“Did you see any new trends?” This is the question that everyone asks after a trade show. Although retailers are deciding which trends are right for their customers in 2012, we, as designers, are working on products that will come out in 2013 and beyond. So, we are watching for inklings of new trends that are on their way in. For example, lately, we have been seeing sea turtles pop up here and there … not that they are necessarily going to be the next owl, but, keep an eye out for the sea turtle … it could be this humble creature’s time in the sun!

So here is my official mini trend report following the Atlanta Gift Show. It is based on the scientific observations made from the aisles that were on the journey between my booth and the really good barbeque stand in the AmericasMart food court.

Robots could be seen on kids products from t-shirts to toys. Some had a 50’s atomic feel, while others were made of repurposed household items. Either way, they were fun and hip. (And, I’m not mentioning this must-have trend just because we happen to have a very cute robot collection of our own … you can see that Gift Shop Magazine noticed it here.)

Although it’s all about a deep ultramarine blue, it has to be matched with lots of white to keep it fresh and crisp. The rich blues are often paired with provençal patterns or woodblock prints. Crisp and cool, it should make you think that you are vacationing on an island in Hawaii with a tall, fruity drink in your hand as you watch the sea turtles float by (see how sea turtles keep showing up … sign of an upcoming trend!)

Handmade is everywhere. It’s pretty, it’s sweet, but mostly you can feel the love of someone creating it just for you. (You can feel the sales, too.) This is cottage industry on steroids.

If one could have gathered all the tweets in Atlanta, they very likely said, Live, Love, Laugh, Dream, and You can Do it! … on gifts, furniture, accessories, journals, cards, jewelry, and more. This trend is perfect for the customer who is inspired by movies like Hoosiers, Something the Lord Made, The Bucket List and, of course, The Notebook … oh, that’s me! So, after this post, I’ll be running off to dream big, just do it, and hug on my babies.

Nautical has been grabbing the spotlight for awhile, and it was still going strong in Atlanta. Sailboats, shells, fish and whales … all things sea, matey. Due to the fact that I was not exposed to a lot of these icons growing up in the desert of West Texas, I had to do a bit of research. I am almost certain that the nautical flags above spell B-U-Y M-E N-O-W. (And, look there, here comes that sea turtle again!

Knock. Knock. Who’s there? Orange. Orange who? Orange you gonna include orange in your 2012 retail mix? Because it is the color. Everywhere. And, not just Tangerine Tango, the Pantone Color of the Year, but every orange in the grove. There were so many shades of orange that you couldn’t go wrong with your orange selection: Tangerine, Tangelo, Clementine … go for the Vitamin C–you know it’s good for you.

Pull out your apron and bake yourself a cake. It’s 1956 in 2012! It’s not a super new trend but one with long legs … like comfort food that never goes out of style. We saw lots of retro fun all around, usually in a slightly brighter palette than the original one of the fifties. But hey, we have color television now! It’s I Love Lucy in HD.

So those are seven of the trends that were popping up in the aisles of the Atlanta show. And, there were many other emerging trends I haven’t even touched on … equestrian, bees, whales, geometric, lots o’ color, neutral color, no color … but I’m going to save those for another post, so that I can get to work on my new collection … SeaTurtles Swimming in Orange Crush.

P.S. For those of you who would like to hear some trend reports from people who were able to observe more aisles than the one I traveled when heading to the food court, here are a few. One of my favorite hours at the show, was the one I spent listening to the energetic (and very pretty) Christiane Lemieux of Dwell Studio describing upcoming trends in the juvenile market. She mentioned that Apartment Therapy might be posting her trend reports, so watch for those there. Also, you might check out these Atlanta Trend updates by Gifts & Decorative Accessories here and here. After reading these, you’ll be ready to greet 2012 in the know. So go be trendy in ‘12.

I think one of my illustrated characters must have whispered into Julianna’s ear, “I want to be real,” because, I left Julianna sculpting fish, and when I returned to the project area, she was holding Baby Bot’s big sister in the palm of her hand.

