Introducing FARMHOUSE II GOODIES

Goodies? What kinds of goodies you might ask?

Well... in our industry, we call them Finished Goods. Which is just a fancy way of saying that we are putting our designs on a variety of things other than yardage. We have several to share with you today and there are more in the works all the time. If you have followed along with us for a long time, you might remember when we used to do fabric Finished Goods all the time. We had aprons and pincushions and backpacks. We made tablecloths and organizers and other fun stuff. Then the industry went in a different direction and time ran short and we focused in on fabric and patterns. Well its the new trend again these days and we sure hope its here to stay... finished goods are back and they are back in force! Many designers at MODA are introducing finished goods with their collections and we are happy to announce that we are one of them. Although this time around... they are not necessarily fabric at all. 

We would like to introduce you to a few fabulously fun Paper Products with our new Farmhouse II designs on them. Yup! Paper!! 

 First up a TRIO OF NOTEPADS. Perfect for a hundred different note taking needs in the office, in the studio, near the phone, in the kitchen and everywhere in between. We only have a few prototypes right now and I am already completely addicted to them. I might have to get a dozen of each just for me when they come out!

 

Next up, PAPER BAGGIE KIT

Yes, baggies in 3 different sizes, 3 of each in each little kit. Topped off with twine and tags... pretty sure you couldn't get any cuter! Use for gifts, for party favors, in your sewing group, with your neighborhood friends. Add them in with fabric stuff but also with kitchen stuff or any other Farmhouse kind of affair. 

 

And last up, WASHI TAPE. What is Washi Tape you might ask? Well its only one of the cutest inventions ever.. basically scotch tape with a cute print on it so that you can decorate with it every time you use it as tape! Use it in your scrapbooks,  your calendars, in the office, in the studio. Decorate mail with it just for a little touch of goodness or close up those cute little paper baggies with it. It basically adds a little bit of decoration anywhere you like. Its a little bit irrestible.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

WHEN: All of our finished goods made with Farmhouse II designs will release along with the collection in October, 2018. We are having a hard time waiting until then!

WHERE: If you are interested in seeing these goodies at your local quilt shop... THEN ASK THEM TO CARRY IT. MODA reps are showing these items to stores now and if stores want to have these in October, they need to order them now. So if you want it, tell them! If your local quilt shop will not carry it, do not worry, your favorite online shop will and we most definitely will have lots!

WHAT: Notepad Trio, Paper Bag Set and Set of 5 Washi Tape Rolls.

 

Introducing FARMHOUSE II

Hello my Quilting Friends!

We are slowly digging ourselves out from Quilt Market and I have so many different things to share with you but I thought it was high time that I introduced everyone to our brand new upcoming collection, FARMHOUSE II.

Due to the popularity of our first Farmhouse collection [to be completely honest, it might have been one of my all time favorite fabric collections that I have ever designed] several years ago, I thought it was time to do a "take two" with new prints and the same classic color palette that we all fell in love with the first time around. I still get emails today of people who share with me that Farmhouse was one of their all time favorites or the reason they got back into quitting. I love to hear those kinds of stories. 

There is something about this palette that just makes my heart sing. Don't you think?

Now as most of you know, I am a total farm girl at heart. To be totally honest, I am not actually a farm girl... but I dream of being one one day! I dream of a small white farmhouse with a red or yellow door in a small town with a huge meadow behind it. I think a barn filled quilts for retreats might be there too. I see chickens and a couple goats maybe... and maybe even a horse.

... photos taken on a country road north of us in Sonoma. Maybe one day we will live there!

But for now, we live in a small urban town in the San Francisco Bay Area and the closest I am going to come to being a farm girl... is chickens. Yup, I'm all about our chickens right now. We got them in February and by July, if all goes well, we will have eggs!!! We have loved getting to know them. There are five- Hazel, Chipmunk, Oreo, Nugget and Butterscotch. More on the names later... each one has a story :-).  

