Finding Inspiration

Many of you have asked where I get inspiration for designs? It's hard to say because design inspiration seems to just crop up everywhere! Friends and family inspire a lot of my stitchery designs. Today I'll share a couple of them with you.

First of all, a dear friend gave me this rustic heart for my birthday several years ago. 

The minute I saw it I visualized a quilt pattern, and went to work to create Rusty Garden Heart. This pattern has been one of my best sellers for several years. Success!

But alas, not all of my creative ideas are quite so great.

My sweet granddaughter is now married and has a 2 year old, but I recall a time when she was going through a particularly snippy spell.  She was 12 going on 25!

Now, Hailey has always been quite stylish and as cute as a bug. I took her 'attitude and style' at the time, and created this oh-so-clever wall-hanging. 

I was more pleased with it than just about anything else I had designed, and had total confidence that a thousand grandmothers would relate, and want to recreate and hang it in their own sewing room.  I created the pattern, took it to market & proudly displayed it prominently in our booth. Over the 3 day period, we sold a total of TWO patterns!

Bummer!  My favorite design wasn't a hit with anyone but ME (well, and two other ladies)!  To this day it hangs in my sewing room & makes me smile.

Design lesson: sometimes you design for the masses & sometimes you design only for ONE!    

 

Gimme 5 & Make It Scrappy

It's finally here and I can tell you the secret!

For several weeks now, I have been hinting at a new book coming and I can finally tell you all about it!

I'm thrilled to introduce our new pattern, designed by Scott Cribbs!

I love it when things seem to work with very little effort.  Here's the story of how this book came about.

For quite some time I have pleaded with my son, Scott to develop some of his quilt ideas into patterns.  They are amazing!

Terry Skrabanek invited me to teach at Lone Star Quiltworks and I promised to come up with something special.

One morning Scott and I decided we would simplify one of his star designs.  Ok, ok...here is how that should actually read.  One morning I hounded my son so long that he finally gave in and simplified one of his star designs.  We loved it and we had our pattern!

Terry filled three days of classes with ladies willing to make...well, they didn't know what!  They only knew it needed 5 fabrics.  They were all so delightful and and extremely patient while working without a written pattern.  Quilters are truly wonderful people.

This was probably the most fun I have had bringing a new pattern to life.  Maybe it's because I wasn't the only one in the birthing room!

Take a look at the finished product!  Then see if you recognize any of the beautiful ladies at Lone Star Quiltworks who tested Gimme 5 & Make It Scrappy.

We are now taking pre-orders for the book.  Click here to read all about it!  You can also see it at International Quilt Market and International Quilt Festival in just a couple of weeks!  We'll be in Booth 1027.  Stop by and see all of our new designs!

Blessings,

Top 5 Joys of a Family Business

Have you ever wondered what it's like to work with family?

Turning Twenty® is a family business.  Each of us play a part and each of us love this company. Together we are blessed to breathe life into Turning Twenty® and to serve you!

So, in a spirit of fun...today, I give you

The Top 5 Joys of a Family Business

1.  We have our own "Professional" departments

Photography

Prototype Feedback

Training

Customer Service

Research and Development

Security

Inventory

Logistics

Editing

2.  Our work area is always clean and inventory is always in it's appropriate place

3.  We are always in the office, dressed professionally and ready to work by 8 AM

4.  We always have time for a nutritious and well balanced lunch

5.  Finally, we never, EVER goof off!!

The greatest joy of all though...

and working with them isn't that bad either!

Blessings,

Turning Twenty® is now on Quilting Hub!

Turning Twenty has our own brand identity page on www.QuiltingHub.com. 

As you may know, this is a hybrid between a Facebook page and all those inaccurate shop lists floating around. This community site fixes all the inaccuracy issues, and makes it easier to find shops, brands and events.  

My favorite features are:

• Map of shops along the way (trip planning) - Such a great resource!!
• Shop last verified date (customer/community maintained)
• The ability to view sales and classes in a local calendar

With 800+ listings, 3,000+ events and 17,000+ unique users, we highly recommend Quilting Hub! And...it's free!  