Above are the drawings from the Visitors page in the Baby Bot baby book we created for C.R. Gibson. Once Jules created BabyBot’s big sister 3D, she decided to keep on going, because you can’t bring a gal into the world without some friends.

Photos above from top clockwise: (1) Julianna starts sculpting head-first. (2) Jules painting Baby Bot. (3) One of Baby Bot’s buddies tucked into a box across from his 2D-self. (4) Bot Buddies® sunning on a paper plate to make sure they are completely dry before packing them up for their first trade show.

Above, Bot Buddies® are all packed and ready to fly to Atlanta where they are hoping to meet some new friends and enjoy some southern cyber-cuisine.

For those of you who will be in Atlanta for the big gift show, come see us. We will be at AmericasMart, Building 2, West Wing, in the License and Design Showroom, #774. And for those of you who will not be there, we’ll be sure to report back so you will be in the know for gift-giving 2012.

As we prepared for Atlanta last week, you could have literally put a sign on the studio door, “Gone Fishin.’” The MicroFish pattern, (which is one of our favorite designs from the Bot Buddies® fabric collection) was just begging to show up on a variety of product categories. We pulled out our Sculpey box again. All three girls spent some of their home-for-the-holidays time producing fish bodies. Some fish were too fat, some were too flat, (we even had to throw a few back into the sea) … but 10 little fishes were just right to fill our Fishmas Tree.

Above is our inspiration, the Bot Buddies® Big Border panel, which you can buy here.

The Food Network was playing on the television in the background while we worked, which was an odd juxtoposition, because periodically, a tasty fish dish would be featured, and we felt a little uneasy, because, well, our new fish creations were smiling at us … we had bonded.

Photos above from top clockwise: (1) After years of Sculpey play, Margaret makes fish for market. (2) Julianna pulled out the box of CelVinyls (which used to be our medium of choice before Photoshop entered our lives) and starts mixing pots of paint the old-fashioned way.
(3) Jules painting a base-coat on a fine fat fish. (4) A closeup of one of our smiling fishbots.
(5) After painting the fish, we hung them in the trees to dry … if birds could swim and fish could fly …

Just to imagine these busy MicroFish with yet another medium, here they are, below, in thread. We made these mockups to help buyers to visualize these little guys in a powder room at the beach or in a child’s bath upstairs at home. And you can make these, too! (They would be a great “thank you for inviting me to your beach house gift.”) We’ll post the how-to when we return from Atlanta.

And, while all this sculpting and sewing was going on, Margaret had the duty of cutting, and cutting … and cutting our newly received Bot Buddies® flannels for a variety of needs. We now have fat-quarter sets for Atlanta, as well as yardage to go to the members of the East Bay Modern Quilt Guild to cut and sew some fun projects. And although we provided Margaret with a fancy new rotary cutter, Margaret plans on not cutting anything for at least a month.

This week, we will be heading to Atlanta for the International Gift Show at AmericasMart. It has been a busy workshop around here. Thankfully, with lots of Hecklettes home from college for the holiday, we had some extra elf-help for 3-D-ifying our designs.

When we show work to companies, we like to show a few designs in formats that help the art directors imagine the possibilities for their specific items. We thought you might enjoy seeing the way a 2-dimensional painting can be transformed into 3-dimensional critters. First, we started with one of our best-selling collections, Little Pond. We pulled out our beloved Sculpey box, (which has been our go-to-clay for making lots of class projects through the years). This very same box had been pulled out of the craft cabinets many-a-holiday when little on-vacation hands were needing to be busy. And those same hands (now college-sized) jumped right in without missing a beat. Below, Margaret started with the giraffe and then moved right on to the elephants. We discovered that Margaret, who is an animal science major, seems to have a gift for visualizing all sides of an animal, which comes in very handy when one has to imagine what is on the other side of that painting.

