Friday, April 28, 2017

Are you the next Desire to Inspire Challenger?? Looking for someone who loves Christmas!



It's time to get started on Christmas projects! Here is your jump start with this month's Desire to Inspire Challenge. We are looking for someone who LOVES Christmas, and Jolly Ole' St. Nick in particular. We want a challenger who will take these fabrics and make something great in a month! 


Are you inspired? We want you to put your name in the hat for this month's challenge! Comment on this blog post or email vanessa@jaftex.com

PLEASE REPLY AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! We will pick someone on Wednesday, May 3, 2017.  


This is how it goes: 
1. YOU sign up below with your email or blog name to this post, 
or email your information* to vanessa@jaftex.com 
2. WE pick a winner. 
3. YOU send us your address.
4. WE send you the "Jolly Ole' St. Nick" fabrics shown above.
5. YOU make something AWESOME during the month of May, with pictures and your story.
6. WE post it. 
7. YOU keep it. 


*We would like to have challengers show us they can meet the challenge, so please comment with your blog posts, or pictures of projects you have completed. Give us SOMETHING so we can rest assured you can do this!!!  Even great ideas count! Please do your best to stand out, and you will have a great chance of being selected. 

Monday, April 24, 2017



"Fangtastic" features fun and whimsical Halloween motifs in bright colors with glow in the dark accents. There are 15 SKUs, which include a 24" panel showcasing a vampire on his way to visit a haunted mansion, The other patterns featured in this collection are black cats, bats, grave stones, dancing skeletons, spiders, pumpkins, a large stripe and dots all containing touches of glow in the dark. Perfect for all of your fun Halloween projects.

Click on the collection picture to see the website page.






Let's Get Quilting! Fangtastic 8 pc bundle by First Blush Studio

Friday, April 21, 2017

Designer Spotlight: Heather Mulder Peterson, author, pattern designer, fabric designer and mother.

In the rural area of Willmar, Minnesota is a busy mother, who is also a designer, author, entrepreneur, and wife. Meet Heather Mulder Peterson, who is many things, but primarily she is mother to two boys, ages 2 and 4, who are in and of themselves a handful. Part angels and part mischief-makers, these two hold court for Heather’s attention, though on the day we got to have a conversation, they were at pre-school for part of the day, so mom could focus on work.



And work she does! Heather is just putting the finishing touches on her 30th book so that she can launch it at International Quilt Market in St. Louis next month. 
Cover of her new book, "The Joyful Stitcher" 

Thirty books! Heather says she just picks a topic that she is interested in, such as appliques, large scale fabrics, projects for pre-cuts, table runners, kid’s projects, pillow shams or whatever unique technique she would like to discover in an in-depth manner. Her process of learning is to do it and document, then share it. She has essentially created a whole library of what has peaked her interest, learned in-depth and documented to share with the rest of the world.
This has been a longer road to arrive at fabric designer than one might think, since she started quilting at just 19 (she learned to sew at 6). She calls herself one of the few kids that spent their college years quilting. Within a year of beginning to quilt, she started designing her own patterns. Her foray into entrepreneurship started soon after that. Anka’sTreasures was born. 

One of her latest books, this one on table runner patterns


In the beginning, she did pattern design as well as quilting for other people to keep her business afloat. Eventually the pattern business grew and quilting for others receded. She went to quilt market with her patterns and books, and 4 or 5 markets after that is when Henry Glass found her and asked her to design fabric.

With the idea of fabric design on the table, yet another interest of Heather’s was peaked. She had taken art classes in college, was always painting and doodling, but here was a new opportunity to challenge herself. So, she did. Her first collection was a brown work style, with very traditional colors and designs. Gradually her design style has shifted. When her sons came along she developed her first children’s novelty line called Here Fishy, Fishy. Her style has brightened up and prefers bold, trendy and bright palettes.

"Big Splash", Heather's latest collection, just released in last month will ship in November

Her latest collection, that was released in March and ships in November is called “Big Splash” and is a clever bold color selection of blue, green, yellow, orange and red with gray as the neutral. It features a signature chevron, which Heather likes to use for another of her sewing interests – Stars. Which are featured in her Starstuck booklet.

The chevron print from Big Splash shows up nicely with the star technique from her booklet, Starstuck

Before our interview was over, a central question remained. Where did the name of her business, Anka’s Treasures come from? The woman named Anka was Heather’s Great Grandmother. Heather’s mother’s father was killed while their family was still young. Grandma Anka stepped in and helped raise Heather’s mother and taught her how to make patterns out of feed sacks to make clothing and decorative sewing for the home. This was the same environment that Heather grew up in, with the philosophy of creating something from an idea just takes pursuing it until you make it work. The concept that you can start with essentially nothing and give an idea life is part of Anka's legacy today in the company today. It's the idea of pursuing lots of hard work until you make the result you were looking for appear.  Everything that Anka’s Treasures is, is a result of the tenacity of that belief.


