So one of my favorite things to do (and part of my oh-so-awesome job) is to surf the web for uber cool stuff.... and uber cool is what I always find. I have learned so much from the many many blogs out there and it has also been a great insight into what is trending in the quilting world.

Now some inspire me to create, some touch my heart beyond words, some tell me great way to cope with my lil one and some add the "funny story" to my day.

Since they have brought me all kinds of emotions I would like to share them with you all and hear if they touch you in the same way they touched me. 

Here are some that I'd like to share with you...

First one is the blog In Color Order. Jeni was our February Sewing Room of the Month winner but also has a very popular blog about sewing, quilting and a cute pet bunny named George. Now, I love her whole blog because she is so creative and has sooo many fun projects plus makes the quilting world not so scray for newbies like me. One of the posts that I really loved was her post about "The Art of Choosing." The post is dedicated on how to build your stash, set up your projects, build color stories, etc. You can read that post by clicking here.

In Color Order

The other blog that I love to go to is Design Seeds. I use this site for color inspiration. It is a great guide for quilt planning, home decor color palettes and anything to do with color. I honestly get lost looking at all the different color combinations and the beautiful pictures that go along with it (plus it has a pin it button!)

 Design Seeds

Lastly one of the blogs that I follow of a daily basis is Lil Blue Boo. This woman is AMAZING. I came across her site when someone tweeted about the video Ashley from Lil Blue Boo had made (see it here... "How to shave your head like a girl" .) Since then I have read and read and read on this brave woman's fight against the BIG C. She does it with grace, humor and pure JOY. Amongst all that she also finds ways to post the cutest tutorials and crafts. In a recent post she shows us how to make a t-shirt/memories quilt (here). She

Well ladies & gents this is a lil bit of what I find every day and I hope that you have fun going through them. I am very pleased to share this with you.

If you have a cool blog, funny blog or any blog that you would like for me to check out... send me the link. I love a good blog ;)

Happy sewing and blog-surfin,

Anais <3

Hey there!

I would like to share with you all how great today has been because we received an email from Project Linus, this has warmed my heart a thousand times over. They sent us pictures of them receiving the quilts and going through it. Below is the email that we received from Carol, National President of Project Linus.

Hello,

I’m happy to share some photos with you of me and my assistant Jane Lawrence opening the box of quilts and admiring them. It was such fun – they are so beautiful and I know they will bring lots of oohs and aahs.   The beauty of giving away a Project Linus blanket is thinking of just how many people are touched by this act of kindness.  Especially the children who are in need of comfort, but also parents, siblings and other family members, in addition to the staff members who are able to reach out to kids in a special way making their job easier and sweeter. 

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts – these are really special quilts and they will be loved!  We can’t wait to share these pictures and this story on our Facebook page too!

Please let me know if you need anything else from us – we are ever so grateful.

Warmly,

Carol Babbitt
National President

Hi Jane!
(below & above)

This "thank you letter" is for all of you that used our scraps to create these wonderful quilts. Without your efforts and time these fabrics would have not been made into loving quilts for these children. From Project Linus, Pat Bravo, AGF team and all the recipients of these quilts.. we THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts. Moments like these really bring light into our lives, right? 

Keep Sewing,

Pat Bravo & AGF Team

Making projects look professional... pillow details and a zipper how-to.

via barij.typepad.com

We love this tutorial by Bari J. This pillow features Lillybelle, her first collection with Art Gallery Fabrics,

A little while back we gave scraps away and asked that you create something with it and share it with us. Many of you created beautiful things and we uploaded them on our Made with AGF album and one lovely fan even made a video of getting the scraps.

Today we got a lovely email from Katka Dachovska about this cute little owl named Greta and the tutorial that goes along with Greta so that you can make your own.

Katka, thank you so much for sharing this with all of our fans and we really appreciate you taking the time to make this tutorial.

So now without further adieu.. We present...

 Greta the Owl

by Katka Dachovska

Hello, my name is Kate. I am from Czech Republic (Europe) and I prepared for you short tutorial.  When I got the beautiful scraps from Art Gallery Fabrics I exactly knew what to sew! An Owl and I called it Greta.

