Villa Rosa Designs

New Blog Under the New Name

2009-08-09T14:44:00.000-07:00

In my efforts to simplify and consolidate, I have changed the blog address to the new company name...villarosadesigns.blogspot.com. So check out all of the new postings there.

The plan is: To offer Frylights...news, travels, ideas, free patterns, contests, and activities. Let's see how I do.

Digging Out

2009-02-16T21:39:00.000-08:00

Pat is slowly digging out from under the mounds of fabric and UFO's at her home, after moving the machine quilting storefront to her home studio. She no longer has a living room, dining room or garage. Husband Wil likens her work areas to an English bookstore, with shelves and stuff crammed everywhere in a maze. Add to that, she will be moving again in a couple months. Can you say "sort and pitch"? There will be many scrap bags and fabric bundles available at her lectures and quilt shows.

Amongst it all, fabric that was never unpacked last fall, and a new shipment just received, are emerging in organized stacks. Still hard to get to, but all in order.

We're cutting the new fabrics into sample packets of Pam Cakes slices--5"x9". These slices are a great way to taste the new goodies. And they are perfect to make into little quilts when you're done--usually just a dab of fabric and dollop of imagination does it.

And we're designing kits again. Just watch what our generations group is up to.

it's been a while since we last spoke.

2009-01-20T15:02:00.000-08:00

hi quilters!

things have been crazy this past month and a half....but now we're winding down again back to normal. pat and i have been diligently practicing with the compuquilter- i've been learning a lot! since it's a different system than i'm used to, i have a little bit of an adjustment period. but it's been really nice.

we've been furiously working on our new kits, sample packs, and of course quilts! you have a lot to look forward to. if you haven't checked the website lately, i suggest you do! we've got some delicious new stuff, including sandi henderson's new farmer's market line! you gotta stop being so lazy- get away from the sewing machine and get to lookin!!

we miss you all like crazy! please drop us a line and let us know you still love us too.

happy quilting!
jessica

so this is the new year- and i don't feel any different.

2009-01-04T22:24:00.002-08:00

hello everyone in quiltland! i hope you had a great holiday. we've been sorting thru the remaining remnants of california quiltmakers and are currently working on opening up our new fabric boxes. that's right!!! we have tons of new fabric we received, but still need a space to put it!

things have been a little crazy lately, between moving quilting machines into my garage, and deciding which furniture stays and goes.... pat and i have been patiently and tediously working like little ants. and then, of course, in the midst of the move, there was that little thing called christmas..... but spending time with family seems to be the best remedy for a stressful season.

of course, this is where i would be posting awesome photos of our new workspace....if i had remembered to bring my camera.... doh!

just know that we're thinking of you, and we're patiently working to put our new kits, fabric, and news on our website!

take care! we'll talk again soon.
jessica

I guess it's over.

2008-12-22T01:14:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a long road, long hours, and a long time coming. California Quiltmakers no longer exists at 621 East Main Street.

But the good news is now that we have no storefront, we have soooo much more time to manage the website. That means that you will have way more fabric, kits, and now even gifts to choose from! YAY!!!!

Thanks to our amazing extended family of quilters. I had no idea the impact that we've had on this industry. Thank you to our awesome friends, old and new. Can I just tell you that California Quiltmakers has changed my life forever? Before CQ I couldn't even turn on a sewing machine. Pat has been teaching me how to quilt since as long as I've been working for her, six years.

Even though this chapter is over, we are feeling new beginnings all around us. Expect greatness coming soon!

If I don't hear from you sooner, I just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas!! We love you!

Asian Invasion Continues!

2008-12-05T17:05:00.001-08:00

We are overwhelmed by our gorgeous new fabric by Kona Bay. December is going to be Asian Invasion, with new kits and fabric going up on the website. That being said, here are some pics of some of our newest creations:

What Four and Big Spins

Big Spins Kit, available now!

the newest addition to the Asian family, a new PamCakes Kit available now!

Also, a good customer of ours came in the other day named Martha Howden. She made this quilt using one of our favorite patterns, Simply Delightful. Just had to show off the great work!

