Jaybird Quilts

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

My Book Cover!!

I'm SO excited that I get to show you the cover!!

It was great revealing my book to you a month ago, but it is even better now that I can show you the cover. The quilt on the cover is called Four Patch Shift. It features Pick a Bunch by Nancy Mims for Robert Kaufman.

Skip the Borders

Easy Patterns for Modern Quilts

My book is being published by Martingale. They have been amazing to work with. Choosing a publisher isn't the kind of thing you do overnight. I decided to work with Martingale after a lot of research and conversations and I could not be happier with my decision.

Get the book now here!

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Basic Grey Quilt Patterns - Giveaway Winner

Thank you for all of your comments on the new Basic Grey Quilt Patterns.

It is time to announce the winner.

The winner is...
#123 - libbydibby!

libbydibby please contact me with your info so I can get the patterns shipped out to you!

Monday, April 16, 2012

BasicGrey Quilt Patterns {& Giveaway}

I wanted to let you all in on a project I've been working on!!

BasicGrey recently announced that they are releasing quilt patterns to go with their beautiful fabric collections. The great team @ BG designed the quilts & I wrote the patterns. Yup... me! Long story short... I was a technical editor for a few pattern designers before starting Jaybird Quilts. I stopped doing it once I developed my own pattern company, but I couldn't say no when my friends at BasicGrey asked for my help.

The patterns have the famous Basic Grey aesthetic with the bonus of the writing quality you have come to know with Jaybird Quilts Patterns! Just like my Jaybird Quilts patterns they are printed in full color and they have size options!!

There are currently five patterns in the collection with a pillow pattern that you can download for free. Star Fall Pillow Pattern. There are also two patterns in the works for Blitzen, their holiday line due in shops in June. And more to come after that!!

If you are interested in purchasing these patterns you can find them in Local Quilt shops & online.
BasicGrey Online - Fat Quarter Shop

{If you are a shop interested in carrying the patterns you can get them through many distributors or Basic Grey directly. I will not be personally selling the patterns or handling any of the distribution.}

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BasicGrey and I have collaborated before. They featured my Jawbreaker pillow in Hello Luscious in their booth at fall quilt market.

They also had a few of my Biscuit pincushions in their booth, and I featured one on the pattern cover.

I also have a new pattern in the works for quilt market using their next collection!

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Hello Luscious is their fabric collection that is in stores now. They have designed 5 patterns to go with it!

Happy Churn Dash4 size options - Baby, Lap, Twin, King

Sunday Basket Brunch4 size options - Baby, Lap, Twin, Queen/King

Sweet Starlet2 size options - Lap & King

Promenade3 size options - Baby, Lap, Queen

Hello Zig Zag4 size options - Baby, Lap, Twin, King

The back of the patterns show all of the fabric requirements for the various sizes.

So today I'm going to offer up my set of the 5 brand new patterns to one of you!yup... my set!:-)
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THE RULES1. Leave ONE comment to enter.
2. Tell me which of the 5 patterns above is your favorite.
3. Simple as that!!
--~~You have until 10PM PST time tomorrow, Tuesday April 17th to enter!~~Giveaway now closed.Winner announced here.
Winners will be selected by True Random Number Generator.
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*Note*

A large number of people have commented on giveaways recently without leaving their contact information. If you have your settings set to "no-reply" please leave your e-mail address in the comment or change your settings. Many have also said "pick me" and not answered the question. I like to keep giveaways as simple & fun as possible, but if you don't follow the rules you will not be eligible to win.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

So much for a PLAN!

Less than three months ago I decided that my word of the year was plan. It worked well for a few weeks and then little by little I fell off the PLAN wagon. I have big goals and lack of a PLAN is making for one very stressed Julie over here.

In that post I detailed five areas. Here is an update on how I'm doing.

Plan my time better. I have some big time management issues. I'm sure some of it comes from the cross country move, but I have never really been good in this area. I'm good at getting things done at the last minute but that doesn't mean my body likes the stress of it.

