Art Gallery Fabrics - The Creative Blog

A milestone that made me cry...

Hi everybody!

When you work tirelessly for many years, things happen one after the other. Often we do not realize that they happen but it's more that we are the ones that made them happen. We are always so on the run and already thinking about what we have to do in the next 5 minutes that we don't realize the "today." If at some point we stopped to look, in retrospect, we would realize that our life is made up of small "milestones" that we are achieving daily and that's when we really become aware of the dimension of our work.

From my beginnings as an artist, my life was and is this company. I work tirelessly (as many of you do) to see the fruits of this labor and that is something that gives me so much satisfaction. Nothing compares to the love I feel when you comment on the blog, on my Facebook page, tweet or send me images of your creations. Nothing compares to seeing the happy faces when a collection comes out and you love the designs... 

And now, when I really think of it, it is the same as how I felt in the beginning: I LOVE the quilting world!

One of those little milestones was achieved today with the debut of the NEW Art Gallery Fabrics website for consumers. I swear to you that when I saw the new landing page last night I began to cry ... without stopping. I remembered so many things ... the joys and frustrations came to climactic end.

Over the last couple of months my team and I have labored over this website and I have to give so many thanks to ALL of them for their dedication... They took my dream and made it their own!

I can go on and on about all the cool features and inspirations that we put into this site but honestly I want you to explore them for yourselves. The site still has some work to be done but I couldn't hold it in any longer. So please my friends, go on and get inspired.

<3 Pat Bravo

Snooping around...

So one of my favorite things to do (and part of my oh-so-awesome job) is to surf the web for uber cool stuff.... and uber cool is what I always find. I have learned so much from the many many blogs out there and it has also been a great insight into what is trending in the quilting world.

Now some inspire me to create, some touch my heart beyond words, some tell me great way to cope with my lil one and some add the "funny story" to my day.

Since they have brought me all kinds of emotions I would like to share them with you all and hear if they touch you in the same way they touched me. 

Here are some that I'd like to share with you...

First one is the blog In Color Order. Jeni was our February Sewing Room of the Month winner but also has a very popular blog about sewing, quilting and a cute pet bunny named George. Now, I love her whole blog because she is so creative and has sooo many fun projects plus makes the quilting world not so scray for newbies like me. One of the posts that I really loved was her post about "The Art of Choosing." The post is dedicated on how to build your stash, set up your projects, build color stories, etc. You can read that post by clicking here.

In Color Order

The other blog that I love to go to is Design Seeds. I use this site for color inspiration. It is a great guide for quilt planning, home decor color palettes and anything to do with color. I honestly get lost looking at all the different color combinations and the beautiful pictures that go along with it (plus it has a pin it button!)

 Design Seeds

Lastly one of the blogs that I follow of a daily basis is Lil Blue Boo. This woman is AMAZING. I came across her site when someone tweeted about the video Ashley from Lil Blue Boo had made (see it here... "How to shave your head like a girl" .) Since then I have read and read and read on this brave woman's fight against the BIG C. She does it with grace, humor and pure JOY. Amongst all that she also finds ways to post the cutest tutorials and crafts. In a recent post she shows us how to make a t-shirt/memories quilt (here). She

Well ladies & gents this is a lil bit of what I find every day and I hope that you have fun going through them. I am very pleased to share this with you.

If you have a cool blog, funny blog or any blog that you would like for me to check out... send me the link. I love a good blog ;)

Happy sewing and blog-surfin,

Anais <3

April's Sewing Room of the Month

This months sewing room post goes to Messy Jesse. I will say that the name does not fit this lovely and tidy sewing room. The room was completely remodeled into a sewing haven complete with a victorian fireplace and built in shelves. Read on below to see how she did it and what some of her favorite elements are. Messy Jessie we LOVE your space!

Our First Home: Craft room update

Well here it is, this is my new sewing room / studio for messy jesse. It's the perfect craft space, with lots of shelving and storage for my growing fabric collection. A new addition to this room is a wall-mounted TV over my desk yippee!

Wowee such a difference hey, It's so amazing what a lick of white paint can do! I haven't got my new scalloped blind or a light fitting in yet so it's not quite there but I couldn't resist giving you an update. I was lucky enough to already have the wall shelves there when we moved in so all they needed was a rough sanding and some fresh paint. The thread rack is handmade by a seller I found on Ebay. I also found a cute little place to hang my bunting :)

Note the victorian fireplace I painstakingly restored for DAYS! I haven't got a proper picture of it before I started on it annoyingly, but it was covered in a ultra thick layer of cream paint which I stripped down using nitro mors solution and a little metal scraper, hopefully won't have to do that again : I My trustee expedit holds my sewing books and my prized collection of Golden Hands encyclopedia's (mentioned in a previous post here). As well as lots of paper-crafting bits and bobs. The ladder shelves house an array of sewing notions, threads, trims and paper patterns. I'm still working on this part, I'd quite like to have more of these things on show but I'm not sure how to work this yet.

