Whew! Time to catch up!

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.

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.

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.

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!!

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!!!!

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!!