MCLisa Does McMarket-Her Way!

So, what are couple of editors to do when they’ve only got two bodies and a couple hundred Schoolhouse programs to cover at International Quilt Market? Well, we grab to our favorite Q-bies and turn them into on-the-spot Market Correspondents. This isn’t a job for the faint-hearted. An MC has to snoop out the best news and possess the ability to fly from one classroom to another without stopping for pee breaks in between. Food is fast and from a cart (but we did buy!) and you do get to keep whatever freebies you’ve collected, because it’s your ultimate payment–that and our truly undying gratitude for your help.

Please welcome Lisa Sipes, AKA McLisa Tangerine Sipes, AKA That Crazy Quilty Girl, and her Market recollections. And yes, she did the most excellent job for us. Thank you Girlfriend! We are forever in your debt!

Being a Schoolhouse Virgin (WHY didn’t I do this last year?), I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Pure awesomenicity and radness is what I got.

You’ve all heard and read about the presence of solid-talk at this year’s Market so I’ll try to avoid boring you with more. Maybe.

Jane Sassaman has a new book coming out with 20 delicious recipes for using large prints–perhaps her Early Birds line for FreeSpirit?–combined with solids in quilting. No more will you look at fabrics with large prints and wonder, “What can I do with that besides make a bag?” The book also offers tips and tricks on embellishing your work with embroidery and decorative stitches already built into your machine. Look for Patchwork Sassaman Style in the spring and you won’t be disappointed.

Emily Herrick (crazyoldladiesquilts.blogspot.com) is anything but an old lady. Her new fabric line, Hall of Fame for Michael Miller Fabrics is geared toward helping us ladies in quilting for our gentlemen friends. Masculine prints can be hard to find, right? When you’re done digging through bolts or your stash and end up with a single print you think your guy might like, it’s easy to add some solids, tonals and modern prints with clean lines, geometric shapes and simple designs to speak to the male population. Gone are the days of trying to convince your man-friends that those flowers look like leaves if you squint really hard.

Jean Wells, and her lovely assistant Valori, offered some great tips on reinventing old patterns you’ve had for ages by choosing vintage or modern prints and throwing in some solids for a clean look and a chance to de-stash. This is a great opportunity to use up fabric you bought four years ago and can no longer find colors that look just right with it (don’t you hate/love how colors change through the years?). With solids, you can use as much contrast as you want. Voila!

Sandi Henderson did talk a bit about Michael Miller’s awesome line of Cotton Couture solids, but she must have caught word of how much solid-mania was going on and changed it up a bit. She, with the help of her friend Amber (amberjunestudios.blogspot.com), gave some great ideas for breaking up busy prints in quilts and accessories by adding solids and even adding a little embroidery to the mix. Amber offered cute, simple and FREE printable embroidery designs on her blog. Sandi also has a free pattern coming to her website (sandihendersondesign.com) soon for a quilt that she bravely backed in laminate and quilted on her domestic machine. Speaking of laminate sewing, she offered some tips for sewing with the stuff such as adding electrical tape to the bottom of your presser foot and sewing through tissue paper. This was the point where I sheepishly raised my hand and asked why they don’t just get a Teflon foot for their machine? Groundbreaking!

Karen LePage took the reigns for her absent partner in crime, Shelly Figueroa, to talk to us a bit about their new book, Sewing for Boys. Wowsers. If you have little men in your life, you need this book. The patterns are not girly designs that have been adapted to work for boys. Oh no. The projects are designed to grow with children and really last through the abuse boys tend to submit their clothing to so that they can be passed down or passed on. Oh, and no serger required here! (YESSSSS!!!) There’s an entire section on accessories and even a how-to guide on sewing with knits.

Rayna Gillman was, in a word, superdupercrazyinspiring. Rayna is all about what she calls “therapy sewing,” which is exactly what she teaches us in her second book, Create Your Own Free-Form Quilts: A Stress-Free Journey to Original Design. She encourages quilting with abandon, and without purpose. “Throw it at the wall and see what sticks.” Do you have projects you started forever-ago and don’t know what to do with those ugly blocks you made from late-70s poly-blend (I know you’re out there)? Throw out all the rules, and even throw out your ruler and cut them into wonky, mismatched strips. Add some more mismatched prints and solids and sew them together however you want. If you don’t like it cut it up again. In the end you’re left with an awesome piece of one-of-a-kind contemporary quilt art. She ended her lecture with something we all need to be reminded of every now and then: “There is no such thing as hopeless.”

The real treat for me was Vanesssa Christenson, known to you blogging enthusiasts as V and Co. (vanessachristenson.com) She was so obviously nervous, but only in the most endearing of ways. Vanessa has a new book out in January for Martingale Publishing, Make It Sew Modern. WOW! I’ve tried not to choose a favorite but I must have this book. It’s like the busy gal’s dream come true. Do you ever daydream of floating through your house in an airy dress and butterflies are flying all over the place and the sun is shining on your hair just right and your makeup is perfect and everything is lovely? Yeah, I don’t either but the projects in this book might make you do just that. It’s full of ideas ranging from home-dec stuff to clothing and accessories and all are geared toward the modern woman with little time to dedicate to creating fantastic things for their homes. It features many no-sew and low-sew projects (hello glue gun?) and none of them require specialty feet or tools, so they’re actually CHEAP to make and can (mostly) be done in a day. It’s all about clean, simple lines and adding lots of texture with simple functions of any sewing machine (or glue gun). You’ll never scoff at jersey knit again!