Well Miss Tula is home safe in Missouri and I’ve nearly caught up on all the work I didn’t do while she was here! We both played an awful lot of hooky and didn’t reply to emails and didn’t sew anything work related. We were very very naughty and it was such a lot of fun.
One of the reasons we didn’t get anything else done (aside from filming the Big Woods videos of course), was that Tula decided we were starting a quilt. She gave me some of her Roar fabric when we were at Market in October. One of the advantages of having friends in the industry is the very very advance fabric you’re given!! I already have T’s NEXT collection which has only just been approved to go to the mill - the public won’t even see paper designs of it for a few weeks yet and I can’t even tell you its name. I’m like a deep throat spy at this point.
Anyway, I had designed this dino quilt for the release of Roar and I haven’t had a chance to start stitching it yet, and I hadn’t even designed the leaves and things I wanted in the border. Tula decided she didn’t care for that dragging of heels and we had to start immediately, especially since we both had the brand new top secret fabric collection to put into it along with the Roar!
I can’t show you all of the quilt at the moment because the borders and applique leaves have a lot of the new collection in, but I promise I will soon. This is top secret also so please don’t share it anywhere, I don’t like to show my new patterns around before they’re released properly. I’m hoping to have the quilt available just before Roar is in stores, which I believe is early May. Tula’s version of the quilt will be included in the pattern.
On this photo of Tula’s quilt I’ve blacked the spines out where the new collection is. She has used all her own fabrics of course, so everything you see here is Tula Pink of some sort.
On mine the tail and legs are all from the secret fabrics, so I can’t show you or I would have to kill you :) The other fabrics are a mix of Tula and some weird neon Korean bits and pieces that I love, and a piece of amazing jungle linen that the two of us dug out of my stash while we were foraging. Tula was very jealous she couldn’t use the linen, but she always regrets not using her own prints so TP it was all the way.
My quilt will end at cot size, with some big monstera leaves in the applique and some more border bits. Tula I think is planning to follow my lead but make the quilt bigger - hers won’t be written in the pattern but will give you something else to think about you do want to make the quilt bigger.
Here’s a little bizzo about Roar in case you haven’t seen it!
'When I was a child I believed that every hill I saw was simply where a dinosaur laid down and died and then grass grew over it. I have no idea where this information came from but to my 6 year old mind this was a flawless piece of logic. I used to look out the window and try to guess which kind of dinosaur each hill was hiding while checking my children's encyclopedia of pre-historic animals. I was pretty good at it, considering this was my own theory I was correct 100% of the time. As an adult the dinosaur wing is still my first stop at the Natural History Museum.
Dinosaurs are amazing and huge and mysterious. They lived tens of millions of years ago and the fascination with these giant creatures still exists today. Is it their size? Definitely. Is it about how differently they moved and lived? For sure. Is it how little we still know about them and the world they existed in? Absolutely.
Everything that I do as a fabric designer is about indulging my childhood fantasies. I try to hold on to all of the things that we so easily let go of as we grow up like wonder, amazement, creative logic and delight. Typically, dinosaur fabrics are for children and I don't know who made that decision but I wildly disagree. Roar! is whimsical take on fancy dinosaurs for those of us who keep one foot firmly planted in fantasy. My prehistoric landscape is drenched in details and color. Here you will find a sophisticated T-Rex in a topiary, A Triceratops out for a stroll on a windy parkway path, Happy little hidden Raptors in a dainty damask and Pterodactyls taking time to smell the flowers. It's just your average lazy afternoon in the garden with the giants of Earth's history.' - Tula Pink
And here are some pics!! It’s so lovely in real life.
When the pattern is released I will of course give Smites a special discount code.
Next Wednesday I have to have some surgery that will take a few weeks recovery. On Tuesday I will post a video tutorial of the way I like to foundation paper piece, in readiness for the Courting sew along that is coming up. I haven’t given a date for that yet partly because the pattern isn’t available yet - Damian’s mum had a stroke and he has been helping her, we have had Tula and Easter and in short everything is a little up in the air! If you have preordered the Courting pattern I do apologise for its lateness and we are hoping it have it available to send to everyone who has ordered it tomorrow or Friday. I will announce the dates for the sew along once I see how I feel after surgery next Wednesday - and of course we have our colour experiments coming up too, don’t think I have forgotten.
Happy Wednesday peeps, I hope you enjoy the peeks of Spot and enjoy your week.
Sarah x
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