Welcome!

Hi everyone,

Happy Thursday! We hope everyone is having a terrific day – we are having a gloomy thunderstorm here, unfortunately, but have our pretty fabric collections to brighten our day in the office. Be sure to check out our latest How To’s Day on the blog; we shared our adorable Endearing Elephants Tutorial by Sweetbriar Sister for Camelot Fabrics that are sure to warm your hearts :)

It’s time for this week’s Thankful Thursday. Today we are featuring one of our incredibly talented and wonderful pattern designers, Anne Sullivan of Play Crafts. Play Crafts is a one-stop destination for crafters and quilters of all skill-levels, a place where sewing enthusiasts can find the necessary tools dedicated to crafters. The goal of Play Crafts is to inspire everyone’s creativity and inner (and not-so-inner) artist! Play Craft provides crafters with fun patterns and tutorials that are easy-to-follow and beautiful, as well as a wonderful “Quilt Design a Day” (QDAD) group that allows quilters to showcase their latest quilt designs/creations influenced by different color combinations. Such a fantastic way for quilters to let their imaginations run wild.

Play Crafts is run by some very crafty people too: Anne Sullivan, Gillian Smith, and Jane Pinckard. Anne Sullivan, the Creative Director, is a creative, quilter, pattern designer, artist, and has a PhD in computer science. We had the privilege of partnering with Anne, who created some very modern and beautiful quilt designs for us. We absolutely love Anne’s clean, yet playful design style and are so thrilled with the patterns she created for our Free Projects Program. The Farm Stand Quilt is a pretty and simplistic design that showcases a fabric collection perfectly in its vertical cascade. We love how versatile this design is; we can create an ombre effect or interchange patterns of similar color palettes to create a fun look! We used Farm Stand to showcase our Fruit Stand by Jane Farnham for Camelot Fabrics Collection, and we absolutely love it!

You can download the free PDF for the Fruit Stand Quilt on our website. Be sure to check out Play Crafts for lots more – on their website, Twitter, Facebook, flickr, and Instagram. They have so much creative and innovative content, that you are sure to get inspired!! Thank you Play Craft and Anne for an amazing quilt pattern. There’s more to come as well, so stay tuned. Have a great day, everyone! :)

Happy Sewing!

Hi everyone!

Happy Tuesday! We hope everyone is having a lovely day. It is the last day to enter our Itty Bitty FQB x coordinating Aurifil Spools Giveaway on our Facebook Page, so be sure to enter if you’d like. Good Luck to everyone entering!! PS: We’ve been excitedly going through all the new summer song suggestions, and have been loving them in the office…so thank you so much! :)

It’s also time for this week’s How To’s Day! We absolutely adore Burda Style, and are often found perusing on their website and magazines for sewing and style inspiration. They have a ton of creative and beautiful content each issue, there’s always something new, and we’re always inspired! As well, their patterns are always on-trend and such an ease to work with. They have a fantastic webisode dedicated to sharing sewing tips & tricks, as well as fun project tutorials for everyone. They have an online forum and gallery where fellow sewing enthusiasts can post their newest creations, either using a Burda Style tutorial or one that they made themselves…such a great place to share!

Want to see what we did with the Burda Style Smocked Maxi Dress pattern? Click HERE to see more! :)

Hi everyone!

Happy Monday! We hope everyone is having a great start to the week. How was everyone’s weekend? We can’t believe we are already almost mid into January , but 2014 has been pretty lovely so far! PS: Have you entered our Pinterest Fabric Giveaway yet? Enter here by repinning our Bumper-2-Bumper Giveaway image! :)

The weather has been changing pretty ferociously, from hot to cold and gloomy to sunny. And with the ever-changing influx in weather comes lots of sniffles and runny noses. Alas, the season of colds is among us. Getting sick means the need for lots of vitamin C, which can be found in yummy fruits such as oranges, apples, and strawberries. The thought of delectable fruits have inspired today’s Moody Monday post. Today we are inspiring you with our Fruit Stand by Jane Farnham collection.

Fruit Stand is a beautiful collection, with a very warm and home-y feel. The wonderful hues of purples, chartreuse, coral, and teal make for a very cozy palette – the perfect collection for all your kitchen decor needs! This collection would make lovely curtain, tablecloth, apron, and cloth napkins for a modern country, farmhouse, or cottage feel.

