I didn’t hop on here to tell you about my worry-habits or even to show off how cute my big girl is becoming (an indulgence on my part), but to tell you that there is a happy bundle of fabric being given away at Carta Bella. Expect a little from Samantha, Deena, and myself. It’s the final day of prizes going on at the blog and facebook since our launch a couple of weeks ago (my, how time flys!). Hope you get a chance to win it! I believe there will be another giveaway towards to the end of the month so you might as well join now!

Will be in soon to tell you all about QM!

Carina

Never heard of Quilt Market? It’s a tradeshow for distributors, retailers, manufacturers, and designers to show off what is new in the fabric world. I’ve blogged about the Minneapolis Show 2010 here and the Salt Lake Show 2011 here.

This is my first ever Quilt Market where I’ll have my own booth. I started thinking about it last September and started actual work on it this February. What started out as one crate became two + lots of loading issues. To get the crates from my house to Riley Blake we had two freight trucks arrive (one that was tall enough and one with a liftgate) to get them out to Riley Blake’s warehouse.

The actual loading of the crates wasn’t a picnic either. Poor Josh had to reorganize twice. We packed them pretty full.

Josh is coming with me to Kansas City QM to do the heavy lifting and to help me out in general.

If you are coming to the show, please come visit me in Booth # 1529. If you aren’t coming to the show, send your quilt show owners my way! They (or you) can also visit me in a Schoolhouse presentation at 10:40am in Room 2505A on the new line and how to make the new sewing pattern.

_____________________________________________________________________________

You can check out all the fabrics in Songbird by clicking on one of the photos in this post. It is all summery-goodness! It hits quilt shops in June (2012).

Happy sewing!

Carina

After a five and a half year gap, we have decided to head back into diapers, teething, and night feedings. (It has been long enough that I have forgotten how little sleep I will get and have created a blissful illusion that I will be happily snuggling a baby in my very tidy house 24 hours a day). To top off our joy, we also found out that squirt #3 is a boy! Guess I’ll be making more boy lines, huh?

My pregnancy secret better explains this or even this, don’t you think? You guys are lucky that I skipped posting on bagel week (yes, I ate bagels every day for every meal.)

Baby boy is due at the end of August. This is my first summer baby so if you want to give me some advice for staying cool, I will gladly take it!

To throw a whammy into all this new-found baby fun, today is the announcement of a brand-new company—Carta Bella. Some of you sneaky folks have managed to find out all about this scrapbooking company before we have even had a chance to announce it!

This has been a big undertaking, and I’m so excited for you to be a part of this new venture! Our sister company Echo Park made the transition from “conceptual” to “actual” a wonderful process. Getting to work with the EP team has made the process a pleasure. Second of all, I get to work with the brilliant Lindsay Moore, who is the Director of Sales at Carta Bella (Seriously, have you met Lindsay? He’s fab!). And as if I wasn’t having enough fun, I am the Creative Director over a fabulous team of designers many of who you know already.

So what’s so special about the Carta Bella brand? Other than the amazing crew, the awesome talent, and all the hard work everyone has already put in? All of our papers are TEXTURED! I can’t tell you how beautiful this makes the lines. (I wanted to add 4 exclamation marks there, but restrained myself.) I can’t help but run my fingers over the samples at my house every time I pass them. And you’ll love all the great stuff we are doing with alphabets and elements. Get ready for some serious scrapping!

Our very first collection is Beautiful Moments™, which I designed specifically for the launch (check out that little cutie in the layout! I think I know her…). I know there may be a way to win it through the facebook page although I’m not sure when (details to come!). I also happen to know there is a SERIOUS week of prizes coming up soon to those who are part of the facebook page. Don’t miss out on it!

+ Want to check out more on Carta Bella? Visit the new website here: http://www.cartabellapaper.com.

+ You can check out the first blog post here as Lindsay and I introduce the company.

How’s that for some big news? Lots of paper loving coming your way!

Yours truly,

A happy, fat pregnant lady

PS. If you don’t subscribe to my facebook page, I made the announcement that we are having some troubles with the email feeds. This meant completely starting over with a new feed. Please re-subscribe in the top-right hand corner of the blog by adding your email or you will no longer receive the blog emails. Thanks!

This pattern comes in both the dress and blouse sizes with my typical sizes of XS-XL. I use the same Child Measurements Chart that I use on all my sewing patterns, which is also laid out in the downloadable instructions for this pattern.

Need more of a visual? You’re in luck! My big news today is that I have done a video on Riley Blake’s Cutting Corners with Cindy Cloward showing the steps for creating this outfit. There are examples in the Paris and Company™ and Dainty Blossoms™ fabric. Check out the video by going here! NOTE: This video has been postponed and will go live May 1st.

______________________________________________________________________

Aren’t these girls darling? Gweny and Mae are two of my good friend Aimee’s children who happily agreed to pose for me! I’ll have samples of this outfit in my booth at Quilt Market in my new line Songbird™ (which I will reveal fully soon!).

