On the heels of last week’s blog, “The More the Merrier” we wanted to share more of our favorite (read: every project is our favorite) projects we hadn’t shared yet. In no particular order, here are a couple more projects that are just SO CUTE! … Continue reading So Cute! Sew it Up!
Have you ever heard of the African proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child?” Well, the same theory applies to Ink & Arrow Fabrics. It’s not a child, per say, but we feel like it’s our baby and want it to grow up healthy, strong and shine bright!
We work with so many talented people in the industry who support our fabrics and help us create and share great projects and ideas! So, the more the merrier!!!
It’s always amazing to me how we all have different takes on the same thing. Our blog, a couple weeks ago, about the “Whip it Up Challenge” highlighted that very nicely. Six bloggers… one collection… so many different approaches and projects. That is kind of what we do here, right? We supply the fun fabric and let the magic happen! 🙂
Here, we’d like to highlight a few different industry friends who make us stronger and help inspire more people than if we were to do it all by ourselves!!!
First up, our friends at Plum Easy Patterns! We were introduced to Bethany and Deborah from Houston’s quilt market as they won our blog shout out! It was great fun interviewing them and learning about their business. We adore their patterns and thought it would be great to collaborate for this Spring Market and VOILA! One of our favorite quilts came about. The pixies were featured in their “All Ways Arrows” quilt, and I must say, it is totes adorbs… as are Bethany (daughter on the left) and Deborah (mom on the right) We love this geometric arrow quilt!
TUFFETS!!!!!! That’s how we say it in our office…. we have to YELL it out because they are so darn cute!!! These two pixie dot tuffets were made for us by Sharyn Cole of Tuffet Source. Yeah, I know… they are so fabulous! We were so fortunate to make a connection with Sharyn last year around this time and it’s been such a fun adventure since! If you were able to walk Quilt Market this year you probably saw dozens of tuffets throughout the show – they are quite popular… Sharyn’s are our favorite though 😉
How cute is this quilt? It’s our Naughty or Nice collection in a not-so-typical holiday color scheme 🙂 This was created for us by our friend Cheryl Phillips of Phillips Fiber Arts using her Attic Window pattern. Click on the image above to head over to her website 🙂
Happy Quilting sewing blogger, Melissa Corry created this pretty quilt using our pixie dots! The tutorial to make this quilt is on her blog – click on the photo above!
These circle skirts will be featured in an episode of “It’s Sew Easy” on PBS! July 21st Episode 1105 – The Stylish Girl will have instructions on how to create this fashionable skirt with Deb as your teacher! So cool!!! We are thrilled to be a sponsor of this series and we think the City Life and Cat’s Meow collections work just purr-fectly!
We just loved Sassafrass Lane Designs‘ booth at Houston (still remember that orange sofa) and so when we approached them with our fabrics and to see if they were interested in making some fun projects, they were on board! On the top left – the Park Place quilt using assorted Cat’s Meow fabrics is just so retro chic! The red/white/black/turquoise color combination with the placement of patterns and strips are just perfection! Then, we have the Shelby Satchel bag (hanging on the mannequin) which used our Talk to Me collection. Love this messenger style bag with it’s mix & match vibe! And… on the right side we have the Canyon Boulevard quilt using Talk to Me, City Life and The Cat’s Meow, and, of course, the Pixie dots! So fantastic how they mix and mingled the different I&A lines together…
Another friend we’ve made along the way (it’s kind of corny but this year really has been a year of making great friends!!!) is Jessica Stewart of Izzy & Ivy Designs. The dresses Izzy & Ivy make are the stuff that little girls dream of… twirling is a major side effect of wearing these skirts and dresses – I’m so jealous, I want to be 6 again! 🙂
The above skirt is featured on their blog, here. So in love with this!!! Another dress that we showed at market and on our blog is this Emory Dress with Cat’s Meow fabric.
We also sent Izzy & Ivy some of our C’est La Vie fabric… We will save that for a future post… it’s so darn cute! We were thrilled to have a hat and skirt made from that fabric!
The above skirt was a pattern we saw from Serendipity Studio and when we asked for the pattern, she was so gracious to share it with us!!! Zip Zip and we had this gorgeous skirt…
When I was browsing through the different blogs I love, I came across this fantastic “Hashtag” quilt block made by Sew Can She. I fell in love and emailed Caroline to see if she would mind making us a Talk to Me Hashtag pillow for our booth. Talk about excited…
Another talented pattern maker, Jaybird Quilts, has helped us out along the way. The gorgeous quilt below, made by Anne Cowan, uses Jaybird’s Stereo pattern. Made of all pixie dots, this quilt has so much movement and flair. The circular motif quilting on top of the very triangular quilt pieces is such a great contrast!
Theresa McDermott is a talented seamstress that we have worked with for many years. She created the bunting that we had on the back of our booth – so festive!
Also, she developed two patterns for us out of our Happy Hour fabrics. A Beach tote 😀 and a Wine Tote. Both will be coming soon as a free pattern on our website – so exciting!!!
And… because who doesn’t want to look like a fashionista while toting your beach bag and wine bag…. Theresa made us this fabulous skirt and tank top! So chic!
Last… but not least… are our friends Wives of Whitewood. These gals are just great! We love their fun and care-free patterns. Here are some of the items they made for us…
The above pattern is brand new! Using our Talk to Me Fabrics, Wives of Whitewood created this perfect little bag to keep your charging cord/plug accessories in order – so adorable!
