Desire to Inspire - The February Challenger makes Pilar's Garden

Hi, I am Angie Ligon.  I was born and raised in the Midwest, I currently live in the Kansas City Metro Area. My family and I are big sports fans and love going to Royals and Chiefs games whenever possible.  I have been sewing as long as I can remember.  

My mom made a lot of our clothes growing up so my sisters and I all started with garment sewing but have now all transitioned over to quilting. I made my first baby blanket 33 years ago when my first child was born and have been going strong since then.  I have recently discovered applique and find myself gravitating to that technique with the majority of my projects now. I really love the design aspect and design most of my projects myself.

Here is the project that I made with Anni Downs Hatched and Patched collection. It is a pattern called Pilar's Garden that I created. 

Here is each block seperately: 

Each corner has this darling pinwheel: 

Please leave a comment below for Angie and her awesome job as February's Desire to Inspire Challenger!

Let's Get Quilting - 12 pc Gemstones Batik Bundle

Who doesn't love batiks? And our Gemstone Batiks are so unique in their graphic styles and deep rich colors. This week we are focusing on the purples. However please look at ALL the beautiful colors from this collection. 

Let's Get Quilting - 12 pc Gemstones Batik Bundle

Desire to Inspire Challenge for March - Love to Knit Collection

Did you know that many quilters are ALSO knitters? Knitters are our closely related cousins in crafting. This fabric collection called Knit Happy does honor to the sweet sheep that give us their lovely fur for our fiber fun. 

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, March 1, 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 "Knit Happy" fabrics shown above.

5. YOU make something AWESOME during the month of March, 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. 

Designer Spotlight on Marie Cole

                                         

     Here's Marie in one of her lucky moments... fishing in Alaska

 

Marie Cole is one of the designers at Henry Glass fabrics.  You may know some of her fabric collections such as 'Sending My Love', 'Heartstrings', 'Miss Kitty', 'Monkey Mischief' and 'Spot's Perfect Day.'  Her latest collection is 'Good Sports.'

We had a quick chat with Marie for this Designer Spotlight series, and let's just preface this interview with the statement;  Marie is living a lucky life.

She is and has always been a Utah girl, living in a rural town just west of Spanish Fork, about an hour south of Salt Lake City.  She loves living near the mountains of Utah and when I asked her which mountain she was near, she said, "Oh, there's lots of them."  Sure enough, a quick look at the map and there is a whole host of mountains in Utah, all part of the Wasatch Mountain Range that runs from Idaho to southern Utah.  She and her family love spending time at their property on Mount Loafer, only 30 minutes from their house!

Home Sweet Home

From the time she was a little girl, Marie always loved to draw and create.  Her mother always made sure she had lots of supplies and allowed her to "make a mess!" As a young woman, Marie was introduced to tole painting.  She loved the folk art style of JoSonja Jansen, who's definition of a folk artist is: "One who finds sheer joy in painting simple straight forward decorations in rich and beautiful colors."

Marie took classes, read books, studied her style, and after a season, began teaching tole painting in a little shop in Spanish Fork.  As Marie's luck would have it, this little shop was bought out by Provo Craft and Marie became part of their design team.  At the time, Provo Craft created painting books, scrapbooking supplies and creative projects.  The Cricut die-cut machine was developed at this time and Marie got to work on cartridges for that product launch as well.

Marie left the company in 2004 after 10 years, a lot of projects, and contacts in the creative fields.  One of those people she worked with at Provo Craft had become a fabric designer and this is what perked Marie's interest.  She got a few design books, and started designing fabric.

View out of Marie's studio to Mt. Flonette

Baby dish collection

One other piece of luck for Marie was her training while at Provo Craft.  "I was very lucky, because the move from art on the board to doing artwork on the computer occurred while I was at the company, and they trained the design team in Photoshop and Illustrator on new computers."

Today she still enjoys creating designs on the board first using watercolors.  Her favorite medium is the vibrant color of Dr. PH Martin watercolors.  She then scans the designs into the computer and finishes the creative process on the computer.  


Marie says, "Using this process, it feels more like my hand is in the design, versus just simply designing it all on the computer."

A few years ago, she had sent some designs off to Henry Glass, and never heard anything.  Then one day, as luck would have it, one of the lead designers, Karen, called Marie up and said, "I was cleaning out a file and found some designs you had sent in, and wanted to know if you are ready to produce them into fabric?"  Marie was ready!