This is another quilt we received (sorry! I forgot to check who made it-if this is you, email me at jessicaislove@gmail.com and i'll give you credit!) using our PamCakes pattern! This was a Sheet Cake bundle that she bought at our booth at the Long Beach Quilt Show in July. Rock on mystery gal! Love the borders!

Ladies!! Show us what you have been making out of our patterns, kits and fabric! Email your pics to info@californiaquiltingcenter.com. Make sure your photo is a .jpeg file please!

One last thing before I work on more quilts. Quilts don't have to be patchwork, sometimes it's fun to be a little more artistic and think outside the seams. I (Jessica) made this quilt with the intention of telling a story with fabric. It's a love story, can you tell?

Have fun! Keep checking the site for new stuff, we will be updating frequently!
Jessica

The Fog is Lifting. (we think!)

2008-11-30T18:50:00.000-08:00

As soon as Thanksgiving hits at Quilting Headquarters, two things occur:

*we panic, because we know Christmas is almost here!
*we can't see past our faces because it gets so foggy out here.

But despite the unpleasant weather we are warming our hearts. My personal favorite artist came in to the shop today to quilt and I was delighted. Lora Wheeler is an altered artist from Merced. She has inspired many of my creations and I'm always excited to bounce ideas off of her. So today's post is dedicated to Lora, her amazing quilts, and her altered attitude.

I'm not exactly sure when she started stitching and altering but as long as I've known her (six years) she has been making works of art. Here's one of her latest creations, a mini dressmaker's bust:

in fact, she surprised me with a bust of my own to alter!

She really impressed me with the cd case. This was done on her home sewing machine. She quilted it and added embellishments like ribbon and buttons. Check out the vintage brooch!

and the back:

It says "be in the moment". Great sentiment.

She also shared some of her latest altered books, which are in the process of being finished. Her half-done is still better than my finished product! To me, it's really important to have people that inspire you. Whenever I see Lora she just sets me on a path of creativity!

The latest altered book:

It's all in the details for me.

Look at the tiny dancer!

Inspiration can come from anywhere. When she was little, Lora had cupcake toppers like this.

Like us, she was also getting her Christmas quilting finished. Her Christmas quilts were astounding- I loved that she mixed non-Christmas-style green and red fabrics in with the traditional Ho-Ho-Ho jolly stuff.

Leopard and poinsettia?! Are you kidding me? Delicious!

She made this quilt using the pattern Simple Day at the Lake (available on our website!) but she altered it (of course!) and did twenty blocks instead of twelve. Ladies you can do this too. One block is equivalent to a fat quarter, so twenty fats instead of twelve.

And she made a label for the back out of a Christmas panel she bought but never used.

Today was a great day. I encourage you, reader, to seek inspiration, step outside the box, meet new friends, eat dessert, and most of all....

KEEP QUILTING!

Whew! Time to catch up!

2008-11-19T22:05:00.000-08:00

Hi Quilters!
Things have been crazy at CQ! Between customers rushing to rent our machines before the shop changes hands and the 300 quilts that we still have to finish before December 15, you could say we're pretty busy!

But NEVER TOO BUSY for opening up new fabric lines that have come in the store!! We have debuted a couple new kits on the website too- you should be checking us out! click here to see our newest kits and our specials!

Yes MoMo, this is me using YOUR SCISSORS to cut open our fabric box! A haha....I love to break the rules.

our newest kit has this-Anna Griffin's Sierra Collection. We love the earthy tones and soothing prints. For the earth mother in all of us.

Tina Givens' line came in last week too. We are still in the process of designing kits but keep your eyes peeled!

and of course I jumped for joy when Amy Butler's new collection, Daisy Chain, hit the store! We can't wait to show you what we've come up with for this one.

Last and certainly not least....

New Asians From Kona Bay!!

Those are Pat's picks- her favorites from the new bolts.

From Valori Wells' Sole Line

Anna Griffin's Maime Collection has these great large prints. Pat shared with me that when she was a girl, her mom had rattan furniture and Grandma Pam's house was green. Everything in the house was green. (Grandma Pam's favorite color, obviously, is green : ) )This piece provided a little bit of nostalgia for Mama P and I loved the visualization of Grandma's green house.

And another print from Amy Butler. We love her so much! Amy, we just want you to know that we love you, Midwest Modern rocks and Daisy Chain is off the chain!

