Ho Ho Ho!

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Just checking in to post the latest happenings around our Studio and give a gift  to our blog readers!

Here’s what we’ve been up to:

• Ellen Medlock Studio is now on Pinterest! Click here to follow us if you aren’t already! Lots of inspiration sharing going on…

• Our newest fabric collection, Natural Graffiti, is up on the site and available for pre-order. Buy now and be first in line to receive your yummy fabric when it arrives in March 2012!

What are your plans for December 31?

Join me to ring in 2012 over at Stitchin’ Heaven’s annual New Year’s Eve Twitter Party!

I’ll be there as a sponsor with a Charmant Clutch pattern and Supply Set up for grabs!

Niki at Stitchin’ Heaven does a fabulous job of hosting the party and it’s always a lot of fun!  If you don’t have a Twitter account you can sign up for free here and learn how to participate here. The learning curve isn’t too steep and once you start tweeting you don’t want to stop!

Hope to see you there!

~ellen

It’s that time of year again… The world’s leading color authority has chosen it’s 2012 Color of the Year!

Tangerine Tango - Pantone's 2012 Color of the Year

The Pantone Color Institute®, chooses a color each year that seems to fit the mood and attitude for the coming seasons. Tangerine Tango was chosen to “provide the energy boost we need to recharge and move forward.”

As a designer, I’m always so intrigued with the process they use in choosing their Color of the Year.

It might explain why I’ve always been so in love with our Flight Pattern fabric in Citrus colorway! The shot of orange makes it such a happy fabric…

Apparently Pantone would agree!

~Ellen

Join us for an evening of chatting about sewing, quilting, and everything in between! And of course - prizes!

The chat is hosted by Cara of CaraQuilts on Twitter.  If you are not signed up for Twitter yet, you will need to create an account to participate (Twitter is free.) For more information on how it works, Cara has provided some great information here.  We are one of the sponsors for the chat so we will be there chatting away and hosting a few giveaways.

Our first chat is this Tuesday, March 15th at 9-11pm EST, 7-9pm MST. We love these events because they are just so much fun! It’s a great way to make new friends in the sewing and virtual community and it gives us all a chance to share ideas, funny stories, and learn from each other. We can’t wait to chat with you!!

Talbots Jacket 2010

The Trend
Recently Pantone, ( forecasters of color trends, and inventors of one of the most widely used graphic color standards)   announced it’s choice of the color, Turquoise as the “Color of the Year”. Click here to view their press release and the color chip associated with the emerging color trend. Although it seems it has never really left us, you may have noticed its presence building in the fashion and graphic landscape!

 

Coach Francine Bag 2008

 

The Word…
After doing a bit of quick research, on the word- which I feel has such an alluring quality  of it’s own… I found that the word “turquoise” was derived around the 16th century from the French language either from the word for Turkish (Turquois) or dark-blue stone (pierre turquin)^. This may have arisen from a misconception: turquoise does not occur in Turkey but was traded at Turkish bazaars to Venetian merchants who brought it to Europe. The first recorded use of Turquoise as a color name in English was in 1573. Who knew?!

Turquoise Pebble

The Stuff
The gemstone from which this color is named, we here in the US associate chiefly with the desert Southwest, but is actually found in many other arrid regions around the world… Iran (historic Persia),  the Sinai, and a minor source in China.

The Meaning
Psychologically, we associate the color Turquoise with a  restful, relaxing, calming atmosphere which can be seen in the color of the water in the lagoons of the tropics,  swimming pools, and vacation time. Is there any wonder it was an easy choice to soothingly take us away from the chaos of our daily lives?!

The New Blue?
In color theory, Turquoise is known as a slightly greenish shade of Cyan. To fully know Turquoise,  we have to say hello it’s Momma- Cyan (blue). We all come into contact with Cyan daily as one of the main colors in our inkjet printers, along with yellow and magenta! You know- the “C” of CMYK color processing.  Artists know Cyan,  as the color halfway between blue and green on the color wheel, and is a secondary color along with magenta and yellow. Cyan is made by mixing green and blue light.

The Perception
I have always thought it so interesting how each of us has developed our own mental image of colors over our lifetimes. Say a color name to 5 people and there will undoubtedly be 5 slightly different versions of that color word  pictured! My personal image when the word, Turquoise when mentioned, is more of a Turquoise Blue than the  pure gemstone  Aqua-ish Turquoise. Do you see it the same way? What is your perception of this color?

-ellen

 

Thank you all so much for participating in my little blog contest. I truly enjoyed reading all your responses and am grateful to have you all! So, how was your Holiday?  Would love to hear how it went!

Oh, right, you’re ready to hear who the winner was, huh? LOL  Congratulations to Nancy Lee of Winfield, MO! How exciting! Nancy won my ever so versitile  “Napkin Ring Set” …full of endless creative possibilities.  Can’t wait to see what she does with them.! We asked Nancy to tell us a little about herself and she replied: “I am a stay-at-home mom to a 17 year old that will graduate next May.  I  am hoping that hubby won’t notice..I sure don’t want a job!  Our 2 daughters have given us 5 wonderful grandchildren, Grace age 7, Jackson age 6, Owen age 6, Ava age 3 (she will say “almost 4 grandma”) and Abbie a sweet 21 month old who looks just like her momma…I love to make quilt tops (and hand them off to my long arm quilter) and  enjoy hand embroidery.”  Sounds like some of us have some of the same things in common (wink)

Thanks again for all your support, & allowing me to get to know you all! Looking forward to so much more fun in the furture. Please, leave a comment and congratulate Nancy! You can also say hi to her on her blog.

Talk to you soon!

-ellen

So happy to find out the latest issue of Sew News Magazine features my studio in an interview for their Designer Digs column! My thanks to editor Beth Bradley, and to my husband Mike, who in a moment of panic snapped this photo of me just in time to beat their deadline! Phew!

Hello! Had to check back through m previous posts to see if I had ever written about my Fabric Clock Set! It has been on my mind since it has received press recently in the latest “Vogue Patterns Magazine”, (What a classy mag!) in their Editor’s Choice column. Thanks so much, Vogue! You can participate in a drawing sponsored by Vogue to win a Fabric Clock Set of your own! See page 7!

 Don’t know how I let this fun kit slip past the Blog!   The creative possibilities overwhelm me with this kit! If I only had time to sit down and make all my clock ideas! Here are few: the obvious- make one for your sewing room, coordinate it to a quilt in a bedroom, or in a child’s room with a cute juvenile print or with their favorite character, or in the kitchen using a kitschy 50′s print, or in a teens room with a cool retro theme fabric, or as a gift to a friend using their fav fabric! Just another way for us fabric junkies to spread our obsession cleverly to every room!

-ellen

HOWDY!  actually I wanted to share this interview now up on 

Stitchin Heaven Howdy.. a blog from a cute store in Texas with quite a following! Some of you FaceBook Friends of mine have probably noticed their logo coming and going on my Wall, and have never known the nimble little internet fairy, Nichole,  who spreads her happy attitude across so many of the quilt/sewing pages! Click on the link above and hopefully you will see her! Join us both on FaceBook!! It has been more fun than I could have imagined to connect with so many nice folks from past and present! Thanks again, Stitchin’ Heaven!

-ellen

Well…. actually I am stretching it a bit! Five of my handbags that is, were included in his Quilter’s Home Magazine,  ( p. 40 to be exact ) “Great Spring Designs from Hot Designers” in the new March edition! So delighted to be in the mix! It is a great article and features many other cuties! Thanks, Mark!