 

 

Okay... back to the fabric :-). Introducing FARMHOUSE II.

 

 

 

 

 

More goodies tomorrow... I promise!

 

Happy Sewing,

Joanna

 

2016 Mystery Fig Tree Sampler

As I write this, I should be finishing up the binding on this lovely 2016 project. My Instagram friends urged me to finish up the binding so that I could consider it a February finish and that is just the cheering section I need right about now to get this one done!

UPDATE: BINDING DONE [see last photo] !!

Sometimes I absolutely love binding and sometimes... well sometimes not so much [usually depending on what else I have to do at the same time]!

These annual samplers have surely become my favorite projects of all time. The one from 2015 was based a little bit more around a sherbet palette with navy as the darkest element [I will share some comparison photos in a few days]. This sampler from 2016 went a bit more retro and was based around my Farmhouse and Strawberry Fields collections and used a chalkboard black as the "grounding color" of the grouping. That might be one of my favorite elements this time around.

I chose the black gingham rose as the binding and I am just a little smitten with how it all turned out. Enjoy....

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we get a bit of warm weather and dry grass enough for a full photo shoot, I will include some more photos of the entire project!

If you joined us for this year long project, I really hope you are nearing completion on yours too. Would love to see your finished pics on Instagram!!

Joanna

Mystery Sampler Updates

Well hello everyone!

We are now starting to prepare month #3 packages for all of our 2016 Block of the Month programs and so it seemed like a perfect time for some updates here on the blog.

For more regular updates, follow me on Instagram as I post there much more often there! I am figtreeandco  !!

 

MYSTERY SAMPLER BOM

Can I say that I am already in love with this sampler and I don't even know how its going to turn out in the end?

… month #1 blocks above.

 

If you are signed up for our Mystery Sampler Block of the Month program, you just received your second month last week and hopefully you are working away at some of those fun blocks… see below.

 

I can't wait to add some orange and grey into next month's block selection!

Here are a few hints and tips on BLOCK OF THE MONTH SUCESS [this is true for any BOM you are participating in anytime]:

1. Stay current. Really. Do whatever you can in the beginning to stay current. This year we started off with more simple blocks and less of them at the beginning so that we wouldn't lose too many of you to…. well to the stuff of life! I know that life can definitely get in the way of our sewing. As it should. But that is the great thing about the block of the month programs…. you only have to do a few blocks a month and if you stay caught up, you will have something amazing at the end of the year. 
2. Set aside some special BOM time. This is especially true if you are doing several different ones. For many of us that would be on the weekend or in the evening after all the other needs and duties have been met. Find a special time that you block off and set aside for BOM time. This is good advice even just for sewing in general but certain works for BOMs especially.
3. Be organized. I can't stress this enough but i find that I fall prey to the same disorganization as everyone else. Make little baggies. Label your fabric. Keep all your scraps. Put your directions in a folder. Before that… go and find yourself a beautiful folder from a place like Staples or Target. Use this is an excuse to buy that lovely little folder that you wouldn't have any real need for before. You have a need now. So go and get one…. and then use it! You would be surprised at how many emails I get about lost and missing instructions!
4. Share. It is very motivating to share your progress on these monthly programs with others who are working alongside you… well, at least alongside you on the world wide web LOL! We share on Instagram and if you have a smart phone…. IG is very easy to get started and is highly fun, addictive and does not take too much time if you don't want it to. I highly recommend it. If you decide to join and you want to find me, I am figtreeandco .  Facebook is a bit more of an enigma to me. If any of you in the program are interested in starting a Facebook group for the BOM, contact me. I post on Facebook through Instagram but am never quite sure how best to share everything there.
5. Have fun and don't stress! We give you lots of directions and lots of fabrics but if you want to vary something, add something, make something more scrappy or make 2 versions of something… go for it. Just don't forget to share because we want to see what you are doing!!
6. A few specific tips for those of you in the program: #1- When working on the BEAR CLAW blocks, the intention of the instructions was to make 2 identical blocks, both the same color combos. If you decided to mix up the colors in a different way or did so unintentionally… great! Don't worry about it!  #2- Don't stress about the appliqué center of the Daisy block. It is not too hard, a fairly easy shape to turn and you can wait until the end if you don't want to do it now. Or you can do it with fusible web if you prefer. Just don't stress! #3- Take your time on the Sweet Sugar Swirls block. Any time angles are involved, people get a bit nervous. My best tip to you is that if you slow down, sew and cut accurately then you will most likely be fine. Remember to check if your angle is still at a 45º angle after 2 diamond cuts. Checking might be a pain but it is well worth it to catch any slipping of your ruler. If you have really never worked with angles, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you take my Craftsy class on angles. I know that this might sound like a shameless plug, but I have had hundreds of people tell me that they would freeze when it came to angles until they took my class. This is not necessarily because it or I am so greatl…. LOL… but because it really, really helps to see someone else do it first and then try it! Here is the link if you are interested.