 What you will need:

- 2 pieces of fabric (one for body and contrasting fabric for wings)

- 2 buttons

- yarn for hair

- stuffing

- pencil for textile and colours for textile

- string for hang-up

- pattern

Print Pattern and cut it. Transfer pattern to the wrong side of fabrics - 1 part for body, 1 f
or wings. Sew it. Do not forget to let opening hole for stuffing.

 

Cut out fabric which you do not need and trim corners - ears. Now is owl prepared to be turned into right side. Turn it. Slightly iron it -  just to have flat body and wings. It is better for next part.

BODY

Before you stuff it, I recommend - draw basic shape of face. Stuff body and close stuffing hole. Now it is time to draw face with colours. It is better to do it before hair are on the body because they are fluffy.

 When colours are dry you can sew on hair. It is very easy. Take few yarn (the same long) strings and in the middle bind them up with thread, put needle on thread and you can sew.

WINGS

Turn them into right side, stuff them and close stuffing hole. Sew them on the body.

At the end add string for hanging owl.

You see, it is easy funny project. You can sew with you children, you can add felt flowers on the body or ribbon into hairs. It is up to your fantasy.

If you like my owl you can see other toys and decorations at my blog http://kackad-bloguje.blogspot.com/- use google chrome for translating blog from czech language.

 
"What a Hoot!"

Thanks soooo much. We love getting tutorials so if anyone out there wants to submit anything they have done... send it on through :)

Happy Sewing and TONS of Love,

Your AGF Team

Hi there,

Firstly, I want to thank you all your comments of my previous post! I read them all and it really feels good you are thrilled with my upcoming collection "INDIE". I was also reading the comments on Facebook. Thank you for that! <3

How was your weekend? Were you sewing a lot? Did you enjoy time with your family? I had a blast Saturday night having dinner and then going to the movies to watch one of my all-time favs: The Three Stooges! My sister Andrea, Walter and me couldn't stop laughing during the whole time :-D It was hilarious!!

As I told you, 2012 is going to be full of surprises! Collections, patterns, new clubs and other things I have under wraps because the beans cannot be spilled yet :(

About my new collections, I can't wait until I make a full reveal at Market, but because many of you asked me to show a sneak peek (and I LOVE to share! lol), as promised here it is.

I'm super excited to share with you bits of my second upcoming collection for Kansas City Quilt Market... ROCK'N ROMANCE

It's always a thrilling sensation to present you new fabrics, but I think this time is double that feeling because I'm introducing black as part of my new color stories! and I LOVE how it came out!

Having myself a heart full of love for disco music, it was SO cool to design for my little rocker side (that I sure have it too!). Do you also have that young rocker side? If so, you can start thinking in projects for you, or if have daughters or granddaughters :) 

Celebrating the fame of gray, I've also included many variations of this color which I LOVE!

This collection (as well as INDIE) will be shipping in the fall, but I promise that as soon as I come back from Market, I'll be sharing with you all the prints!

Hope you love it as much as I do :) 

Love,

Pat 

As a designer you often get the chance to work with passionate and extraordinary people. I got that chance when working with Shannon and Tiffany from Create Kids Couture. These ladies have the most passion I have seen in a long time from pattern makers.

Create Kids Couture specializes in creating patterns for kids that combine prints and color in a fun and creative way. I jumped at the chance to have a boutique create a line using our fabrics specifically for children. Shannon and Tiffany choose Poetica…. how poetic! *cheesy smile here*

But honestly we have LOVED the outcome. The pictures are the sweetest things you have ever seen. Take a look here.

So, without further delay, we introduce to you Shannon and Tiffany from Create Kids Couture..

1. Tell us a little bit about yourselves (who does what in the company)?

We are Tiffany and Shannon and we co-own Create Kids Couture. We are both stay-at-home-moms who have a passion for children's fashion. Tiffany has 3 children, two boys who are 7 and 5 and a girl who is 4. Shannon has 2 children, a boy who is 4 and a girl who is 3.
As far as responsibilities go, we try to split the work load equally. We both have our strengths which we tend to lean towards, like Shannon loves to do the networking and social media and Tiffany prefers to design new things constantly, but we both do end up doing everything even if only a little sometimes.

