I'm having a virtual party right here, right now! Kick your slippers up and watch my video. Shipping worldwide as I write this, Spring Shimmer is supported by patterns and projects designed specifically for this collection and I can finally share them with you here. There are 26 shimmery cotton prints and my design inspiration showcased in the video. Plus 8 projects highlighted in the lookbook, and they are gorgeous...Sure to get you in the mood to start dreaming of honey bees, butterflies and warm sunny days. With all the goodness in video and lookbook, it's too much to  digest all the details in just one post, so here's the plan:
1. Video highlights entire collection and design inspo plus the Kona/Essex Coordinate Precut Bundles. Purchase here.
2.Lookbook filled with 8 projects to get your creative thoughts stoked. Each pattern has info where to purchase and fabrics/yardage needed. Please support these wonderful makers who work so hard on very tight deadlines to make this available to you. Most of us are super small businesses and rely on your patronage. Makers listed here: Assembly Line tunic, Rachel Rossi Tiny Dancer, Noodlehead Poolside Tote, Hello Stitch Five Star. Then Came June  also put together a wonderful blog post about her Shimmer Paper Cuts Quilt. 
3. Future blog posts will show projects in more detail to help you create with ease.
4. If you are a shop and want to jumpstart your classes, kits, or need details a bit more quickly, email me at jennifersampou@gmail.com and I will get you info to be successful with your planning. 

This lookbook was so fun to put together and FULL of ideas, inspiration and info about the makers and fabrics used. If you are a shop and buy wholesale, please get in touch with Robert Kaufman to purchase bolts and precuts. 

Log Cabin Star Quilt will be highlighted and detailed in next post! It's soooo hard to wait! I'll hurry up;)

Then Came June  Wrote a blog post with lots of great photos, details and pattern PDF. 

Switching gears, I am part of a new platform called CREATIVE SPARK Online Learning and it's awesome. If you have never taken an online class or want to learn more about the teachers presenting, we have a FREE YouTube LIVE presentation this Monday, November 16th at 12noon PST. Here is thelink. Bring your lunch, brunch or dinner! It's open to the whole world! Plus I have a LIVE online class December 5th (3+ weeks away) and there are some spots left so join the party :) Hope to see you there!

Stay healthy and wear your mask! 
​xo

LIVE STARTING TODAY!! You're invited to check it out as Alex and I talk about my history as a fabric designer, important quilts, SKY Ombre fabrics, how they are designed, printed and used, which includes a free download of SKY STAR OMBRE PILLOW. Plus a peek in my studio. Special guests also include the fabulous  JULIE SILBER and JOE CUNNINGHAM.
First I'd like to share the behind scenes....There is a bumpy, circuitous story behind the planning and filming of my appearance on The Quilt Show #2706 which begins airing TODAY! Sept 6th 2020. A year ago I was getting ready to launch my new book, Ombre Quilts and SKY ombre fabrics was in Kaufman’s warehouse getting ready to ship to stores worldwide, Alex had let me know that my new stuff would be fun to share with her group. Normal stuff: Book highlights, Taping The Quilt Show in Colorado per usual, getting in touch with production team, figure out the project etc...

Our story gets interesting a few months later at the creative Craft Napa event, Jan 2020 when Alex and I spontaneously whisked ourselves to the middle of downtown Napa, squeezed into a crowded sushi bar, and luckily found an open cocktail table, wedged in between chatty diners. Even luckier to score two odd chairs, just happy to plunk ourselves down and absorb the vibrant surroundings: We were famished and ready to Join in!  Like a couple of  chatty Kathys, we were off and running about lots of industry news, what we were excited about, classes we were teaching and taking.  Just happy to catch up....We have been friends for years- but you know how busy we all get and I have just come to accept it’s impossible to keep up with all, so an evening out, just the two of us, is a very special treat! I bet you didn’t know Alex had hosted a baby shower for me back in 1998 when my first born was an infant! That was a lifetime ago~ Look how young we were! Hahahahaha. 

The Quilt Show production usually happens in Colorado, was now moving and there were LOTS OF UNKNOWNS. The way they worked and crew she and Ricky had to rely on was changing and would I be willing to be the first filming ginuea pig so to speak. “Sure” I said, we are all in this together!  Let’s continue... End of January, we were at Quilt Con in Austin and we planned that my filming was scheduled to be in March with an audience or potentially a field piece in Texas, the new location! “I’ll roll with it. Whatever you guys want to do. Just let me know when and where to fly into!” Famous last words! ​

Then end of January arrived and my husband and I got really sick. For over a week with dry cough, fever and we felt like zombies. We hadn’t been this sick in years. Then we finally got better. Was it the flight? Was it the big show? The running narrative was that maybe we got COVID 19 while at Quilt Con??? We seriously didn’t think we had....but today I wonder.Our doctors don't recommend getting tested as it's completely unreliable. Anyway, filming was delayed and not just because we had been sick but the CDC information coming daily was serious and this pandemic was in the USA. Scientists and doctors giving us daily reports of the situation and NYC was a terrible mess. The Quilt Show could not film now and talk of May/June was on the table...Then it creeped into July...Stay tuned was the best we all could do. AND we did. 