 Happy Sewing My Friends!

 

Joanna

 

Fig Tree Mystery Sampler II

UPDATE: The program is sold out as of now. We are so very sorry that it went so fast. We are trying to see if we can add any more spots but it all depends on fabric availability and how many more bolts we can find. If you are interested in a spot, please email us and we will add you to the wait list. Please understand that we are just not set up as as a standard quilt store and don't have the capability to cut, prepare and ship an unlimited amount of kits. We started these programs as a way of reaching customers that don't have a good local quilt store near them and their popularity has grown so tremendously each time that there is simply no way for us to keep up! We have already doubled and then tripled our initial BOM spots and we just can't keep up with the demand. Please don't be upset and know and understand that we are doing all we can to add more spots but we can only do so many.

I know that our new Retro Farmhouse Wool Sampler came and went so quickly on social media that I didn't even get a chance to post about it here so this time around I figured I would post here first!

Join us for our second annual Fig Tree Mystery Sampler II. A perfect project to work along on for 2016, this sampler will be just that… a wonderful sampler filled with more of our favorite blocks in sizes from 6" to 18". The sampler will have our signature "Fig Tree" feel and so even though it is a mystery… you know that you will love it!

This time around we will incorporate a few of our more "modern" or fresh blocks including some letters of the alphabet and our very popular Daisy block.

The blocks will still have our classic vintage feel, as many of them will indeed by vintage blocks… those are always our favorites!

Each month you will receive instructions for several blocks and many of the months will also include stand alone Fig Tree patterns to add to your collection. Its a fabulous deal all the way around!

The project will start in January and continue through to December. The fabrics will be mostly the ones shown from our newest collections, Farmhouse and Strawberry Fields, with a few additions. There will easily be over 17 yards of fabric!

There is just nothing better than working on a project piece by piece each month and having an amazing heirloom project to show for it when the year comes to a close. The first Mystery Sampler is potentially my favorite quilt that we have ever made and so of course we had to do it again! I sure hope you will join us. Click HERE for more info or to sign up.

Looking forward to a fabulous 2016!!

Its a Snails Trail & a bit more Halloween!

Over the last year, I have had the privilege of working on a great feature for American Patchwork & Quilting magazine. It has been called MAKE IT MINI! In each issue we chose one of the full size quilts featured and "made it mini" on the back page of that issue. I have gotten to work with bright fabrics and reproduction ones and a few other styles in between! I have even worked from my scraps. I have had the great fortune to work with one of my collections twice, at the beginning of the series and then again now. It has been a lot of fun.

Today I wanted to show this month's MAKE IT MINI, available in the official December issue of American Patchwork & Quilting. I hear it has started to ship out to subscribers now and will be on newsstands anyway now if its not already there!

We love this little quilt! And we have offered kits for it. You will need to get the magazine on your own.

used with permission from American Patchwork & Quilting magazine 2015 Meredith Corp. 

used with permission from American Patchwork & Quilting magazine 2015 Meredith Corp.  

