Fresh Figs

Snow

Well, I am currently in snow. Not the snow pictured below, mind you, but in snow nevertheless. The snow below is  just a little snippet of last weekend for us. The very first snow of the year in California so we had to go and find it!

Currently I am in Utah teaching and lecturing in the most beautiful snow setting you have ever seen. Near Park City at Daniel's Summit Lodge. A girl could get used to this kind of loveliness!

Just thought I would pop in for a hello in between classes. Hope you are having a great time sewing and quilting! Stay tuned for some new yumminess coming up soon.

 

 ... my little snow bunny and her many faces. I loved that is was snowing on us as we played!

 

 

 ... my eldest and hub in action!

 

 ... my middle one, who decided that sledding was boring and he was going to make a snowboard out of it! Now, just so you know, he has never snowboarded a day in his life. He went up and down that hill all afternoon, standing up the whole time! I guess its time for us to look into snowboarding lessons.

 ... monkey see, monkey do!

It was a really great day!

 

xoxo

Joanna

A Little Valentine

If you know me, you know that I am not much of a heart person. Just not my thing. But this time of the year, I just can't resist I guess. We were making more scrap bags [back up on the site just in case you were wondering] and I came across some of these yummy creams, super soft pinks and light greys. We tossed in a few coral hearts and a table runner was born.

Although as you can see... it might end up on the foot of my bed as a "bed runner" instead at the rate I'm going. I just love the idea of putting a little bit of color at the end of my bed. Usually we fold up an entire quilt there but this bed runner idea is quickly growing on me....

 

So here is the new "Hearts Afloat" Valentine's Table [ or Bed] Runner ".

 

We even managed to whip up a couple dozen kits while we were at it. Just in case you might need one. You know... just in case.

Click here for kit.

 

 

 

The runner is 16 1/2" x 45".

It is an excerpt from our upcoming Fresh Vintage #20 issue. Since the issue itself is not quite ready for print, the kits will contain a printout of this pattern only and not the entire issue. For those of you who wait a few weeks and order the issue #20 [or are already on auto ship for Fresh Vintage], you will receive this pattern inside your issue. The kit is separate and limited.

 

Talk to you soon.

Goodbye December... maybe

Since I did such a non existent job of sharing our holiday decorations with you as they went up, I thought I might share them with you as they go down [actually... saying that they are going down is my way of hoping that I manage to actually get them down this week! What are the odds of that actually happening?]

Question for you? What is the longest you have ever kept up your decorations?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy "Holiday Decoration Take Down" Day. Now THAT should be a holiday!

 

 

 

December....

December has seriously flown by around here at both Fig Tree and at home. Our kids vacations have been staggered this year and we have thoroughly enjoyed some great one on one time, cousin time skating in the city, chocolate covered pretzel making time, cookie eating and even some neighborhood caroling! You gotta love the looks on the neighbor's faces that have never been "caroled" before!

Since we have spent most of our family time off line, I just realized yesterday that I did't even share any pictures of our house decorated for Christmas!  

I don't think I can finish December without sharing some of it even if it is a bit on the tardy side....

 

As a part of slowing down and enjoying each day this month, I have sat with a cup of tea in front of my Christmas tree. Now I know its just a tree and not even close to the real meaning of this season, but there is something so magical about sitting in my living room with the only lights those on the tree, the smell of pine in the house and maybe even a bit of Christmas Carols playing in the background. Preferably Bing or Ella. Cheeseball... I know. 

And so I have spent a part of each evening, in front of my tree, having some quality quiet time. I love this time of the year. And I am officially cheeseball.

 

Here are just a few of my favorites....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Merry end of December.

Day #12: The 12 Days of Christmas

Welcome to Day #12 of the 12 Days of Christmas: Fig Tree Style! Each day we will have a different kit, a different sale and even a few giveaways along the way. Join us each day so that you don't miss out on a single thing. We are so excited to share all of our goodies with you!

 

Day #12

GIVEAWAY WINNER...

Thanks again to all of you who played. I really did enjoy reading each and every one of your comments! 

The winner is Leslie from lesquilts.gmail.com . Commented on 12/6/11 at 5.54 am:

Leslie said:

Hi! What a lovely post! My favorite song is Silver Bells. When we would visit our maternal grandmother, in the evening she would play the piano, by ear! Never had any lessons, couldn't read music. She did a special ditty with the upper keys to sound like silver bell tinkling, oh, it still makes my heart melt when I hear the song! Thanks for the great fabric bundles, I'll be adding some to my order! Thanks for the giveaway! Take care, Leslie

 Please email us with your address Leslie so we can send off your package! Congratulations!