Photos above from upper left clockwise: (1) Margaret smooths the giraffe mane with a dentist tool. (Why do we own a dentist’s tool? Don’t ask me, but it really works for sculpey sculpting.) (2) Here is Margaret creating the baby elephant so that he fits on the mama’s back, or it might be a daddy’s back … we didn’t really go into that kind of detail. (3) The white stage … ready for painting. (4) Julianna creates pots of paint for finishing the pond pals.

And, voila! Below is a little group of critters to help one imagine these pond friends as ornaments, or baby banks, or bookends, or bath toys, or game pieces, or, or, or …

Before we head to Atlanta, we’ll send you a couple of other how-to posts, just in case you are having a hankering to start making things pop to life in your house. And, this winter, if you hear some moaning pleas like “mommy, I don’t have anything to do,” I highly recommend Sculpey time. (Or Pluffy™ time, Sculpey’s new clay for little ones.) Who knows, you might have a sculptor in the making … or perhaps, an animal science major!

When the doors opened to the International Quilt Market in Houston, one of the first booths one beheld was that of Newcastle Fabrics. There, our Jumpin’ Monkeys collection was ready to jump onto flannel jammies and blankies and the sweet Emma collection looked as fresh as a pink-and-green bouquet.

On the walls were all the pieces made just days ago by our Austin elves, showing off the DIY possibilities. We were delighted to see our work and our friends at Newcastle. Here we are (photo below) with Dan Weidmuller, chief of everything at Newcastle.

Jumpin’ Monkeys is a new flannel group scheduled to be in the stores in November. Before market, we received a few small pieces of strike-off material to check for color. We decided to try to make a few monkey projects, one of which would be flannel jammies, but we only had enough fabric to make one blue leg and one brown leg, which is the original reason that the pants bottoms (below) became “two-toned.” BUT, after all was said and sewn, we decided these play pants were downright adorable. I guess you could say small strike-offs are the mother of invention!

I also love the matching appliqué monkey that Nancy added to the onesie. This is so easy and packs a great “wow, you did that” factor.

Here is something else that happens when sewing with tiny bits of soft flannel strike-offs: a toddler ragland jacket that is monkey-blue-stripe on the front and monkey-green-stripe on the back. It’s like wearing the whole collection in one tiny jacket!

We can’t leave Jumpin’ Monkeys without showing you the fastest quick quilt you ever did see (made by Deborah Elliott) … all you have to do is follow the outlines of the animals on the panel and it looks like you slaved for weeks piecing and appliquéing this soft quilt. Even the striped border is part of the one yard of fabric that you will buy to make the quilt top! (You may want to add some edging as we did with the palm leaves fabric (see second photo below), but it’s cute even without it. It might depend on what time the baby shower is tomorrow!)

And, if you have questions about anything fun and new at Newcastle, here is the go-to-gal for the answers, Cheryl Jukich. She is new to the Newcastle team and she is just adorable and full of energy … even when we saw her after many hours of trade show standing!

While Jumpin’ Monkeys was hoppin’ off the wall, the Emma collection was displayed nearby and it was shining in its own preppy cute way. Since we already introduced you to lots of Emma in an earlier post, we’ll just share some pictures of her cute self on display at the show. Photo left: Ellen in front of the quilt she made with the Emma strike-offs. (And her very first quilt ever!) Photo right: Cathy and Ellen in front of the sassy Emma dress made by Nancy Keirns. The great thing about Emma is that it can be made into a baby bumper or a tween jumper. It’s for little bitty girls, or their mamas.

While we love to visit with the companies that make our fabric, we double-love to visit with shop owners who sell our fabric! Here we are below with a fellow mother-daughter team, Judy Fenton and Megan Wilson who run Millcreek Sewing & Fabric in Erie, Pennsylvania. While they were gathering samples in balmy Houston, Texas, I believe several inches of snow fell on their shop in Pennsylvania. A nice early reminder of the importance of a warm, snuggly quilt!

