ruby star rising

ready for market

Ruby Star Shining is here, and I've been super busy sewing up samples for Quilt Market.  Here's a little peek:

Allison and I just received our book manuscript from the publisher last week, so we can do some final edits.  Wanna know what tickles us the most?? We have our own ISBN number!  Looks like Ruby Star Wrapping will make its appearance in fall 2012.

And, yes, the inevitable has happened: I'm now on Pinterest:)

P.S. Thanks to Elsie and Rachel for the awesome fabric-covered-suitcase tutorial. Also, thanks to Stephanie for sewing the awesome tea wallet and bib!

Bee Skirt!!

 

The free Bee Skirt pattern by Whipstitch is here: http://whipstitchfabrics.com/blog/ruby-star-spring-bee-skirt/

If you like this video, feel free to share it on your blog!  I would be honored:)

 

Ruby Star Shining: Fall 2011

While we haven't exactly seen Ruby Star Spring in stores yet (it's coming, I promise!), I just turned in my artwork for Ruby Star Shining, my fall collection for Kokka.  This is a follow up to Ruby Star Rising from last year, and I'm really excited about it.

The flowers?  I'm totally going to upholster a vintage sofa in these.

Fun in Portland!

So, for family vacation this year, we have headed out to the Oregon coast!  On our way, we were able to stay overnight in Portland, and we really packed a lot in to our 24 hours.

First thing Saturday morning, we tried local coffee with friends who used to live in Atlanta. AH-mazing.

Then, off to brunch with the Sweet Hot Yams!  Do you know how much I want to be a Yam too??

And finally, in the last moments before checking out of our hotel, we stopped by Bolt and Modern Domestic. Bolt was one of the first fabric shops on my radar several years ago when I first got interested in fabric. It was so much fun to visit in person!

You might notice I am wearing a BEE SKIRT!!  This, however, is not THE bee skirt that Deborah from Whipstitch is designing in order to rock our collective worlds. I had a tiny bit of fabric from Kokka, and was just dying to wear a little of it on my trip. The REAL Bee Skirt will be revealed in the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

In Defense of Kindness

I grew up in an unkind household. This is not an ideal way to grow up; I don't recommend it. Unkind could mean a number of things here, but without going into sordid details, I'll say it wasn't just an absence of kindness, but an atmosphere of verbal and emotional abuse. These things were kept fairly well-hidden.  I did not learn that the world was a safe place.

Of all my memories and all my recollections, the moments that have stood out in sharpest contrast in my life were when people went out of their way to be kind to me.  There was one particularly difficult day in my early adulthood.  Of all my hard times, I think that day stands out as the hardest.  Knowing enough to put one foot in front of the other, I wandered through NYC, not sure what to do with myself or where to go. After walking aimlessly for several hours, I was surprised to run into a neighbor from Brooklyn, barely an acquaintance, sitting on a curb with his business partner.  They invited me to sit down. After a few minutes of small talk, a company car pulled up to the curb and my neighbor was whisked away, leaving me sitting there with a stranger.  For a few awkward moments, neither of us knew what to say, but then conversation came easily.  A few minutes turned into a few hours, and in a most unexpected turn of events, we spent the entire afternoon sitting in Bryant Park talking about light-hearted things like classic rock and airplanes. As the hours wore on, I felt normal, and appreciated, and human again. I got a brief reprieve from the difficulty I was facing, and learned that simple kindness can bridge the gap between feeling hopeless and knowing everything will be okay.

It's been 16 years since I left my original household, almost as many as I spent there. But making that place GO AWAY is harder than you'd think. I've carried it around with me and been haunted by it.  I think one of the biggest mistakes made by the people who raised me was the assumption that the little things didn't matter.  They took no credit for the mean and critical and hurtful words they flung around so carelessly, the words I've spent most of my life trying not to still hear. Those words formed my reality, my impression of myself. They thought their words didn't count.

Words are powerful, and once they're released into the world, you can't get them back. They go on and live a life of their own.

