Paper Obsessed and I’m working on those return letters!

February 4, 2016February 4, 20161 Comment

I finally have all of my ducks in a row and am ready to start addressing envelopes to my friends who sent me #PaperObsessed mail about fourteen weeks ago. Yikes. I’ve got a long ride to Pasadena, CA. Let’s cross our fingers my markers don’t run out. Although, truthfully, I kinda love the marker that is on the edge of drying out. Those scratchy marks are kinda fun. See you at QuiltCon?! Look for me and Crimson Tate in booth 504.

Paper Obsessed by Heather Givans for Windham Fabrics

Paper Obsessed has seventeen different pieces, all paper inspired.

Aerodynamics quilt designed and pieced by Heather Givans; quilted by Karen McTavish

Succulent Garden quilt designed and pieced by Heather Givans; quilted by Benji Benjiman

The cutest little Dash. Air Traffic Control quilt designed and pieced by Heather Givans; quilted by Quilting by the Stitch

All photography by my super talented and cool friend Eric Lubrick.

See you in Cali in just a few weeks! Or is it less? HOLY HOLY. 😉

xo Heather

Lotta Jansdotter is my best friend* + GIVEAWAY

December 9, 2015December 9, 201578 Comments

*not really. I’m just kidding.

In another life I worked at a local boss gift shop Silver in the City where I discovered amazing stationery and soft good designers such as Angela Adams, Lotta Jansdotter, and Juila Rothman. Fast forward ten years later and am in disbelief that I design fabric along side two of these women I’ve admired for so long. Windham Fabrics, I love you and thank you. My gratitude is endless. I can remember all the times we all huddled around the Lotta Jansdotter goods and awed over the choice of fabric (mostly linen) and that quintessential Swedish design. In my arsenal of items from that era still exists, I have more leather handled Lotta totebags then I’d care to admit.

I’m honored to present and let you peek in on Lotta Jansdotter’s new book for STC Craft, an imprint of Abrams publishing, Everyday Style.

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I took some time over the past few weeks to thumb through the book and I have to tell you, the images are inspiring. Jenny Hallengren is the photographer who you might remember took the photographs in Heather Jones’s book Quilt Local. Same photographer. Lotta’s style combined with Jenny’s know-how is a powerful combination. Then add pattern designer Alexia Abegg to the mix, and it becomes spectacular. I am particularly impressed with the hand drawn elements included. Look at how sweet this is.

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The book is filled with simple skirts, dresses, bags, and more with a modern Scandinavian elegance. I made a couple of projects from the book starting with the Wilma Bag. It is ginormous. Let’s play Who Wore It Better?? Here’s Lotta with her bag:

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Here I am with my Wilma Bag:

Ok. You don’t have to comment on who wore it better but I did wear every striped piece of clothing I could find that coordinated. I used an organic canvas ticking fabric and am glad I did. It has a great heft and the size of this bag can easily accommodate a sewing machine or more.

I call this photograph “If Lotta Jansdotter, Amy Butler, Heather Ross, and Heather Givans went into a bar…” Actually, that might have happened once. I can’t be sure. I stuffed this bag full of Indiana shaped pillows made from fabrics of some of these lovely ladies. I also created a CUUUUTE hat with simple pompom instructions found in Lotta’s book. It gave me an excuse to shop at Mass Ave Knits in Downtown Indianapolis. It is a yarn lover’s oasis.

I created this big ol’ pompom from a hand-dyed yarn. I know. I’ve probably offended yarn lovers with such a simple use of a beautiful yarn BUT I COULDN’T HELP IT. I was a moth to flame.

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The pattern for this cute hat is by the crazy talented Crafty Gemini. I used Echino jacquard knit instead of fleece and bam. It worked beautifully. The pompom instructions are found in Lotta’s book.

Thanks for reading along. I’m impressed with the visual inspiration found in Everyday Style. I’m certain to create more projects from the book. If you’d like to win a copy of your own, STC Craft, Tattly Tattoos, and Windham Fabrics are offering a prize package to include a copy of the book, a fat quarter bundle of Lotta’s fabric from Windham, Lotta temporary tattoos, and Lotta washi tape. So make sure you follow along on all of the blogs in the series, leaving comments along the way to be entered to win and being inspired. A winner will be chosen at each stop along the tour.