    

 

Click HERE for  more info.

 

And do you guys remember some of these other ones...

  

 

 

 

This sure has been a fun series to work on! Thanks American Patchwork & Quilting for being such a great partner!

Oh and on a little side note... we got so many requests from all of you lovely people about wanting more Halloween bundles, that we have one more for you. Hopefully this time everyone who wants one will be able to nab one!

Love you guys!

Joanna

 

 

Summer Fun

We still have so many summer memories to share with you but there just aren't enough hours in the day to get them all in this space in some kind of timely way. But trust me… they're still coming :-)!

For today, I at least wanted to share with you three fun things...

First up-  Our much anticipated FEED SACK BAGS pattern is done, up on the site and ready to ship! We are totally addicted to these bags! I know that so many of you have been waiting anxiously for this since I showed them to you on my way to Quilt Market in the spring and I am so happy that they are finally ready to ship!

… middle size on Gabrielle, serious model pose!

Btw, Miss Gabrielle who has worked for us forever, just got engaged a few days ago. We are so excited for her! If you talk to her on the phone, feel free to congratulate her… really!

This also means that we have to start working on a quilt right away since we have been promising one for this event ever since they were first dating… Or at least it means that we have to start planning one since they are having a long engagement. Phew!! Any ideas?

…. middle size on Gabrielle, off to work.

 

 … all 3 sizes in the studio

 

I'm not sure if I can have a favorite, since I love all 3 sizes… but maybe, just maybe, these minis are my favorite. 

 

 … Oh and definitely my daughter's favorite [this one is hers]! 

 

 

 … medium size [with the cute little pocket both inside and outside].

 

… the large one, Market Tote. Perfect for so many things!

Oh.. and THE BEST THING… is that all 3 sizes can be made out of 1 Jelly Roll. That's right, just 1 Jelly Roll! Gotta love that!

Available in the SHOP anytime you like!  Oh… and if you make one, I would really love to see it so send it to me via IG or Facebook or Email!

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Second up- New MODA Toweling! I don't know if you remember the last couple versions we have offered of these wonderful towelings but we just think they are the best! They are 100% cotton, woven in India, with wonderful colors and quality. They come by the yard on the roll and are the perfect way to dress up any surface!

Both of these stripes are perfect for summer projects and really couldn't be any easier. Hemmed on both long sides, these are literally as easy as cut, hem and decorate! Great for table runners, pillows, placemats and napkins!

GROSS GRAIN TOWELING YARDAGE...

 

 

 

AWNING STRIPE TOWELING YARDAGE...

 

 

 Check out the SHOP if you are interested in a little summer redecorating!

We have several more really good things to share on Monday so check back with us then!

Happy Sewing,

Joanna

 

…A Little More Recap

I am literally on my way out the door this morning… If you want to follow along, you can do that on INSTAGRAM as I hope to over gram this adventure from beginning to end.

 But for now I just have a few Market shots to share, mostly because I promised that I would.

I was completely in love with the outfits that MODA made for their booth displays… and of course that chair fabric. 

 

 

 

 

 

And of course I am completely obsessed with all things Jen...

 

 

 

 

And it was so lovely to meet a few of our newest designers and hang out with the ones that were new to MODA but that I already knew and loved….

 

 

 

That Chelsi is a crack up!

 

Oh and of course my newest obsession…. Erin's new paint by numbers collection…

 

… totally in love with that combo of her paint-by-numbers print and my little daisy print. Love. Love. Love. Btw… we will be kitting something very similar…. :-).

And I'm off now… hoping to post from parts unknown….

Love ya guys!

 

Recaps and Answers and New Stuff Oh My...

So this is how it goes around here...

We prep for Market.

