Faithfully Yours is now in Quilt Shops!

Clothworks picked some Vanilla House patterns for some fabric reviews. They dub out the fabrics on my covers and place their prints in, all in Photoshop. It looks amazing! The fabrics are great! Love the colors!

Barbara Tourtillotte's fabric, Faithfully Yours, is in your local Quilt Shop today!

Fabric Stacks and Order!

I am always amazed at others' fabric stashes -- their straight stacks of fabric look so perfect - hard to believe people actually can live like that!! Right? So I am revealing my stacks -- not so perfect, definitely real! 

I have an armoire full of fabrics and Stuff! The stacks get pretty bad after awhile, so I go in and straighten things up a bit and it helps for awhile until I need to straighten them up again --- simply so I can function. The stacks are pretty tall so I have discovered a great tip to keep the very tall stacks from falling over  -- metal book ends!! Helps a bit!
But in the end, they still don't look that great! Just useable!!

I organize them by color mostly, sometimes by group or theme. I have greens, reds, pinks, blues, turquoises, blacks, whites, purples, yellows, and browns. Christmas, animal prints, kids, batiks, food fabrics, and different designer groups. Etc.

Just two shelves shown here! What a mess!

A bit better - but I still spend hours thumbing through the piles looking for a specific fabric.

Metal book ends to keep the stacks from falling over!

The next new pattern - Beat the Heat! oven mitts!

Still not sure why so many people make oven mitts --- probably to have them in the great foody fabrics that are available. I'm lovin' the foody fabric! Check out the olive fabric below. Awesome!

Out of all my oven mitts, this has to be the easiest one to make and second in line for the handiest one (Pot Pinchers P156 takes first place in handiest!). But Beat the Heat is quite the perfect oven mitt. And I have designed quite a few oven mitts [just counted -- fifteen others!]  Makes up really fast  -- though I find putting the trim around the opening a little more involved but the rest literally goes by in a heart beat.

Traditional Paper Pattern OR Epattern!

Basket liner fabric!

Another new project slated for this spring is fabric basket liners! These are the four fabrics I have chosen for the cover. I wanted four fabrics that 'kind of' go together or blend but each still having their own personality.

My favorite is the Playful Jacks fabric by Cotton & Steel.

More fabrics for more spring projects!

Try out these fabrics for some new oven mitts I am designing! I loovve food fabrics -- again, from Fabric Depot. But I can't decide what I like the best -- the bacon fabric or the olive fabric. 

Yum!

New projects this spring! -- Fabrics!

Starting my new spring designs. Just bought some fabrics at Fabric Depot! Such a great selection!
These solids are soooo beautiful! So I decided to do some projects in solids, which seems like an interesting approach  -- let's see how it goes! 

Don't you love these colors?!!! They look very good with the contrasting black background!
There will eventually be three projects: 1) cactus and jade -- with black, 2) ochre with tangerine -- with black, and 3)bluegrass and pomegranite -- with black. And check out the Kona Cotton color card:
www.fabricdepot.com/kona-cotton-color-card

Robert Kaufman Kona Cottons

The most popular gift!

A number years ago, meeting with a local quilt shop owner, was advised to make an oven mitt pattern. Wondering who in the world makes oven mitts, she informed me that the most popular pattern ever (at that time) was an oven mitt pattern. I had been making soft sculpture patterns for years, and my first thought was "I have been working too hard"!! So off to make my first oven mitt pattern. And hey, guess what? Tons of people love to make oven mitts. Who am I to judge!!
A very popular oven mitt pattern of late is Handsies for Pansies. I think it is the name! It's a great name!!
So just in time for Christmas, make your oven mitts. The foodie fabrics are FABULOUS for oven mitts!!

Handsies for Pansies - P193

 

Bonnie Christine on CreativeLive.

So I spent three days with Bonnie Christine talking about 'Surface Pattern Design' on CreativeLive. Bonnie did a great job and I love CreativeLive.
Bonnie is a fabric designer for Art Gallery, and her fabric is featured in our pattern 'Sew ImPressed' (P209). She obviously has a whole range of talents which are very impressive. Watch out Martha Stewart!

Bonnie Christine's online class for Surface Pattern Design

A nice treat today!

We have had a very snowed-in experience the last week here in Oregon, so it was a nice treat to get something unexpected in the mail today  -- from Moda Fabrics. Looks at these great prints  - from 3 Sisters, French General, and MoMO. I haven't unrolled them yet because I thought the rolls were so great looking. In another post, I will spread them out for a pic!

Can't wait to play!