Dec 1 – Lotta

Dec 2 – STC Craft

Dec 3 – Windham

Dec 4 – Noodlehead

Dec 7 – Modern Handcraft

Dec 8 – Sew Scatterbrained

Dec 9 – Crimson Tate [you are here]

Dec 11 – Groovy Baby & Mama

Dec 14 – City Stitching with Christine Haynes

Dec 15 – Craft Sanity

Dec 16 – Aesthetic Nest

Dec 17 – Sew Mama Sew

Dec 18 – Lish Dorset

Dec 19 – Fancy Tiger Crafts

Dec 21 – Generation Q

Dec 22 – Carolyn Friedlander

Dec 23 – Crafty Planner

Winner on my blog will be chosen on December 26. So you’ll have time until then to make comments about your everyday style, Who Wore It Better, or just in general about your love of Lotta Jansdotter. I’ll randomly choose.

Mass Ave Midnight Shopper + David Singing!

November 19, 2015November 20, 2015Leave a comment

Join us for Christmas caroling and merriment as we kick-off the holiday season with Midnight Shopper. Shop local, shop late. Enjoy all that Mass Ave has to offer on this late night of shopping devoted to helping customers get a jump start on their holiday shopping! Event is November 20, 2015.

Participating shops will be open until Midnight so patrons can enjoy a late night of Indy’s best shopping, dining, drinking and entertainment!

We’ll be donning our Ugly Unicorn Christmas Sweaters and we encourage you to do the same. Throughout the night, we’ll be demonstrating new gadgets, helping you build your wish-lists @ crimsontate.com and listening to some goooooood holiday music. We’ve got beers for hipsters to dads, so come play at Crimson Tate until MIDNIGHT!!

Purchases made in-store and online Friday, Saturday, and Sunday through Wednesday November 25, over $50 will receive $10 Crimson Tate cash to be used toward a purchase made December 1 – 24. Give it as a gift. Keep it for yourself. Eitherway, it’s gonna be fun.

All night, I’ll be demonstrating fun projects for the holidays. Join me. We look forward to making merry with you!

Quilt Local :: Heather Jones Totally Inspires + {GIVEAWAY}

October 30, 2015November 2, 201552 Comments

Have you met Heather Jones? I, as a fellow Heather, am so incredibly proud of my dear friend HBJ (Heather Braunlin Jones) as she created one of the most delightfully inspired collections of quilts in her new book titled Quilt Local : Finding Inspiration in the Everyday. Her cohesive, minimal, recognizable style takes courage and design skill. I, as a former high school art teacher, always admire art that is minimal and leaves breathing room for the viewer to fall into the work. Heather Jones creates the most beautiful breathing room in her premiere book Quilt Local.

We were fortunate enough to have HBJ at Crimson Tate recently for a book signing and a full day workshop instructed by Heather in our fabric store Downtown Indianapolis. We are never lack of conversation (as an aside riding together in the car for a weekend trip that lasted 9+ hours both directions and we were both hoarse by the time it was over), Heather and I, and that evening of nacho bar and buckets of beer was no exception. I love that Heather is a delightful combination of studious and goofy, all at once. I guess what I’m trying to say is that she’s real. She’s a real girl doing exceptional work. Her approach to writing this book gives the viewer multiple ways to look at the projects. One quilt is rendered in solids and the next it’s peppered with printed fabrics. How brilliant?! And to think that Heather created each of those patterns twice, taking on the monumental task of not only piecing, quilting, and finishing them on her own but also fully inspiring all of us to take a closer look at our surroundings in a more authentically inspired way. We as quilters GET IT. It’s a monumental task. She gets it. She’s good.

It was a pleasure and an honor to get periodical phone calls from my friend during her process of writing the book. Finding inspiration in everyday is a creed I have adhered to as a life philosophy, myself. But to step into Heather Jones’s inspiration leaves me with wonderment. And the first time she saw the photos I happened to be with her at an event where we all stood around the laptop and cried because the photography of her creations truly captured the beauty of her. And of her work.

When I knew that Heather Jones and I could be friends was when she started playing with color using Josef Albers theories on color. She’s a girl after my own heart. Eureka! This thing is brilliant. And then here is her quilt in a repetitive fashion.

Heather encourages us to take note of our surroundings. For instance, I am inspired by the beautiful architecture of this Coca-Cola plant that is found right across the street from Crimson Tate.

I also suuuuuuuuper find inspiration when I am standing in front Lake Superior as I visit my family in northern Minnesota.

Wouldn’t this Parson Gray bundle be a great jumping point to compliment Gitchi-Gami?

So tell me, where do you feel inspired? Leave a note, and one lucky person will receive an autographed copy of Heather Jones’s beautiful book. I can’t wait to hear what inspires you. And a big ol’ congratulations to HBJ on a job well done. xoxo. Drawing will take place at end of blog tour November 13, 2015. Each stop is offering a free book.

#PaperObsessed – I need mail for Quilt Market!