Before I head off to bed tonite I had one more thing I wanted to share with you. This is a purse that my good friend Fran Barret made. She took a pair of jeans and instead of cutting out the whole front and back panel, she focused on one leg and made an awesome one-front-pocket jean purse. Fran, keep on making such wonderful things.

We've Got Everybody Going Crazy.

2008-11-05T08:49:00.001-08:00

The rumors are true. We have sold the business. Part of it is going to the gals next door at Cloth and Quilts, the other part is going to Dea from our store. She's going to be doing some beautiful freehand quilting and the gals from Cloth and Quilts will be doing computerized quilting. But don't fret, both are great places to get your quilting done and we highly recommend them both. And if you're really trippin out about this, just call us. We'll be happy to answer any questions for ya.

Alas, we will still have kits, fabric and patterns! We are moving on to a new chapter in our lives. Keep checking both the blog and the website for more details on the upcoming changes we'll be making.

So my mom got me this mustard colored hoodie shirt and I've been dying to wear it. But it just seemed really plain. So look at what Baby Girl cooked up two days ago....I posed in front of my favorite "backdrop"- our Amy Butler Triple Treat Quilt (available in a kit!!)

Here's a closeup on the shirt itself:

just a little fusible webbing, some imagination, and a kangaroo pocket!!

Remember how I was talking about people following the creative energy to my house? Two nites ago Danielle showed up and hung out. It had been FOREVER since we have hung out, probably since before Market. So I let her pick out her Christmas present. : ) I originally had started this quilt for one of my sisters. She was getting married. Well, to be perfectly honest we're not the closest of sisters and I think I got mad at her and stopped making it. Well, I hated the quilt because of the negative connotations so I never finished it. Danielle saw the blocks, fell in love with them, and suddenly my selfish heart was transformed. So I started cutting the blocks down and sewing them and came up with the center of the quilt:

Then I'm going to piece more squares around the zebra border, border it up again, and just play with it. What I love about my friends is that no matter what the rhyme or reason they will rock whatever I make. They don't see mistakes, only character. They see the love that I fused to the quilt with my hands.

I was supposed to keep going on her quilt last nite but I was just too dang tired. I did finish piecing together the blocks last nite, but didn't cut them down or anything. I DID clean up my stash though- that was a relief! The parentals are coming to visit and I rent my home from them. If it's not spick and span I feel like a bum, and they won't hesitate to point out my messy house anyway! : ) So last nite was dedicated to cleaning and a desperate longing to quilt.

But lucky me, my desires will be fulfilled when I go to work today. I am so blessed to be able to be surrounded by these beautiful quilts that you send in everyday. That's what I will miss the most.

Oh yeah, how could I forget to tell you???? I FINISHED ALEX'S QUILT!! I'm going to quilt it and bind it tonite....I think...

spin spin, spin around like she does in my heart.

I hope your day is full of love and threads hanging from your shirt everywhere. Be creative.

I love finishing up old projects.

2008-11-04T11:32:00.000-08:00

This week I have been going thru a creative renaissance. I can hardly wait to get home from work to sew some quilts!! My house is insane, there is fabric everywhere. I am lucky enough to live alone. I don't mind being surrounded by scraps of goodness.

Whenever I start sewing I am blessed enough to have people come calling at my door. Friends must sense that there are creative juices flowing and they just gotta get in on that action. So I took a break from quilting to make a dress for my best friend Kara.

Kara doesn't care if it's got raw edges, or even if it's pinned together. She will rock it with pride! So she insisted upon sewing her own dress, with a little help from me.
please excuse my messy house!

We gathered the dress at the bottom. Kara's more simple than me, I would have put two huge jeweled pins on the sides of the dress where the gathering stitch is.

I thought it was primitive. She thought it was high fashion.

Sometimes it's great to be inspired by someone that doesn't normally sew or quilt- it gives me a whole new design prospective. Non-sewers know no boundaries with designs or limitations of the fabric. Their ignorance is creative bliss! I try to channel her when I'm creating- I mean this dress was so simple to make it was delicious. Great job Kar, i love it.