Although, we don’t have any weather close to a white winter here in Austin, we definitely caught the quilting bug while we were in Houston. I hope our little adventure in the aisles of Quilt Market have you all quiltified, too. We’ll keep you posted as we learn of the stores that will have Emma and Jumpin’ Monkeys in hand. Enjoy your November, and have fun quilting, whether you are wearing flip-flops or snow boots!

We are just back from Quilt Market in Houston … and it was so much fun. There were so many quilts that I bet if you laid them end to end they would stretch across Texas and beyond!

For us, a market is often the culmination of months of collaborative work, and it is satisfying to see it all come together. Lots of faces are beaming … and bleary. Two of our favorite faces to see were those of sister team, Joanie and Melanie of Tailormade By Design. They were responsible for four quilts made with our fabrics, as well as many quilts for several different companies .. all of which need their quilts ready on exactly the same first-day-of-Quilt-Market! And, every year they make that tough deadline and arrive in Houston with big smiles. We are amazed and in awe. Here we are with them at Blue Hill Fabrics.

Our favorite surprise was the Bot Buddies™ quilt … we had not seen the final cottons, and we were delighted with the colors and the delightful quilt pattern that Joanie and Melanie had designed with them. We created the cottons to be easy for nursery decor, and indeed the super sisters created a quilt to set the theme for a bright and cheery nursery or toddler room. They even created these sweet fat-quarter charm packs (below left) to get a new mama started. Photo below right is a close-up of the darling Bot Buddies quilt, ready for snuggling.

I believe these cottons have just arrived at the warehouse, so as soon as they are in the stores, we will add some links to the blog so you can go bot-shopping. There is a softer than soft flannel group, too. Be sure to send us your Bot Buddies™ projects so we can share them in our up-coming Flickr groups.

Another of our baby collections was also starring at Blue Hill. Zoophabet® is all about personalizing with an alphabet of cute critters. And it comes in both cotton and soft flannel. The group was displayed with lots of one-of-a-kind DIY ideas: personalized pillows, quilts, bags and blocks. The photo below is Cathy visiting with Elaine Sexton, of QUILT Magazine about all the DIY possibilities with alphabets and bots.

Below are more photos from our busy visit in the Blue Hill booth: From upper left clockwise:
1. Zoophabet® display including personalized blocks, bag and pillows made by Deborah Elliott and soft flannel jammies made by Nancy Keirns 2. Ellen and Cathy with Roger Roby of Blue Hill Fabrics 3. Close-up of the quick quilt made by the Tailormade sisters created with the Zoophabet® Pink Panel. This quilt panel is so easy that a mom can make the quilt top during a naptime (unless your baby naps like my middle gal did … which was not at all … maybe a morning while babies are attending Mother’s Day Out is a better quilt-making venue.) 4. Cathy with quilt designer, Robin Jackson, brainstorming about some creative projects she can make with the Zoophabet® collection.

Well, all this talk of fabric and sewing and quilts is making my fingers itch … I‘m off to make some quilt blocks. Of course, first, I will have to learn how … which is next on my empty-nestin’ list of things to do!

Z is for the Zoophabet® fabric collection headed to Houston for the International Quilt Market, this weekend with Blue Hill Fabrics. The great thing about Zoophabet® is that you can make personalized, one-of-a-kind gifts for the cute new baby in your life, and your baby shower present will be THE most special, personal, meaningful, amazing present at the party and you will be the BPGW (Best Present-Giver Winner) … not that a baby shower should be a competition … I’m just sayin’.

When our first samples arrived, I tried a swatch, wrapped in a quick bib-like treatment, on our in-house model, Neville. (below) I’m thinking about having a special jacket made for him with an appliquéed “N is for Neville.” I just know he’s going to love it! (Speaking of Nevs, don’t you think the zebra’s expression above sort of looks like Neville’s soulful expression below?