September 30, 2015September 30, 201510 Comments

I’m gearing up for the announcement of my new collection of fabric for Windham Fabrics at the Fall International Quilt Market in Houston, TX. I. Need. Your. Help. I have a plan to adorn my booth with fanciful envelopes that are littered in stamps. Will you consider sending me an envelope? You should know that I’m a bit of paper hoarder. I love making envelopes from handmade papers; I love writing mail. I ABSOLUTELY love addressing envelopes. One summer I was paid by my mail carrier to address all of her wedding invitations. She paid me real money and I dreamed of a job where that’s what I’d do all day. Let’s be pen-pals! Ok. So maybe I won’t be able to write a full on letter, but in exchange of you sending me a fancy envelope, I would love to send you a little something in return. And why not make it a give-away?! I mean, that’s fun, right?!

Each envelope that is received before October 15, 2015 will be reciprocated with a response envelope (hand written by me) and an instructional sewing pattern that you know will be PAPER themed. I’m trying to woo you, here. All of those envelopes will travel with me to quilt market and appear in my booth! So far so fun, right?! And of all of the envelopes received I will choose three winners who will get a big fat bonus package in the mail – a fat quarter bundle of my new fabric Paper Obsessed. How do you win?!

One person will be supremely lucky as one giveaway will be completely random.
One person will win by creating my favorite envelope – think high creativity and decoration!!
One person will win because they live someplace that sounds amazing, absurd, or unrecognizable. International friends are encouraged to play!

FAQ to Heather Givans

I mean, these are just questions I would ask myself so I thought I’d try to get down to the nitty gritty.

Hey, Heather Givans, I don’t want my address blasted all over the universe. How can you insure that my private information will be shielded from the paparazzi?

Dear Reasonable Friend,

I would suggest that you put your return address on the back of the envelope! Along with your return address, I’d also put your Instagram handle if you’d like to be tagged on the Instagram. When these items are at the quilt market, they will be facing address-side-out — so don’t put your best work on the backside. If you are super super super private, you can always put your return address inside the envelope and no one will know it was you!

Hey, Heather Givans, do I have to write you a letter? I mean, I don’t really have much to say.

Dear Friend of Few Words,

You don’t have to write me a letter. I mean, if you want to take it as an opportunity to tell me something, great. But you don’t have to. Truth is, I always beg to address the envelope and sometimes fall short on the correspondence. That’s totally ok. Address that envelope and let’s play!

Hey, Heather Givans, can I send you more than one envelope? Can I send you an envelope everyday until the contest ends?

Dear Chance Maximizer,

YES! You and I were meant to be friends. Send me a letter everyday. It could sway the vote. I can’t be sure but it certainly couldn’t hurt unless you send me smelly cheese inside the envelope or something.

Hey, Heather Givans, I’m just going to send you a post card. Is that ok? Does it REALLY need to be an envelope? Post cards are cheaper, you know.

Dear Post Card Lover (and Lover of Less Postage),

I really do want envelopes, so post cards might be taken to market but they won’t be included in the drawings.

Hey, Heather Givans, does this have to be made of fabric? Or do you legit want paper?

Dear Fabric and Paper Lover,

I mean, the collection is called Paper Obsessed, so you best make it paper for now. Fabric posts will come later.

*Include your Instagram handle on the back of the envelope so that I can tag you in a post! You’ll find me at @crimsontate – I’m probably not going to open the envelopes until after quilt market so don’t put time sensitive material inside! 😉

Also, it would be real real cool if you could share this with your friends! It would be a great display with lots of envelopes and stamps!!! Tell a friend! Now is the time for all good people to write letters to their family and friends!

Row by Row at Crimson Tate :: Stillwater River

July 16, 2015August 19, 20157 Comments

Yayyyy! Summer has been stellar thus far and I have enjoyed a week of canoeing in Northern Wisconsin and Minnesota to remind me of how peaceful and beautiful being on still water can be. And isn’t it great to take a break every once in a while and breath in stillness? Now I’m back and working on oodles of new projects but before we muddy the water with those, check out Crimson Tate’s pattern for the Row by Row Experience.

Introducing Stillwater River :: Crimson Tate’s 2015 Row by Row pattern. Our row honors five stellar rivers in Indiana and integrates the CUTEST little flying geese you’ve ever seen.

Listen to the song that inspired the row. Stillwater by Storyhill.

Here’s a cutting guide to help you with your project.

cutting instructions_2015RowbyRow

Don’t forget to visit us Downtown Indianapolis to receive a free copy of the pattern, a kit, and a unique Crimson Tate license plate — or all four! Look at how fun these are.

We look forward to seeing you downtown Indianapolis.