 

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Its the last day of goodies here today on the 12 Days of Christmas sale so hopefully we have a little something for everyone. It has been so much fun to bring you something new and unique every day!

 

Up first....

Today I wanted to share with you some fun little canvas labels that I discovered recently. They are printed directly onto canvas and range in size from approximately 1/2" x 2" to 3" x 4". They are perfect for attaching to purses, satchels, jean jackets, t-shirts... basically anything you can embellish with fabric, you can embellish with these fabulous vintage feeling, French and English words and phrases. I can't decide what I want to embellish first....

... just yummy.

 

Label Set #1

Click here for more info.

 

Label Set #2

Click here for more info. 

 

Up Second today...

We searched and dug around the studio and everyone stayed late and stuffed and we managed to come up with a couple more dozen scrap bags- well maybe a few more than a couple dozen even- for all those of you who were so sad to miss out yesterday.... So be sure to nab some today while they're here!

 Click here for more info.

 

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Up Last, but Certainly not least, today...

The Boardwalk Quilt Kit

We would like to introduce the Boardwalk Quilt featuring our brand new upcoming collection, California Girl. A wonderful combination of light, beachy prints with an ivory background for a wonderful Spring feel.

It sure would be a wonderful way to welcome in the upcoming Spring and work on this quilt when it arrives in March, 2012. 

In this collection we have introduced some wonderful french blues as well some light sky blues that will just sing to you... I think. This quilt uses a little of most of the prints in the entire collection and features both the sky blue in the settings as well as the wonderful solid grey in the sawtooth border.

These blocks have so much movement that they look like they are spinning and yet they are one of the most simple blocks I have worked on in quite some time.

... corals, golden yellow, blues, greens and greys. Makes me think of an afternoon at the beach! Can't you just imagine those stripes on one of those retro bathing suits?

 

... almost makes me wish for Spring. Not quite yet but I sure will be ready for it by March!

 

 

Click here for more kit info.

 

Second option...

The Beach Boardwalk Version

For those of you who prefer to stick entirely to our lovely new french blues and corals... The Beach Boardwalk Kit focuses on the blues, both light and medium, as well as the beautiful coral tones in this collection. It is a beautiful version.

Click here for more info on this kit.

 

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12 Days of Christmas Special Day #12: 

1. French Canvas Label Sets are 12% off.

2. Boardwalk Kit Pre-orders are 12% off

3. Extra Scrap Bags are 12% off.

4. Stems Kits are 15% off [just several left in stock so we thought we would move them out. Super simple method!]

 

Thanks so much for joining us for these crazy 12 Days of Sales. The sales are done for now but we do have a couple of wonderful other things to share with you this coming up week so be sure to check back soon. It's been a pleasure to "be with you" each day.

Talk to you soon, Joanna.

Day #11: The 12 Days of Christmas

Welcome to Day #11 of the 12 Days of Christmas: Fig Tree Style! Each day we will have a different kit, a different sale and even a few giveaways along the way. Join us each day so that you don't miss out on a single thing. We are so excited to share all of our goodies with you!

 

Day #11

GIVEAWAY...

Thanks to all of you who entered the giveaway! I guess everyone is in the Christmas mood because in less than 48 hrs. we have had 640 of you comment! We've closed the comments tonite and will announce the winner on the last day of the 12 Days sales, on Friday.

I have absolutely loved hearing about each and everyone's favorite carols and songs! And the stories and memories and your kids singing. Thank you so much for sharing all of it with us!

It looks like the clear winners are the two classics, Silent Night and O Holy Night. But others like "Mary Did You Know?" seem to be another favorite this year. I had not even remembered hearing that one until one of you sent me the link.Thanks for that. Its an absolutely beautiful song.

Good luck on the giveaway everyone!

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So now for second to last day of goodies.

Over the years, one of the questions we get over and over again is about our way of doing applique. I know that for many of you applique is something that you just refer to as the "A" word and not something that you want pursue. But trust me when I tell you, that applique is not nearly as hard as its cracked up to be. For years, I tried and worked with methods that just didn't help me until I found the Starch Method of Applique. I love it and it helps me to create the perfect shapes that I need for my designs every time. Today I thought I would share a little kit of goodies so that you can try out a little bit of starch applique on your own. I really don't think you will be sorry that you did!

 

Up today...

 

Click here for more info.

[Fyi, if the product doesn't show up on the site when you click on the link, that means that it has sold out. Sorry but quantities are limited.]

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12 Days of Christmas Special Day #11: 

Special Applique Kits are 15% off!