Fresh Figs

A Little Blossom, A Little Jam

 

A little Blossom and a little Jam. I guess I might have been a little bit hungry when I originally named this pattern! But more likely I was thinking of my last trip to London, or more precisely, the Cottswold villages right outside of London. It seems that anytime we sat down for a snack there, we were offered something “with jam”. Mostly “scones with jam” I think, but also other things with jam.

 

Oh, I would really love to be back there now. Or at least have some really good jam :-).

 

 

This little project is one of my current favorites. Its kind of funny with the way things work around here, I don’t often get to enjoy the projects during their actual season. We created this little table topper in early Spring, just in time to debut for Quilt Market in May. We finished it and photographed it for the cover and then sent it on its way to visit its share of stores. Then the patterns were actually finished up and printed and they began shipping to the quilt shops and the topper continued to travel.

 

The fabric that it was created with, TAPESTRY, however, did not start to arrive in stores until the last couple of weeks  [for all of those yummy precuts] and the yardage is still to come [later in October].  And suddenly my little topper is back at home.

 

 

And so in a little twist of timing, I get to enjoy my little Blossoms & Jam before she goes off on another adventure to another quilt shop or perhaps to a show or two in the fall. Meanwhile, here she is and more importantly…. She brings kits with her!!

Check it out HERE for more info. Or HERE for just the pattern.

PATTERN INFO:

Name: Blossoms & Jam.

Size: 16” round

Fabric: Cover sample made from TAPESTRY. Back cover samples also made from CALIFORNIA GIRL. Uses (1) charm pack or (2) of the yummy new MODA CANDY PACKS

 

 

 

 

 

Another winner, maybe dinner

No, there is no dinner. Today we are having leftovers. I just got carried away with the whole "winner, winner, chicken dinner" phrase that I love so much!

So the winner of the SEWN HATS BOOK giveaway is:

On September 16th at 8:06, Mary said:

I'd love to win this book - I'm known for wearing and making hats and have started my grandchildren on this same path! (The boys and the girls all have hats I've made them and let me know when they need a new one!) My very favorites are the big, floppy brimmed hats.

 

And because we couldn't pick just one, we will also send an AMELIA & ME pattern to:

On September 18th at 6:52 am, Martha Followill said...

I love the Amelia and Me pattern for my little great
niece that is almost 2 years old. I have alot of your
patterns and love them all. I now have my eye on your
pattern Star Bloom. Your color combinations is one of
the best.

 

Email us with us with your info ladies and we will get your goodies out to you! Thanks again for following along.

 

For those of you on  FACEBOOK,  have you seen our little deals? We will have a new one tomorrow and maybe even a sneak peek or two.

 

Talk to you soon.

More Blog Hops & Giveaways! Really.

 

Yes. It was supposed to be this morning wasn't it? I just realized that the 10:00 that I was supposed to post my giveaway results was 10:00 AM THIS MORNING NOT TONITE!! What was I thinking exactly? Who posts at 10:00 pm on a Saturday night????

I do I guess :-)!

So for those of you who have patiently been checking here all day to see if you won, so sorry. Here are the winners of the MODA CANDY BLOG TOUR:

 

Winner of the book:

On September 9th at 5:13 am Dianne said:

My favorite pattern is Petite Fleurs. It's a great classic pattern...in my opinion ;)

 

Winner of the TAPESTRY Layer Cake:

On September 14th at 12:02 pm, Giner said

Dear Joanna, all your patterns are my favorites! How to choose the favorite? I have 4 of your patterns and enjoy them time again over since I am a quilter and a garnent sewer - the diversity of your talent and your gift of coloring is one I am happy you have successfully shared with the textile world professionals and hobbyists. Your Cream Solid fabric is my favoriate and the most versatile fabric and I will say the one I use to stand out any pattern/fabric I use for any project.

 

Four winners of the MODA CANDY TAPESTRY packs [4 packs for each person] to make all the lovely patterns you have been collecting:

 

FIRST:

On September 13 at 12:49 pm, Vickie said:

I LOVE all of your patterns...a huge fan!  My favorites are the Vintage Postcards and Vintage Stamps...I have them all!  I have collected your fabrics for years!  Thanks for sharing your love of quilting.

 

SECOND:

On Septermber 11 at 3:27 pm, Amorette said:

i love the slipper cuties pattern- i would love to see the boy version, because i cannot find slippers for my toddler son! also love stanley- and i had no idea there were animal patterns here, so thank you!

 

THIRD:

On Septermber 10 at 5:51 pm, Mary Ann said:

I love all of your patterns, but if I am one of the lucky winners I would choose Jelly Rose. Thanks.

