Tula Pink

Where have I been? What have I been doing? Don’t I love you anymore? These are all valid questions. I have left the bright lights and big hair of Dallas and made my way to a quieter place. The people of this little town call it Stewartsville but I have renamed it in my honor. Welcome to Pinkerville! I moved into the little farm house down the road from my Mom. This will be the fourth state I have lived in in less than 3 years. Change is obviously not something I fear any longer, that and the Department of Motor Vehicles.

I have done the big city thing, the suburb thing, the college town thing now it’s time to tackle the small town thing. I haven’t been here long but I have learned a lot. I have learned how to drive on ice and consequently fear for my life and the life of others every time I get behind the wheel. I have learned that mice travel in herds and they really like avocados, I have bought more groceries for them than I have for myself. I have learned that there are not enough words in the English language to describe a dramatic drop in temperature, all though the ones that do exist are mostly of the four letter variety. I have learned how to make my own coffee, since the nearest Starbucks is more than 20 miles away. I didn’t even think that was possible, I stand corrected. Most importantly I have learned that two little girls with big blue eyes that call me big sister can get me to do absolutely anything (no matter how uncomfortable crawling on all fours making pony noises can be).

Aside from my on going battle with nature I have been very busy. I am working on some new fabrics and making a ton of stuff that I will be sharing in some upcoming posts including a few projects for magazines that will coincide with the release of Neptune. To keep myself busy I am helping my Mom out at her Quilt Shoppe. So if you need any fabric cut and find yourself in the Northwest Missouri area then stop by and see me, I am there almost every day.

So here it is! I am so proud of this collection that I could spit, if spitting didn’t totally gross me out. I have been making tons of stuff out of this and can’t wait to actually finish something so I can show it to you. I suppose you have already guessed the theme, it’s dogs! Just kidding. I grew up on the coast so this is especially special to me. It feels like home. I am landlocked here is Dallas so Neptune is a little tribute to what I miss most about California, the ocean. It was freakin’ cold so I didn’t go in it all that much but I looked at it a lot and that’s gotta count for something, right? Neptune will be hitting the shops in March. It will give you something to look forward to through the winter.

Even Jane voted! Just kidding she is obviously too young. I was going to post a picture of me voting but Jane is sooooooo much cuter. She even brought a cookie! What a prepared little patriot. I brought a whole bunch of writing to work on in line and then found out that almost everyone in Dallas County voted early and breezed right through.

Anywhoo, I am not going to talk politics because I firmly believe in the separation of craft and state but I will say this… Voting is super cool, it makes you look younger, thinner and taller like vertical stripes. You should do it even if it’s just because all of the other kids are doing it.

I am really only posting because I think Jane is the cutest and thought you should all get a look at her.

This is a picture of the quilt I made for Neptune. I am really excited about it and I think it’s my best quilt ever. I worked on it with Lissa Alexander, the marketing director for Moda, and it turned out awesome. It is hanging in our booth which had a bake shop theme and was devastatingly adorable, if you ask me.

Below is my new collection of quilting cottons, Neptune. I am super excited about this group and can’t wait for y’all to get your crafty little hands on it. I think this may be my best yet. I will be giving the full details here shortly. I just need a moment to catch my breath.

So Quilt Market has come and Gone. I am about ready to fall asleep right here at my desk. If I have keyboard marks on my forehead please just ignore them. With all of the excitement of meeting and greeting, selling and smiling I am left with only a few pictures to my credit but possibly of the most important event that took place at the Moda booth this fall.

That’s right, I am talking about Applesauce Ball 2008! The question burning in every-one’s mind is this… What do a bunch of designer’s do after 5 days without sleep, a wide open space and a bag of apples? No, it’s not a riddle it’s simply a series of circumstances that lead to the inevitable.

mmmmm. Tastey!

Naturally we play baseball with them. It took us a few tries to actually hit one, like I said we are “designers” not athletes. Once we did it was sweet apple pie for everyone! The unexpected burst of tiny apple bits flying everywhere was more than enough to put our giggles over the edge after a long week. Several innings later we were left only with these small remnants and a sore pitching arm.

Oh the aftermath!

This is what happens when the doors close and we are left to our devices on anything but our best behavior. We had 3 hours to pack up our gigantic booth and be back on a plane to Dallas, which got cancelled, and in our offices 12 hours later. I wait months for Quilt market to come and then it all seems to be over in a blink. Now I can barely move and if I happen to spell any of this right or complete a coherent sentence than I will consider today a success.

I am off to Quilt Market, I leave tomorrow morning and I won’t be back for about a week or so. I will have so much to show you that your heads will explode! It’s going to be fantastic, I swear.