The Zoophabet® collection is printed on velvety soft flannel, as well as a cotton group that is perfect for personalized nursery decor, accessories and gifts. Below are the first strike-offs we received. Even the selvages turned out cute … hm … what can we make with those selvages? Selvage slippers?

Since we received our flannels first, we started our Zoophabet-making extravaganza with some flannel jammies. These would be perfect for your little ones to scramble-into, before jumping into bed, snuggling under a Zoophabet® ABC quilt, and listening to you read Dr. Seuss’ ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book! At the end of the story, you can say, “B is for bedtime and S is for Sleepy … you are getting very, veeeery sleepy … ”

When we received our cotton samples, we couldn’t wait to get started because we included two patterns (in two colorways) with the full alphabet. Our magic studio elves dove into a 2-week personalized-project frenzy. Here are a few DIY projects so you can get your creative juices flowing. The first one shown here is the Zoophabet® Quick Quilt … and it really is quick. With just a dash on your sewing machine down the sides of the alphabet squares, it looks like you spent days piecing it. Then, you can buy an extra yard and create coordinating accessories that spell out your special baby’s name or initials on all kinds of cute baby stuff … a pillow, a lampshade, a diaper stacker and, and, and …

And, here are some Zoophabet® pinks: The top photo is a “K is for Katy” Carry All and I’m pretty sure the bottom photos illustrate a “C is for Cathy” Pillow. Hope these ideas get you started on some fun projects … and, be sure to share your creations with us … we will be adding a new Flickr button to the blog after Quilt Market. Sweet dreaming of more personalized one-of-a-kind wonders.

Baby Bot and all his friends will be showing off their softer sides in Houston next week for the International Quilt Market with Blue Hill Fabrics. The Bot Buddies collection will be featured on the softest flannel you ever did touch, as well as cottons that are perfect for decorating the nursery or the playroom. The colorways can be all-boy, as well as a fun look for girl-bots, too. Here is a peek at the flannels. (We won’t see the final cottons until next week at Quilt Market … and, we’ll be sure to share some cotton nursery ideas with you after the show.)

We have discovered two new elves here in Austin to help us take our 2-dimensional fabrics to 3-dimensional creations. Thank you Nancy and Deborah! Here are a few samples made from Bot Buddies flannels just to give you a taste of the possibilities. We only had a few bits and pieces of strike-off material … (which are the fabrics that we check to make sure the colors are just right) … but as soon as we can get our hands on whole yards of fabric, we will be posting some fun DIY projects and give-aways to get you started.

And, here’s something fun … Bot Buddy Toss jammies. Nancy is in the midst of adding some great embroidered touches, but I’m just sending it out unfinished ‘cause it’s already so darn cute. (P.S. I am also re-learning to embroider … part of my new empty-nesting phase … I’ll let you know how that goes!)

If you are already catching the itch to stitch, here are some sneak peeks of some of the patterns in just one of the colorways … these designs come in reds and yellows, too. Have fun dreaming up some great bot projects. And, as soon as we know where you can find all these super soft flannels, we’ll let you know. We are dying to see your flannel fashion!

One of my favorite aspects of trade show exhibiting is the sharing that goes on between artists, whether its tips and tricks or tape and scissors. At the Licensing Expo in Las Vegas, we were surrounded by great neighbors all around! Next door, to the left, were the men representing The Comstocks. (Julie, the third musketeer, stayed back in Utah to hold down the fort.) Since Ellen and I think of The Comstocks as super heroes, I thought this picture told the story best … note the super-hero stances while at the same time displaying their designer sensibilities with shirts that coordinated with their booth. Julie, you would have been proud!

Next door, to the right, housed Two Town Studios and My Friend Ronnie, and she really is my friend, Ronnie! Here she is with her partner in work and life, Jim Marcotte. Ronnie and I are very pleased that we found two excellent Jims to balance our creative sides (not that our Jims aren’t creative in their own Jim ways!) I am happy to report that we actually accomplished a great deal of work, when we weren’t just flat out laughing. Ronnie kept us in stitches … which is why you should find her ‘My Friend Ronnie’ products to have on hand, in case you are needing a little chuckle in the middle of the day.