Today, Heather and hubby still live in the same area they grew up in. They met 17 years ago at church and eloped to San Francisco. Life for the Peterson’s is both never changing from their firm roots of faith and family and ever-changing by what Heather takes an interest in creating. 




Comment below to say give a warm hello to our fabric designer, Heather Mulder Peterson.


Monday, April 17, 2017

Let's Get Quilting - 7 pc Pretty as a Pansy bundle by Jane Shasky of Jane's Garden




Happy Spring! It's time to plant! Of course Pansies are the colorful flower with the 'faces'. They are lovely for an indoor garden and even more delightful in your outside garden.  In the language of flowers, they are the language of 'thoughts' and did you know they are also edible? So you can decorate your table with a lovely Pretty as a Pansy table runner, and your plate with pretty pansies!


This quilt was made by Mary Furber in our January Desire to Inspire Challenge with the collection


Monday, April 10, 2017

Let's Get Quilting - 10 pc bundle of Shop Hop by Bonnie Krebs


Bonnie Krebs is part owner of Art Impressions Rubber Stamp company. They are one of the leading stamp suppliers and Bonnie is the sole designer for their stamps. She is a whimsical artist and has taken that talent and brought the collection "Shop Hop" into the quilting world. 

"Shop Hop" features the antics of fellow quilting fans as they travel to find treasures in quilt shops. You can see their antics in this lead design here:


The whole collection is filled with fun, and this 10 pc. bundle will surely be one you will have some fun with too! 



Let's Get Quilting - Shop Hop by Bonnie Krebs - 10 pc bundle

Thursday, April 6, 2017

Special Announcement: Henry Glass Designers Leanne and Kaytlyn Anderson to present at Missouri Star Academy




Missouri Star Academy is a first of its kind!

Fabric designers, pattern designers, and a magical two-days of learning and fun are slated for May 23-24 in Hamilton, MO. Henry Glass designers, Leanne and Kaytlyn Anderson, a talented mother-daughter team have been invited to be presenters at the event. 

The event price is $50 for one day and $75 for two. There are a multitude of presenters, plus demos, trunk shows of visiting vendors and designers. Participants will be gifted with an event T-Shirt, boxed lunch, water bottle and snack with an event tote bag. 

Here is Leanne Anderson's introduction to her presentation: 

"Fusible Appliqué the Caboodle Way"

Kaytlyn and I are so excited to share our latest fabric collections that we have created for Henry Glass Fabrics.  No Fowl Play’, ‘Glad Tidings’ and ‘To Be or Not to Be’ are the collections we will be sharing.  Learn the inspiration behind the design process and how we go about creating a new collection.  We will be showing quick easy techniques in putting together your appliqués, as well as tips in finishing projects.  We will also be sharing ideas of how to create your own gift packaging using fusible appliqués plus make-and-take projects that will be super simple.


Introducing the Whole Country Caboodle:
The Mother - Daughter Team of Leanne and Kaytlyn Anderson

The Mother-Daughter team from The Whole Country Caboodle loves creating whimsical lines of fabric for Henry Glass Fabrics, making sure that every collection has a story or message to tell.  It’s their hope that their collections either inspires or makes someone happy. They love designing with children in mind.  The business is located in Nashua, Iowa, where the design studio is nestled out in the country overlooking the beautiful Cedar Lake. Leanne has been designing patterns, kits and fabric for  25 years, the past 10 years with Henry Glass Fabrics. Kaytlyn joined Leanne in the business after graduating from college in 2010, bringing her talent of graphic design to the team.  While Leanne still hand draws many of her characters, Kaytlyn brings them to life with her skills at the computer. Kaytlyn is the force behind the website, creating and designing promotional materials, pattern fronts and anything else needed for The Whole Country Caboodle.  They both give God the credit for their abilities and are so grateful for what they get to do.  When not designing, they love spending time with family and friends.



 
Kaytlyn Anderson and her mother, Leanne




Monday, April 3, 2017

Desire to Inspire Challenge has been accepted for April - Meet Denise Losczyk



Meet Denise Losczyk - The Challenger for the April edition of Desire to Inspire. 
The fabric is on it's way to her, and we can't wait to see what she comes up with. You can follow her on Instagram at @dblosczyk, or on her Facebook page

Stay tuned at the end of the month when her projects are revealed! 

Denise Losczyk - April's Desire to Inspire Challenger



Let's Get Quilting! Knit Happy 9-pc bundle for your own challenge!


The March Desire to Inspire Challenge is over. Did you see all the awesome projects?  Go on over and comment to the post on how well our challenger, Vicki Schlimmer did! This week you have a chance to win a Knit Happy bundle too, and have your own personal little challenge! 

Here is a link to the collection to have some inspiration, and sign in to win below!