Just click www.quiltinghub.com and register.  Then, we could use your help!  After registering, please make sure to like, fan and rate us!

A truly great resource for quilters!!

Turning Twenty® Is Going Through "The Change"

No!  Not "that" change!  :)

Over the coming weeks you will see some pretty big changes around here!  You may have already noticed our name change.  Let me share our story:

In 1980, I was bitten by the no-so-rare, but life-changing quilt bug.  If you are reading this you must know there is no cure and you never recover from that bite.  Using patterns found in magazines, I learned a little more with each quilt I made.  I had finally found my creative passion!  In time, I began to create my own designs and found tremendous satisfaction in my work.  In 1994, I purchased my first longarm quilting machine and taught myself how to just let go and quilt FREESTYLE!  What fun!!  From this passion, FriendFolks was born!

By 1999, FriendFolks had the pleasure of opening a Quilt Shop on the square in Graham, Texas - the largest square in Texas! Our shop was located in the old Liberty Theater. We made a lot of new "friendfolks" while our shop was open!

In October of 2000, we took our growing business to our very first Quilt Market - WOW - was that fun!  FriendFolks was a success and we made several important connections that began moving us into a new direction...designing and publication.

In 2002, I created Turning Twenty® and FriendFolks was forever changed.  We established FriendFolks Publishing Company and now market our books and patterns to distributors and quilt shops all over the world.

In 2005 we closed our quilt shop to focus entirely on designing and publishing our own patterns.

In 2006, Gary retired and we added digitized machine embroidery to our ever growing line of products.

After 19 years working for a local company, our son, Scott Cribbs, joined FriendFolks.  He is now Director of Warehouse, Distribution and Customer Service.

After 20 years in sales training and corporate management, our daughter, Michelle Barnett, joined FriendFolks.  She is now our Director of Sales and Marketing.

In 2012, Turning Twenty® celebrated it's 10th birthday!  We decided to celebrate by launching an entire new book series and Turning TEN® was born!

Which brings us to today.  We have been so blessed with such amazing friends in this business.  Our customers, shops, and distributors have made us who we are today!  We could never thank you enough for all the love and support you show us each and every day.  We are blessed to have been able to create a family business.  Not many people experience the joy of working with your husband, son and daughter!  Now, our grandchildren are becoming involved in the business.  It's a wonderful life!  

FriendFolks was born in 1994, but we are known around the world as the "Turning Twenty®" people, so this year we decided to officially change our name.  We are now Turning Twenty®!  This launched us into a total makeover of our entire business and thus..."The Change" has begun!!  

Keep watching - you'll be seeing some wonderful things happening as we finish out 2013!

Blessings,

What's new at Turning Twenty?

Are you ready for a new Turning Twenty??  Keep reading for another sneak peek!

First, we are so excited to announce our newest Machine Embroidery CD.  It is in house and ready to ship today!

Our sweet little Sugar Dumplin' is stitched in 12 designs - one for every month of the year.  They each have a different and unique quilt pattern and can be stitched out in 4 different sizes and in redwork or multi color.  They finish out at 24" x 24" making them the perfect wall hanging year round!  Just pop a new one up each month.  No need to redecorate your walls!

The CD includes all 12 Sugar Dumplin' designs and all 12 quilt patterns for $44.95 with free shipping!

Click here for more information or to place your order.

January

July

October

So, who sleeps 3 hours and then sneaks out to the barn to quilt at night?  You guessed it!  Now that Sugar Dumplin' is ready for you, I've turned all my attention to fall market and you know what that means!!  The new designs are just around the corner!  Here is another sneak peek.  Reckon it's a Turning Twenty?  Ahhhh reckon it just might be!!

Keep watching the blog for more sneak peeks as we get closer and closer to launching ALL of our new designs.  Some exciting things happening here!!

Blessings,