Sewing for a Cause :: Kangaroo Cuddlers for the Riley NICU

April 30, 2015April 30, 20152 Comments

Indy Reads Bookshelf Quilt went to a good home.

Ohhhhhh man! We are fresh on the heels of raffling off our Indy Quilts Books Bookshelf Quilt and just don’t know what to do with ourselves. The winner was drawn at the Alphabet Affair and it hit us that we weren’t quite ready for the quilt to go. What will we do with ourselves now that our beloved work is done for the year with IndyReads?

We’re starting a new project to spread the good-giving. We know you’ll love this one. We’ve partnered with one of our lovely customers and friends who is involved in the Kangaroo Cuddlers which is a program that encourages skin to skin contact of mother and baby. Read what the project coordinator has to say:

Our first Kangaroo Cuddler

Kangaroo Care is hard to accomplish when your little one is in constant care in the NICU. A team of doctors devised a great program that provides opportunity for moms to wear a little kangaroo inside their clothing and when they aren’t able to be with their baby, the little kangaroo stays with the child. It reminds the mothers that this skin to skin contact is very important in early childhood as well as provides comfort and security for the baby as the swatch contains the mother’s calming smell.

How sweet is this? You want to help us sew these dudes? Let’s talk deets.

Who: You, silly! Our wonderful sewy community.

What: The Riley NICU Kangaroo-a-thon! The initial goal is to collect 60 Kangaroo Cuddlers.

When: Please complete and deliver your finished cuddlers by Saturday, May 9, 2015

Where: Drop them off or mail to Crimson Tate – 845 Massachusetts Avenue, Indianapolis, IN 46204

How: Download this simple Kangaroo Cuddler pattern and make as many ‘Roos as you please, and please don’t forget to closely follow the guidelines because a mom has to wear this under her clothes and a baby has to snuggle with it. Keep it as simple as possible!

Hop to! What an awesome use of our skills that other people might not have, so think of what a difference this simple gesture can make. How many Kangaroos can we sew, gang?! Let’s find out!

#IndyQuiltsBooks – 10 Days Left

April 15, 2015April 15, 2015Leave a comment

Pieced and embroidered by Crimson Tate’s community of literary lovers. Quilted by Benji Benjamin of Dancing Gekko Studio.

That’s right, kids. Only ten more days to get your hands on some raffle tickets for this bookshelf quilt. Isn’t it bananas?!

A winner will be drawn on Saturday, April 25 at the Indy Reads Alphabet Affair! And that winner could be YOU!

If you’ve been following the journey of this quilt, you know that it took a whole community of quilters.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to the 20+ volunteers who contributed to this project with your mad sewing and embroidery skills.

Thank you, also to RJR Fabrics for contributing part of the solid fabric found in the quilt. Windham Fabrics who contributed Succulents by Heather Givans (hey wait, that’s me!).

We chose Carolyn Friedlander’s Doe and Heather Givans’s Succulents to create the books.

For more information regarding raffle tickets, call the store 317-426-3300.

Final Stop on the Succulents Blog Hop and TOTAL GRATITUDE

March 28, 2015March 28, 201554 Comments

View from inside my house. Woodruff Place Victorian neighborhood. Note the sand colors.

We did it. We traversed across the blog-a-sphere and peeked in on a slug of creative friends who have put Succulents to good use. I’m totally honored and proud of the company I keep, my friends and creative colleagues. I wanted to cap off the tour with a little story of where the ideas came from plus a few more thank yous.

The Beginnings of Caring for Succulents

The design process for me starts with pencil on paper. And then again, more pencil on paper, from doodles to realism. I like to explore the range and often land somewhere in the fringe with elements of realism but mostly a whimsy style. Through this process for Succulents, my first collection for Windham Fabrics, I wanted desperately to hangout in greenhouses and nurseries among the warm air that the cacti breathe. As a mid-westerner, cold winter months draw me to those places of tropical relief. And to think it’s only a short trip across town to smell the earthy dirt and moist air, I’ll take it. If I’m going to be totally honest and reveal my absolute nerdiness (which I’m totally ok with) you should know that I’ve been a member of the Cacti and Succulent Society of America for the past 15 years. I subscribe to the technical journal and read it religiously. It’s always a great day when the journal shows up in my mailbox. I dream of traveling to South Africa to witness some of my favorite plants in the wild.

In my not so distant past I had a huge collection – over a hundred varieties – of various succulents and cacti. One of my favorite things is when people bring me cuttings of their heirloom plants. I am thoroughly convinced that plants that are gifts grow much better than plants you buy for yourself. It’s easy to share many kinds of succulents because the less finicky varieties just regenerate in new dirt.

