Bernina of America sponsored a Bernina Fashion Show at the Spring Internatonal Quilt Market.  I took photographs of 3 of the gorgeous entries, although they were all spectacular.

This entry. titled The Many, Many Tears I’ve Shed, was created by Virgie Fisher of Yukon, OK.

Audrey Durnan of Claremont, CA, created the blue Silk Road Caravanserai which has a coordinating  hooded cloak.

This fashion, The Warrior Goddess…Guardian of Lost Treasure, was created by Janet Brooks of Rio Rancho, NM.

It was a busy show, so unfortunately, I did not get back to take additional pictures of the gorgeous fashions. 

Please check back for more from Quilt Market.  And one more piece of eye candy, a close up (although a little out of focus) of one of the beautiful rhododendron blooms that were outside the convention center.

I have been wanting to write about this absolutely, unbelievablely fabulous quilt, based on a translation of an old German Fairy Tale, and the interesting woman who designed and made the quilt. The story is like a fairy tale come true along with the quilted fairy tale.

But onto the story of this quilt and the woman who created it – Sieglinde Schoen Smith.  I had attended the International Quilt Market trade show in October 2006.  After the show, I was sitting in the lobby of my hotel waiting on the airport shuttle bus and had dozed off.  I was awakened by a woman, Sieglinde, who had started taking to me.  She had just arrived for the International Quilt Festival, this huge consumer show that follows Quilt Market.  She was so excited – she had entered a quilt and hoped that she would win a prize.  Sieglinde showed me a picture of her quilt, and my mouth dropped open – it was the most fantastic quilt.  I thought to myself that if she didn’t win, the judges were blind.

Sieglinde grew up in Germany during the war and had the children’s book Mother Earth and her Children read to her.  She had remained fascinated by this book and created her quilt based on this story. The quilt is really “mind boggling”, a work of art that is so detailed with both the quilting and embroidery.

As we sat and talked, Sieglinde told me of her childhood and family and the horrors of growing up during the war.  She was completely fascinating and had me thoroughly captivated.  Unfortunately, the shuttle bus came too soon and ended our conversation.  I could have sat hours listening to her.

Although I had her card, I was busy working and did not follow up with her, but often wondered how her quilt placed at the show.

The next spring, I attended the Spring Quilt Market.  As I walked the show, I saw a quilt hanging in a prominant spot and immediately recognized it.  The booth was a publisher, Breckling Press.  I asked about the quilt and learned that it had been awarded “Best in Show”.  I also learned that the quilt was being used  to illustrate Mother Earth and Her Children in a new children’s book.

When the Fall Quilt Market arrived in October 2007, Seiglinde was in Breckling Press’ booth, busily autographing copies of the book. She has another book coming soon, Mother Earth’s ABC,  using the alphabet on the quilt. Congratulations to Sieglinde, who is living a true fairy tale, and a huge thanks for sharing her talent!

This is really going to be fun!  I’m working on a design creation to enter for the  Fashion Embellishment Challenge sponsored by Expo International Inc. at the Craft and Hobby Show in a couple of week.  Yikes, its less than a couple of weeks! As you can see from the pile on my work table, I am just getting started. But, I can tell its going to be fun working with all the wonderful trims – I just love beads! Choosing the trims I wanted to work with from Expo was like walking through a candy store and deciding which piece of chocolate I wanted (all yum!!!).

Well, back to work. As I said in my last post, this is frantic time for the designers attending the CHA show and I’m definitely in that frantic stage!

Craft stores have such a huge assortment of craft supplies available, from supplies for scrapbooking to supplies for painting, needlework, sewing and quilting, floral and gardening, beading and many other types of crafts. The good part is that you don’t have to figure out what to do with these supplies. There are many design projects available in all of these categories in magazines, books and project sheets as well as kits that include both the supplies and instructions. 

As someone who has been designing for the crafts industry for many years, 23 to be exact, I thought I would give you a little background on how many designers work in getting their designs there for you.

