I. Yes, incredibly, but true. How can I post one of the most important dates of my life that late!! On March 8th, we celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary! Oh my god... so many years, so much happiness!

But, it's better late than never, right??

For my defense, I had a few reasons; and without even noticing, the days went by. We are finished partnering with MATERIAL GIRLS QUILTS kits for a new quilt that my friends at QUILT MAGAZINE made for their next summer issue. I don't know the name yet, but this is how it will appear on the magazine: (thanks Deb for the picture, you are awesome!)

I love it! It was made with my Botanica Collection.

Another reason was the preparations for a great quilting show, Pour L'Amour du Fil, that will take place in Nantes, France in April 24-26. I am very happy that Art Gallery Fabrics will be the sponsor!! I will be talking about this show in future posts.

With all this work to be done and more, I didn't realize that today is the 21th!

Well, like I told you at the beginning of the post, I am now happily married for 24 years!! We are so happy... I think that we were made for each other, we are soul mates.

We went to Cheesecake Factory, and this time we wanted to be with our family.

We invited our son Alexander and my dear sister Andrea. She lives with us after her divorce. You see, we are a very close family. I have a big house with 8 bedrooms, so for me it's a pleasure that she's with me. We share everything...

Here we are with our son Alex

And I ate one of my favorite dishes: Chicken Picatta!

We had such a great time! When we came back home we looked at our wedding album and so many memories came to my mind. I can't describe with words the happiness my heart have felt through these 24 years. Two that became one. One we are for everything in life...

Handmade rocks... so let's keep on stitching!!

Patricia

Didn't all of us have the best time reading and laughing about our funny and odd stories??? I had --LOL! In fact we all in my family did. Each and every comment was read not one, but 3 times!!

An image of my quilt "Panache" on the current issue of Quick Quilts Magazine

OMG, it was hard..... really hard to choose. After reading the last one for the third time, I couldn't decide thebest two. And you know what I had to do? We had a family meeting!!! We were all at the kitchen: my hubby, my sister (who lives with me), my son Alex, my lab Sheebo and me laughing and chatting on your stories: Megan, and her cat; Linda, sewing her skirt and shirt together; Autumn, you have to be proud of your daughter; Robin, I love Hummingbirds!; Joanna, my dear chocolate lab Sheebo does exactly the same thing, laying on top of my tops; Adina, your boy is so sweet; Shnoodly, you see, all thing can happen!; Vangie, Chatters is very funny; Asdrexler, I agree with you about labs!; Deb, your kids came early, imagine if they had invited some other kids from school like my son Alex used to do?? Oops!; Lesly, your daughter is very brave.....; Kate, my family is from Spain, and every time that I take an appliance there I have to think about the voltage!; Jess, how do you have the energy to sew that late after a frantic day with your "little devils".... you must be so tired!! I admire you for your "love for sewing"!; Alisa, the story with the needle is... Oh my God!!!!; Stacy, I love your blog; Kate, your son is soooooo sweet wanting to sew at such a tender age; Arlene, if your husband wouldn't help you, you could be threading the needle for years!!; Shannon, don't give up!, you will get your own sewing room...; Anna, you have been lucky with your light fixture...; Lisa, I can imagine your husband trying to figure where the thread was coming from!; Katie, after seeing how dogs can be trained, your dog actually could learn to sew!!, and soooo many more..... now you tell me: aren't these stories wonderful???

I had to agree with my hubby that the only way to solve the problem was by choosing randomly.... All stories were soooo good!! I didn't want to be unfair with anybody.

So here it goes my story. From the 50 finalists, we managed to pull 20, and from those 20 printed on paper I closed my eyes and pointed with my finger.

The TWO lucky winners are:

(When clicking on the link, please look for her comment)

Brooke Granger

and

Roseanna Bogley

CONGRATULATIONS !!!!!!!!

I will email the winners telling they got the prizes.....

This very first time I was dreaming how about if we were all together at a loooong table (with coffee and cake, of course!), telling each other our stories, laughing and having a great time....

But, as I told you a couple of posts before... stay tuned, because this is just the FIRST give away, so we have many more occasions to celebrate and share. You may ask what will be celebrating: SEWING AND FAMILY that for me are two of the most beautiful things in life!!

Handmade rocks......  so let's keep on stitching!!

Patricia

Hi!

I really have to tell you that I am having a lot of fun with all your comments. It is really exciting to read and see the overwhelming response, and can't wait to see who the winners will be!! So far, each new story is better than the last one... it's going to be very difficult to choose! I am thrilled to see how passionate all of you are and how this passion can bind us together. It motivates me more everyday to keep creating.

Btw, you still have until March 12 to enter your stories and win!!

Today, I am especially happy because my recent interview with True Up was posted. It was a lot of fun and I want to thank Kim Kight for the opportunity. As many of you know, her blog is considered the "Bible" for fabric lovers. Truly awesome blog!! We were talking about soooooooooooo many things: how I began, what inspires me to create fabrics, some questions about my life, favorite designers, etc.

Ok, I make it short to give you some time to read the whole interview. I looove the opportunity I have through my blog to share everything with you... I think that the more we all share, the more we feel together. I hope you can comment and let me know what you think!!

Here is the link to the whole interview:

http://www.trueup.net/?p=3033

Handmade rocks.... so keep on stitching!

Patricia