Hi!!!
Whew! As I lay down in the dark on my bedroom floor (hiding from child and husband so I can write in peace!) I am also taking the time to catch my breath. Events at the shop have come and gone, classes have been planned; quilts have come and gone, lessons learned along the way.
Many of my readers have asked about the shop's infamous Post Market Soiree Party....lemme tell ya, we had a blast and I can't even believe how many awesome prizes got given away and I didn't keep a SINGLE one and that I am very proud of! I was very tempted though- I gave away a million prizes it seemed like! Some I purchased out of my very own piggy bank, and some of the prizes were generously donated by my lovely sponsors:
The Fairy Godmother herself, Amy Butler
Denyse Schmidt
Jacquie Gering
Laura Gunn
Quilts, Illustrated
Elizabeth Hartman
GenQ Magazine
Tula Pink
Brigitte Heitland/Modern Zen Chic
Michael Miller
Marinda Stewart
Villa Rosa Designs
Abbey Lane Quilts
Crazy Old Ladies
We started out the nite with a sweet BBQ dinner from Rudy's here in Austin. Lemme tell you, you haven't had good BBQ till you've had Rudy's. In fact, if it's your first time, they'll let you sample everything! I highly recommend the pork tenderloin- delicious and never dry.
Guests mingled and munched as they checked out all the awesome prizes on the raffle table.
We. Are. Awesome. And generous. And cute.
Mom surprised me by showing up into town the nite before, and was generous enough to cut fabric for my guests! (See ladies, being a pattern designer is not really all that glamorous!)
Our quilters got an inside look at Quilt Market on our inspiration wall- we pinned swatches, business cards, marketing and other fun stuff we received at Market to our wall to let our guests bask in all the creative juices. It gave them a sneak peek into the new fabric collections coming soon and it reminded us of how much fun we had!!
Mike was in charge of party games- has anyone ever played Duck Pong before? It was like beer pong, but with ducks. When you threw the ball in a bowl with a duck, the duck had a prize written on his booty. The prizes were pretty sweet- fat quarters, RoseCard patterns, and more raffle tickets!
At the end of the nite we announced our winners, one at a time. It was so exciting to see each guest win!
I was especially excited for our guest Kenna, a member of the Austin Modern Quilt Guild and an art appreciator. She was lucky enough to take home an original print from watercolor artist and fabric designer Laura Gunn. Not going to lie, I REALLY wanted to keep it!
It's funny, before I was a quilter, I was really into art- I still am. Before I considered myself an artist of any capacity, I was just an appreciator.
One of my favorite artists was a Brooklyn street artist named Jean-Michel Basquiat. His story is a tragic one. I have come to find that I appreciate the beauty and the art of a tragic story. He had a very loving and generous spirit- when a friend admired one of his works, it would likely appear on their doorstep. He rented a room from Andy Warhol, who later became one of his greatest friends. He also briefly dated Madonna. (You may be thinking I have never even heard of this guy yet he dated Madonna?) His work speaks for itself- social commentary and pop art collide in an often cheerfully melancholy juxtaposition.
Defacement was created after a New York graffiti artist Michael Stewart was publicly beaten to death by two New York police officers. It reminds me a lot of Guernica by Pablo Picasso- an acute social commentary.
Like many artists, Basquiat was tortured by his feelings of abandonment and issues of acceptance and his overwhelming addiction to heroin.
He died tragically from an overdose in 1988. His entire life he struggled to be accepted, yet ironically in 2007 one of his paintings was sold for over 11.2 million dollars. He was the subject of a film in 1996 in which David Bowie played Andy Warhol. The film won critical acclaim, but friends of Basquiat said it greatly molested his character.
I admire Basquiat because he spent the majority of his youth homeless, living in subways and on friends' couches; later he became a widely known and highly revered fine artist. Despite his agonizing demise, I believe that he is a symbol of perserverance and triumph.
As his death date anniversary nears, I am hoping to complete a Basquiat tribute on fabric.
****GIVEAWAY TIME****
In honor of the spirit of Basquiat (a man of kind and generous spirit), because my Soiree was such a lovely time, and because my blog has now had over 10,000 views (13,200 and counting!! I meant to commemorate 10k but I guess I'll be late to my own funeral!)...
I am preparing a sweet giveaway for my loyal readers!
Everyone that knows me knows that I consider Amy Butler my true inspiration in life. From her beautiful surface and textile designs to her gentle spirit, she is an everglow of love and light. In honor of the debut of her latest collection, Cameo, and because of my ever-growing reading family (thank you all!) I am going to be picking a lucky reader to take home a fat quarter pack featuring 6 of her fabrics from Cameo.
Your entry to the contest is a comment left on this post telling me who your biggest inspiration is and why. What is it about your inspiration that you hope to be? I hope one day to have the international acclaim and talent that Basquiat possessed. And I hope one day to be calm and centered like Amy. She never appears to be stressed in any capacity, even though she runs an empire. Ommmmmmm.....
Speaking of heartfelt....
Nothing touches my heart more than a guy who makes a quilt.
(Is there anything sweeter than that? Honestly?)
Thomas and Amanda met at Baylor University and fell in love. They recently became engaged- congrats, guys! In between grad school and his internship, Thomas decided to make Amanda a quilt to commemorate their college years together.
Now, THOMAS did all the work, and Amanda says so herself! She helped him pick out the shirts and place them together. Thomas cropped the shirts and pieced the top. We had the pleasure of quilting this for them, and did so with a stipple pattern and used a variegated thread to make it a little interesting.
(I love that Thomas is holding the corner with the "Girls Fight Back" t shirt. Teehee!)
I am super proud of the two of them for coming together on this project. A special shout out to Thomas!! I am super proud of you!
The things we will do for love....I love it.
Thanks for all of the love on the blog, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, in-store, at Market, and on the street. It is because of your loyal support and kind words that we can do what we do.
Speaking of..you can keep in touch on:
Twitter: @fiber_culture
Instagram: @jessicaksloan
If you are in the Austin, Texas area, it would be a shame for you not to stop by:
10435 Burnet Road, Suite 106
Austin, Texas, 78758
888-TO-QUILT
Next blog I will show off another great customer quilt and some exciting events coming up in-store.
Stay tuned! Stay stitching!
xoxo
Jess
