Portabellopixie

Fabric Pinwheels

Whoosh! A new freebie for you guys tonight. 

This was one of the projects we had on display at market. I got the idea when brainstorming for our booth sort of out of desperation. I did not have a huge amount of time to dedicate to market preparations this time around so whatever I did had to be quick, easy and as always - make an impact! I think this fun project did the trick. 

I don't know if it should be considered a pattern or more of a tutorial, but here it is all the same. You can snag it over there on the side bar.  Down there to the right!  You got it - enjoy!

 

Smooches, Analise

Sweet Analise is being discontinued.  This fun little number has been well loved, but we've decided to do a similar style (but different at the same time) patchwork dress in the spring, so it's time to say "goodbye" to this one.  There are about 70 left, so if you want one, run over and snatch it up!

Thank you again for all the support with our patterns.  It means so much.  :)  Now, I'm back to getting the next round off to the printer.  We're aiming for November, fingers crossed.

If you notice that Ruffle Pants is out of stock, don't fret.  That one will most likely never be discontinued.  From this point on, anytime we reprint patterns, we will do new covers to coordinate with the most current fabrics.  So when Ruffle Pants come back in stock, it will be with a fresh new cover.

Free pattern tomorrow, stay tuned!

xo

Sandi

Quilt Market by Video

As promised, my video coverage of quilt market.  This was fun, but a little tricky.  I kept forgetting that I would be posting these online and kept rambling on about my sexy bed (see Amy's video) and raging PMS (to Joanna) I suffered through before market.

The rocker?  That would be David Butler.  I would love to give my critique of the band, but Dustin took the cd from me when I got home and he hasn't given it back!  But I checked out the band's my space page, and they seem pretty darn groovy.  So very cool - check 'em outl.

Here is my video of my booth, I just kind of wanted to film these in a way that would make people feel they got to be there and walk around themselves.  If you suffer from vertigo, my apologies.  Some of these video's are a little jumpy!

 

Amy shares her inspiration for Love (which I LOVE - how many times will that be said in the collections life span?) and chats a bit about her upcoming projects.  I ask her if she has any intention to start a blog and the response was not what I expected!  Fun things to look forward to from her!

 

My sweet friend Anna- have I ever chatted about how much I like this chick?  She's so lovely to spend a little time with.  I wish there was more time to really hang out at these events, but I'll take the stolen bits of time twice a year I suppose.  :)  I got to squish Romans legs and meet her oldest, Juliana and the lovely redheaded Allie.

 

My lovely friend Joanna, who lost her voice.  Again.  We have a little rant on the joys of pattern drafting, the wonders of supportive husbands and why she won't let me and Camille come visit her.  Hmph.

 

Miss Patty, Miss Patty..  How fun it is to be in the business with her.  Have I ever mentioned that Patty was the first person, after my family, that I told of my contract with Michael Miller?  Yeah, we've been friends for a long time and I'm thrilled to see the success she's having!

 

The impeccable Paula Prass.  When Paula and I first met over email, she wrote that she was going to sit down and read one of my emails with a nice piece of pumpkin pie.  It made me smile, as if MY email were a good read or something.  I doubt Paula even remembers that, but every time I see her, I have a craving for pumpkin pie.  Her booth was gorgeous, she is delving into patterns, catch the sneaks in the video.

 

Miss Chelsea has done something so sweet-she has designed a pattern with NieNie in mind and named it "The Nie Nie Skirt".  A portion of each sale of the pattern will go to Stephanie and her family.  So touching.  Chelsea is a long time friend also and I love catching up with her!

 

The sweet and enjoyable Pillow & Maxfield gals.  Nowhere to link them!  Girls, online presence needed here please!  Blogland would love to get to know you!  These gals are so much fun, and super talented to boot!

That's about it for now.  I had an email from Melanie the other day and she won one of the the Meadowsweet fat quarter bags and is giving it away in chunks on her blog!  So many of you have contacted me since market with requests for one (I have no control over how many are made, sorry!) so this would be a great chance to win it.

Be back soon-

Sandi

Market, Shoes and Bears - oh MY!

Sit back and get comfy, or wander off to a different blog that updates a little more frequently - this is going to be a long one! 

 First! Quilt Market! We went, we had a great time, take a peek: 

For those interested, the collage in the back wall was a love child of foam board and spray adhesive.  Super easy and quick, big impact.

