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Fig Tree 80/20 Principle

For the past 8 or 9 years [wow, is that actually possible?] each month, usually on the 3rd friday night of that month, from dinner time until midnight,  I get to do something fun, educational and inspirational... and I get paid for it. I gotta tell you... I love my job!

I teach a monthly drop in quilting/sewing class at one of my local quilt shops to a group of ladies, most of whom have by now become long time friends more than students. Each Friday we bring potluck goodies to share, stories to tell, projects to work on and anything else that needs a little help to get finished up... whether Fig Tree related or not. 

Over the years, you would not believe some of the conversations we have had and the husbands that have dropped by with "something that the wife forgot" to check up & see if it was really true that their beloved was actually sewing at a quilt shop until midnight on a Friday! Many have left scratching their head in wonder and a lack of understanding!

This past Friday I met with my ladies as usual and was once again awed and inspired at the wonderful creations they had come up with made from my fabrics. Two in particular caught my eye so much because they were a PERFECT example of that 80%/20% principle that I have been going on about for years now.

I am told that every opportunity I get, I try to explain this to folks: any one given Fig Tree fabric collection is certainly a unified whole, designed to create well rounded, beautiful projects. However, no single fabric collection can contain all the colors and prints that one might need to create something truly unique, with more depth and a distinct feel and design. A collection is indeed a whole and can yield wonderful things but adding 20% from another collection can create amazing results. That different 20% might just add the different dark, light or "POP" that the project needs. It might add that needed unexpected, different tone of the same color or something with a completely different scale or feel that will really make the project shine. 

We design our collections to meld into one another, one into the next. Different from one another in print and color but with enough overlap to make it simple to use the groups together to create projects with depth & breadth. 

When I saw these 2 projects last Friday night, I knew I wanted to show you the results. The lighting in the shop at night wasn't the greatest so the photography could definitely be a bit better but....

Jelly Girl pattern made with a combination of Patisserie and Fig & Plum fabrics [pattern original uses just Patisserie]. Feels like a summer beach vacation to me. I am pretty sure that I will have to make one of these in the next couple of months! Quilt by Meredith Harbaugh.

Jellygirlaqua2

Jellygirlaqua

Here below is the fabulous pattern, Vintage Stars, by Mr. Joe Wood, co-owner of the quilt shop where we gather, & the designer behind his own pattern company, Piece by Piece Quilts. Joe has recently started his own blog that chronicles his love of quilting, old tv shows, pop culture and exclamation marks... if you're not sure what I mean, go and see & you'll know... right away.

This version uses a combination of Fig & Plum and Gypsy Rose [pattern original used just Fig & Plum], along with scraps from several other past Fig Tree collections. I was just mesmerized by the color combinations on this one! Quilt by Wilma Lawrence.


Joesquilt

Hope you enjoyed all that verbage & the pretty quilts.

Talk to you later.

Quick Fig Tree Club Clarifications

Quick Fig Tree Club Answers:

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Many of you have emailed with Fig Tree Club questions and I just wanted to post a few of the responses here in case anyone else has the same questions. 


•  The shops all have a wide range of spots available based on what they signed up for. If one shop is full, feel free to call around to another to see if they still have openings, whether it be brick & mortar or online. Shops should also be starting wait lists if they fill up so inquire.

•  The reason the spots are limited is because we are only running this as a limited Pilot Program this semester. Once the spots that they signed up for are filled, they will not be able to add any more at this time.

•  The quarterly patterns will only be available to those who are in the club.  

•  Each pattern will come with a kit created by the store to match the pattern from our latest collection.

•  We don't know what any of the upcoming patterns are yet because the next fabric collections have not even been finalized yet. The only project that has been designed so far is the first one, Cobblestones [picture with the Club info]. As soon as we have anything to design with, we will design!

• We are quickly accumulating a list of other stores who wish to participate. Those stores will get a chance to join in the fall for next year's projects. 

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Thank you for all your interest. Have fun in the Club!

talk to you later.

Fig Tree Club

FIG TREE CLUB


Figtreeclubblog 

Jumping a bit into the future [although I am still reserving the right to go backwards!], I wanted to share a fun new program with you. We have been talking about doing something like this for quite a while and just have never managed to get it off the FIG TREE WISH LIST [ can I just share with you that that list is REALLY, really long and seems to get longer all the time]! 

But at Spring Market we finally announced & filled the Pilot Program for our new FIG TREE CLUB. We only took the first 20 stores to start off so that we can see how it all goes this first time around. We will of course open up the club to more stores at the next Quilt Market but for now, these are the lucky few [or the brave few who we will work out all of our club program kinks on]! 

The Fig Tree Club is an in store or in some cases an online program available at the participating store. Four times a year we are designing an exclusive pattern for club members, releasing some special coupons and generally giving folks another opportunity to have fun with Fig Tree fabrics- what could be better I ask you? 