As you can tell, we “get by with a little help from our friends” and we are so thankful for all the collaborative efforts as it made for a FUN and successful Quilt Market! We will share more of these projects on our social media and we are excited to do more and more in the future! Feel free to email us at info@inkandarrowfabrics.com if you are interested in working with us and our fabrics… you can never have too many FRIENDS!
There was so much to see at Quilt Market, here is part 2 to share with you! In order to offer as much variety in design as possible, we partner with several artists/designers to create their own collections for Quilting Treasures. It’s great to be … Continue reading QT Quilt Market – Salt Lake City Part 2
One of the benefits of working at Ink & Arrow is our ability to share our fun fabrics with industry talent! By sharing fabric through special projects and opportunities, we are able to spark a wonderful chain reaction. We design and produce the fabric, the maker/crafter/sewist takes the fabric and creates something … Continue reading Whip It Up Challenge with Sew Mama Sew
Last weekend, our talented Ink & Arrow team was fortunate enough to head over to Capital Quilts in Gaithersburg, MD. After the owner, Alison discussed the idea with her sales manager Kevin, the arrangements were made to visit and be part of this great event! … Continue reading Capital Quilts & a Giveaway!!!
In case you didn’t know, last month (March…is that already last month?) was National Crafting Month. We wanted to show how easy it is to incorporate fabrics into everyday crafting and have some fun. Our employee-owners, Isabelle and Robin, went to town creating a bunch of … Continue reading Every Month is Craft Month…
Sometimes, things are so fabulous, you can’t stop talking about them. That is how I feel about our Talk to Me collection of fabrics. Admittedly, I enjoy anything and everything with a retro/vintage vibe. I listen to Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin on the regular. I … Continue reading Hello Again…Talk to Me!
We love fabric and people who love fabric, of course! To share the love, as part of our Fall Quilt Market, we held a contest for a blog shout out! What fun it was to interview the winners. Here is the first winner, Gina Gempesaw of Gem Hill Quilts!
Tell me a little about your business?
I have been a quilter for over 18 years. I used to do a lot of cross-stitch. But, as soon as I discovered quilting, everything clicked in place and I hardly ever do any cross-stitch anymore. I have been working at a local quilt shop for about 15 years now with the last 4 years at the The Round Bobbin Quilt Shop in Ambler, PA. My husband of over 20 years is quite supportive of my fabric habit and has, only very occasionally, asked for a gift of a quilt!
What is the focus of your business? My company is all about my original quilt designs. They appear in various magazines and books. Some of them are free pattern downloads for fabric collections. I have other patterns that we run as Block of the Month programs or as classes at the local quilt shop. Lately, I have started to make projects and write tutorial blog posts for AccuQuilt.
What inspired you to start your business? Early on, I realized that I prefer to create my own designs. When I did pick a pattern up, I would instantly start re-writing it in my head! Clearly, I needed to create and write my own patterns.
What color combinations do you find yourself using over & over & over? I have quite the eclectic collection of quilts. I have designed projects using reproduction fabrics to very modern prints, from taupes to bright novelties, from 2-color quilts to scrap quilts. However, I will admit to being pretty partial to brights and fabrics with lots of color.
Favorite memory of working with fabric? There are so many to choose from! One time, I was nervously working with a lot of curved piecing and bias edges, using the “Rob Peter to Pay Paul” block. Every completed block seemed wonky. I was so thrilled and delighted to find that all the blocks fit together and the quilt turned out beautifully!
Favorite part of your work? I love designing and piecing quilts.
What draws you to Ink & Arrow fabrics? The vibrant colors, the crisp designs – it’s all just so much fun!
Tell us a fun fact about yourself? I love math and used to compete – and sometimes win – math tournaments in school. Very nerdy of me, I know!
I&A Comments: Math is a huge part of quilting – it must have helped you out a lot along the way! 🙂
Explain an example of a “happy accident” in your work? When I was working on the Quilting Treasures’ Quilting Temptations collection, I so dearly wanted to used this circle motif with pieced sections. It looks a bit like a “Lifesavers” candy. However, it’s not the easiest block to make. In the meantime, I was also working on a totally different project where I had been cutting out blocks from other pieced blocks. That just opened my eyes! To simplify the circle motif, you just make a pinwheel block and cut the circle from that pinwheel! Easy-peasy! See example below!
Here are a couple of great pictures from Gina of her work… Visit her at Gem Hill Quilts to see more!
We are so excited to have Gina as a winner of the blog shout out! We look forward to seeing what Gina comes up with using our Ink & Arrow fabrics!!! Thanks Gina!
One of the best parts of working in this industry is the people you meet and the stories you hear. We all have a story; we’re excited to share some insight into some of our new friends. As part of our Fall Quilt Market, we … Continue reading Blog Shout Out! Plum Easy Patterns Part 1
Our City Life collection has been in stores since December….What have you made?
We want to see your projects!
Our new website inkandarrowfabrics.com is a fun place! We have a special section called “Your Ink & Arrow” under the Inspiration tab where you can submit photos of your projects!!! We will share your creations and you could be SUPER FAMOUS! 🙂 Well, you could at least show off your skills and creativity and spread the fun of Ink & Arrow. That’s almost the same thing right?
Here’s a little contest… from now to 4/1/16
We’ll share it on the website and on Facebook. One randomly selected winner will win a Fat quarter bundle of one of our newest collections so you can keep on making Ink & Arrow your own!!!
Winner will be selected/Announced on April 1, 2016
Good luck and thanks for sharing!
On the QT 