A lot of craft designers are members of The Craft and Hobby Association (CHA). CHA is hosting their Winter Convention & Trade show in Anaheim, CA in February. This is the premier trade show for anyone involved in the crafts industry and is open only to the trade.  Manufacturers present their newest and hottest products to buyers who attend from all over the world.  CHA has a Designer Section for the designer members and offers several opportunities for designers to connect with manufacturers, publishers and editors.

Designers can set up a table in the Designer Showcase held one day during the show.  Designers/artists create a table display showcasing their designs and portfolios so that editors, publishers and manufacturers can view the designs for use or publication.  These are many of the designs that you see and use for creating your craft projects.

Another opportunity for designers is to exhibit in the License and Design Section during the show .  The designers have a booth space to show their art and designs that are available for creating new products or in using products.The theme for this year’s show is Fashion Crafting and designers are also showcasing their fashion designs in the Fashion Crafting Display, our version of “Project Runway”.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing some of the designs created by friends as well as myself.  The flower at the top is a Gerber Daisy Fabric Sculpture created by Lynne Farris and shown in her newest book “Fresh Felt Flowers” published by C&T Publishing.

The 2 designs embroidered on jeans are from the DenimBroidery embroidery kits I created for Janlynn, a needlework company.

Joan Elliott painted the Jingle Cats Christmas image, which has been licensed on tee shirts, fabrics for hospital scrubs, mugs and cross stitch kits.

Linda Wyszynski designed the embroidered pillowcase for Create and Decorate magazine, using buttons and embroidery to create a floral design for stitching on the pillowcase edge.

Audrey Jeanne Roberts painted “My Heart’s Garden” as part of a digital scrapbook kit for Daisie Company.

Vicki Schreiner painted the sports images which were used to create a scrapbook kit and stickers sold in stores.

I do have some very talented friends!

All the designers that I know who are attending the show, including myself, are now frantically creating new designs to present. So the next time you are using instructions to create a craft or sewing project, it may have come from one of these designers working to create craft projects just for you!

International Quilt Market is in Houston this weekend, starting on Oct, 27.  It is a major trade show for fabrics, notions, embellishments and anything for quilting and sewing. Kreinik Manufacuring Co., Inc is a manufacturer of gorgeous silk and metallic fibers to use for needlework, scrapbooking, quilting and sewing. They are decorating their Quilt Market booth with individual blocks created by designers and embellished with their fibers. Kreinik asked me to create a block, which I was delighted to do. I want to show it to you.  I used my Sweetheart Ballerina fabric that I recently designed for Quilting Treasures by Cranston. The block, which I named “Flowers Dance is an embroidery design of flowers swaying in dance to go along with the Ballerina theme. I used all metallic fibers to stitch the design with the chain stitch, stem stitch and colonial knots. The block size is 12″ x 12″.  I told you in a recent blog that I loved color and this block is definitely colorful.

If any of you are attending Quilt Market, which is open to the trade only, be sure to visit Kreinik’s booth to see the blocks from all the other designers. International Quilt Festival follows Quilt Market and is open to the public.

Embroidery has always been one of my favorite needlework techniques. I learned to embroider, as well as cross stitch and crochet, while I was growing up. I bought several crewel kits and stitched away, enjoying every second I spent embroidering. I still enjoy embroidering and am delighted that embroidery is very fashionable on clothing.

As a designer of needlework, I recently designed a line of embroidery kits for stitching on your jeans and jean jackets for Janlynn. The kit line, Denimbroidery, features 10 trendy and colorful designs that you can use to personalize your denim wardrobe, or, if you prefer, stitch on other clothing items or use for home decor such as pillows. The design above will put colorful paisleys on your jeans. The Flower Garden design can be stitched on the back of a jean jacket as well as on jeans for year-round flowers.  Hearts are always a great and timeless design. You can wear your heart on your jeans.  The Princess in Training is the perfect diva design for all women! 

And for the Wine Lover, support the grape by embroidering the back of your jacket with the Wine Lover design. All designs can be viewed on my website as well as Janlynn’s. Stitch these for yourself or think what a fun surprise this will be for someone dear to you.