 

FOURTH:

On September 14 at 8:26 am , Marcyne said:

My favorite is the Dancing Dollies Sampler Quilt pattern (which I pieced from your kit, had it custom quilted and it turned out beautiful!) and for kids, I love the Polka Dots and Summer Dress.  

 

If you are one of the lucky winners above, send us an email with your mailing address and the free pattern you would like to receive if it is different than the one you posted about and we will send your goodies right out to you.

Congrats everybody. It has been really, really fun to read all of your comments!

Too see some fun things to do with all of the blocks you have collected, head on over HERE to see! 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

SEWN HATS BLOG TOUR

 

For those of you who are still reading and haven't wandered off to see what other prizes you might have won or have something better to do on a Saturday night :-), we have another BLOG TOUR for you.

I know, its insanity really.

... a few of the pages of my hat contribution

 

The wonderful folks at WILEY PUBLISHING [the fantabulous publishers of my latest book], have just released a creative and versatile book full of 35 of the best hat patterns I have seen in a while. Titled SEWN HATS, the book covers a wide array of styles, sizes and fashions and is edited by Carla Hegeman Crim, the amazing force behind the Scientific Seamstress.  She is, well, amazing!

A lot of times these compilation kinds of volumes feel kind of random to me, not sure how we all "go together". But this time around it was like sewing with a bunch of friends. As soon as I knew who some of the contributors were, I knew we were in for a great treat of a book! Sewing with great friends and colleagues like Patty, Kaari, Jennifer, Bari and so many more [see below for the full list that have already posted and those that are still to come] has been a pleasure! Nice job everyone... a little pat on the back for all of us I think.

 

.. what a cute little model with her SUMMER BLOSSOM SUNHAT!

 

When I started thinking about what kind of a hat pattern I wanted to contribute as my little part, I was a little bit stumped. I have a feeling the hat deadline came somewhere in the middle of my crazy book deadlines and my brain was... well, you know, it was somewhere alright!

Carla quickly came to the rescue. We brainstormed an updated version of my favorite, Amelia & Me Hat and we were on our way. We knew we wanted it to be similar but different! I absolutely love the outcome!

... the original Amelia & Me hat.

... Amelia & Me

 

To see many of the other wonderful hat contributions, be sure to look through everyone's posts, both those already done and those to come.

To enter to win a copy of the book, comment below and let us know what kind of hat you would most likely make. We will announce a winner by Wednesday the 19th.

Follow along with the Sewn Hats Blog Tour:

9/4 -   Scientificseamstress.blogspot.com

9/5 -   Mod Kid Boutique

9/6 –  French General

9/10 – Pink Chalk Studio

9/11 -  LuluBliss.com

9/13 – Green Bee Patterns

9/14 – Goosie Girl Boutique

9/15 -- Fig Tree & Company

9/17 – Melissa Lilac Lane

9/18 -- Prudent Baby

9/19 – OneGirlCircus.com

9/20 – Tie Dyed Diva Designs

9/21 – Figgys Patterns

9/25 – Craftiness is not Optional

9/26 – Bari J.

9/27 – Confessions of a Craft Addict

9/28 – SisBoom.com

10/1 – Sew Mama Sew

10/2 – Aesthetic Nest

10/3 – Blue Nickel Studios

10/4 – Betz White

10/8 – YummyGoods.com

10/10-  Wiley Craft

Thanks so much for stopping by.... again!

Joanna

MODA CANDY BLOG TOUR!

 

WELCOME

... just a little decoration on my table right now.

 

Hello Everybody and Welcome to Fig Treeland!

I hope you have been enjoying the roadtrip so far. Here is the info to everyone who has come before and all those who will come after! There have been some fabulous stops on the blog tour so far with some of my favorite friends like a couple of the ones you see here below....

... we're usually not this confused but I love this shot! I have absolutely NO IDEA what we are talking about or looking for!!

 

ABOUT US

For those of you who don't know me.... well, let me tell you a little about myself. Or more accurately, a little about my hometown.

 

I live in a little town called San Leandro in the San Francisco Bay Area. Usually when folks visit we take them to all the standard San Francisco type places like Pier 39 and Ghiradelli Square. We love to go to baseball games at PacBell Park to see the GIANTS and to stop off for a little bit of shopping at the Ferry Building Shops. San Francisco is a wonderful place to visit but it definitely doesn't feel like my hometown.

      

 

But our little town is where we mostly stay when we're, you know, living our regular life.

We are known as the cherry city as we are located on old cherry orchards. Each year we host the Cherry Festival where the entire town gathers to play and, to be honest, mostly to eat. I guess most of our festivals or town activities are somehow created around food- Sausages & Suds Festival, our Farmer's Markets, Drake's Brewery evenings, our school Fall Festival, our 4th of July Street BBQ and so forth and so forth. 