Better Homes and Gardens always posts such incredible interior design ideas for the home, and we are always inspired. One section that we particularly love is their kitchen decor. Looking at all the dream kitchens make us long for our own fabulous and bright kitchen, but for now looking will have to suffice. Their country and cottage kitchen sections are the perfect backdrops for our Fruit Stand collection – so fun, fresh, and cozy! You can take a look here for all their kitchen inspirations.

We hope you have enjoyed today’s post. And if you are also stifling a cold today: keep warm, drink lots of honey tea, and get your share of some vitamin C! Have a great day everyone.

Happy Sewing!

Hi everyone!

With the launch of our Fall 2013 fabric collections, we also proudly introduced our newest designer, Jane Farnham. Jane is such a wonderful talent, and we are so incredibly thrilled to have Jane on board with us! She designed two collections for us for Fall 2013, Beyond the Backyard and Fruit Stand, that we are sure you will just adore.

We thought a Q&A with Jane Farnham would be a great way to better introduce her to you all. We hope you find our little questionnaire interesting, fun, and inspirational. On to the questions!

1. How did you get into/start designing? When did you know you wanted to design?

I’ve always wanted to design even before I knew it was a possible job!  But I took a long and hard route into the designing world that I wouldn’t recommend.  I’ve done so many other jobs after art college including a wedding dress maker, visual merchandiser, interior designer and mock up artist. Then one day I thought, I need to seriously give this a go, trust my own instincts and see where it takes me and I’m so lucky and grateful to find myself here today.  Happy days :-)

2. What was the first thing you remember designing?

I think the first thing I ever remember designing was a birthday card for my Mum when I was about 6 or 7, I used a piece of graph paper and coloured in all the squares in a different colour, very carefully, making sure not going over the lines!

3. What were your inspirations when designing Fruit Stand and Beyond the Backyard?

I take so much of my inspiration from mid century design, and that was certainly the case when I started designing my Fruit Stand collection. I nearly always start by developing drawings and doodles that I’ve done along side computer illustration and the colour palette normally comes later.  However the exception may have been my Beyond the Backyard collection where I had a clear vision of the palette I was going to use, I knew I wanted a very bright and bold colour scheme coming through and then combined it with some of my flower illustrations and the odd insect.

4. Who is/are your biggest inspiration(s)?

My inspiration is always changing but at the moment I’m loving the work of Helen Dardik. I love the fact that you know instantly the artist behind the piece of work, just from her style.  Also the mid century work of designers like Lucienne Day are a big influence for me as well as Scandinavian art right now.

5. Favourite place in the world?

My favourite place in the world is Cornwall in the UK.  I love being by the sea and the rugged landscape is spectacular at any time of year, beautiful on a summers day and so dramatic watching the big waves in a storm in the winter.  I also love watching the stars there at night as there’s so little light pollution, in fact I saw the milky way there for the first time recently, amazing!  I’ve visited Cornwall so many times and its always magical.

6. What are some things you enjoy doing in your free time?

Recently I’ve been doing a lot of swimming to keep fit and I love walking in the countryside and if there’s a dog, even better!  I also sew things when I have any spare time and have been known to make a quilt or 2 and like sewing gifts for friends and family.  Also I love watching a good drama series on telly, especially if I can watch a couple of episodes in one sitting as I’m too impatient to wait for the next instalment!

7. Describe your perfect Autumn day.

A long dog walk preferable with a sea view, a nice pub, roaring fire, good food and good company :-)

8. Current favourite song to listen to?

London Grammar – Strong, it’s a beautiful song that just washes over you.

9. What is your favourite quote to live by? 

Always be a first rate version of yourself, instead of a second rate version of somebody else – Judy Garland.

10. What words of advice would you give to someone who wants to start out in design?

Find your own individual style and keep at it!

11. One word (or two!) to describe how you feel about having a fabric license

Fantastic!!!

12. What would your dream license be?

Having a fabric license is a dream come true!  But if I were feeling greedy, I’d say ceramics and stationery, so fingers crossed!

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Thank you so much, Jane, for taking the time to answer some questions for us! We are so glad to have you.

We hope you have gotten to know Jane a bit better through this post. Be sure to keep a lookout for her collections and for all the future excitements to come!

Be sure to follow Jane on her blog, Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, and instagram pages.

Happy Sewing!