Tomorrow I will be posting a montage of my greatest un(finished!!) projects from the past couple years. It is funny to see how much I've changed! One's style is sure to change. I can't wait to see the evolution of Jessica.

TODAY!! Vote. Then stop talking about it. : )

Generations.

2008-10-27T21:49:00.000-07:00

I kept seeing the awesome Houston cityscape everytime we drove to the convention center. Finally I remembered to snap some pics when we were driving this morning. Isn't Houston awesome?

This was taken on a side street. I think Houston has so much character.

Another great cityscape shot

So today wrapped up Market and although we're really pleased with the turnout, we're exhausted and we can't wait to get home! We've learned a lot and we had so much fun with our new friends! It's really overwhelming how far we have come.

I started working for California Quiltmakers at 16 years old. Actually I didn't even get paid- I relentlessly volunteered until I broke Pat down and she put me on the payroll! I was the afterschool help. Then when I graduated high school I was put to work full time. I pressed and pinned quilts to our machines and watched them stitch the computerized patterns. I'm the baby of the group, and they made sure that I knew it! At 19 I decided to pursue a career in the jewelry industry and left the quilt shop for three years. In March of this year I decided that after a long hiatus, quilting was still in my heart and I couldn't escape it.

So I came back! The experiences that I've had away from the quilting industry helped me get polished, and gave me a great style and design perspective. So six years later, I am now our Style Executive.

There is a reason why I am sharing this. You cannot escape who you are. I tried to be something I was not. Quilting is in my heart. My entire life has been changed my quilts and I'm pretty sure if you're reading this they have changed your life too.

That being said, I am dedicating the rest of my blog to my quilting heroes. Meeting all of you this week has breathed new life into me. I feel a creative renaissance happening in my body. So here's a shout out to my QUILT ROCK STARS:

Amy Butler, my soul sister and the reason why I am even here. Without her influence on my art, personal style, and quilting

Kaffe Fasset and Sandi Henderson holding sheetcakes in their own fabric. Our sheet cakes are SMOKIN'!

Anna Maria, Amy, Jane, and Tina (and of course me in the middle!)

Heather Bailey and Brandon Mably striking some epic poses

a little group I like to call Jessi's Angels

And I saved the best for last. This is Jacqueline from Soak. She created a knitwear wash that you can use for your vintage quilts, prewashing your fat quarters, or for laundering your lingerie and sweaters. Here we are, always the bridesmaids and never the brides!

Thank you so much everybody for making this the best experience for me. I can't wait to see you all again in Pittsburgh!

And They Call This Work!!

2008-10-26T20:51:00.000-07:00

Now that I've got a chance to rest, let me tell you what we did today! Yesterday we were surprised at how many goodies we sold. It seems like shop owners wanted some treats of their own! So we restocked our booth and watched as people steadily took bites out of it.

I also did Part Two of my Celebrity Sightings!

Tina Givens!

Sandi Henderson!

Nancy Zieman! I cried like a baby again!! I can't help it, Nancy is so inspiring to me and I just had to tell her how special she is. I was at Pat Sloane's booth, telling her how much I love Nancy Zieman, and she was behind me the entire time!

Speaking of booths.......

Tina Givens

Sandi Henderson

these ladies were selling ribbon and decor stuff, i can't remember their names for the life of me though : (

Paula Prass

Patty Young

We covered quite a bit of ground today! You have to keep checking the website, we'll have soooo many new lines of fabric kits coming soon!!!

I'm exhausted! Time for bed. Tomorrow will be great!

QUILT MARKET IS AMAZING!!!!

2008-10-25T18:35:00.000-07:00

Wow! I have never been so happy with so little sleep! Bright eyes and bushy tails, we have been so busy the past couple of days getting ready for the show!

Oh yeah, did I mention that our rental car is a Dodge Charger?!
I KNOW!!!

Thursday morning consisted of leaving at 3:45 am for San Francisco. I slept in the car on the way and slept a little on the plane, totalling my nite's sleep to a whopping 5 hours! Once we got in Austin we set to work putting the finishing touches on our pattern covers and last minute touches for our booth.

