Summer Daze

Wow, it seems a whirlwind of activity over the past month. I've been out every weekend working a fair or festival and it's been amazing. The energy that has gone into being open to what may come has been incredible. The fairs have been so rewarding hearing people comment on my work and enjoy it enough to purchase it, wow.
This past year has flown by. Creating Mama Jean's over the past year, has been a soul journey to be sure. Can you really make dreams come true? This year has proven to me that you can. I took a love and a passion and was able to translate that into a business plan. I wanted to create one of a kind items, I have. I wanted to create magic in my life, success. I wanted to have fun and laugh and enjoy each and every day and I can honestly say, I can't believe it's been a year because it feels like just yesterday and the thrill of each day fills me to bliss. Amazing.
This past weekend working in the park, sitting in the sun and meeting people and putting my art and craft out there was incredible... I felt like Mama Jean. So, tonight, as I prepare to participate in last Thursday, an art walk that three years ago Brad and I said wouldn't it be cool to be a part of this someday? I am ready. I am Mama Jean of Mama Jean's Kind Threads and you can find me on Alberta last Thursday, and you will find me laughing and smiling... hope to see you all on the other side of dreams.

A Sewing We Will Go

So, today has been all about trying to get product ready for the next fair... I love that most creative people I know seem to work to the deadline.. makes me feel not so alone in the middle of the night when I am sewing away to the hum of the sleeping universe. There is something kind of cool about that time and creating at the same time. Your focus is totally on the work and not as scattered thinking about the chickens needing fed, or the garden needing a bit of remember if the laundry is in need of going into the dryer.
After spending a long weekend away in a magical world of fairies and elves and the likes it's fun to ponder on how amazing living in a world where it's possible to find a bit of magic in really is. So, as the night begins to fall upon my world I shall put on Adam Hurst, who played on the main stage of Faerieworlds, who creates magic with his music, and one by one, create little Sewphies for the fair. A green one, a yellow one and then just for fun a few skeletons and pirate ones.
Let the magic continue, please.

Faerieworlds and Beyond

So, today we are back from the magical realm of Faerieworlds and it was amazing. We had such a wonderful time. We had friends next to us in Something Wicked, Heather and Seth, Gayle and Kat with Midnight Designs were just across the way and we made new friends in Melody and Brian with Wild Iris... we all shared and played together all weekend. The music was incredible and everyone had such positive energy even in the rain... in fact, the rain added to the magic for me because everyone just went with the flow and we all helped each other through it. I was able to create a few new pieces just for fair and they were so well received that I can't wait to start creating them for Mama Jeans. I had fabrics created with Spoonflower and can't wait to get them all worked up. I also started a new working relationship with FlowerOfTheDead an amazing artist on Etsy. He does the most amazing Day of the Dead couples and images I can't wait to start working in fabric. So, I've spent the day cleaning and putting the camping gear away and doing the laundry answering emails and getting back in the grove because I have another event this weekend... zowie it's the life for me.

Finding the Perfect Fabric

Sometimes, when I am sewing for others they have request that at the time seem no big deal. Then when I start to try and find fabrics that might be reflective of what they have requested well, then it doesn't work out at all. Last fall a friend asked if I would make a baby quilt for someone we both knew who was a professional photographer and he wanted cameras in it. No worries I said and sort of forgot about it because the baby wasn't due for 9 months. Then in Jan I realized that I needed to start figuring out the quilt or it would sneak up on me and so a shopping I did go. Fabric stores far and wide, Etsy Ebay you name it I was looking and nothing screamed out at me and said pick me pick me. So, a few more months went by and then it was March. Now I really have to get busy so I remembered that she also loves vintage and started collecting images one lazy Sunday morning and before you know it, I had a whole design of images including one that she took of an old camera. I manipulated it in Photoshop and turned it into a drawing and colored it to match the colors I was working with and a yard of fabric was born. I sent it off to Spoonflower in Seattle and my fabric was born. Since I created a fabric to feel like a quilt put together of images of cameras I quickly quilted it to it's back and bound the edges and a very personal baby quilt was born.
It's such a rush to see something that you created in any media come together and then work... that's the tricky part as we all know, they don't all work all the time. This past week they finally gave the quilt to the Mom to be as she is just about to pop. They were happy with the quilt, the mother was happy with the quilt and I was thrilled to be realizing that I can create the fabrics that for so long have lived in my head but haven't been in the stores and in the colors I want. This will be a whole new chapter for this girl who has spent her

whole life surrounded by fabric

New Fabrics Created for Day of Dead Collection of Quilts

It is my dream to create a collection of quilts that all reflect Day of the Dead images that I love to work with. Each image will become a quilt. The Sugar Skulls will become the center of the quilt, they should be incredible once they are all together.

Mama Jean's Kind Threads on Etsy

Crazy Days Ahead

So, you know how you think you're going to be all organized and have things ready when you know that next summer you are going to be doing one or two festivals and you have the winter and spring to get ready? Well, that summer is here and oh my.... lions and tigers and bears.. This weekend while I was working on getting a large quilt project ready to quilt.... my daughter came to town and got busy. She tagged and bagged every item I have for festivals and inventoried and categorized and filed it all under mom's nut file. It's so amazing to look at the tubs all ready to go to fairs and events. I have a nuts and bolt crate and an inventory crate or two. It's was such a gift of time and even though she knows how amazing it was for me I want to thank her again because it really was such a gift. I can focus for the next few weeks on getting ready for the next one and the next one and the next one. I have an event every weekend in June. Now, I know what I have to do and can do it. Kids really are amazing, even the grown ones. So today and tomorrow, quilting an extra large custom quilt double sided pieced tops and then Wed through Sat sewing my brains out getting ready for the crafty underdog event this Sunday. Should be great fun, food and music and Mama Jean's Kind Threads will be making her first appearance. Will keep you posted on how it goes.

Appreciation of Organic Quilting

When I first started quilting, I started with strip quilting because my friend knew that I didn't like to cut exact and make squares all day. I have come to appreciate her wisdom more than she will ever know. Since then, I've built all sorts of quilts following all sorts of patterns and I always come back to my organic quilting. Not because it's easier, but because it suits me and feeds my soul. Cutting out images from lots of different fabrics and having them all ready to put together isn't like cutting out a patterned quilt where you know a is next to b and then add c,d, and e. No, it's all from the heart. Every bit. Spending time with the blocks before hand you start feeling connected to them, you find ones that speak out almost and ones that just need to be next to the other. Then the real tricky part begins... getting them to all come together. They are all different sizes and shapes and somehow they all need to find a fit, like a puzzle and I love jigsaw puzzles, always have. So, quilting like this just fits me. It lets me think outside the box, no pun intended, and I love it..

New Pictures of the Quilt of Southwest Women

Today was working on building individual blocks to start putting the quilt top together. Finding the right place for all the images and colors. Enjoyed adding a bit of detail around the blocks of Fredia.... all in all, really enjoying and can't wait for tomorrow when it will be finished or very close to finished. They will have to make sure the two sides are the same size so I can start loading them inot the quilt frame. This might need some thinking to make sure that they come out even all around. I will need to stitch the sides down before I start quilting to make sure they stay in place. Another day, tonight, I will enjoy where they are and how they are coming together.