So in the end, it went smoothly, and yes, Alex has hosted a SAFE HOUSE PARTY in which you all are invited. Plus I offer a free pattern through both mine and The Quilt Show’s website that makes a super easy sawtooth star pillow with just one half yard of my ombre fabric. SO I hope you get a chance to watch and tune in. If you are not a member, I'll have the link which I am posting on Sept 13 and it’s live for just one week for free watching for my mailing list peeps, compliments of Alex and Ricky.

So amidst this terrible pandemic, lots of moving parts were happening with the excellent people of The Quilt Show and I are so proud to be a part of this historic time when Alex and friends are doing their best to keep upbeat, creative and sharing with all of you. Freddie Moran and Sujata Shaw is a favorite show too, a must watch and showed the one before me. 

So if you like what you see, stop by my website and pick up a bundle of 6 fabrics to make the Modern Madras Table Runner I talk about, a signed book or any other treats we have. Hope you are all staying safe. California is still burning although many blazes are under control, one began last night called THE CREEK FIRE and it's already burned 40,000 acres and as I write this, we are at our cabin in Tahoe and the sky outside is an eerie brown. A colorway I definitely do not get inspired by. Keep your loved ones close. 
Keep on making!
​with love,

Hi All! You know how much I love SHIMMER with its pearlescent print on top of gorgeous, hand drawn designs. I am so thrilled to be introducing my SIXTH Shimmer Collection with Robert Kaufman! 26 vibrant, sophisticated 100% premium cotton prints produced in Japan. I complied my photos and files of inspiration for months, revisiting and curating the best ones tucked in a special folder labeled SPRING SHIMMER 2020 long before we actually got here. I begin at least a year in advance and the collection evolves and projects are dreamed up to the last minute! Drawing, painting, pitching colors, creating mood boards to solidify my visual dreams of which I love to share with you. So here it is, I hope you love it.

Official releases are when RKC account managers can finally show the world a new collection yet it feels like forever until it gets to the makers! SPRING SHIMMER ships worldwide November 2020 so be sure to ask your favorite shop to stock up for you! We have put together a fabulous LookBook featuring 8 projects all with patterns from myself, Noodlehead, Then Came June, Assembly Line, Rachel Rossi and Hello Stitch! Great stuff I think you'll love. I will be rolling out the projects over the next few months so not to overwhelm in one blog post! Plus I've selected 20 essex and yummy basics that coordinate with the prints. More eye candy below.

Keep making everyone! On somedays its the only thing that really fills me up, to get lost in the beauty of color, fabric and creating. It feels so good. Busy hands quiet the mind. 
Sending blessings and love to all. See you again soon!
​xo

Us makers tend to do pretty well hunkered down in our nests as we feather our surroundings, creating heart felt textiles to express ourselves and give to loved ones. We're used to writing TO DO lists in our creative spaces, making in isolation often, contemplating piles of fabric, reorganizing our collections, deciding what project we're gonna work on next. But after this long spell of hunkering down? What's going on for you? Some days I relish the solitude and others I feel downright awful and blue. Yesterday, I felt like a cat trapped in the dryer that keeps churning round and round on Air Fluff: Disoriented and aimless...Yup... I have Covid Brain. 

What to do?  Be in nature. Count blessings. Help others. Exercise. Stick to a project. Give to charities. Make masks. Zoom with friends and family.  I wanted to share that this Memorial Day weekend, I am donating 100% of PDF Sales to Meals on Wheels America. If there is a pattern or Ombré Quilts Book you've been holding off on, you get a double bonus. All of your dollars go directly to this great charity and you get the pattern too. A win-win! We all know the elderly need more care now than ever. 

Speaking of elderly, anyone watching Leslie Jordan on Instagram right now? I bust out laughing! A delightful southern, gay sexegenarian tickling all my funny bones with his daily quips and stories delivered in a thick Tennessee drawl. Interior decorating, nosepapers, mood boards (aka hot pics of Dylan McDermott) mama's recipes etc... I love him. Who else makes me smile? George and Eliot: Denyse Schmidt's kitties. She posts entertaining clips of their mischief making.  Her keen observations, I believe, cross into every aspect of life. To connect with a range of makers, I watch Pokey Bolton's IGTV where she has just finished her 47th day of interviewing creatives in our industry. What a gift she has given all of us, and if you can't watch it live, its on her feed. She's relaxed, inquisitive and having candid conversations with so many interesting people. This makes me happy. Enjoy the images of color, humanity and kitty beans. Keep making. Stay in touch. Take care and be kind to yourself and others