And here we are on the internet, with all of its eternal, undying words.  I know there are dark corners here, but it always surprises me to see hurtful words used against people in my own community. Offer your public opinion if you must, but remember: your words achieve a life of their own.  You never know the ways in which you will move someone, completely shift the trajectory of their life, for better or worse. Choose your words with care. 

The person I talked to in Bryant Park so many years ago?  I only know his first name. He will never know how helpful he was that day. He never even knew I was suffering.  But that's the thing: I've carried that kindness around with me for 10 years now. To have such an impact, by just being kind, is an unforgettable lesson.

One reason I love doing what I do is the abundance of kindness I've found in this little community. I dearly love the other designers who have reached out to me and included me in their world.  And the crafters and sewists and bloggers and just-plain-lovely-people with their warmth and encouragement and creativity... you all are exactly the people I want in my life!

As I've said before, we're all struggling here, and my deepest struggle and greatest desire is to HEAL my little wounds, and to give back to others some of the kindness that's been given to me. One way I'll do that: I'll choose my words carefully.

it's a fun post. really.

So you know that promo piece I won't stop talking about?  The one designed by my talented friend Blake?  I sewed a fabric mailer for it (using some of my Kokka fabric as well as a design I had printed by Spoonflower), and we submitted a sample to the Communication Arts Design Annual. Guess what? It's gonna be featured! 

We're so excited!  It's funny that I had to totally walk away from the graphic design world to be featured in a major design competition:) 

ALSO.  My first interview ever as a fabric designer went live on Pings and Needles last week. Do you want to know in which ways I'm like your thrifty Great Aunt Myrtle? Have you always wondered about my greatest fears involving lunch? Care to find out which of my designs frightened fabric buyers away from the Kokka booth this spring?  Find out here.

And finally: it's time to share some more Ruby Star Rising inspiration with you.  It's been a long time, right??

These cuties were made by Nicole of www.elsabags.blogspot.com:

And these.  These clever little nappies (diapers, in american-speak) are made and sold by Anna of MangoLime.

I received some photos last week from Suzanne (of Suzie Q Bags on Facebook) of this fantastic bag (check out those details):

Thanks, everyone, for sharing your RSR creations!

 

Look where I was this weekend...

Little did I know that my head would ever be peeking out from the pages of Design*Sponge. I have to say it was a gratifying end to Surtex, which was more an exercise in humility than I would have expected. My booth was really quiet!  Allison and I amused ourselves by keeping a detailed journal of the events happening around us, like "10:37 am: sandwich cart rolls by", or "2:19 pm: Melody adjusts facial expression to appear more approachable". I've been told that you have to wait about 6 months to reap the full benefits of the show, so I'll keep my fingers crossed. We did have a couple of impressive visitors, and that's potentially all it will take to have made our efforts pay off. 

Anyway, wanna see my booth?  Here it is:

In other news, Sarah at Pings and Needles, is doing a Ruby Star Rising giveaway!  If you visit her blog, and leave a comment (which is a question for me to answer in an interview to be published next tuesday) you'll be entered to win some Ruby Star Rising fabric from Eternal Maker (run by the cutest little thing in all of the UK) and also, I'll be sending out my very own special prize bundle, including but not limited to, my fun little newspaper designed by BravoCharlieTango and printed by Newspaper Club.  Depending on my mood, your package could possibly contain an inquisitive 9-year-old girl, or an energetic 3-year old boy.  You'll just have to enter to find out:)

 

 

A Huge Thanks

To my sweet friend Blake (http://bravocharlietango.com/) for putting my designs into action on my surtex banners and print pieces (printed by Newspaper Club!)

Some things I haven't been talking about

First of all, I will note how grateful I am to be able to say this. 

Now. Several months ago, Miss Allison and I worked really really hard on something. If you don't know, she is my business partner, as in, I do the designs, and she tells people about them.  And she keeps lots of spreadsheets. And, when I'm getting all anxious and OCD, she assures me I don't have a tumor, which is a really nice thing to do. 

