Fab Florals - Vector Repeats

Last time I showed the softer side of my florals.

Here is now a bolder assortment.

Cardmaking and Papercraft Magazine - My Designs in March Issue

Cardmaking and Papercraft Magazine have purchased and featured four of my designs in their March Issue. The designs are a part of my Hedgerow Collection, also available at Modern Yardage in 4 colorways, and at Custom Quilt Tops, also in 4 colorways. At Custom Quilt Tops you need to keep scrolling down until you find me!

My four designs are available at Cardmaking and Papercraft Magazine's website as a download, and double-sided printed in their actual magazine. They're also included some sweet projects with which to use my papers!

Custom Quilt Tops - Make a Cheater Quilt

I'm so pleased to now be a part of PatternJam, a super fun and easy-to-use website for designing your own quilt top.

All of my fabrics from Modern Yardage are there, and I've got new, special pattern collections arriving there soon. Search under Fabric Shop by Designer to find me.

"In Orbit" will be there soon, a collection for space lovers of all ages.

Go to Pattern Jam and just have fun. It's as easy as filling in a coloring book page!

Scented Drawer Liners for Baby - Elodie Essentials

I've had the great luck of being a part of several startup companies by developing the repeat patterns that go on their products.

One such company is Elodie Essentials, which features my designs. So far, the line includes two versions of drawer liners for baby, but Lisa, the owner, and I have been hard at work getting the next designs ready for production.

Next time you need a unique gift for a baby or baby shower, remember these scented drawer liners!

Baseball Ticket Transformed

Like most designers, I collect digital images for references. I have hundreds (thousands?) and they keep me inspired and motivated, and give me ideas when my creative well has run dry.

This baseball ticket is another example of a great original image, a thing of vintage beauty.

My version is below. I call it A Ticket to Life.

Quilt Label Sighting - Modern Yardage Meets Modern Patchwork

Quilting is alive and well, a great hobby and timeless art form. 

 Modern Patchwork magazine keeps quilters up to date on what's new and classic, and has an ardent following of quilters, DIY-ers and sewing enthusiasts.

I was happy, then, to see Modern Yardage quilt labels were featured in a Hot Picks review in Modern Patchwork magazine.

One of the labels shown is mine, the one with the little birds in the lower left.

See it here at Modern Yardage.

And below.

Just For Fun

I did another vectorizing of an old ad today, inserting my own designs in the dress, hat and butterflies. Today was all about designing for recreational purposes only. And it WAS fun!

I had planned on creating some snappy text, but since I've been spending a lot of time recently giving myself pep-talks, this seemed appropriate.

18th Century Fabric - Reimagined. Again.

This one looked "easy" but took me several hours over several days to complete.

Of course, I switched it up a lot so that it is very different from the 200 year old curtain panel that inspired it.

A bright color palette replaced black and gold.

Pantone 18-1438 Marsala - Color of the Year 2015

Pantone 18-1438 was announced a little while ago, and when it was, designers quickly begin looking for ways to use it, for color palettes in which it works well.

Marsala is a fun one, defies being pigeon-holed. It's neutral enough for home decor and muted enough not to clash with most skin colors.

I like it as shown here with Pantone 14-5714, a color that Pantone included in its 2015 forecast.

Oh, and as you see, I've vectorized another advertisement, this time an old Palmolive soap ad.

My Lookbook is Published

My wonderful regular clients have kept me quite busy for the last several weeks. Once I had a couple of "free" days, I finished my lookbook, which I had been working on for a couple of months.

See it here.

I also got a few cool florals done, and revamped my website. I've been mad about coral and gray lately!

Case in point: 

Optical Illusions

While researching trends for a client, I came across some optical illusion designs and sort of got caught up in them for an afternoon and made some repeats.

And I got a little queasy looking at them!

View at your own risk!

Colorblast June 2015 by Design Options

I was featured this very dynamic slide show by Design Options. Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to scroll across.

It's a long story, but I actually came to Kim Designs via Design Options, a fortuitous meeting! Kim has been instrumental as my agent for making design sales for me.

Today's image is a design done recently, and likely will become part of a collection called "Parlor."

I've been busy this last week or so working on new designs for Needlepaint, which is always a lot of fun.

Oh, and I've FINALLY redone my website. It looks pretty much the same but I was able to get out from under an old and vulnerable Joomla website. Wonderful!

Spring is in the Air

I haven't felt all that great the last week or so. But, that doesn't stop me from my near daily run or from my workouts. And it certainly hasn't gotten in the way of my designing and playing with color.

Maybe Spring is in my blood.

Oh, have I ever got some wonderful collections in the pipeline!!!

This pattern I'm featuring today is not yet a part of a collection, but it sure is jazzy!

Eden's Garden Fabric Collection at Modern Yardage

I really like this little print, Precious in Turquoise, one of six patterns in my new collection Eden's Garden at Modern Yardage.  As you see, the colors are lovely aquas and pinks with a touch of white.

What a cute top Precious makes!

Modern Yardage

I've been launched at Modern Yardage!

Although MY is a place to buy gorgeous fabric online, one day in the near future, you'll see us in quilt stores around the country. We'll be the new big thing!

Come see us for fabrics for quilting, home decor, craft and apparel projects!

Four  of my collections are available now, including these two:

LOVE!

Engineered Pattern on a Long Sleeved T-Shirt

My first attempt at this was not all I hoped it would be, but did prove the concept: I create all the pieces for a t-shirt in Illustrator, add patterns to them, have it digitally printed at Spoonflower, and then cut and sew the garment.

I didn't consult my paper color chips, so didn't realize that the coral color in my shirt would be blaze orange, and I added too many elements. I'm excited about the process, though.

Digital printing, my skills at creating patterns, plus my knowledge of sewing opens up myriad possibilities.

Christmas Patterns

I've been lucky enough in the last couple of weeks to have graphic design jobs, even if they're other than creating surface art. I'm not waiting tables, so I count my blessings.

I don't have anything new that I can post, but this timeless Holiday collection is just right this week before Christmas to put me in the mood.

Product Sighting - in My Livingroom

It always a treat to see your design on a finished product.

In the past several months I've been converting my designs to needlepoint grids for Needlepaint.com , work that I have become addicted to.

They do fantastic work creating custom canvases for pillows, Christmas stockings, belts and even dog collars.

Look at the finished pillow they created for me from my original design! Gorgeous!

Antique Stuff

Once you learn how to clip out images in Photoshop and then create repeats, all you need is time.

This is a jpg of a hi res repeat I did a while back.

Appears I've got the know how AND plenty of time.