This is the first collection from Mia Charro for Free Spirit Fabrics. Mia grew up in Spain. She is a free lance illustrator inspired by the animals and nature that surrounds her.
This might be the first line for Mia, but she is already on the books for a Christmas line as well.
The panel is approx. 24″ x 44″ and has two blocks of the animals pictured here. I’m going to make 22″ floor pillows. Think I will just channel quilt the fabric to give it more body.
The animals could easily be cut apart and inserted into other piecing. I just quilted the block to make a 22″ floor pillow. I still have one block of 4 animals left for another project.
The floral coordinate matches the flowers in their hair. Each of the individual animals shown in the allover measure approx. 2″ x 3″ just to give you an idea of the size.
We thought you might like a little background on the beginnings of Creations. We are two sisters, Kathy & Julie, who have been partners since the late 1980’s in this “adventure”.
I, Kathy, started this journey on February 13th, 1978. Who knew that it could possibly last this long or take so many twists and turns. Most people can’t believe we are celebrating our 44th Anniversary. (Neither can we!)
In 1978 I had been living in Hawaii for 5 years working for Talon zipper company. It was a fun, easy time. I had a convertible sports car (the Midget) and my job took me to all the islands! There is a whole story how I got there, but how far back can we go?
I came back to Kerrville for a visit. Little did I know that mom was plotting to get me home. I was grilled about what was I going to do when I grew up. The answer was always that I would open a fabric store, maybe in Houston, where my sister, Julie, lived. The dream was to have the shop in an old house.
Mom suggested it would be fun to ride around and just look at locations. She said that Kerrville didn’t have a fabric shop. I should have been suspicious then.
We came across this building, of course, without our sign on it. How funny it was that it belonged to one of my parents friends. He just happened to be in the neighborhood and came by to let us in. How convenient! I think there was a plot being hatched.
We looked and somehow it got a bit more serious about actually opening a shop in Kerrville.
I went back to Hawaii with a big decision to make. Was I going to leave my new home, my great job and my friends to come back to my hometown on a business venture. On the airplane ride I decided what the heck and went for it. I quit my job, shipped my car back to California and drove it home in December of 1977.
This is a picture of the opening day at Creations on February 13th, 1978.
There was no business plan, just do it! Without the support of my parents this NEVER would have happened.
This was at the end of the polyester double knit era and we opened with all natural fibers. We had silk, cotton, linen and wool. It was definitely a rough beginning.
On August 4th, 1980 someone broke into our store in the middle of the night, stole a total of $146.28 (our daily total) and set the building on fire. We never did find out who the burglar/arsonist was. Probably for the best. The smoke damage ruined most of our fabric, patterns, notions. Jana Drane, a local customer from day one, and her hubby were there with their Volkswagen van (remember it was the 80’s) to help us remove any salvageable merchandise. As a side note, Jana is still our customer and friend. He hubby still laughs about the van full of fabric that he took home.
This was our opportunity to give it up and go a different direction or just hunker down and start over. We chose the latter and I am so grateful we did.
We began to thrive and in the late 80’s my sister, Julie, joined me as my partner. We were invited to be one of the top ten quilt shops in the country in 1996. We could say the rest is history, but thought we would include a couple of pictures.
Julie – Great Hair!
Julie is the one with the “business savvy” to keep us on the right path all these years. Without her, this ship would have sunk many years ago.
Kathy – Great Glasses!
Kathy is the one with the fabric, machine and sewing knowledge.
Remember, these photos were from the 1980’s!! We have changed a lot since then.
If you enjoyed reading this, next week we’ll look at our mid-years and our move to The Main Street location.
The collective designs of Zen Chic have been some of our favorite lines in the past few years. Their newest, Celestial, ranks right up there. The fact that Moda produces their fabric speaks to the quality.
With so many florals available, it’s fun to have these geometrics to put in the mix.
We love to make “stuff” and sometimes you want fabric with more body than quilting cotton. These next two prints are a combination of cotton and linen which gives a heavier fabric. They are great for totes and purses.
J. Wecker Frisch is one of the most intriguing and clever fabrics artists we have ever seen. You always have to look close to see all the small parts that make up her designs.
Her newest design is the sewing panel and coordinates. Hope you like it as much as we do.
THESE FABRICS SOLD OUT SO QUICKLY THAT THEY ARE NOW ALL ON PRE-ORDER. WE SHOULD HAVE THEM BACK IN STOCK BY LAT APRIL — MAYBE EARLIER BUT THAT IS JUST WISHFUL THINKING!
These two prints are the panels. The girl is 24″ x 44″. The block designs are 44″ x 54″ which would make each block approximately 12″ square.
REMEMBER, ALL OF THESE FABRICS ARE PRE-ORDER AND WILL SHIP WHEN AVAILABLE AND WE ARE HOPING THAT IS APRIL. This print is a border print running parallel to the selvedge. (I haven’t seen the yardage on this one yet, but I am assuming there are 4 repeats across the fabric.)
We were able to order some additional coordinates to go with the focus pieces.
We are so happy we could get these fabrics again as we have had so many requests. We will hold your order until we have the fabrics and then charge your card and ship.