Big news to announce tomorrow afternoon (yes, don’t get antsy but I won’t be announcing until the afternoon).

Hope you enjoy the pattern!

Carina

We’ve been doing double duty in the studio with the May 1st surprise as well as Quilt Market. I flew my mom into town to help me with all the sewing. We have managed to squeeze into the last 5 days a king size quilt, 2 baby quilts, 9 children’s outfits, 2 slings, and a whole heck of a lot of pillows. It’s been a marathon! I have new-found appreciation for all the hard work folks put into Quilt Market.

We still have a number of items to make before our crates ship out next week, but I’m feeling pretty good about how far we’ve gotten. My mom stayed up until 3am trying to get the quilts done in time. My favorite machine quilter Lina, agreed to help me out with this deadline as well (My mom and my assistant have nicknamed me the slave driver). Susan is the sewing-pattern-cutter-extraordinaire now and my mom is the piping pillow master (try saying that five times fast).

PS You are seeing here some of the first peeks at my fabric line Songbird™!

Speaking of that other thing (you know, that May 1st thing?), I am AMAZINGLY impressed by the resourcefulness of some of you out there. I have been sent forum threads and a number of leaks that have come out and all I can say is, “Good detective work!” Can’t keep a secret from some of you!

Back to the sewing!

Carina

If you head over to Riley Blake’s Cutting Corners today, you will find my brand-new Double Ringed Pincushion Tutorial.

All of my pincushions are made using my Dainty Blossom’s line for Riley Blake. I now have these pincushions scattered all over my studio 1. because they are useful, but also 2. because my kids like to play with the “donuts.” It works for me.

The actual pincushion is relatively fast to make. The stand is made from wood supplies found at my local craft store (spools, doll heads/spheres, and a flat circle for the base).

Head over the Riley Blake here to download the pdf instructions, pattern, and for a quick look at the instructions in the blog post. You can also download the instructions here.

Happy sewing!

Carina

______________________________________________

Heavens knows there is a lot going on these days! Susan has even been forced to come over for some late night work sessions (and we certainly try very hard not to have too much fun). I’m only a couple of weeks away from the big reveal. Be sure and check back for the good/big news on May 1st. But in the meantime, feel free to check out my new tab Design Firm for a sneak peek at the designers who have been working with me on this new venture.

In the meantime, I have a pincushion tutorial and pattern available on Friday of this week both here and at Riley Blake’s Cutting Corners. I’m also heading down to Riley Blake on Wednesday to tape my first Riley Blake How To Video. I’ve been working on a little girl’s pattern that is easy enough for a beginner (with no buttons or zippers!). The results have been amazing. I’m so excited to share the pattern and instructions for this fab new pattern.

To top off the fabric-y week, we are expecting to get my next line Songbird™ on Friday so we can make preparations for Quilt Market.  I can hardly believe we are only a few weeks away from it, and I am frantically trying to get together another free pattern (it’s been a month of that!) to give away at SchoolHouse. If you are coming to Market, come see me for my quick little introduction to Songbird™, the most recent free patterns we have giving away, and a look at the sewing patterns. And if you want to see our very not-so-secret booth, I have even have a booth number for you: #1529—right across from my favorite folks, Riley Blake.

Waiting patiently, patiently…

Carina

I made a quick run down to Christensen Wholesale’s new warehouse last Friday and I had the wits about me to remember my camera! The new warehouse is really great. I love walking in and seeing this (Dainty Blossoms™):

And this (Paris and Company™):

Something about all those bolts of fabric just makes me happy!

I went down to pick up my bolts of Paris and Company™. The line turned out so fun! Thought I would drop by to show you the goodness before I get back to work. Lots of good things happening and only a couple more weeks before the reveal…

Hints and hints,

Carina

This morning we got the family together for a little Easter egg hunt and brunch. I was grateful for the beautiful weather and how excited all the cousins were to get together. It definitely makes me feel like spring is officially here despite the snow we had yesterday.

It’s a lovely end to the girls’ spring break.

Happy Easter!

Carina

This weekend, we finished setting up the tradeshow booth for Quilt Market. Sure, it’s a month and a half away, but this is my first time and I wanted to be sure to get it write. You can check out a couple of the instagram pictures on my sidebar or on my facebook page. Yes, I know that doesn’t give you the full picture of what we are up to, but I’m taking lots of pictures now and we’ll show off closer to the show.

_______________________________________________________

With the tradeshow coming up, you can bet I’ll be in full swing sewing soon with my new line Songbird due out in June. Of course in the meantime, I’m still sewing up some lovely stuff for Paris and Company (out this April!). The lines are totally different, which makes deciding how I want to use them that much more fun!

And there’s the oven timer going off! Hope you are having a lovely weekend too! —Carina