Flux‘s beautiful green typewriter

They don’t mind, either, if you neglect them. In the winter months when they are sitting in all of my south facing window sills, I ignore them until they cry out, playing Mr. Obvious that they need a drink! Being inspired by their funky leaves, sometime fat and transparent, is easily done. Often succulents are totally CUTE, too, so that doesn’t hurt.

In this collection I wanted to pull together a slug of different greens that are sometimes difficult to coordinate. So to add olive green to spring green to sage green, how can we make that work?! Lovely and luckily enough, those tones live together very harmoniously in the succulent world. I love that the overall collection edges a little bit dusty and earthy. I like to think that’s who I am. If you add dashes of antiques and worn goods, it’s the spice of who I am.

It has been such a pleasure and immense joy to work with the gang of Windham Fabrics. Let’s do it again! And in fact, I’ve turned in some designs for the second collection, so hold your hats. We’re gonna take this ride again.

In the next few days, I’ll feature a tutorial on how to sew this quilt. Subscribe, follow, pinch, poke, you owe me a coke, or whatever you do to remind yourself that you should come back here in a few days to see how to build this modern quilt I call Scandia.

Photos by Eric Lubrick

BIG FAT THANK YOUS!! Here’s a short list of the humans I love and appreciate their help. (Obs, there are too many to list, but these few need a special shout-out)

Thank you to Jamie MacDougall, my dearest and best friend, who made me lots of dinners and coffee when I would submerse myself into what I was working on so I didn’t have to worry about life details.

Thank you to David Barnhouse of Crimson Tate – truly my right-handed right hand man and bestie.

Thank you to Shannon Brasovan of Practice Indie who is my guru & yogi who has been teaching me how to keep balance in my life.

Thank you to Laura, Sandy, Alex, and Mickey of Windham Fabrics who just plain get me and are total pleasure to work with.

Thank you to Kristofer Bowman of The Inventorialist who allowed me to use his space to take some of the photography seen in the look-book and rushed vintage ledger papers over without questioning me on why.

Thank you to DeAnne Roth of Flux Antiques & Curiosities who allowed me the use of her super cool typewriter that I typed the text on for the collection and inspired one of the color-ways of the text prints.

Thank you to Chris DePrez of Fountain Square Clay Center who allowed me to come in an throw a bunch of pots for Quilt Market last fall.

Thank you to Joey Ponce of JoeyPonce.com who is an all around amazing human.

Thank you to my mom who cleaned my house a couple of times when I couldn’t seem to get to it. And thank you to my dad who has done a ton of ironing for me in the last year.

Thank you to the customers and community of Crimson Tate for entertaining me and sharing in the joy that has been this past year. Thanks for supporting us and for dreaming with me. Soooo good! Don’t forget, today is your last day to enter the drawing for one of fourteen complete fat quarter bundles of Succulents.

THANK YOU TO MY PRECIOUS LITTLE LOVERS WHO WORKED TIRELESSLY TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN. Drop by their blogs and give ’em some sugar.

March 15: Heather Givans of Crimson Tate

March 16: Eric Lubrick of Eric Lubrick Photography

March 17: Sarah Sharp of {no} hats quilts

March 18: Lindsay Lefevere of ellesquare

March 19: Karen McTavish of McTavish Quilting Studio

March 20: David Barnhouse of Crimson Tate

March 21: Meghan Eschbaugh of Calvin and Carolyn

March 22: Brooke Starnes of Crimson Tate

March 23: Matthew Wheeler of Kapa Quilts

March 24: Samantha Howard of Bobaloo Kids

March 25: Amy Garro of 13 spools

March 26: Amanda Castor of Material Girl Quilts

March 27: Heather Jones of Heather Jones Studio

March 28: Heather Givans of Crimson Tate

In closing, comments that celebrate who inspires you, helps you endlessly, or make you happy receive a big hug and high five.

xoxo

Heather

March 27 Heather Jones of Heather Jones Studio is a PRECIOUS LITTLE LOVER

March 27, 2015March 27, 20158 Comments

That Heather Jones is a wonder. I crazy love that kid and am honored to have her in my world. I can’t speak highly enough of her accomplishments and friendship. Head over to her blog today as she discusses using Succulents. Featured below is a lil’ quilt Heather made that was shown at QuiltCon 2015. It faced the Crimson Tate booth and it made me so happy to look at it everyday. So good, Heather.

Photo from Heather Jones Studio blog

Two more days to enter to win! Be sure to head over and leave Heather, and the rest of the gang, a comment on their posts to be one of the winners of fourteen bundles of Succulents from those friendly folks at Windham.