I've got a new desk by up-cycling the old kitchen counter-tops we ripped out downstairs. It's so sturdy, and a great neutral colour for the room. My old desk from IKEA bowed with the weight of my sewing machine so hoping this won't do the same?

 And the crowning glory... the fabric collection! I've arranged it with vintage sheets, curtains and pillowcases on the bottom four shelves and modern fabric on the two shelves above that, then fat quarters all arranged my colour, topped off with some larger yardage pieces including some beautiful linen I brought back from Turkey on a holiday this year (going to be turned into a couple of sofa cushions). Some CK fabric, and a stack of vintage embroidery bits and bobs I've been collecting from charity shops this year. 

Haha my scrap bucket! what a disaster it looks but it actually works quite well for me. I need my scraps relatively easy to get to and not too tidy where it takes me forever to tidy. Do you have any good scrap organising tips? though I'm hoping to clear a lot of it in the new year with some scrap-busting projects.

A shelf of my vintage sewing baskets and tins store less-frequently-used items, like press studs, zips, alphabet stickers, and button poppers. Hmm have I missed anything out, let's see: deer ornament collection over the mantelpiece, vintage Singer sewing machine and spools of bakers twine = my perfect studio.

Thank you so much Messy Jesse for submitting your sewing room. I love the white furniture and rugs with the pop of color being your accessories and fabrics. Your Etsy store is packed with handmade goodness and I am sure everyone loves seeing where the magic happens :)

Ladies and Gentlemen if you have a sewing space that you would like to share please email us at anais.cowley@artgalleryfabrics.com.

Happy Sewing ladies :)

Sewing Room of the Month goes to....

 Maureen Cracknell from A Creative Journal

This lovely lady is a stay at home mom with a passion for knitting, felting, sewing, quilting, fabric, and drawing. So take a look at her lovely space and head on over to her blog and show her some love...

My Studio

 I feel very blessed to have a little room all to myself, although I am not alone in there very often. It is very much a work in progress and is always changing as I shift things around, discover what works and what doesn't, and find creative solutions for storing my supplies. The photos here will change, as does my space.

You can see all the photos I take of my room here -- these are a few of my favorites...

Come on in...

Small smaple of my fabric stash ... 

Spools and spools of yumm thread ..

Some books for inspiration :)

Can you tell I love crates? Holding more fabric of course!

My handmade dollhouses

My studio is a full-on working studio, not just a pretty room. It has to hold all the mounds of materials -- fabrics, felt, pillow inserts, buttons, threads, batting, yarn, needles, the packaging stuff, the boxes, future projects, everything I need to run this little growing business. As such, it gets so overrun with stuff that it is hard to actually work in it. I would love to have curtains, and pictures, and artwork, and all this extra decoration that would make my space look cute and perfect. But for now, I want as little as possible because it gets so cluttered with the necessaries as it is. With this new addition of these pretty-to-me old, wooden crates, my old shelf is very happy, much less cluttered, and I've never been so happy with my little space!  Love love love. Never want to leave. 

And now, time to sew!!!

Maureen, thank you so much for sharing your space and your lovely creations. We love the re-purposed crates and the feel of your sewing room. You truly have earned the title of Maureen Handmade :)

If you would like to submit your sewing room for Sewing Room of the Month please email us at anais(dot)cowley(at)artgalleryfabrics(dot)com - anais.cowley@artgalleryfabrics.com

 

Project Challenge 2012. Challenge #3 - Table Runner

 

 

Ladies you did such a great job last month that we are stepping up the game! We are so proud of you :)

This month's challenge will be a table runner. It can be any shape and size that you wish so use your imagination!

The requirements for this challenge will be:

1. Geometric design top

2. Must combine with solids

3. The quilting motif has to be geometrical too (no swirls or feathers, please)

Simple, simple, simple, but challenging at the same time!! So with that being said (you guys still with me?) you can add any technique learned to spice it up and make it more complex (in the picture below we made a sample using different collections and adding yo-yo flowers)

Now show us yours!

As always here are the rules:

1. Join our Facebook group to enter into the challenge.
2. Must use Art Gallery Fabrics ONLY to make the projects.
3. Must be completed and submitted in the allotted time.
4. Must let your imagination run wild!

You have until March 31st to submit your final product and remember that the prize for this month will be again (as every month) 10 YARDS OF ART GALLERY FABRICS! Whoooo-hoooo!!

Judging: We LOVED that you guys got going and showed off your stuff. Please keep sharing all that you do because it truly is inspiring!

We have had many questions on how the public vote will work. The public vote in FB (person with most votes) will count only as 1 vote. We will have 7 more people voting this month ... So in total there will be 8 votes for the winner: AGF team (5 votes), our great designer & creative director Pat Bravo (1 vote), our awesome designer Bari J. (1 vote) & public vote (1 vote)... Very exciting!! 

May your thread be strong and your machine be speedy! Get set GO!!

XOXO, Anais

Craft Trend: GEOMETRIC GORGEOUSNESS!

Hey all! Fab here.