We make ourselves a bit nuts in the process [read all about that from my darling husband Eric in a previous post :-)]. We don't sleep. We eat nonsense. We wonder if there is any way that it is all going to get done. But it does get done. Usually. More or less. Well… the lawn might be brown and the and my hair most definitely needs a bit of color, but more or less is about right. I guess it all depends on what the less is...

We go to Market and always enjoy being with our industry friends and colleagues, talking to customers and presenting our newest products. Always. We usually have much more fun than we expect.  

Thank goodness that most of live by the rule of what happens at Market, stays at Market  LOL.

 

If you have more questions about this photo, I will have to refer you to the previously mentioned Market Rule...

How could we not have fun when we have some very important people at MODA channelling Kevin Bacon in both dress and dance from Footloose? Oh yeah….if nothing else, MODA knows how to throw a party and have fun. Serious fun. Unfortunately no photos on that one… but trust me! He's a keeper that Josh Dunn.

So we get home from Market. We make grand plans. Always. Without fail. And then the post-Market coma hits. Seriously. It should be categorized as an actual condition, so many of us experience the exact same thing. We should call it PMC.

For some, it just lasts a few days or maybe a week. For others, we find ourselves losing several weeks before we can drag ourselves back to regularly scheduled programming…. like blogging and cleaning up the studio and showering :-).

I'm afraid that I fall in the later category. Its like one of those therapy moments when they tell you that you need the same amount of time to recover that you experienced the original trauma. Well if that was the case, I would still be deep in PMC. Hey… maybe I should cut myself a bit of a break?

Now don't get me wrong, I have to start back to work the moment I get back from Market. There is no escaping that. There are orders to process, Market commitments to work out, quilt shows to organize, etc. There is usually a flurry of activity but only the things that absolutely HAVE TO GET DONE, DO GET DONE. You don't even really want any more info about that.

And now we skip to the present. Its a few weeks after Market. I really should have already done a Market Re-Cap. I should have finished that bag pattern I promised you guys. I should have started working on a few new projects that I promised I would have done soon. I should have shaved my legs…. too much information??

So here is the question… do I just start fresh today and pretend that I have already done all of those things? Or do I try to go back and do things that I really should have done about 2 weeks ago….

Given that I would really like to share a few things with you, I am deciding to go back in time and pretend that this is just a few days after Market! Just go with me on this one...

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Hello everyone! We are back from Market and so excited to share some photos with you! We just had a MODA Designer space this time around so our space is small but as usual, we somehow managed to squeeze all of our nonsense into said space….

… first off I apologize if the color is a bit weird. the convention center lighting gods were not working in my favor this time around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As for the INSTAGRAM contest to name the new bag trio we finished up at the very last minute [literally at Market in the hotel room on Lisa Bongean's JUKI]… we have chosen to use the name Feedsacks which was first suggested by @cathyquiltingonmainstreet from Instragram. So if you are Cathy… thank you so much and email me for some goodies...

 

I am actively trying to get that pattern to print before we go on a legendary family vacation coming up and I will keep you posted on my progress… now that I have officially and out loud said that I had woken up from my PMC, I guess I don't have any excuse to not finish it!

And then there are so many questions that I never ever get to answer on Instagram so I am hoping to answer a few here:

1. The design wall in my studio that I show is made from two mounted vertical wooden bars [designed in a scallop] with 2 horizontal rods across [the kind for hanging clothes in a closet]. Then I measured across and attached cotton batting [3 layers I believe] across the top bar, pinned it into place around the rod and stretched it to fit under the bottom rod and pinned that into place. I will show more photos of it soon but thought I would at least answer the basic construction.

2. Most of the goodies that you guys see and ask where I have gotten it… pretty much you can bet that I got it at HomeGoods [which is the home-store version of TJMaxx]. We have several in our area and I stock them semi-regularly.

3. I am all good on editors and sewers right now. But thank you so very much for your willingness and interest in helping me out. 

4. Most of bowls are from Anthropologie. I am completely addicted and I am so very glad to know that so many of you share my sickness!