In my absence I am leaving you with this… A lovely little Etsy shop, appropriately named KatinkaPinka, is making these adorable wrap skirts out of Nest. I think they are the best! I have bought a lot of jewelry from her store, she has great style and chickens! She lives in a pink Victorian house with her chickens, 2 magic bunnies, a bunch of kitties, 3 pups, some finches and a dove. Say what? That sounds like some sort of Tula Pink fantasy park! Maybe my next fabric collection will be a KatinkaPinka tribute collection. Hmmm, I will get started on that, after Quilt Market that is.

I will see some of you this weekend and the rest of you when I get back but I will never stop thinking about you.

It’s like the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine meets the Titanic. I guess that makes the little scuba diver swimming away from the sunken ship Leo. Ringo is on the submarine getting checked out by a seal and the octopus is just there to passively observe the whole affair.

This is all I’ve got this week. Man, I’m tired. I actually drove away from Starbucks this morning without my coffee. The guy in his little apron chased me half way down the street. How’s that for service! I guess when you serve uppers to grumpy tired people at 6 a.m. you get used to that sort of behavior.

Because I am a lady of my word… Here are a few more answered questions plus some handy visual aides!

Step 1: Draw it out

Step 2: Outline and fill. I usually work in black and white at this stage but to make the post look pretty I colored it all up.

Step 3: Add darks to define depth

Step 4: Add lights

Step 5: Repeat and fill background.

Kim: I would love to know more about how your designs get from graph paper sketch to fabric.

Tula P: See Above. I draw and redraw and redraw… I work out the whole design on paper first. I think there is more fluidity in the hand than going straight to the computer. It is a useful tool but it is just that , a tool, much like a pencil or a fancy ruler. It will only do what you ask it to do so you better have a darn good idea of what that is.

Scott: So you are a sales rep and a designer?

Tula P: Actually I am NOT a sales rep. I work for moda as a designer as my day job and then I work on my fabric independently. When market time comes around they pull in non-sales-rep-types to handle the overflow, double booked appointments and new accounts. So I keep pretty busy but it is not my job. The sales reps are infinitely more talented at it than I am. I only do it twice a year so I start to get the hang of it about 2 hours before market closes.

Happy Zombie: Since you’re from SoCal… who would you most like to see wearing something made from your fabric… Frosty, Heidi or Frank?

Tula P: I would like to see all three of them in a Camel costume. Frosty can be the back side, Frank can be the head and Heidi can be the lump in the middle. If only the world bowed to my very simple desires… sigh.

Holly: How long from drawing to fabric availability?

Tula P: It’s about a year from when I start conceptualising the group to store delivery. These drawings that I have been showing you were started about 7 months ago, finished in July and the fabric samples have been in my possession since August. The advanced yardage should be arriving in the next week or two (for sample quilts and swatches for the sales reps) and will debut at Quilt Market in October. This collection should start arriving in stores sometime around March.

The timing is really hard to get used to especially when you have a real time blog. This blog is usually about 6 months behind what I am actually working on.

Rosemary: Can I request some anchors in the line?

Tula P: There is a whole print dedicated to anchors!

There were three questions from the last RVPU (see title above, I am from Southern California and therefore must abbreviate everything). I plan on answering them here. I am so glad that someone actually cares about these pencil sketches! If you have any other questions about my process or almost anything else, leave me a comment and I will answer it on the next post.

Okay, down to business…

Marlene asked: Why do you sketch on graph paper?

Tula P. says: I sketch on graph paper because I am neurotic. Every scrap of paper in my studio is most likely on a grid. The paper I use for sketching fabric is a 10×10 line per inch transparent vellum. It’s like a heavy tracing paper with itty bitty grid lines. The grid helps me keep track of size and repeats. I draw to scale most of the time. It helps me keep things even and balanced and allows me to keep track of how much surface I have covered so I can engineer the repeat.

Myth asked: Can you post bigger shots of your sketches?

Tula P. says: I don’t post them larger because of loading time. The pics are meant to be more like a snapshot rather than something you can actually print or blow up. I will work on it though, I promise.

Pam asked: Will you be at Quilt Market in October?

Tula P. says: Yes! I will be in the Moda booth sellin’ all the new fabrics. I give a good pitch I think. The best part is showing my line and watching peoples faces. Most people don’t know what I look like so they speak frankly, sometimes it’s good and sometimes it’s not. The first time I ever showed Flutterby the customer took one look at it and said, “Yuck! Pass!”. I wrote that one down in my sketch book under First Customer Interaction. I wish I had it (and the look on my face) on tape, it was priceless! Good thing my mom was there to tell me that I am awesome and other validating mom-like things.

I’m not lazy, just busy. I swear I’m thinking about you every minute.