FABRIC Designs by Jen Eskridge

 

2011 marks the launch of ReannaLily Designs debut fabric collection.  The line is called Modern Complements and features mod funky motifs in complementing colors.  Its fresh, fun and young and certain to garner compliments.  The collection has 18 prints for your sewing & crafting enjoyment.  The colors a seriously bright and will look great paired with each other, or subdued military fabrics.  This line is available exclusively from Spoonflower.com.  


Look for fabric bundles to hit my website and Etsy shop very soon.  Of course, I'll have a blog post to let you know when they are available.
 

Hop on over to Spoonflower to see all the fun designs in this collection.  The possibilities are endless.  I know I'm already dreaming up something to use that plaid on the bias.  Look for these fabrics to come creeping into ReannaLily Designs patterns, tutorials and maybe even kits!  Stay tuned.

FABRIC Designs by Jen Eskridge

Fine Line Fabrics- Watermark

I was able to meet the owners of Fine Line Fabrics back in the spring at the Minneapolis Quilt Market. They are a relatively new fabric company with some fun prints. They have brights, florals, butterflies and great blenders. The blenders is what drew me to them. They are called Watermark. What a comfortable motif- WATERMARKS. I've been waiting for the perfect project for the blenders I own- I think some of the fabric just might make into a MugRug or at the very least, drink coasters.

If you haven't seen the company yet or checked out their latest prints, head on over and browse their site. Check out the 3 brand new collections for Fall 2010.

Fine Line Fabrics- Watermark

Ikea Sheets

While on my little vacation down to TX, I wandered into an IKEA with the express purpose of picking up some sheets. The original tip came from Amanda Jean of Crazy Mom Quilts. What a great idea, right? THAT is a ton of white cotton fabric for only $5/ea. So, $20 later in the linen department and I'm a happy girl. Who knows what I'll make, but this white background fabric would look lovely in another Quarter and Dime quilt.

Ikea Sheets

Market Quilt

I'm very lucky to have received these fabrics from my friend, Jackie Clark. This is a small portion of her new line with Benartex fabrics. I had mentioned to her that I'd like to remake the cover model of my Baby's Boxes quilt pattern, and these fabrics will be perfect. Instead of having a pink + blue quilt on the cover, the cover will soon have an ALL boy pallet and an ALL girl pallet. (The new pattern, Baby's Boxes RD2-012, will be distributed by QuiltWoman.com) Very generous, thank you Jackie!


I'm working feverishly to finish the ALL Boy Quilt for Minneapolis. Its coming along nicely, but I definitely need to find the iron & fix the tension on my poor abused sewing machine.

I do think I'll quilt the small quilt in white, but I love how the other spools look with the Boy colors of this line. The borders and binding are really going to frame the quilt- cannot wait to show you. Soon, when its finished you'll see the whole thing. For now- I seriously need to get off the computer and get back to work. {{Market is in 2 weeks!}}

...secretly hoping I can also make the ALL Girl Quilt too...

Market Quilt

Happiness Is...

Ah... that's much better.

I have a couple projects wrapping up soon and this b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l. fabric for my Flapper Purse samples are just the motivation I need to get me to the end.

I'm off to pick up a few zippers for a commissioned job I'm working on. And mailing off a couple patterns to Renee, the big winner from the Amy's Creative Side giveaway. Thank you to all of you who participated in that. The comments were just wonderful and really warmed my heart. THX!

~jen~

updated to add- Yes, that IS alot of 3/8" cording, but I figured if I was going to own it and get the free shipping from fabric.com, I might as well buy 50 yards of it. This is the logic I have to deal with every day. =) hehehehe.

Happiness Is...

Guess What Arrived-

MY SPOONFLOWER!
I wanted to get a picture for you of the yardage before it gets chopped up into bits. Oooh- that sounds graphic, doesn't it? But you know how it goes...

And while I'm on the topic of surface designs, I wanted to show you this watercolor picture I made. I was trying to make a nice grid design without pre-planning or using guidelines. I like to paint when I'm listening to TV. Lets be real, I don't really *watch* anyway... so I might as well just listen and do something else. I bet alot of us are like that.

I took a picture of the watercolor paper, since my fabulous {{crappy}} scanner tends to wash out ALL colors. I took the picture on a slight angle. :( That's ok, though. I don't suppose you know how I can set my scanner to be so bright when it scans, do you? That would help tremendously. We'll see if this little watercolor grid makes on to fabric someday.

For now though, I'm off to get slashing on that my-new-favorite-thing fabric.
Have a good one!

Guess What Arrived-

Spoonflower-

Just ordered my second bit of fabric from spoonflower. Like the other one I ordered- I cannot wait 'til it arrives! I already received my shipping notice. Crazy fast, if you ask me. I do hope the thin ends of the scrolls come out and the stitching lines are heavy enough. We shall see. Don't worry- I'll keep you posted. I'll also vigilantly be checking the mailbox every hour 'til my goodies arrive, so if I don't reply to your email right away... its because I'm outside {{again}}.

Happy Friday y'all!

