The lucky denizens of super-crafty Portland, OR will be able to stop by Bolt Fabric Boutique on Friday night from 5-7pm for a casual meet-and-greet with fabric designers Denyse Schmidt and Heather Ross. Check out their new fabric lines and find out more about the great fabrics and classes Bolt has to offer.

Quilting superstar Denyse Schmidt has just released a beautiful new line of fabric called County Fair, featuring the prints you've come to love printed in fresh new colorways on upholstery-weight cotton canvas. There's also a "cheater print" called Patchwork Promenade, which looks like one of Denyse's signature quilt blocks--only it's printed! County Fair will be available in retail stores and online in June 2008.

Jodie from RicRac has been collecting her selvedge scraps for a long time and the results are well worth it--she's made a bag out of them in the past (which we featured here), and now she's back with this beautiful scarf! I love the idea of not letting a single scrap of fabric go to waste, especially when the end result is so unique.

The Sew Mama Sew blog is in the middle of a tutorial contest, and the entries have been amazing (and many!). This entry by Vintage Threads happened to catch my eye. Her step-by-step tutorial shows you how to emboss fabric with a fun design.

These stuffed animals are made from vintage terrycloth reclaimed from towels and washcloths from the 50s through 70s. I love how the patterning is composed on the animal form. Via Cool Hunting.

Kim from Dioramarama has just started up a new blog, True Up, which is devoted solely to fabric. She explains:

"True Up" means to make balanced, straight, square. In sewing, "true up" means making a piece of fabric true to grain with a well-placed cut or rip.

The True Up blog is all fabric news, all the time.

Why fabric? Because you're probably touching some right now, unless you're a nudist on a tile floor who lacks the common courtesy to keep a towel handy. Despite it being a prevalent part of everyone's daily lives, currently there are no blogs devoted solely to fabric.

Well, OK, the fabric universe is huge. This blog focuses on fabric for crafting, quilting, apparel, and home decorating. It's not about sewing, but about fabric for fabric's sake.

This one's going into my RSS Reader for sure. Pictured above are fabrics from the new Heather Ross line, Rabbits and Racecars.

QuiltersBuzz recently posted an interview with designer Sandi Henderson, who shares her free PDF pattern for these frilly Ruffle Pillows, which have of course been made with her signature Ginger Blossom fabric.

Related
HOW TO - Make Large Fabric Panel Wall Art by How About Orange

Sara writes:

This was real fun. If you look at the picture I have used photos of all this: my farm, the landscape you see through the kitchen window, my mother and uncle, one grandson, some textile works of mine, our old dog, a terrace decoration, mixed up with some Dover archives illustrations.

Just leave a comment in this post to enter the giveaway. Please make sure you enter your full name in the comments and you can also add your email address if you are comfortable with it (spell it all out for anti-spam protection). All comments will be closed by 11am PST on Friday, Feb 29th. The lucky winner will be announced Friday evening on the CRAFT blog. Good Luck!

Update 2/28: Great news everyone! Warm Biscuit is now giving away TWO $50 gift certificates! So we'll be announcing two lucky winners tomorrow!

Update Friday 2/29: Thanks for everyone who entered! This giveaway is now closed.

I'm falling hard for Anna Maria Horner's new fabric collection for the home called "Drawing Room".

Anna writes:

I injected some truly saturated and clear colors in the Eccentric palette of Drawing Room that would invite anyone inside for a sit. And the Nostalgic palette is just as rich but has a few earthier tones for balance. There are many conversations to be had between both palettes, so play at will.

To see all the swatches of fabric in the collection, see more at Anna Maria Horner's site here. - Link.

Chickpea Sewing Studio shares a PDF tutorial for making these eye-catching fabric pinwheels, which she turned into a fun mobile. Link.

We've all seen those retro skeleton teeshirts, but this handmade tee by Etsy seller Takeahalliday takes it one step further, creating a whole slew of internal organs out of layers of appliquéd fabric. Gutsy! Link.

Walter and Veronica took inspiration from a piece of Etsuko Furuya fabric and turned the design into a gender-neutral mural for their son's room (which will also serve as a nursery for their forthcoming second child). The execution is absolutely amazing! You can check out more photos on their blog, which also links to the tutorial they did for Apartment Therapy. Link.

Retro Clean is a powder created especially to remove age spots and and enhance the colors in your fragile and faded vintage linens. I can see this product coming in really handy for thrift-happy crafter types! Simply soak your items in Retro Clean for up to two days--it works best when exposed to sunlight, yet won't bleach the fabric. Check out their website to order Retro Clean by the pound and to check out before and after testimonials. Link.