So things are heating up here at the AGF studio with all the new awesome straight-out-of-the-oven-fresh new fabrics that are coming in! Beauties like the in-house designed Poetica, the goooorgeous 70's inspired Summerlove by Pat and of course, LillyBelle by the kick-ass designer Bari J. So yeah, it's pretty much fabric heaven around here.

But let's cut to the chase: Since browsing through zillions of blogs is pretty much my job, I'm always running into some notorious trends (some good, some bad, some ugly), and I wanted to share with you this one I spotted out a few days ago...

This is what I call "Geometric Gorgeousness"; colorful, modern, abstract, a bit crazy, and just yummy! Check it out. 

This strippy pillow from Ekofabrik (looks like a future project for me!)

This super cute tunic dress from the Secret Squirrel (love the name lol)

This cool mugs from SonoDesign... 

And this little purse from Thezakka stole my heart!

Now take a look at the quilt the talented miss. Kati of From the Blue Chair blog is making! Can you guess what fabrics she's using? 

If you guessed "Pure Elements", then you are right. 

And speaking of Pure Elements, here's another fan! (Sorry I don't know who made it, if you are the author of this stunning quilt raise your hand! hahah)

*Thanx Kelly Bowser for giving us the shout out! You're awesome and so is your quilt! 

So how do you like it?? We have been doing some GEOMETRIC GORGEOUS projects ourselves, wanna see??

I'm sure you already spotted out some Oval Elements in that table runner!

This makes me love solids even more, if that's even possible.

So if you're feeling this geometric trend, you'll definitely LOVE two upcoming prints from our collections RHAPSODIA and LILLYBELLE!

This is Weaving Azul from Rhapsodia...

And Vintage Fence Lime from Lillybelle!

What do you guys think? Feeling it? 

We'd love to read your comments!

xo,

Fab.

And the winners are.....

The winners of Art Gallery Fabrics "Mended Heart's" kit Valentine's Day Giveaway are:

Kate Schmidt - Romantic "Mended Heart" kit

Ga447  -  Traditional "Mended Heart" kit

Nurseli - Modern "Mended Heart" kit

Beth - Funky "Mended Heart" kit

Congrats Ladies!!!

Please send an email to anais.cowley@artgalleryfabrics.com with your address so that we can promptly ship these beauties to you.

We would like to thank everyone that participated and commented. The responses were so beautiful and really made us so happy. It is heart warming to see and hear all the positive feedback.

Check back frequently because we have something else in the works and another chance to win some cool stuff!

Below is the random.org app we used to select the winner. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mended Hearts Kit

In honor of Valentine's Day we wanted to share a simple project that makes a great gift for that special sewer or quilter in your life.

This kit is great for sisters, mothers, daughters.... well you get the point. Show someone you care with a "Mended Hearts" mending kit

This kit is extremely easy to make. Below is what you will need:

 What goes in the kit.....

And the final product will look like...

 GIVEAWAY

Since you are the best fans EVER we are going to giveaway 4 kits individually themed.

Themes are:

1. Romantic

 

2. Funky

 

 

 

3.  Traditional

 

4. Modern

 Kit will include a tape measure, buttons, ripper, safety pins, thimble, scissors, pack of needles, pack of pins, 1 spool of coordinating thread and a small bundle of fabrics matching the theme of the kit..... Wow that's a lotta stuff!

 

To enter the GIVEAWAY you must:

1. Like us on Facebook

2. Must comment on this blog and let us know which kit you would like to win.

 

Giveaway closes Friday, Febuary 10th. Good Luck :)

 

Love,

Pat Bravo & AGF Team

xoxox

 

Bari J. introduces LillyBelle

Hello friends!

Since I've known her, Bari J. is an artist that has been reinventing herself in every way. She describes her style as "funky vintage" and I completely agree with her, but there's more than that. She is connecting with a large group of quilters that love "the vintage arts-and-crafts movement" and are not easily inspired by fabric collections these days.

LillyBelle, her first release with us, encompasses this concept. Here is a video preview. Enjoy!

 

Let us know what do you think. Are you as excited as we are?

Don't forget we will have a worldwide live Twitter chat tomorrow 1:00 PM eastern time, using #LillyBelle. You are all invited! Bari J. and I will be answering all the questions you have about LillyBelle and her joining Art Gallery Fabrics. Details to participate here.

Not on Twitter? You can still join the chat by posting your questions on our Facebook Event Page.

 

Love, Pat

Are you an URBAN QUILTOLOGIST?

Here at Art Gallery Fabrics we believe that quilting is not just "the sewing method done to join two or more layers of material together to make a thicker padded material". We believe quilting is an artform, which requires discipline, practice, and of course some experimentation. Learning to master the art of quilting makes you more than a quilter; it makes you a QUILTOLOGIST.

So we came up with this fun term one day and we started talking about what kinds of "quiltologists" are out there; so we're starting off by presenting the URBAN QUILTOLOGIST. This quiltologist is all about modern, clean, high-contrast, bright colored quilts and just overall tons of fun! 

We went around town shooting the campaign for the QUILTOLOGY quilt and made this fun little video... check it out!

So, what kind of QUILTOLOGIST are you?? We'd love to hear!

xoxo

Fab.