And that was the beginning of a great relationship with Henry Glass.

Marie calls her style 'whimsical', leaning more toward children's illustration.  "I grew up on Disney movies, and love and collect children's books," Marie says.  "Just like my mom, I always enjoyed noticing 'cute' things.  I love things that make me happy just by looking at them."

The youngest grandson

These days, life as a fabric designer is only part of the equation for Marie.  She is busy with her family, which includes four grown children and four grandsons who all live in the area. She loves spending time with all of them and they come home for family dinner every Sunday.  This is truly the lucky life.

Twin grandsons and older brother

Let's Get Quilting! 9 pc bundle of 'Shop Hop' designed by Bonnie Krebs

Let the Shop Hop begin! Adorable cartoon quilter ladies in all manner of shopping, stitching and cutting up in a fun panel and tossed prints. There are added tonal elements of the quilting trade with spools of thread, tossed hearts, swatches, needles, pins, thimbles, and a few favorite ditzies with small florals. Everything quilters love. You will love making just the right gift for your quilter friends who 'get' you. Shop Hop is in quilt stores now! 

Let's Get Quilting - Shop Hop 9 pc bundle by Bonnie Krebs

Henry Glass Cares - Our Donation Has Reached Around the World

On February 13th, some very special girls in Uganda received the "Jesus Loves Me" pillowcases that these lovely "Sewing Angels"  made just for them with fabric donated by Henry Glass. These gals from the Bloomingdale, Ohio area get together regularly at the Eastern Gateway Community College in Steubenville, and will do so again in the near future to make even more pillowcases! They have made over 7500 pillowcases to serve a need around the world. The Sewing Angels are lead by Mary J. Albaugh of Amazing Grace Pillowcase (AGPillowcase).

If your group has used some Henry Glass donated fabric for community or international pillowcases or gifts, please let us know!

Here below is their story: 

"Jesus planted a seed near so it could spread far!" 

You just do NOT change God's story! 

Terra and I , two women that started two local non-profits, ours AGPillowcase and her's www.91four.org met at Two Ridge Presbyterian Church as they were having their mission day.  We talked for a while and then Terra told me her story about her girls in Uganda, they had beds, mattresses, sheets, pillows and that is when Tom and I both stopped her and asked "what about special pillowcases?" She said "no". Well need I say more? 

Special Pillowcases

Terra told me that they have been learning about the real meaning of Christ, and said "what about a pillowcase that says " Jesus Loves Me embroidered on them? We said "Yes we can do that!" Without even knowing how and where we were going to do this! God had it all planned out! I came home called a sewing angel and it was going to be quite an undertaking to embroider all of them, so she said "What about a fabric manufacture  that would have "Jesus Loves Me" fabric?"

Jesus Loves Me Fabric 

I immediately googled "Jesus Loves Me" 
fabric and low and behold I find www.henryglassfabrics.com from New York, which has their own line of "Jesus Loves Me" fabric! I thought  "what do I have to lose?" 

I picked up the phone and I talked to an amazing women named Karen and I told her the whole story and with  NO questions asked she said "We will send you 3 bolts of this fabric and we would like to do a national story on this! WOW!

Delivery to Uganda 

I was in tears then and I am in tears now! So here we go I am handing over the completed pillowcases to Terra! As we speak they are on their way to their destination for very deserving girls! Yes, there is going to be a local story in our paper and a national story by the fabric manufacture, but that is not the highlight of this story! 

Jesus loves us all!

As I have said so many times, when women bond amazing things happen and no gift is too small! We at AGPillowcase truly believe that it is 'NOT just a Pillowcase, it is a ACT of LOVE and a SYMBOL of HOPE' and in this case Jesus's Love!

                    

Pictured below is Terra Rogers of  www.91four.org and Mary J. Albaugh of Amazing Grace Pillowcases. 

And here are the delightful faces of the recipients of the Jesus Loves Me pillowcases in Uganda's capital city of Kampala.  

The 91four mission is to provide refuge, hope and empowerment for at-risk adolescent girls who would otherwise be living in the slums and streets of the capital. The charity houses 25 girls and provides them with vocational training. 

We are very happy to see this "Jesus Loves Me" fabric serve these girls so well and with such love from the women who made these pillowcases for the girls. 

Let's Get Quilting - 13 pc. McAnderson's Farm bundle

The Whole Country Caboodle is the design family behind this collection. We interviewed Leanne Anderson last year on this blog. It truly is a family operation.  In this collection she has put the farm yard in focus with "McAnderson's Farm" and all it's crazy characters. This bundle includes the Book Panel and the Barn Panel.