I'm doing a little bit better, but honestly I haven't made as much progress in this area as I hoped. When I broke down my quilt market plan I had 3+ months to go & now I can't believe I fly to Kansas City in 5 weeks!

New Quilts I'll be showing very soon!

Plan my projects. Yes sometimes I want to sit & sew just to sew, but I'd be less stressed if I planned out my projects a bit more. I've got so many ideas for Jaybird Quilts that sometimes I end up not sewing for an hour because I can't decide what to work on first.

I am getting better here. I have been organizing my new projects in a new way that has made for more productive sewing time. I have two new patterns I'm about to announce to you! They are in the last stages of pattern testing before heading to the printer.

New Quilt #1 - Fabric is Modernology by Pat Bravo for Art Gallery

Plan my blog. I used to be a good blogger. {Good is relative here since none of you are beating me up... I'm just beating myself up.} I want to get back on a regular schedule of posts that are a bit more planned out vs. the "oh man I haven't blogged in a few days what am I going to write??" moments.

I got better for a few weeks. Then I started to get stressed with work & other things and finding time to plan my blog just never seemed to happen. I have a lot of half written posts and need to make a plan to get them done.

New Quilt #2 - Fabric is Palladium by Dear Stella

Plan to have free time. I can often become a workaholic and spend what should be my free time doing work. Life is short & I need to start spending more of it just living.

I can honestly say this is the one I have done much better at. Recently I took a few days away and spent time with my family. During the last few months I've set aside a lot of free time for my family, friends and just for me. I'm very excited that next week Rachael is coming to spend a few days with me in San Diego.

Plan by writing things down. I often get random bursts of big ideas & somehow don't write them down, or write them somewhere and forget where that is. I'm in the midst of planning a new system for myself to keep track of my ideas.

I started a new notebook and have been getting better at writing in it. I still have the occasional scribbled note or post it, but I haven't lost nearly as many as I used to!

New Quilt #3 - Fabric is Wedding by Michael Miller Fabrics
This one just came back from Angela and doesn't even have binding yet!

New Plans.

Plan my food better. I don't have the best diet. I have some allergies that limit me and I often end up eating the same thing a few times each week. It can be boring, but a lack of a plan makes it my reality. I might never make a monthly plan like Rachel, but I can start a weekly plan.

Plan my Quilt Market booth. Five weeks! Eek! I really need to finish planning my booth & start packing it up!

Plan my Book Trunk Shows. I'm working with Martingale to plan some Trunk Show for my new book! It'll be out in less than 4 months, where did the time go!?

Plan my Schoolhouse & Demo. I'll be doing a Schoolhouse at Market & I'll also be doing a demo from my book in Martingale's booth. Lots of planning to take care of!

Binding Samples from my new book, Skip the Borders

Ok, time to stop talking about planning... and get to planning. I'll be back soon with some new patterns to reveal! :-)

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Sew Modern Giveaway Winner

It is time to announce the winner of the Sew Modern giveaway.

11 Fat Quarters & 1 Half Yard of MonsterZ by Clound 9 Organics

*Half yard cut is of the Adventurz border print*

And the winner is...

Spontaneous Threads please contact me with your info!

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Thank you to Sew Modern for sponsoring this giveaway!

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Sponsored Giveaway: Featuring Sew Modern!

disclosure: this is a sponsored giveaway by Sew Modern

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It's time for another giveaway!
Today Sew Modern is here! Sew Modern is a Brick & Mortar shop in Los Angeles that also has an online store FULL of beautiful fabric. It happens to be located just 3 miles from my brother's house which makes it super convenient for me. {Especially when I need to sew 13 pillowcases last minute.}
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Here are some of the many reasons I love sew modern.
1. Great Fabric Selection. You may remember that I picked out the fabrics for my new Come What May quilt when I was teaching at Sew Modern in January. Sew Modern is full of great fabrics that you can mix and match until you come up with the perfect combination for your project. They also carry EVERY SINGLE color of Kona Cotton. Yup, every single one.