The letters the Meadowsweet logo were done in were a find at Joannes.  They were a paper mache type thing.  We painted them and whipped out the mod podge to adhere the fabric to the top.  One Indiana Jones flick was all the time it took.

Flowers are a must have, and I generally take more pictures of the flowers than I do of anything else, go figure.  I usually go pretty simple with my flowers, and since there are daisies in my new collection, daisies it had to be this time around.  They really are the happiest flower, aren't they?

We were so honored to have won an award.  Best Merchandising.  I gushed and thanked them when they presented it to us (right after Michael Miller won the Creativity award!) and after they left, I had to turn and ask someone what the Merchandising award is.  In case you are as clueless as I was, it's basically the way you show yourself off.  Oh well-yeah, I think I've got that down.

 

It certainly helped that we had these two killer chairs in the booth.  Good grief-how gorgeous, right?

 

 A couple weeks ago, Caroline emailed and asked if I needed anything for market.  Weelll..  "since you asked"..  I sent her some pitifully small bits of fabric and she sent me the Eiffel tower of chairs.  Thank you thank you Caroline! 

Overall, market was great!  Thank you to everyone who stopped by and met us.  Meadowsweet was very well received as were the new patterns we debuted.  Here, have a quick sneak.  

I'm not going to put up the full reveal of them until I have them in hand - which should be in November.  In the meantime, I'm finishing up the book, the pattern instructions and sewing up several Halloween costumes.  

Oh, and we're updating the website with a new design and order management system..  About to put out an ad for a couple new employees to help handle the new pattern shipping and everything - All that behind the scenes stuff that doesn't seem very interesting and doesn't take a very pretty picture, but it's so much work that I feel justified in mentioning it here.  :)

Next:  Shoes  (allow me a slight detour here)

    Dear John Fluevog,

I love your shoes.  They are the most comfortable pair I have ever owned and took virtually no breaking in.  Thank you for your amazing product!  I would like a free pair, as I believe I sold more shoes than patterns or fabric when I wore them to International Quilt Market last week.

Thank you,

Sandi Henderson

OK, here they are:

I own, ahem, three pairs of Fluevogs.  The ones I was wearing here are the Malibrans and I also have these.  There are not exactly a cheap pair of shoes, but I have found really great deals on mine-search around and if you get some, let me know the color and style.  I'm about to start a Fluevog love club or something.  They're great.

OK, next -the BEAR.

If you follow me on twitter, you'll have seen my ongoing issues with the wilderness beasties that are making our home theirs.  Guess I can't really blame them, we live about a half a block from the woods and hiking trails.  Anyhow, people keep asking me to try and get pictures and finally the other night we did.

It's a different bear pretty much each night and the night we took these, it was a mama with 2 cubs.  She was really aggressive, hissing and throwing a fit anytime she saw a glimpse of a light or person.  She finally hopped up the tree and we sat at our door for about and hour and a half to warn anyone that might be walking by-I was genuinely afraid she would attack someone that got too close.  The other bears really didn't seem to mind people much, but mama bear - well now I truly understand the origin of the term "mama bear."

It's gotten to be a bit much and the neighbors have decided to pull out the tree.  It's a shame, but they are getting too comfy around here.

I took these pictures from our front door-about 20 feet away.  Insanity I tell you!

All right - bouncing back to the market section of this post - I took some videos again of some of my designer buds but this post is already long enough, so I'll put them up tomorrow.  Did you know that a certain designer's husband is in a rock band?  If you can guess who, I will be overly impressed.  I had NO clue about it at all, and Dustin is now hooked to the band.

Sandi

Off off and away!

Greeting from my seat in a tiny airplane as we are getting ready to head off to Houston.

Had to pop in real quick and wish you all the best few days, can't wait to meet those of you who will be attending market. For those who won't, expect a full recap when I return. My trusty flip video is safely tucked in my carry on right next to my camera.

A couple business notes- I have dragged my pattern shipper to market with me. All orders placed through yesterday are on thier way. Any orders placed while we are gone, will go out on the 14th.

Sorry I didn't put up my strawberry skirt pattern like I promised, I thought it would be best to wait until we are around in case there are any issues needing attending. It's done-we'll get it up when we return!

All right, the engines are rearing so I better get going!

xo
Sandi