Happy April

April on the Quilt Calendar is one of my favorites. The neon pink and pale muted pink combo makes me so happy and I love this pinwheel quilting pattern. Here, it's hung on the wall behind our dining table that was made by our good friend.

PS - The Quilt Calendar is now 50% off ($140). A steal, I think. Especially when you think about it as 13 20" x 20" silkscreened prints.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

I was excited to flip the Quilt Calendar to January and see the white & silver, which feel very fresh and light after looking at the big pink cover for so long. 

This is the month we're due to welcome our second child - so white & silver seem fitting, as well, for marking this new addition. More on the prep for this new addition to come... 

Quilt Calendar on Design Sponge

I've been a Design*Sponge reader since its early days & have been a faithful reader since. Grace has built an amazing team & I am always inspired by the artists and work she features, so I was super excited to have our Quilt Calendar featured on Friday. This calendar had been in my head for almost a year, and then it took many many months to bring it to life. And even when it was done & I loved it, I still wasn't sure that others would love it or get it. So it really made my day to have the support from someone like Grace who sees beautiful work every second of every day. It's an honor for sure.

Read the feature here.

And of course, big big thanks to Grace at D*S.

Quilt Calendar: July's Stars & Stripes

Each month of the 2013 Quilt Calendar features a quilt print inspired by a traditional quilt pattern. July, seen here, is the only one that's derived from an actual quilt: the Stars and Stripes Quilt in the Smithsonian (see bottom image) made by Mary Rockhold Teter for her son George who served in the Civil War. The family donated the quilt to the Smithsonian in 1940. It's a beauty.

[Stars and Stripes Quilt image courtesy of Civil War Quilts, an excellent resource tip from a friend's mom who is an avid quilter. Thanks, SD!]

Quilt Calendar

You may remember me talking about the Quilt Calendar debut at the National Stationery Show back in May. Well, it's here! The 2013 Quilt Calendar is now available in our shop! 

After working on a small letterpress calendar for years, I was eager to work on a larger scale, and the quilt patterns I've admired & loved for so long seemed like a great fit for the size. While I wanted this calendar to be big & fabulous (lots of bright inks!) while hanging, I also wanted the artwork to be saved/framed/gifted after the month had passed. So each month features a 19" x 19" quilt print that is designed to be trimmed & fit into a 20" x 20" frame (thank you, Ikea Ribba frame!) or larger. 

 

A calendar this big took a big effort to complete. It measures 26" x 40" & is entirely hand screenprinted - a feat for one print at this size, let alone 13. The paper is 100% recycled cover weight stock (a nice sturdy weight for preserving & handling your prints) and hung by custom made oak bars, fastened with brass wingnuts. A keyhole slot in back allows for easy hanging on one nail or screw - an important piece  that was not so simple to figure out. (I really dislike the double nail hanging requirement - the measuring, the leveling - not for me.) 

 

It was the hanging device that took the longest to figure out - and the whole process depended on it. The months couldn't be printed without knowing exactly how these would hang. I owe a lot of thanks to a certain woodworker friend for sitting with me for hours sketching out possible options - which ranged from simple bull dog clips (but then where do you store the rest of the months - under the bed?) to an oversized coat hanger (took up too much room at the top - and it's already pretty big). The result holds the weight (nearly 10lbs), mounts flush to the wall (paper hangs perfectly parallel to wall - no awkward leaning), and allows for easy changing of the months (unscrew the wingnuts while on the wall to take off the top bar & then the month).

 

Above: September (the wedding quilt pattern), shown here trimmed & framed in an Ikea Ribba frame.

 

Above, a close up shot of the oak hanger & brass wingnuts.

Above, reverse side of hanger: recessed screw & keyhole slot allow hanger to mount flush on the wall.

------

Top two photos by the super sweet & talented Karen Mordechai 

Ta Da! The 2013 Quilt Calendar is here!

We are excited to announce that our 2013 Quilt Calendar is now available online! Here's a fun little video we put together to help us launch this big guy. Enjoy!

More details on the calendar to come, so stay tuned.

[Photography & editing by Zak Hawley; Music: "I Spy" by Siobhan O'Malley - visit her Facebook page here]

Photo Shoot : The 2013 Quilt Calendar

We had a busy day yesterday shooting footage for a little video we're putting together to help launch our 2013 Quilt Calendar. I totally underestimated how long it would take & how exhausting it would be - pregnant or not. But it was super fun putting all of the side elements together - the pieces around the calendar that will move - the paper balloons, the twirling pencils, the swimming fish, the dancing fabric trees. Even Kingsley had fun striking a pose:) Stay tuned for the calendar launch & the video premiere, here on the blog in just a couple weeks!