Anyway. Miss Allison is a great storyteller, and has a sweet southern charm, and after (some) cajoling, she agreed to help me write a book. We put together a killer proposal, if I do say so myself. As we shopped the proposal around, I found out that if you're a fabric designer, publishers expect you to write a sewing book. And I wasn't proposing a sewing book.  I was proposing a gift-wrapping book full of unique and resourceful and reusable gift wrapping ideas.  So all the publishers said, "nice proposal, but we were hoping for a book of... you know... sewing projects".  

Fast-forward to a couple of months ago, several weeks after we had received all our rejections.  At that point, we had begun preparing for Surtex, and I was working on my spring line for Kokka, and we had pretty much licked our wounds and moved on.  Then we got a call.

Are you familiar with this book?

 
The publisher, Trumpeter, really liked our concept, and asked us to write our book, gift wrapping and all.  And I'm honored!  There are so many fabric designers and other talented crafters and sewists writing really wonderful books of sewing projects. I'm just grateful to let them continue to do what they do so well, and for me to do, you know, something a little different.  Our book is due to be released in fall 2012, just in time for the holiday season. 

In the meantime, we're off to Surtex first thing tomorrow morning, and I am a bundle of nerves.  Allison's husband is an amazing designer, and using my artwork, created a killer print piece for us to use as giveaways at the show.  The pieces were printed in the UK by Newspaper Club. 

Did you catch those stories? I told you she was a good storyteller. It's a wonderful print piece, and Sarah of Pings & Needles will be giving one away on her blog next week.

Wish me luck at Surtex!

A peek at my spring collection

Last week, I got some strikeoffs from Kokka, and my husband was nice enough to take a few pics before I had to send them all back.

I'm really happy with this print.  And as many of you pointed out on twitter, the design is quite a bit bigger than you might have expected.  I had such a nice, wide piece of fabric to work with (62" or so) that I really wanted play with some larger designs.

In case you're curious, the rectangles are the individual colors used in each print, and I've stapled my color corrections right on top. 

Also, I really want to wear this fabric as a skirt.  Just sayin.

Now, you have to tolerate me posing with my fabrics. This is what happens when the following elements coincide: 1 photographer-hubby, 2 kids with a babysitter, a pleasant spring evening, and a little too much time on our hands.

This is one of my medallion prints.  These were inspired by Lisa Congdon's project last year, A Collection a Day (day 91). I just loved those vintage flower motifs on the aged white paper coasters. My husband says my design reminds him of a box of confections.

Here's another colorway of the bee print. And what am I lookin at? Who knows.

 

As the designer, I secretly find this to be the most gratifying part of the print. It's the fabric designer's equivalent of seeing your name in lights.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *

Recently on twitter, Amanda of msmcporkchopquilts asked me about my inspiration for this line.  I wanted to answer, but there was no way 140 characters was gonna do.  So, Amanda, this one's for you.  (p.s. I just realized you're taking an internet break... hope everything's ok!)

Last year, probably no one remembers this, but my line was originally supposed to debut in the spring.  When, at the last minute, it was held off until the fall, I felt like I was facing a void, and needed to do something to keep myself busy for the next six months until fall market.  One of the things I did was just go ahead and design a spring 2011 line.  (To set the record straight, I wasn't officially asked to do a spring line until about 2 months ago, but I was being optimistic).

Some of my designs looked like this:

Little did I know that Echino's fall 2010 collection was full of deer!  So, a couple of months ago when Kokka officially asked me to do a spring collection, they said "you know, like the one you sent us last year, except without the deer".

Hm.

Trying to extract a deer and replace it with something else is harder than it looks!  I spent WEEKS trying to find a suitable replacement.  Here is a sampling of motifs I tried:

There was something wrong with every last one of them.  Some of them made no sense at all (a longhorn?!  a shoe?!) and others seemed like a good idea until I dropped them in the design where they became an instant rorschach blob. 

Anyway, I searched high and low until I started looking at public domain images from really old scientific manuals, and that's where I found the insects I used. Somehow, and weirdly, they fit better than anything I had  tried, so I ended up with a moth, a wasp, and a dragonfly:)  The pretend-embroidery didn't work out this time around, but I enjoyed playing with the little pixels until they got bigger and bigger. 

I can't wait to show you all the rest of the line!