Spoonflower-

Ibiza

My friend Barb's debut fabric line, Ibiza, is hitting shelves all over the U.S. this month. Congrats Barb!!! And I was lucky enough to have Blank Quilting send me a small bit of advance yardage for a little secret somethin' I'm working on. {{Thank you Blank!!}} The fabric is so bright and intense. Every color represented in a bold-wild kinda way. Super fun to work with and everything matches it! Hopefully before too long, I'll be able to show you the finished super secret project.

UPDATE: Ooooh- Today in blogland, Barb is also having a give-away on her blog! You should go check it out. Win patterns, fabric and note cards.

Ibiza

iPhone Armband

I decided to take a break from sewing and writing... to um... sew. It makes sense in my mind, just trust me. I decided to make myself a little gift.

When we joined the local Y, the hubbs loaned me his MP3 Armband thing to wear on the track. Well, it had seen better days. That thing was all kinds of coming apart and the little "holder section" for the music player was too small to fit my phone (which plays music through the slacker radio app).


I went with the uber-hip Laura Gunn fabrics for my very own, super fancy iPhone arm band. Its patch-worky, since the fabrics were left over from another project. {more on that project later.}

I used the original gnarly black tattered armband as my guide for the size and measurements. And, since my nice mannequin, Manny, doesn't have any arms- I have the starch modeling the armband for you.


Of course, I should have looked on Etsy first. Turns out there are a few styles of exercise armbands out there. But I have mine and Monday's workout is just around the corner. Me and Laura, hittin' the gym. =)

The armband is sporting all its rough-draft glory in the photos too. Since its for me, though, I'm able to overlook the insanity of glaring stitching lines and other things that are not quite parallel or square.

There's no pattern or any thing like that- but I did take a more "straight-on" photo for you.


Have a great weekend!
~jen~

iPhone Armband

Cutting Scraps

So its a snowday here in fabulous Kansas. The kids are watching a movie and I thought I'd take a moment to tell you about cutting scraps. Sure, its obvious and easy- but there's a few things I want to mention.

I have lots of scraps, of all sizes. Most of the scraps are sorted in ziploc bags by color. In special cases, I have the scraps sorted by "line" if I'm working with a designer line.

When cutting scraps I like to use the ruler, the size I'm looking to cut. This is a 2 1/2" ruler. If you needed charms or other sizes/shapes I'm certain there's a ruler on the market to suit your needs.

Position the ruler on the scrap, making sure the grain of the fabric runs parallel to the ruler edges and cut around the shape.

Ah, but I must tell you how incredibly thrifty I am... Though I do like the selvage edge based projects, I haven't made one yet and I'll tell you why-

I use my selvage edges in the hidden seam allowances of my cut shapes. When you position your ruler over the fabric, make sure the selvage or non-printed part is within the 1/4" standard quilter's seam allowance area. Are you skeptical? Don't worry...

It turns out fine, and to prove it, I'm going to whip up a little 4-patch block to show you.

When sewing with these selvage-d pieces, I like to sew with them on top, facing me, so I can be sure the needle stays in the printed area of fabric at all times. (*that is the whole trick.*)

Here, on the back you can see the selvage, completely hidden and tidy within the seam allowances.

My scraps are cut into 2 1/2" squares. I think this size is great for most pieced blocks, yet still friendly enough for most of the sizes of my scraps. Cleaning up the scraps is a great way to get more use out of them. So, on a snowday or maybe watching the TV, you can really get through quite a few of those scraps and keep them organized in the shoe box size storage bins. Someday, I'll get through them all, and have my storage bins sorted by color... but until that day...


Go forth and make those scraps usable! ~jen~

Cutting Scraps

I heart thrift stores

Not only do I love thrift stores for the prices, but the finds are unbelievable. I'm the type who is willing to commit to rummaging around to find the diamond in the rough. And yes, I go to the shops quite frequently. I wanted to show you some of my recent textile finds.

Man, these are great. I now have a whole section in the studio for just vintage sheets. Who knows what they will all become??? I have started buying only flat sheets or pillowcases- unless its a pattern/print that I cannot pass up, then I'll buy the fitted sheet. I mean, a fitted sheet has a little more work involved, removing the elastic and then you have sections of the sheet that you cannot use. I think fitted sheets get more wear and seem to be a bit more faded in the middle as well. Anyway, these finds are 2 flat sheets and a pillowcase and I just dig them.

I wonder if my daughter will let me make another pair of gauchos for this spring? She's starting to get quite picky with "stuff my mom made" clothing. Ah... the tweens....

I heart thrift stores

Its done!

You've seen it on here before in this post and this post. Its the quilt I made with my Spoonflower fat quarter of logo fabric. It was recently quilted by my mom at Karen's Quilting Service.


After doing a search on my blog for the quilt top, I noticed that I had first posted in 2008. Now, 3 days ago, this wouldn't have been such a big deal. BUT all of a sudden it looks like it has taken me 2 years to finish an easy little top, which I sent out for quilting. Well, that would not do! I went ahead and got the binding done yesterday.


Here's an interesting bit- in the course of the, ahem, two years from start to finish- I actually had stashed that black dot fabric (binding) some where in my "black fabric" bin. Hooray hooray! I have enough to finish AND it matches!!! {You know that usually NEVER happens.} I'm pretty sure that is the world's way of telling me 2010 is going to be just fine.