Friday was awesome, in the very last moment possible we scored this awesome tea cart that looked great with our designs. Antiques are our love, and we stopped at any excuse to shop! The find of the day? 5 MINT CONDITION, original New Kids on the Block dolls!!!! Every member was there and all of their accessories are intact! I couldn't believe my eyes. I am already the talk of my social circle- jealousy is rearing its ugly head!

our pinktastic tea cart!

she looks like she lost her religion : )

doesn't this look like a french painting???

he's so lovely!

I have decided that every antique shop needs mannequins. I had so much fun posing with the mannequins and taking their photos. This was an exceptional shop, really well designed and HUGE! I love the way they color-coordinated their displays- the robin's egg blue is pretty incredible. The jewelry displays were like treasure chests!

buried treasure!!!

tiffany blue.....(sigh!)

I have an affinity for vintage hats and I couldn't help myself. When I found this noir-esque little beauty, I just had to strike a fierce pose.

I thought this one was a kick too!!

So we drove three hours to Houston on Friday, set up most of our booth, panicked a little bit, slept nothing, and now we're here! Things just really keep falling into place and we've gotten such great reviews! A really special thanks needs to go out to Laurie Taylor Designs, she photographed our covers and she's just really special...if you haven't checked her out yet, click the link on our page. We love how our booth turned out, it's pink and girly and awesome!

in our own little corner
our booth neighbors Soak

So the coolest part so far about market?

MEETING THE CELEBRITIES!!! Here's me with Anna Maria Horner, Kaffe Fasset, Valori Wells, and Jay McCarroll from Project Runway! AHHHHHHH! I did meet Amy Butler too but no picture yet, I have to wait till I wear my Amy tunic! I cried like I had won an Oscar when I met Amy. I mean, when I was 18 years old and really getting into quilting she was just this huge influence on me and she really made me think that a young gal like me could do anything I want if I put my heart and mind to it.

All the designers are really nice, Anna Maria was soo easy to talk to. I actually recognized Valori as she was walking around from booth to booth. Jay was awesome! So fun to hang out with, I felt like we had been friends my whole life, you know?

just another day at work hanging out with Jay!

I can't believe how great this has turned out, not only are we selling out patterns but we are hanging out with quilt royalty!!

Tomorrow I will have my Amy pics!!

Sometimes even the experts fall down!

2008-10-22T14:10:00.000-07:00

Today after six years of accident-free quilting, i let one of our quilting machines bite me in the finger. What a wakeup call! Bruised appendage and bruised ego, I quickly rushed to the bathroom to wash up and cry for a quick second. Don't worry ladies, the quilt is safe. : )

Today is my best friend Alex's birthday. I'm cheap with my quilts- I rarely share them! But she's one of the most influential people in my life and I really love her. So last nite I set out to make something special for her.

Alex is the kind of person that if you're at the supermarket and you're thirty cents short, she'll be behind you with the change in her hand. She mentors two young girls from her church and is the president of her college's Amnesty International club. She really wants to go to Africa someday. So I took some fabric from Ghana that was given to me by another friend, mixed in some green and red batiks I had in my stash, then set forth to raid what we had at the shop. Presto! Kaffe came to mind and before long a quilt was being made that fit Alex's philanthropic personality mixed with her awesome sense of style!

Just so you know, I am an artist, and not a craftsman. That being said, all of my blocks are different sizes! But the fact of the matter is, I'm on my way to making a rockin quilt!

Delicious!

2008-10-21T13:55:00.000-07:00

I found this ad yesterday while searching for some All-American 50s ads. Isn't she stunning? rosy cheeks, perfectly penciled in brow, a gorgeous hairstyle....so put together. I remember when I was little my mom used to make homemade bread in the winter time and this image conjures up those smells and the aprons she used to wear.

Isn't it funny how trends go in and out of style? The revival of the polka dot is a great example. Sometimes I think I'm afraid to use certain prints because maybe I wouldn't necessarily wear them....but then again, I'm not wearing the quilt!

We are patiently waiting to hop a plane and get to Texas! We are expecting a great turnout at our booth this year. Retailers, if you are going to Market please stop by and see our SheetCakes display! We'd love to see you.

Finishing touches are needed for everything! There is always a small something that you need to add or a last minute omission. By Thursday morning though, ready or not here we come!

Autumn Greetings, Market, Quilts, Quilts, Quilts!!