{Photo from Sew Modern's Blog}

2. Friendly & Helpful Staff. You know how sometimes you have a great friend but you don't get to talk often enough?... And when you do catch up it is like you haven't skipped a beat? Well that is the staff at Sew Modern. They really are great at making you feel welcome, answering questions and helping you pick the right fabric and notions for any and all projects.

{Photo of Liz from Sew Modern's Blog}

3. Adorable Displays. Sew Modern has great big glass windows in the front and instead of blocking them with large displays they have created a sitting area. They change up the decor regularly to feature new quilts, pillows, accessories and window displays. It's always very colorful and full of inspiration.

{Photo from Sew Modern's Blog}

4. Great Classes. Sew Modern knows how important a great class is and they have a wide variety offered by many teachers. They also ofter kids classes which I think is SO awesome. Get them sewing young!! I've even taught there a few times.

Me with Anna Maria Horner when I took her class earlier this year @ Sew Modern

So to sum it all up, Sew Modern rocks. Honestly it is my favorite place to go to find fabric for a project. The feel of the shop, the selection, and the staff just make it the perfect quilt shop for me.

So what is the giveaway prize?

11 Fat Quarters & 1 Half Yard of MonsterZ by Clound 9 Organics

*Half yard cut is of the Adventurz border print*

It's a $45 value of fabric!

THE RULES1. Leave ONE comment to enter.
2. Check out Sew Modern's online shop. Let me know what fabric they have that is your favorite at the moment.
Example Comment:Personally my favorite is still Tula Pink's Prince Charming... and it doesn't hurt that it is on sale right now! I might have to snatch more up to make some other accessories for my room!
3. Simple as that!!
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~~You have until 9pm PST on Saturday the 7th to enter.~~ Winners will be selected by True Random Number Generator.
Giveaway now closed. Winner announced here.
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*Note*

Monday, April 2, 2012

A few days with family

Last week was spring break and many people went on vacations & spent time with family. I might be out of school, but I decided to spend time with my family too. Below is a recap of my trip in photos.

My new Jo Tote arrived right before I left. It's a DSLR camera bag and purse in one! It was nice to have on this trip.

I also got hooked on Hunger Games

...and finished Book 1 before we even hit the road.

Sunset as we approached LA

Hanging out with Aliyah during Elijah's treatment. {He is doing well.}

Playing after treatment...

We went to Souplantation for dinner and celebrated Elijah's half birthday. The friendly staff gave him a bag of cookies as a birthday gift and he was quite excited.

Look who decided to join in on reading Hunger Games...

{I think Karin & I were talking about it too much!}

Reading while Elijah watches a cartoon.

Reading while Aliyah peeks over.

The next day we were headed to an Elementary School where Karin made a presentation on Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation. The presentation was for a group of Girl Scouts that raised money for ALSF by selling Girl Scout Cookies.

I had some extra Girl Scout fabric from when I did a sewing lesson with Girl Scouts back in PA last year. The fabric is from Robert Kaufman.

Karin made Aliyah this adorable skirt using her serger.

I cut the fabric into sets for pillowcases.

A quick trip to Sew Modern for some fast sewing and we had 13 pillowcases made in under an hour and 1/2! Thank you Lauren for letting us make the pillowcases at your shop!

Karin talked about Alex and told the girls Elijah's story.

The troop then presented us with a $1,000 check for Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation.

I explained how we often make pillowcases for kids like Elijah during treatment to brighten up their hospital rooms. Then we told them how we made them pillowcases as a thank you for their donation.

Elijah handed them out one at a time.

Here they are looking at all the colors and fabrics. It was a great chance to spread awareness of Childhood Cancer.

It is really good that Karin knows how to avoid LA traffic. Otherwise we could have been sitting in this!

Once we got home Aliyah discovered Elijah's bag of cookies!

A few cuddles and books before bed.

It was nice to take a few days away from my computer, e-mail and work. Elijah & Aliyah are growing up so fast! I miss Philadelphia from time to time, but I really enjoy spending more time with my family.

© Blog post written by Julie Herman
© Photos by Julie Herman & Karin Herman
For more information visit http://www.jaybirdquilts.com/