5. Yes, we are releasing a line of Fig Tree colors of wool with Weeks Dye Works. We are crazy excited to share more with you as soon as we finalize everything later on this summer. 

6. We are also doing some fun things with thread so stay tuned for more info on that.

7. We unfortunately do not have any more spots in any of the BOMs and we do not plan on running the same program more than once. We purchase a limited amount of fabric, create as many spots as we can and then usually the fabric becomes unavailable so even if we wanted to do it again, we couldn't. We are so sorry that we can't accommodate more of you guys. It already takes us a few days to package and send out each of the programs because there are SO MANY of you who have signed up! We love doing them and will continue so no worries. Hopefully you can get in on the next one.

8. My newest CRAFTSY class is all about angles and I really, really do think that anyone can learn to work with angles by taking that class. Really. I don't usually feel so confident to claim that something I am doing will end in a particular result for my students…but I really do feel that confident about this. Really.

9. I think that Farmhouse might be most favorite collection in a long time. I think I went a little crazy when I placed my order with MODA. Just in case :-)

10. I going to try really hard to blog more. I know that Instagram is kind of addictive and crazy easy, but I am going to try to regularly blog with more content here. Keep me accountable and feel free to bug me if you don't see me here! Really!!

 

That's it for now… and we have a few fun oldies but goodies that we have found on the shelves as we have prepped for upcoming fabrics. They are on the shop homepage.

Click HERE if you would like to take a look.

 

Updates and pictures coming next week on both the YULETIDE BOM and the MYSTERY SAMPLER BOM.

And a bit more about Market on Monday… something about someone else besides me this time LOL!

Oh… and we still have MARKET SWAG to give out!! Geesh… I guess I will have to blog a couple times next week!

 

Market Prep: Fig Tree in Real Life

Good morning MODA friends!  

[this is Mr. Fig here taking over for a bit… or for as long as I have before "the designer" figures out what is happening. She is pretty quick that one so not sure if you will see me again after today].

Normally one of these Market prep blog posts would start off with pretty pictures of the upcoming collection… like this.

In this case FARMHOUSE….

 

... it ships in August/September 2015

Or pretty shots of the new upcoming patterns… like this...

  

 

... all patterns will be done in the next 10 days or so!

It would be all about the pretty around here.

Well, that's all very nice to show you guys all the pretty stuff but have you ever wondered what its really like around here the weeks leading up to Market… ITS NOT PRETTY PEOPLE. IT'S JUST NOT PRETTY!

Over the Market years, us husbands have come up with some "REAL" titles for ourselves in those "pre-market" weeks…. Market widows, Market orphans, Test Crash Dummies and we have some more colorful titles too but I might not get to go to Market again if "the designer" saw I had written them here. So we will just stick to these. But anyone…. Nick? Bruce? Michael? Help me out guys, you know exactly what I am talking about! And Pete…. what is your excuse for not dragging your sorry butt to Market yet? That's just not right dude . We need to keep the brotherhood strong!

But I digress… this is supposed to be about "the designer". Right, sorry.

So I think that its safe to say that they're just not quite in their right minds, those lovely MODA designers in the weeks leading up to the all mighty MARKET. They say they'll be fine. They say that they will do it differently next time. That " next time" it will be more relaxed and they will be ready earlier. Yah, right. Its in that market DNA…. it has done at the last minute and it has to be nuts. Otherwise, you wouldn't think you were prepping for Market.

So as the faithful partner and husband of "the designer", these are the signs that I generally look for to know that my life is about to change drastically for the next few weeks...

More boxes show up on our front door step than normal. Like way more. And they all have that tell tale white and blue tape all over it. Yah, you know which tape it is and you know you are.. you who send all those boxes!

 

"The Designer" becomes just a little bit too possessive about the new contents of those boxes...

 

Let's just say that I have come to love the couch on those lovely weeks leading up to Market.

Fairly quickly after that, no one has any clean laundry. Especially the socks. Usually she is all over those socks but not anymore. People around here have to go sock less. For weeks. True story. The horror.