Penny's Patchwork Twirler in action! Headband by Shake-Up Snow Designs
 

2. How did you guys start out?

We met in 2008 and discovered we both had a love for sewing! We quickly bonded while teaching ourselves how to make clothes and accessories for our daughters. At that time we realized that while there were plenty of beautiful patterns out there, the niche for “over-the-top” children’s boutique patterns was lacking however we didn’t have the skills required to make patterns. We both opened up boutiques and remained friends continuing to work together occasionally and share new techniques we learned always! After years of requests from fans, we finally decided to share our unique, one-of-a-kind design with everyone by forming Create Kids Couture in July 2011. When we opened we had just 5 patterns and after really discovering our love for designing we quickly grew to have over 50 patterns in just 8 months.

3. What made you go into patterns for kids?

While we loved sewing boutique clothes for our customers, we really grew to have a passion for designing the new outfits every season. When we started, we honestly thought, "Oh we'll release a couple patterns for fun just to see what happens". We had no plans for CKC and absolutely NO idea that we would end up having the fan base we do! We love what we do though. We love trying to come up with new designs that haven't been created yet. However, our favorite part is that we are able to help so many people learn to sew. The boutique world can be very cut-throat and competitive; no one wants to share secrets. We want to break this stigma and teach people that there IS room for everyone and networking is powerful!

 

4. What is your ultimate goal?

 Our main goal is to just be a pattern company for children's clothing that people love, trust, and can really learn how to sew from. We are both self taught seamstresses and we want everyone to be able to learn to sew from home just as we did. While many people love the big paper pattern companies that can be found in stores nationwide, we were never really able to follow along because of the technical wording and lack of pictures. If we were able to finish it, the outfit was usually too big!  We have all of our patterns tested for ease of use and accurate sizing to prevent this. While we didn't create the concept of PDF patterns we do feel that we are learning how to perfect it for our customers. Our ultimate goal is too eventually be in stores where more people can learn about our easy-to-follow patterns and teach themselves to sew at home! How and when we get there is still up in the air and we're excited for the future!

(look at the sass in those eyes)

5. What inspires you to create?

Our daughters are our main inspiration...obviously, lol. But our customers keep us motivated with their excitement and enthusiasm! There is nothing better than creating a new outfit, posting a picture online, and having your customers begging for the pattern! 

6. What is your fav pattern of all time?

Wow. This is a really hard question; it's kind of like choosing a favorite child! lol. Shannon's favorite pattern is Mia's Reverse Knot Twirly Dress and Helen's Maxi Dress. Tiffany's is our Peony's Sweetheart Bodice Maxi Dress we have coming out next week!

 
7. Whats the next step in your business?

We're not really sure! Our goal is to just keep pushing the envelope creating exciting designs that keep our customers wanting more and networking with whoever we can and see where it takes us! There are a lot of ideas we have and things we want to do, but its just a matter of figuring out HOW to do it all.

Vivian's Peasant Top with Attached Sash and Danielle's Cuffed Shorts. Headband by Shake-Up Snow Designs.

 
8. How often do you release patterns? I see that you ladies are constantly working on new patterns :)

Right now we average about 6-8 pattern releases a month. Did we mention we LOVE creating new designs? lol. We have so many ideas and designs that we want to create, we wish we could get them out faster sometimes.

9. What are the various avenues you use to sell them?

Well, the best place to buy our patterns is by instant download through our website: www.CreateKidsCouture.com. We just started working with Fabric.com creating exclusive patterns for them that they offer FREE on their website to everyone. Our first pattern was released on March 22nd and our next pattern will be available through them in May. We do also have free tutorials on our blog: www.CreateKidsCouture.blogspot.com. Lastly, you can find us on other venues such as Etsy and various fabric shops online.

Collection used: Poetica by AGF in house

Pattens & dresses by: Create Kids Couture

Headband by Shake-Up Snow Designs

Photography by: Puddle Jumpers Photography

Aww Tiff and Shannon.. we really love you guys and are so happy with the way it all turned out. The pictures are amazing, the dresses are beautiful and the lil models are precious!

Fans like you are the reasons we do what we do! Big SMOOCH!

Well ladies please go over and check them out.. you won't be disappointed and tell `em Pat sent you :)

Love,

Pat & AGF team