Sneak Peeks.

Want to peek in on some lovely things I've been working on?

Fabric!!!! I saw it for the first time this weekend, and I can't wait to show you all of it. This not even close to half of it...there is so much! I hope this is getting you excited....stay tuned for more of a full release soon! It's scheduled to be released at Spring Quilt Market with Michael Miller Fabrics....but more on that later:)

And also coming this spring:

More Embroidery Patterns!

I can't claim to have stitched these (thanks to Julie and Erica)  although I've been stitching up a storm too!  But so many of you have been so awesome to stitch up my new patterns coming out soon so I could test them out and work out any glitches...and they are turning out to be so fun. Can't wait to share more!

Embroidery love.

Wowzers! Thanks you guys for all your enthusiasm for working on embroidery with me! I had over 140 of you wanting to embroider for me to get my new spring designs out....yahoo! This is going to be so fun. If you haven't gotten an email yet, I'll be sending the rest out by tonight. And if this time doesn't work out, I have another project coming in April, so stay tuned! This is really so super exciting, and I am so ready to get these new designs out:) And most go with my new fabric, so doubly exciting! Stay tuned!

**If you want to still help, send me an email, but at this point the project is full. But I'll be saving your email for the april project. Thanks!

Monday doodles.

I've mentioned that I've been working on my fabric designs....and this weekend as I was laying out colors ( in stripes...it helps me to see them interact really well) I started to see images popping up on top of these stripes of color. You know when you see certain colors, they make you think of certain things? Well, these boy colors that I am working with just made me think  "lions". It's always interesting to me how ideas come. Lately, my ideas have been coming through color. Certain colors make us feel certain things. Don't know why these colors made me think about lions, but they did.  And though I am not much of a digital artist ( I prefer to draw by hand even when I am working digitally) this little guy had to make himself known. He even had the guts to write some graffiti on my color chart. And though I don't have any lions in my fabric, I've been thinking a lot about lion's lately....and it makes me want to play with them more.  You might be seeing some more very soon!

Happy monday!

Back with color.

{via Room Seven}

Hello!

Happy New Year! Merry Christmas!

It's been a good break. You? I hope you're as refreshed as I feel. It's been a bit busy over here, which I never like over the holidays: namely lots of deadlines which I hope to talk about soon! But it's been wonderful to have everyone home. I always hate to send kids back off to school!

I'm back blogging again! I've missed you all. It's good to be back.

So....I've had my hands and head full to the brim with fabric. Color. Design. Color. Design. It's invigorating. Different enough from illustration to have given me a proper dose of all things COLOR. It's been so refreshing to think of colors and how they work together to make you feel a certain way. So, since I can't post what I've come up with so far....I'll post some color inspiration that I am currently enlivened by:

{From Craft & Creativity's Flickr Page: Pip Studio Wallpaper}

Have I told you my infatuation with all things Dutch and Scandinavian? Maybe not. Since I was 16, I was a gonner with anything that had a connection to the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark...you name it. They are two technically different areas, but something about the way they celebrate color and how they push the limits against white (interesting for a territory dressed in snow so much of the year!)

So, it's no wonder that I have always loved Pip Design Studio and Room Seven: Two of my favorite places to get inspired. Both from the Netherlands.

Can you tell I like Red and Pink? Always have, always will.

It's interesting: I'm not always looking at style, but color and how it influences everything else. I always love looking at how the two elements of design work together.

I'll have to share with you more inspiration as I go. This is just a small part of what's getting my juices going lately!

Anyways, happy 2011 and can't wait to stop in more and say hi!

Ta-ta for now,

Sarah

Tammis Keefe

For the short 2 days I was at Quilt Market, I got to spend a few hours on the floor helping Michael Miller set up their massive booth. The booth had this MadMen Vintage theme, complete with 1960's runway of manakins. It was seriously awesome. As I rolled up my sleeves to get my hands dirty, I noticed these retro panels off to the side, waiting to be assembled. As I got closer, I realized they were Tammis Keefe Hankerchief's with a complete tribute to her life and story. Do you know Tammis Keefe? She was legendary in textile design for hankerchief's in the 1950's. Her eye for color and design is still recognizable, and she has inspired hundreds of artists and designers. She has a rather sad and mysterious life, which you can read more about here. But she died young, and her images were basically just sitting there, not being reproduced or used. But now, Michael Miller is reproducing her artwork in yardage now, and I am so incredibly excited!

