Introducing “Fresh Vintage Sewing” & Craving Pastries
Monday Afternoon Greetings–
I promised the winners of the naming contest by today… as they say the best laid plans… I have worked through half of the comments and have found over 855 names so far! Needless to say its going to take me a few more days to sort through all of the names and give them each careful consideration. You certainly went to town with the French and Pastry related items! If nothing else, I am craving French pastries 24/7 and I have an almost uncontrollable desire to sign up for French classes again. What a beautiful language! I am finding many names that I love, some that are making me laugh and dozens that make me hungry just to read them!
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While we wait for me to process all the wonderful contributions, I thought I might share with you that my new book, Fresh Vintage Sewing, came out this last week [cover shot above; quilt made by the talented Denise of A Graceful Stitch who contributed 2 wonderful projects to the book, see below for link].
For those of you who remember, this was the photo shoot this past summer which seemed to involve every room in my home! Let's just say that poor Eric had lots of house projects that summer and his "Honey Do" Lists never seemed to get smaller as we prepped for the shoot. We shot in our bedroom, the kitchen, the dining room, the living room, the porch, the studio, the office…. it seemed that as usual the boys room was the only one that escaped untouched. One of these days I am going to schedule a special shoot of just their room just so that I am forced to clean, organize and redecorate it. I think they still have tickets of when they went to see DORA Live on their bulletin board… for a little perspective, they are 11 and 8 respectively and haven't watched DORA for at least 4-5 years!
Anyway, I thought I would share a few of my favorite projects from the book. It is a collaborative project with some of my local sewing friends- Denise, Jackie, Janis & Margaret. These gals have been my students, my friends, and my sewing partners for many years. We all met at our local quilt shop many, many years ago and when it came time to work on this book I thought that it would be so much more of a creative adventure if I worked with them instead of on my own. I think we had the most fun naming all the projects!
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Scattered throughout the book there are many inspiration photos of vignettes from my house and studio. This is one of my favorite pages in the whole book… I had hoped it would be the cover but marketing had another idea…sigh
A fun hanger full of pockets for your treasures….
Easily my favorite pin cushion in the book. Way too pretty to put pins into in my humble opinion…
A round quilt just to change things up a bit. We used it as a tablecloth but I have great summer picnic plans for it as soon as it comes back from its whirlwind trunk show schedule…
The book is divided up into 5 groupings based on a color palette and the fabric collection that we worked around for each set of projects. Each grouping starts off with a shot of all those coordinated projects together and then goes on to show pics and directions for each project in the grouping. This is one of my favorite groupings…
Here are more of Jackie's beautiful pincushions. She has been making these beauties for as long as I have known her and she really out did herself for this book. I think she created a total of 13 different pincushion projects plus a few other sachet goodies…
This is definitely the apron I plan on making for myself soon because the one in the book will be "away from home" for so long and I just can't wait for it to return. To be quite honest, I don't usually love waist aprons because they are not the most flattering thing on me, but this one is actually slimming! Janis & Margaret did such a wonderful job with the sewing projects, adding everything from aprons to journals to porch chair seat cushions and everything but the kitchen sink… come to think of it, maybe we have a kitchen sink too… or at least a picture of one!
I just found this wonderful description of the book over at Crafter's Choice, here below. I tell you, I could use some of the "mojo" this copy editor is spreading about my work :-)!
"Vintage aprons, old postcards, candy-colored vases, anything that’s taken on a beautiful patina, this is what inspires Joanna Figueroa when she’s choosing color palettes for her popular Fig Tree Quilts quilt patterns and fabric lines. In Fig Tree Quilts Fresh Vintage Sewing, she shares a treasure trove of unique sewing projects for anyone who loves all things made better by time. Built around five inviting themes (grandma’s kitchen, spring in the country, summer in Paris, the harvest table, English boudoir romance), each suite of projects has quilt at its anchor. From the cozy front porch blossoms quilt to “a place for all those bedroom tidbits,” these home adornments are sure to be cherished as much as your favorite flea market finds."
By the way, Camille… don't you go buying one of these. I am sending you a copy this week since somehow you managed to post about it's release before I did !!
We will have signed copies with our little sticker available on our website in 3 days so if you are interested please check back here on thursday. thank you!
Talk to you soon.
About The Author
Stephanie | 16th Mar 09
Gorgeous everything…I especially love the delicious pincushions and the very cute apron.
Joanna | 16th Mar 09
Sherri & anyone else interested-
I just added at the bottom of the post that we will have books available by thursday, signed and ready to go or we would be happy to sign it for you however you like!
thanks.
Karin | 16th Mar 09
Oh,my! The book is just lovely! I will definitely be buying a copy for my craft room book shelf. 🙂
Mary | 16th Mar 09
AAAAH! Must. Have. Now.
I’ll try and be patient.
~Mary~
Mary on Lake Pulaski | 16th Mar 09
So, so lovely. Yes, thank you for letting us sample a few pages and get us ready to order it!
Betsy | 16th Mar 09
I cannot wait to purchase one…I am SO excited. Should we just come to your blog to order one?
Wanda Sotkowy | 16th Mar 09
What an awesome book! I love the wonderful ideas and bright colors.
Wow you did get a bundle of names to sort. Have fun and a danish while you read. LOL
Bren | 16th Mar 09
Joanna – it is beautiful! I can’t wait to get a copy & ‘devour’ it! !!!
xo, Bren
Joanna | 16th Mar 09
Yes, I will have them ready to go by Thursday! Thanks!
Camille Roskelley | 17th Mar 09
ha ha…. I’m sorry! I saw it on Amazon one night, and was so excited I about fell out of my chair! Didn’t mean to ‘scoop’ you! 😉
The book looks gorgeous, and your HOUSE!! WOW. Could it be any more gorgeous? It has Joanna written all over it. Beautiful!
Congrats girl!
Peddlecar Quilts | 17th Mar 09
I have been SO WAITING for this book to hit the stores!!! I bought your first one and just love it. It is so nice when you like almost ALL the projects in a book you buy, and in your first one I could make every single project I liked them all so much. Thanks for sharing!!!! Love the pics, now I’m really getting impatient!!!
Carrie P. | 17th Mar 09
I just ordered the book from the publisher. Can’t wait to get my hands on it. Hope to get it today.
Amy | 19th Mar 09
Thanks for showing us what’s inside – the cover is fabulous, too! Personally I love working on small projects, in addition to quilts. These really look like fun!
Conchita | 19th Mar 09
Loved all the pics. Where on the blog can I order Fresh Vintage Sewing?
danielle | 20th Mar 09
I’ve already ordered it from Crafter’s Choice. I’m evem more anxious for it to arrive now! That round quilt would also make a great Christmas tree skirt. And knock me down with those studio shots. I am totaly jealous of your stach :O) Thanks sor sharing. Danielle
Sherri | 20th Mar 09
I just received your wonderful new book (I wish I had waited to get a signed copy…sigh…but I ordered it before I read that you were going to have signed ones available through your website). I love this book and plan on reading it cover-to-cover today! Thanks so much for such beautiful inspiration!
rachel | 22nd Mar 09
beautiful.
i simply can’t wait to have some quality one on one time with this book.
😀