Moonlighting Duckies

Here I am working away at my computer having a few Dove chocolates. I happened to notice that there is writing inside the wrappers. Sayings. The chocolate spin on fortune cookies I suppose. Can you believe that I'd notice this when I have this one in my hand?

Has to be the work of my duckies. I suspect the one on the left is the culprit! This one:

~Jodie

Hooray for Spoonflower!

I don't know when I have last been so excited. I arrived home from Des Moines to find the package I had been anticipating from an online company called Spoonflower. To say that I tore into it is an understatement.

But let me start at the beginning.

Several weeks ago I squeezed some time out of my day to use my Sunbonnet Sue Rubber Duckie designs to create designs to be printed on fabric. I had heard about Spoonflower over a month before, and was invited to participate in their beta stage. I simply had to try it. I've been using Corel Draw for years, so I created a design to fit yardage for duckie cheater cloth and possible border designs. My design spans an entire yard; most designs can be tiled, so you only need a small part of the design for the final yardage. (There's lots of helpful info on the Spoonflower site to explain all of this.)

I then logged into Spoonflower, uploaded the TIFF file I had saved in Corel Draw, and paid for my yardage. Two yards for $36 plus $3 shipping. A deal!

Isn't this amazing how it turned out? And best yet, it is printed on high quality 100% Kona® cotton from Robert Kaufman Fabrics.
To see other fabrics Spoonflower designers have created go to their Explore function and click your way through, or visit the Flickr site. I'm blown away by the designs I see! The idea is that someday we can buy other people's yardage.
Spoonflower changes everything. Designers are having their fabric designs printed and then are sewing the fabric up into true original pieces. I'm excited about what this means for books and patterns. Oh so Web 2.0, Spoonflower makes anyone a fabric designer. It's a beautiful world!

~Jodie

Rubber Duckie Applique Class

What fun to see my Sunbonnet Sue Rubber Duckies come to life!

I taught an invisible applique class at the inaugural Georgia Quilt Show a few weeks ago.

In just four hours most of my students had all but completed their blocks. Wow!

Nothing is better than the sound of a classroom full of humming sewing machines.

Now I'm super-excited about pitching a book to a publisher. The patterns were a great success. Duckie Fever!

Kimberly also took my Soup to Nuts Paper Piecing Class. A hat and eyes and this duckie is done.

My Quilting Rubber Duckie approves of this message.

~Jodie

P.S. You can get on the list to keep up on the duckie patterns by going to my web site and signing up for my newsletter. When I get time, I design new ones and make them available for free for a limited time.

Sunbonnet Sue Rubber Duckie in Invisible Applique

The Sunbonnet Sue Rubber Duckies are a blast to sew up!
In getting ready to teach a class in invisible applique, I'm stitching up the four blocks I've designed. I've enlarged them to double the size from those I designed for satin stitch applique. The larger size makes it easier to turn the edges under. Plus, the larger size makes a nice size block for many projects. In my book I think I'll offer both sizes. As I design them I'm offering them for you to try for free. Sign up for my newsletter and you'll know when new ones are available.
~Jodie