Soon after, we start hearing rumblings of something called "the Market diet". You might think that its "the designer" wanting to eat healthy so she can feel good at Market. Uh, huh. You would be wrong. It might start off as that but it quickly degenerates into something much, much different….

You would think that she might need more than that for weeks….but pretty much no. This is all she needs. Oh, this and her fabric and thread. That's ALL she needs, do you get what I'm saying? Again, me with the couch.

 

 

And she had become a bit obsessed with her newest pair of red polka dot glasses. I mean how long can all of us search for that pair on any given day of the week? I keep promising to buy her one of those "old lady chains" if she can't pull it together [please no offense to anyone who wears one of those chains for their reading glasses, I am pretty sure "the designer" will be wearing one soon. Maybe someone could make her a PRETTY one and send it to her?].

 

And then with that bed all to herself, you would think that she would actually use it. Not so much.

My market experience leads me to believe that she does not leave that studio at all. Again I blame you people with those boxes and that blue and white tape. Seriously?

Its kind of a mess up there in that studio. And yet she seems to be obsessed with being there. As if her job depended on it or something. Oh wait, maybe it does…. 

And even though this is her full tine personal obsession… sorry, I mean full time job that is putting my children through private school... I on the other hand have to actually leave the business behind most mornings to save the world [not really. I work in city government but it feels nicer to say I'm saving the world. And let's face it, if I want praise in these pre-Market months, I better figure out how to give it to myself. So as far as we're all concerned right now, I leave each day to save the world. Thank you.]

… don't you think it looks like I'm going to save the world? Just saying.

So did I mention that 3 market orphans… I mean children… live here with me and "the designer". They have needs. Or so they tell me in their texts. But mornings do get a little tricky when I am the only one transporting fabric, feeding the children a nutritious breakfast [hey, the side of the frozen waffle box says its nutritious]  and making sure they all get out the door to school on time in the morning.

 

Apparently the market orphans do tend to get a bit cranky if they are fed nothing but frozen waffles for a week at a time. Who knew?

So given the insanity of the pre-market schedule around here, its not like we get out much, except to, you know, save the world. So the gym is kind of out of the question. So we use what we have alot of around here. Yes, those boxes again. And bolts. Lots and lots of bolts. You have to use what you have.

  

 Bench pressing bolts of BELLA IVORY with a munchkin balanced on the top is not only a good work out but a bit more entertaining than the gym anyway. So I can't complain. We like to call it "FEATS OF FABRIC BRAVERY". Maybe I can come up with some new ones?

And since we kind of do everything around here as a family, orphans and all, the brothers couldn't be outdone when they noticed that we were mocking "the designer" just a bit.

Although the middle child couldn't quite use the same bolts since we'd broken all of the other ones...

 So I am quite sure that Nick [Mr. Primitive Gatherings himself] could bench not only these bolts but all of my children… I mean market orphans.., at the same time but really could he have a cuter helper sitting on top? I think not. Okay maybe a koala would be cuter. 

So that's pretty much what its like around here during the weeks leading up to Market. And yet we do it twice a year. Religiously. For at least 15 years if not more. 

They say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Just saying. We are nothing if not a bit crazy around here at Fig Tree.

Thanks for coming along with me on this "takeover". 

No children, bolts or animals were injured during the filming of this blog takeover. "The designer "is fine. Although I thought I heard something about another last minute project. Goodness, really? That 's what we need to be doing right now? Because surely there is nothing we need to do more than make a new purse to match the new collection?  

I guess I should go look for her just in case she needs a new supply of diet coke. I love "my designer". I love MODA too. They are our family. White and blue tape and all.

Love,  Eric

So I hear that there might be a few other slightly cranky children or neglected domesticated animals over at Pat's, Anne's, Amy's and Nick's.... I mean Lisa's. Follow along all week to see all of our lovely designers "IRL".... in real life :-).