2008-10-20T14:07:00.000-07:00

The leaves are falling, the summer is over, and now starts the fall rebirth. Rusty orange and red leaves are everywhere, taunting me, begging me to rake them up and jump on into the pile!

With the colors of the trees influencing us, we are seeing some great fall pieces. I'm loving the robins egg, rust, butter rum, olive and other colors.....delicious.

This Thursday we'll be on our way to the Market show in Houston, Texas. Woo-hoo! I can't wait to hop a plane. I think I'm more excited about the flight than I am about the show.....the first time I rode an airplane I was 18 years old. I couldn't believe I had missed out on this exciting travel opportunity my whole life. Now all I can think about is how long it will take me to travel the world.

But back to Market.....oh, man! We're so excited to be able to have this opportunity this year to showcase some of the amazing patterns we've come up with. Once the show is over we will be releasing the patterns for the public to buy. The shop has been painstakingly cutting kits, designing last-minute kits, sewing bindings, packing, putting the last touches on our pattern covers.....and quilting your quilts!! Whew!

Looking back on the beginning of this year, I didn't realize how much we have really been doing. Our website is getting bigger by the day. We even launched an etsy site to sell off our samples. We've never seen more beautiful quilts come thru our doors or out of our own hands! Designers like Kaffe Fasset, Anna Maria Horner, Amy Butler, and Anna Griffin have really influenced us and we have been consumed with designing patterns using their gorgeous fabrics. We really can't wait until you can buy them and use them yourself!

Something I've been asking myself lately is if I define myself by what I do for a living. I am a quilter. Quilting is in my heart. But does it make me who I am? Part of me says yes. Part of me knows that in my heart of hearts, if I weren't quilting I would still be me. Then I simply slap myself and think, "stop thinking! more quilting!"

Well, back to work. Your quilts are calling!

Quilts, Kits, So Long Sweet Summer

2008-09-27T11:37:00.000-07:00

This summer kept us extremely busy with new kits, quilt shows, pattern designing and storefront remodeling! We've seen some works of art come into our store lately and we are really looking forward to the lovely colors we expect around autumn, not only outside but in your quilts.

I think it is really important as a quilter to always be cultivating. I find it interesting when I hear quilters remark, "That really isn't my colors," or, "It's pretty but I wouldn't choose it." Why do we limit ourselves to a certain style or color scheme......why not try something completely out of our comfort zone?

A girlfriend recently asked me to help her go shopping. She wears a lot of the same color scheme (let's face it, the girl only wears purple). I wanted to show her that she could find other colors and prints that she's not used to wearing. In less than an hour she was modeling a cream lacy blouse and a forest green sweater. The point is, go beyond your comfort zone once in a while and bring out different parts of your personality thru your quilting. One cannot always wear purple.

Now, I'll also admit that typically every single thing I've ever quilted has had some sort of pink in it. But I, too, have branched out! I made something with a little bit of red instead. : )

The best part about working in a quilt shop is seeing all of the different concepts that people have put together. I love to see what colors people put together. When I quilt I agonize about what colors I will use to match my themes.

I am excited about the coming autumn, and then winter. It seems that when the weather gets colder the quilts get a little brighter.

Fun Quilter Window

2008-03-09T23:44:00.000-07:00

We just remodeled our front window. The Fun Quilter sits so pretty there now. And the rest of the corner in light and more open than before, so we can show our kits in stock.

Four Seasons

2008-03-06T00:05:00.000-08:00

This week we are enjoying Spring coming on here in the valley--the trees exploding in color and fragrance. We are even able to open the door in the afternoons and let the fresh air in.

Our Four Seasons are complete with the Dandelion Wine pattern by Allison Designs. We had so much fun designing them with Kaffe Fassett and Phillip Jacobs fabrics. Pam and Monique and Pat all had a hand in them. And Dea did some smashing quilting, though barely visible through the profusion of color and pattern.

New Bags

2008-03-04T21:55:00.000-08:00

We just got in our new custom little pink shoppers. Can't wait to stuff them with your purchases. Even their compact 8x11 size fits a book and yards of fabric. And you can reuse them for projects. We hope you'll have as much fun with them as we did designing them.