Let's Get Quilting

Kim Diehl's new book written with Jo Morton from Martingale

Proves the point; We get by with a little help from our friends. This new book "Simple Friendships" is a collaboration between Kim Diehl and Jo Morton. It's hard to imagine authors Kim Diehl and Jo Morton could get any better--until they joined forces to share their signature looks.

Enjoy stitching this creative blend of 14 spectacular quilts, all created from classic blocks.

• Discover fun ways to exchange blocks with friends or make a scrappy mix yourself
• Enjoy a wide variety of small- to medium-sized quilts, ranging from a table topper to wall hangings and lap quilts
• Ideal for quilters who love scrappy patchwork style and classic applique

We are doing a giveaway... Here is how you can enter:

Kim Diehl and Jo Morton Book "Simple Friendships" and a bundle of Katie's Cupboard fat quarters


But if that's not enough... you can enter the giveaway AGAIN... over here on the Martingale blog. You can read an awesome interview with Kim and Jo about the book. Be sure to visit!

Desire to Inspire February Challenger - Meet Angie Ligon

Meet Angie Ligon, by day she lives in a world full of fabric, and in her spare time loves to design quilts. She sent us an email that had EXCLAMATION points about how she loves all things from Anni Downs and Hatched and Patched Studios. How could we let this fabric fan be disappointed? 

So, please meet and encourage Angie, as she takes off and has a fun full month of February with these fabrics. 

Let's Get Quilting with Peaceful Garden by Mary Jane Carey of Holly Hill Quilt Designs

“Peaceful Garden” by Mary Jane Carey of Holly Hill Quilt Designs Peaceful Garden is a collection of romantic florals and complementary basics. Simple basics such as an astilbe fern and a delicate paisley balance these graceful blooms. The designs and hues are depicted in a delicate palette reminiscent of an era when life was more peaceful. Tones of color more sophisticated and muted portrayed in hues such as cream, blush, sage and sky blue create a serene setting.  

Let's Get Quilting - Peaceful Garden by Mary Jane Carey of Holly Hill Designs

Desire to Inspire January's Pretty as a Pansy Project by Mary Fuber

Meet Mary Fuber. She had a bit of tripping up in the January challenge. She fell over her cat, and couldn't ever work on her challenge for several days. So when she says she is happy to be here... she really means it. 

Here is our January Challenger, Mary Furber

I’m very happy to be here today. To introduce myself my name is Mary Furber, and I live in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. 

Mary Fuber

I live in a very old town, settled 1620, so there is a lot of history around. My home was built in 1900, so not too old in comparison. The oldest house in town is from 1664, the Jackson House. It is one of several historic properties to visit in Portsmouth. There is also an historic village named Strawbery Banke, with multiple buildings, shops and educational programs. Portsmouth is a great place to live and an interesting place to visit.

I grew up in New Milford, Connecticut, in a family that sewed. My mother and grandmother were both quilters. I can remember making doll clothes for my sister and I when I was about 6. Mom showed me how to use the old black Singer she had when I was 8 or so. 

My grandfather had worked for one of the last fabric mills in Connecticut. He would bring home misprints and bolt ends so I had access to a large collection of cotton prints and solids. I made a lot of my clothes through high school and into college. I started to quilt during college when home for a holiday. Bored, I asked my grandmother to show me how to piece. This was in the mid-seventies before rotary cutters. She showed me how to make cardboard templates and trace pieces. 

Hand piecing and quilting didn’t thrill me, so after a couple pillows I went back to clothing.

Fast forward 20 years to 2000. 

I wandered into a quilt shop while waiting to pick up a cat at the vet. I signed up for a simple lap quilt class and never looked back. 

I was still sewing on the White machine I bought when I graduated college in 1980. Before long I upgraded my machine and started to build a stash. 

I opened a quilt shop in 2004 with cotton and wool. I ran Thimbleberries Club from 2004 to 2011. 

In addition to quilts we also made penny rugs. I closed in 2011 due to health issues. 

My quilting dropped off for a few years and then I lost my husband. 

Now I am sewing, designing and blogging full time. I love to piece, and try to every day. I’ve been challenging myself to improve my accuracy! 

I am also running a block of the week based on Ruby Short McKim’s 101 Patchwork Patterns on my blog. Visit me at www.SeacoastQuilter.net.