Each pattern will be based on a precut [Jelly Roll™, HoneyBun™ or Layer Cake™] of one of our new fabric collections for MODA fabrics. The 4th project [since we usually only release 3 collections a year] will be what we are calling a “Sunday Brunch” project. Get it? What do restaurants use for their Sunday Brunch? Well... all of the leftovers from the week! Hope you already knew that and I am not bursting your Sunday Brunch bubble...its still a great meal, right?  Or in this case a fabric project, its just a medley! So the project will be designed and kitted from a variety of Fig Tree collections in such a way that each store should easily be able to make from what they have leftover. 

Each store will be offering classes or club meetings and kits for all 4 projects a year. Your subscription from the store of your choice gives you a slot for all 4 exclusive patterns & kits for that year.

If you think that this might sound like fun, go to the Fig Tree Club icon on the sidebar and see the list of participating stores. Remember that the stores all have only a limited amount of spots since we are still in “PILOT MODE” so if you are interested don’t miss out! 

FigTreeClubweb

Talk to you later.


Back in Time

Okay for the first of my BACK IN TIME posts...


The Bridges of Pittsburgh fascinated me while we were there at Quilt Market. Every color, every size, every style... just beautiful. In fact Pittsburgh was enchanting all around. Despite what most folks think of when they imagine Pittsburgh, the city is full of culture, shopping areas, beautiful architecture and an amazing amount of rivers and bridges.... In fact the only other city in the world that reportedly has more bridge per size of city is Venice!  Pittsburgh boasts 446 bridges, can you imagine that?!

Pittsblog


Redbridgeblog

Yellowbridge

Pittsbridgeblog

Pittsblog2

And that was the outside of the city... 

On the inside of Quilt Market there were of course even more beautiful things to look at. You have already had a chance to see all of the fabulous MODA designers here, and more fun designers here, and way more all around the web.

I didn't get a chance to get out from the MODA hub much. But I did walk about 1/2 the floor on Sunday afternoon and here are just a few beautiful things that I saw...

Ranging from the most TRADITIONAL:

Minick & Simpson beauties...

Minickblog

3 Sisters does it again with Aster Manor....

3sistersblog

To the NEW & UNIQUE:

Galloping Pony Studio. Their minimalist, neutral style caught a lot of attention. Always nice to see something completely different from everything else.

Gallopingpony2

I know you can't tell here, but each of these little miniatures isn't more than an inch or two across, just tiny.

Gallopingpony

To the most colorful. You know me I am always attracted to beautiful color...

Renaissance Ribbons has the most gorgeous colors and patterns of ribbons. It almost makes me want to do something with ribbons!
Renaissanceribbonsjpg 

And no Quilt Market would be complete without the requisite shots of Amy's booth.

Amybutlerblog

Amybutler2

To the SWEET & WHIMSICAL:

Lecien fabric booth

Lecien 

Hey look at that, we are slowly catching up a bit in my post "qeue".

And last but not least, a few of my friends have been having a whole lot of fun with a certain silly pic of me from Market. 

Meandaudrey
They keep finding a resemblance between the shot and this beauty.... Personally I don't see it but like I have told them, I will take that comparison  ANY DAY OF THE WEEK!



Peonies & other little pretties

So here's the deal folks...

I am so far behind in the things I have wanted to post about that I keep not posting because I am so far behind in posts so I keep getting farther behind while I think about how far behind I am... can you follow that wonderfully twisted logic... catch 22 in the biggest sort of way!

So I have decided I am going to start going backwards.... so don't be surprised if you get belated Market shots in 10 days. I am going to start with today, then post about Chicago, then about life, then about Pittsburgh, then about... who knows what else I have forgotten!

Market mixed with the finishing up of a new collection mixed with my Chicago trip mixed with Memorial Day celebrations that included an emergency room trip mixed with end of school celebrations that include my oldest graduating from elementary and my youngest graduating from preschool mixed with the finishing up of the newest patterns mixed with Spring Ballet performances.... basically lots of things, mixed with lots of things.

But one of my favorite things these days is playing with my new lens recommended by Miss Camille.... gotta love that girl's photography skills! It takes a bit of getting used to but I am loving some of the results as I learn how to actually use the darn thing...

Every year when I go to Spring Market, I leave my three bushes of Peonies in wonderful, waiting, expecting buds. And every year when I am gone to Spring Market, they bloom... and I miss it!  There is nothing more heavenly than the sight and smell of fully open, blooming Peonies in various shades of cream, pink and yellow and every year I miss it!  Well this year I came home to this wonderful sight and so have been taking pictures of them ever since. I don't know if you can imagine the scent, the sweet, heady perfumed scent of peonies.... its truly wonderful!


Peoniessmall

Peoniessmall2

Peonies3

A few small Market booth closeups.  These cherries, the lack of more and their journey became somewhat legendary at Market. Let's just say that my husband would not want to hear the story again and its not quite appropriate for a blog post. If you know me on a personal level, one day you'll have to ask me about them...

Cherriesupgrade

One of my favorite new little projects. We just whipped up a few more in  the studio the other day... couldn't resist....  so simple, so many uses... such a little thing that can make you so happy. I should have called them happy little bowls.

Bowlcloseup

Loving these little shade pretties. In fact we will be giving a few of these away along with some other fun booth furnishings in a future post this week so stay tuned.


Lampcloseup

Talk to you soon.

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