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Are you ready for a little applique this week? It's Jan Patek's week and that means it's time for a sweet applique design. But keep reading all the way down since we also have an AWESOME GIVEAWAY this week for a lucky quilter- a MODA BLOCKHEADS T-SHIRT!! But first...the block...this week's block has a charming Beeskep with stripes. Color studies are simple, just showing light on dark, dark on light with some little alterations (flowers and bee). The pattern is at Jan's blog:  I decided to make my flower more of a group of circles. I added extra circles on the Bird and Urn block and liked that and thought this would tie in well with that block. Instead of a star, I liked the idea of a bee on this block. My blocks will be living on the lighter end of my brown row so I'm staying closest to the last color image.  The all-thatched block has a soft tan background from flipping the Oatmeal Thatched to the backside and letting that chambray look be the whole background. Chunky stripes for my beeskep with a nice fat bumble bee. For my block with a mix of fabrics, I've used Ombre Confetti for the beeskep darker stripes and the background. I cut graphic flower circles from my Stalks print in Solana and used the charcoal leaves from Dandi Annie for the hive base. The bees are little ones cut from one of the coordinates in Painted Meadow. They are small but I sewed them on along the black rows on their tiny bodies (and these all use fusible material too).   So I mentioned a GIVEAWAY! Moda has some BLOCKHEADS tshirts with a sampling of blocks from this 3rd year of the sewalong. There is a block from each designer. I'll be doing a random drawing for one lucky person to get one of these tshirts of their choice. To enter, scroll down and leave a comment telling me what you liked best about the start of the school year! For me, it was new clothes, new lunchbox, the excitement of possibility for the year ahead, and the smell of fall leaves!  This is the image from the front of the tshirt. The back has the designer's IG names. You can purchase one of these shirts if you'd like and Moda will donate money to local food banks. There are three styles- short sleeve, long sleeve and 3/4 sleeve baseball tee. If you want to buy some, use the links below to order. The short sleeve v-neck is $29.50, long sleeve is $34 and baseball tee is $3o. I will draw a winner from my blog comments on Sunday, August 23rd.    Happy sewing everyone!!
-Robin
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Have you been participating in Stacie's Mini Course on being a Creative Powerhouse? It is interesting to me that even after all these years of my own art licensing, I still learn new things or am reminded of the things we need to do on a regular basis to sharpen our skills and become better. I was listening to Stacie talk about setting big goals. I've been so busy working that I haven't taken the time to set some new goals for myself.  So after listening to Stacie's second lesson in her mini-course, I wrote down new goals. I loved Stacie saying "You've got more power about what happens in your life...The dreaming stage is a part of the process of being a creative powerhouse and remember dreams can grow. They can evolve and they can change. The most important thing to know is that you can hold your dreams loosely in your hands and leave room for inspiration and opportunity." We often don't know exactly what it is that we are striving for until we start learning, start envisioning, start opening ourselves up to the ideas of bigger and better than what we have right now, and start setting the big scary goals. The notion that you can hold dreams loosely in your hands and leave room for inspiration and opportunity is an exciting and motivating concept. We need to take time to examine and learn and grow and be open to these opportunities.  In lesson 4 Stacie talks about making money from your art. Yup, the business stuff. Multiple streams of income. There is a lot of info to take in. Which is why she has a more thorough course. It's a LOT of stuff. I just might be one of those speakers on a bonus segment in her course too! (which, funny thing is...is one of my goals to do MORE teaching and public speaking).  If you want more info on Stacie's course "Leverage Your Art", please check out all her info here: It is an 8 week class, online, and covers lots of information about the many ways to make a living from your art. One thing Stacie mentioned in her mini-course is that she has tried all these methods over the years herself, including licensing, selling direct to consumers, manufacturing and wholesaling, print on demand, commissions, trade shows, illustrating for publishing and more. She's done it and speaks from a place of experience. I'm really glad I've had the chance to get to know her better through Moda as a fellow designer. Her registration is open through Tuesday June 23rd! By the way, ALL the art on this post is by Stacie!  (And can I just tell you how much I love this scene in her house?? )  #creativepowerhouse #partnerprogram #gingibercreates #artlicensing  Okay, happy weekend everyone and I hope you are happy and creating something that brings you joy!
-Robin Often times people have asked me about how I got into this work and what its like to make my living from creating art. There are numerous ways to go about that and I've had years and years of learning and I'm STILL learning. I have a Bachelors of Fine Art from the University of Michigan and I've taken textile and surface design courses at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles. I still take classes to improve and expand my skills and knowledge. I expect I always will since learning is something I love and I strive to continually improve. But It would take a lot of effort to put what I've learned about making a career out of my art into a course for other people- a task that is beyond what I can take on. However, I am happy to share some info with those of you searching for this information...that I know of someone I greatly respect who IS now doing just that! Stacie Bloomfield of Gingiber is sharing her creative energy to help you grow!  This is Stacie Bloomfield and I at Quilt Market a few years ago. Stacie also designs textile collections for Moda Fabrics and she is one of the wonderful designers I've gotten to know through exhibiting at Quilt Market. Sometimes at market we have some time to discuss and share and get to know each other more. Its one of the special treats of market- time to share with other designers. After getting to know Stacie more, I was blown away by her creative energy, sensitivity, enthusiasm, knowledge and drive. This picture at her booth shows some of her many adorable designs. ALL the wonderful images in the post are from Stacie at Gingiber.  Stacie is a creative powerhouse. She runs a successful business based on her art and designs. She has a brick and mortar store and creative workshop space. She licenses her designs to numerous companies as well as manufacturing products herself. She knows how to approach companies, make the pitch, develop her portfolio and adapt to market trends. She boldly shares the ups and downs, the disappointments and the victories, the motivation and structure needed to make this world of creative work be something that DOES WORK. I have tremendous respect for her and I'm in awe of what she has created as her business.  Stacie has a free class you can take that actually starts today- a mini course called "Creative Powerhouse- How to leverage your creativity into a career". This is what she does. I believe the class is open this whole week and its delivered to your email inbox. This is a link to get to her free class or click the box below:  I'm going to be putting this Creative Powerhouse painter image up on my wall at my desk to remind myself of the business that Stacie has created and to reinforce my own commitment to what I am working at creating. By the way, its one of the things that I love about Stacie- she creates great images to empower and encourage and to shine!   Thanks Stacie for making a class that shares some of this information with other artists and designers! Enjoy the class and your own creative journey!
#creativepowerhouse #partnerprogram #gingibercreates #artlicensing |
About ROBINDesigner of colorful florals for Moda fabrics. Modern to transitional quilt designer. Illustrator, sewist, crafter. I am proud to be a designer for Moda Fabrics!
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