We live on a little street lined with giant Liquid Ambers that turn every shade of orange and gold in the fall. In fact one of my daughter's favorite activities during that time of year is to make "leaf bouquets" and scatter them all over the house in little glass vases!

Speaking of food, our favorite San Leandro restaurants [which we frequent much more often than we should, especially during those times when I am designing fabric or creating new patterns and dinner just doesn't seem to happen] include:

 

Our favorite Taqueria-

  ... my personal favorite here is the salsa bar. I could eat nothing but the complimentary chips & salsa for dinner, really. I guess I'm a cheap date.

 

Our favorite Sushi-

  ... my personal favorite here is the New Mexico Roll. Like a California Roll but with Ebi on top and spicy srirachi in the mix. Yum!

 

And Frozen Yogurt of course-

...the kiddos will have to pick the favorite here but let's just say that my middle son has been known to eat almost a pound of yogurt [you buy it by the weight of yogurt and toppings]. True story. 

However, right now if we are actually in San Leandro you will find us either playing with fabric in one way or another...

  ... a lovely little stack of TAPESTRY [coming to stores in October] 

 

Or doing a whole lot of this...

 

...Gotta love those mini F50's in a size 1!!!

Or that...

 

Given that all 3 of our kids play one [two goalies and one striker] or the other [a kicker/punter and wide receiver] or both at the same time, it feels like we are either in the studio or on the field. I guess that doesn't leave a whole lot of time for anything else. 

 

WHAT'S NEW AROUND THESE PARTS

FABRIC

Our newest fabric collection TAPESTRY is about to hit stores in October. We are so excited that you will soon be able to play with this group. It is absolutely perfect for this time of the year. Here is the PDF of the entire line along with skus, etc. in case you find yourself looking for something in particular.

 

BOOK

We also recently finished our latest book WITH FABRIC & THREAD! We are so pleased with how well it has been received.

It is full of both quilting and sewing projects and the entire middle section of the book gives each set of instructions twice- once if you are coming from the quilting side of things and once if your background is more from the sewing side of things. The result, we hope, is that the book can be used so broadly by people from both backgrounds. All of that and there's alot of pretty cool photography done in our home and garden.

 

FACEBOOK

As of a few weeks ago, we are on FACEBOOK. Can you believe it? Come and friend us so you don't miss out on all of the upcoming goodies that we will be writing about!

                           

WEBSITE

We have recently completely updated and changed our entire website so if you haven't had a chance to browse around lately, you might want to. We have added several new features as well as added a lot of new info and photos. And our SHOP is so much easier to use and has many more goodies in it!  

Plus we are currently having a little ODDS & ENDS SALE to finish off the summer.... check it out HERE!! 

 

FREE PATTERN & GIVEAWAY

For those of you patiently waiting for our free MODA 2 1/2" CANDY pattern, Starburst, HERE  it is.

We really like the idea, that one of our customers suggested last time we did one of these crazy blog hops, of creating a small binder and to add all of the patterns as you print them out, one by one. You could decorate the front of the binder with some of your favorite fabric scraps or something else. That way you will never lose or forget about your little CANDIES.

 

For those of you patiently waiting for the GIVEAWAY information, here we go:

We will be giving away a copy of our new book to one winner, a Layer Cake of TAPESTRY to another winner and a set of MODA TAPESTRY 2 1/2" CANDIES to another 4 winners.

All you have to do is comment below to be entered. TELL US WHAT YOUR FAVORITE FIG TREE PATTERN IS and if you are one of the winners we will add that pattern [or another one if you already have that one] into your prizes.

Winners will be announced on September 15th so be sure to come back to check. If you want to catch a sneak peek of our newest upcoming collection, come back even before then to see!

 

Don't forget to check out tomorrow's designers:

PRIMITIVE GATHERINGS

LILY ASHBURY

FRENCH GENERAL

 

Hope to see you soon!

A LItlle Bit Back

I'm a little bit back today. Very little actually. Still transitioning to the first week back of school for all three of the munchkins not to mention that I am still in a timezone somewhere far, far away and will share more with you very soon. 

 

For now I have a couple of quick updates today:

1. WE ARE ON FACEBOOK! More about that later, but for now... come and friend us HERE so you don't miss out on anything!

 

        

2. We started a little "ODDS & ENDS" sale today. Come check it out HERE.

 

 

2. MODA DESIGNER BLOG HOP HAS STARTED! Click on the Blog Hop Tour Badge on the left sidebar for more info on the posts that have already happened and stay tuned for our post on Sunday. I promise there will be a giveaway!

 

I'll be back soon. Even if for just a little bit.