Don't you just love her work? I am really fascinated by trends, and what they bring out in artists of the times. I think trends are so telling of all aspects of the culture that an artist is a part of, and I love thinking about why certain things are popular and why. So I love seeing her original work, and sensing why it was so popular then, and why it is so popular now.

Here's the fabric yardage that Michael Miller has made from her hankies. I can't wait to get my hands on it!

It was really cool to see the original hankies, with individual designs on them, and then how Michael Miller put them together to make awesome fabric.

(Photos from True Up)

And here is a video clip of the set up of the Michael Miller booth. It's really so awesome that I get to actually work with these crazy and fun people. I love this industry! You can see Sandi Henderson show off her red wig and me struggling to put up the Tammis Keefe panel with glue and string at about 1:15 into it.

So do you know Tammis Keefe's work? To learn more, you can go here,here and here. I'm just loving it.

Quilt Market.

Hello! I am back and full of inspiration. I was at Quilt Market, and wow. It was amazing. I don't even know how to start....

First of all, I have to apologize for junk photography.  I am a self-professed bad photographer in artificial lighting.

Second of all, I recognize that some of you are saying, "Quilt Market? What is it and what does Sarah Jane  have to do with quilting?" Lemmee essplain:

Quilt market is basically the trade show for quilting and soft crafts (clothing, home decor, etc.) where designers present their new designs (fabric design as well as pattern design) for buyers and distributers to purchase.

It's huge, and big and quite inspiring. Since I am going to be designing fabric (insert squeal here), and because I am so new to the fabric industry, I wanted to go and see what it was all about! So, Sandi Henderson (remember when she stayed at my house last month?) and I traveled up together (that's another story in and of itself!) and she gave me the grand tour, and introduced me to so many of the people I have admired for years. It was amazing!

And can I just tell you? Getting to meet and talk with Amy Butler, Anna Maria Horner, Liesl from Oliver & S, Patty Young, Pillow & Maxfield, Betz White, Marisa Hedike, Melissa Averinos....the list goes on and on....was so great! Admiring people from afar via blog land is nothing compared to meeting and connecting in person. I have such a new found respect and love for these women who follow their creative passions without reservation, and have the family support to do it.  Going to Quilt Market was kind of like being inducted into a new family. It was wonderful!

I didn't manage to get pictures of me with people...the lighting in the convention center is so tricky to manage. But I did get a few shots of some of my favorite booths to give you a taste.

Tula Pink blew me away with her Mysterious/Vintage Sea Faring booth.

I got to watch Anna Maria present her (incredible!) new line of Fabric at School House. I even got to meet her mom who was helping out since she brought all 5 of her children with her to Houston. Such a wonderful family...and warm loving people!

Patty Young also designs with Michael Miller and was presenting her new stuff. Such a clean open booth...loved it.

Amy Butler blew me out of the water with her booth. It was honestly such a treat to meet her in person. She has talent whizzing out of her ears and yet is the most dear, sweet person. It was such a treat to pick up her new book too!

And meeting Liesl of Oliver & S was such a treat. Honestly, she is one of my new favorite people. Her children's clothing makes me so happy!

So really, My 48 hours of "get myelf emersed in the designer fabric industry" was just that. It was heavenly to be surrounded by so many amazingly talented people, yet who's lives are lived day to day, doing what they love. And, many of them with families at home and little ones too. So with being in illustration and loving the children's book industry that I feel so comfortable in, I was so happy to know that the fabric industry is just as welcoming and warm and full of amazing potential.

Being an artist is so thrilling. I love being a part of  world where possibilities are endless. Never an end to creative ideas. And I am so honored to be a part of it!

But with all the new inspiration, it got me inspired to finish working on my new line for May! So back to work....art might be endless, but deadlines arn't! Back to the drawing table...I can't wait to show you what I have up my sleeve!

xo

sarah