We met two new friends at the Licensing Show Cocktail Party, and enjoyed visiting with them in their cheery booth. Sharyn Sowell is known for her amazing and delicate hand-cut illustrations, and also introduced some new directions at this show: beautiful watercolor pieces combined with elegant calligraphy. Barb Tourtillotte creates designs for a wide variety of subjects with a masterful watercolor style. You can see her whimsical snowmen or elegant florals on so many products from soup to nuts (well not soup, actually … but fabric, giftware, greeting cards and more).

Here’s another new friend, Deidre Mosher. You can just tell she is fun by looking at this picture and the spunky booth behind her. Deidre creates images for everyone from tweens to the mature sassy woman (I think I personally fit into that last category, although some might say I can’t claim the ‘mature’ part … just the ‘sassy woman’ part.) :-)

From afar, but right across the aisle at the show, were our new friends from Puerto Rico representing Ñañaritos, a brand created around hand-painted characters with a magical story. Their slogan “When you see us, you will feel happy,” was appropriate for the group, because each morning when they arrived, they were wearing a different set of brightly colored shirts that matched their booth. It was nice to have a daily colorful view across the aisle.

I hope you have enjoyed meeting some of our neighbors and new friends from the world of licensing … or at least those I was able to photograph before the booths were dismantled, which happened very, very fast! (My helpers will tell you that our booth was THE slowest booth take-down EVER, and that we need to create a better way of packing it, so that we can be like The Comstocks, who win the award for fastest take-down of all. And, believe me, after three days of standing, showing, and selling, that is a coveted award!)

Baby Bot loved Las Vegas … the lights, the sounds, the fun. In fact, as he passed through the aisles of slot machines, he felt uncannily at home … He wondered, “When I grow up, will I be a handsome slot machine, like these popular bots?” We told him that we had higher expectations for him, and that he should continue to do his homework.

We were in Las Vegas for the Licensing Expo, so that we could introduce Baby Bot and all of his bot buddies to companies in need of cuteness. We also met lots of other characters from the world of character licensing. There were so many … but, our favorite fella (I think he was a fella) was this charming Uglydoll who kept sauntering by our booth, dancing a particularly clever jig. We thought he was amazing, particularly since the humans inside the costumes cannot see out very well. Fortunately, all the characters at the Licensing Show are provided with an escort to hold their hands and walk them around so that they don’t accidentally take down an entire booth, get lost, or faint.

This year, we were lucky to have four manning the booth. Ellen and Cathy showed portfolios, while Jim talked to anyone with contract questions. This time, we took a different Hecklette sister, Margaret, to help, and, she was a trooper. One of Margaret’s main jobs was to retrieve items we forgot from our room, which was approximately a mile away, even though it was in the same hotel as the convention center. Some of her other jobs included: set-up and take-down of the booth, replenishing our press kits, and most importantly, checking out the Janet Jackson booth periodically to see if Janet would ever appear. (If Janet appeared, it must have been during one of Margaret’s mile walks, as we never saw her.) All in all, we couldn’t have accomplished it without our extra sister. Thank you Margaret! Here are some pics Ellen took of Margaret dancing with Baby Bot. This is what happens when two sisters are slap-happy during booth set-up … and really just want to go eat supper.

After all the taping, cutting, gluing and shipping, here is a photo of our booth the night before the show opened. (You can never really tell if it is day or night in Las Vegas, which adds to the confusing pretend world that it is.) All in all, we had a great show, and met lots of new friends, and can’t wait to introduce you to our Las Vegas neighbors in the next post.

Oh, and by the way, this time, what happened in Vegas did not stay in Vegas. Here is our boxed booth, which just arrived back in Austin. We have some unpacking to do!