The first post of the New Year- with much more to come!

Its done!

The Thread

Ok, when I showed you my studio pics I may have mentioned that 20+ thread cones that still needed a home. After talking with a friend of mine from college, I thought- Hey, I own wood and screws and a drill, I'm pretty sure I can make a rack for my spools.

Wanna see it???

I ended up using a 2x2 piece of wood, about 40" long, with screws drilled in at a 45 degree-ish angle. My plan was to put the spools onto each screw. The whole length of wood is screwed into the wall on the right and left sides. Nothing fancy there.


But then I realized I could also use that 2" depth as a shelf. That means TWICE as much thread storage as I had originally planned.

Looks like I've got some sewing to do!

The Thread

Studio Tour

Are you ready for the tour? The studio tour in the new headquarters office?

Ok, I think this is about how the studio is going to be for a while. Do you follow Judy's Stash Report on her blog? I follow it, but I don't participate. Mostly because I'm scared to actually know how much fabric I own. After unpacking it all into these beautiful cubbies, I'm certain that I do NOT need to add any more fabric to my stash for a while! Vintage Linens are in that brown woven basket on top. {Those framed fashion faces are by *the* Steven Stipleman.}

These are my Rainbow hue colors. I've left a few open spots to add fabric (don't tell the hubbs!!) and for some reason, I have 5, yes 5, cubbies of Reds. I think that is because I sew the least with red- so therefore I have the most of it left in my stash. Purples- well, I just don't buy purples or yellows. They only have one cubby each. I do think blues and greens are my running favorites for now.

And here's the other corner of that wall- The Target wire bins are held together with zip ties. I know my Dad is happy to hear that. I could have purchased more cubbies- but really, I already own the wire bins. (but I bought them at Goodwill, so I never owned those fancy connector pieces.) In the wire bins are white and black fabrics, sorted of course. Batiks sorted by warm and cool; and browns and whites. More accurately, I own about 3 total pieces of WHITE (or tone on tone white) fabric. Its all beige and off white blenders. In the very corner of cubbies are notions and trims.

Now here's the pegboard. I print my patterns on demand, so I do not have the whole board filled in with all my titles. That is on my, ahem, short to-do list. The pegboard is also home to my rulers. I think I might need to paint that pegboard red, but that will be on another day. In the upper left is a fancy little watercolor painting I did about 10 years ago or so.

Next up, the sewing table and thread. See those large cones over there... That rack holds 15 cones. I have another 20+ cones on the window sill waiting for another thread rack. Much like many things I own, I found this cone rack at an estate sale for $3. I do think I own enough thread- don't you?

And the cleanest little corner of the room- My little divided dresser. I have owned this thing for probably 8 years. Only 3 days ago I finally finished out the "natural wood" and painted it red. Its not very tall and we used it as a nightstand for the longest time. Of course, it was a nightstand with sewing supplies in it... but who cares. Now, its in its rightful home with a cute little painted bird over it. I do think it could use some flowers or a vase or something ...

You know what I didn't show you? The messy closet. It is home to batting rolls and donated military uniforms and spare sewing machines for classes. I am expecting a strangely large shipment of donated uniforms, so I'll have to show you the uniform stash after I receive all those.

I suppose the pictures might look a little cluttered- but I love how its sorted. I'm guessing this is a clean as its going to be for a while, too. HAHAHA. I've already started working on another sewing tutorial for the blog, so look for that soon.

Updated to add: This is what it looks like from the doorway. Not spotless, but it works for me.


Thanks for taking the tour.

Studio Tour

The Move vs The Studio

Ok, I had snapped a few shots of the mayhem that was the boxed up sewing room in our new digs... but as luck would have it, the SD card wasn't "snapped in" in the cheap camera- so none of those images saved. Just trust me, it was a TON of rubbermaids and boxes and more boxes. Instead I've got a few "in progress" pictures for you.

I've been to Target and Lowes more times than I care to count in the past 5 days. The newest addition to the collection o'stuff are the stacking cubbies. I've unloaded my rubbermaids into this cube system- organized by color.

Now in this picture I've got my NEW favorite thing. Pegboard! My friend, Annette, has pegboard in her studio and I had a mad case of pegboard-envy. Just for fun, I priced it... Yeh, that little sheet (which is plenty big for my pattern inventory and rulers) was only $3.57 and the pegs are only $.68. Heck yeah! I need that!!! I did have to suspend the pegboard off the wall about a 1/2 inch. I did that with a few layers of cardboard behind each screw- yeh, I have plenty of cardboard to spare these days. =)

And lastly the closet... boy, even the closet is filling up.


The closet mostly has donated uniforms, batting rolls and spare sewing machines for classes.

Of course the whole thing is in progress. I'd like to find a couple more of those cube storage systems for my brown, black, white and batik fabrics. Maybe when its all finished and magnificent, I'll do one of those virtual blog tours for you. For now, though- I'm exhausted.

Any tips you have for organizing would be greatly appreciated.

The Move vs The Studio