I''ve Been Searching For You For So Long!!

I love a skirted vanity table. There is nothing more feminine and indulgent to place in a bedroom or dressing room. Over the years I have had bases made by my carpenter or I have redressed antique bases but I have never been able to find a source for new table bases that are sturdy enough to withstand daily use.



Once a vanity is skirted it is very heavy and the weight of the fabric can buckle a cheap table base. What is the use of fabricating a beautiful table skirt if it is unusable?




Meet my new friend from Ready to Cover ! She is sturdy, made from furniture quality MDF, no cheap particle board here. She is finished, sanded, and ready to paint. The boxed base makes her sturdy and able to hold the weight of the most complex and multi-layered skirts. She comes with a knee hole that is hiding a storage shelf inside.
And what's that peaking out from under the table top - a drawer? Hallelujah... Available in four sizes from 30" wide to 40" wide.


They have even designed fabulously clever arms to which the skirt is attached. These arms swing out to easily expose the drawer and storage beneath for quick access. Fantastic!!!


The finished product is not only beautiful but sturdy, durable and functional..I am so impressed with this table I can't wait to try one out. Ready to Cover also sells the glass tabletop protectors to fit all of their tables.



The vanity table has some siblings which include ready to cover round table bases in two styles; the standard four legged table (I've never been a fan of this design as they can be unstable on carpet and the legs can loosen over time)



The big sister of the four legged table is this sturdy, well built, MDF, box style table with storage shelves. This table will carry considerable weight and will be as stable as any traditional wood bedside table. I love this !!! It's available in a multitude of sizes from 18" to 36" round.

On top of great design and construction, all of these items are extremely well priced.

They also offer premade upholstered screen bases a, headboard bases, and cornice forms.



Update: Just received this email from Ready to Cover

Hi Jackie, I just stumbled across your wonderful post…thank you so much for mentioning us!

I wanted to let you know we have a free TRADE membership for interior designers / decorators which includes discounted pricing and a nice printed brochure (in progress!) as well the ability to order cornice boards (cornices aren’t available to consumers)

Those were some nice skirted photos you found, I really like that first one and am trying to work with a local upholster to get one made so we can put photos on our site.

In the blog post I noticed in the description you mentioned “Meet my new friend from Ready to Cover ! She is sturdy, made from furniture quality MDF, no cheap particle board here. She is finished, sanded, and ready to paint. The boxed base makes her sturdy and able to hold the weight of the most complex and multi-layered skirts. She comes with a knee hole that is hiding a storage shelf inside.”

Our vanity tables are actually made from cabinet grade plywood – which is actually even stronger than MDF! I believe quality is important which as you mentioned is a big factor when skirting a table as well and that’s why we use the heavy duty stuff on all our tables (except the MDF kit you have pictured at the bottom)

Thanks for the Update!

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Unsung Heros - Thanks a Zillion

When I travel and meet with people who have my books it is such a thrill for me to hear how much they have enjoyed them and how they are making their jobs a bit easier. I always think about all of the work that goes into writing a book and what it takes to bring it to market.

My Fabulous Editor - Madge Baird

When you first decide to write a book, especially one that is going to end up being almost 600 pages with thousands of illustrations, charts, graphs, etc, you really have no idea how much work it is going to require. You also don't know that it would be an impossible goal to achieve without the help of a very talented and hard working team of people who actually know what they are doing to help you along the way. My main miracle worker at Gibbs Smith Publisher is my editor Madge Baird.
Yes, her name is Madge - isn't that perfect?!! If you looked up the word editor in an encyclopedia I think you would find her picture. I love telling people that my editors' name is Madge - it sounds so literary! She is an amazing women who has put together my two books so beautifully from the raw (sometimes very raw) materials that I have given her. I am so excited for you to see what she has done with the Bedding book - it's fabulous. Anyway, thank you Madge from the bottom of my heart for making my dreams come true. I hope we can create more beautiful books together soon.

The Adorable Melissa Dymock

My next hero is Melissa Dymock, she's the one holding the "We Work for Books" bag! She has the unpleasant task of keeping all of my illustrations and other content for the book in order. This is no small task. For each book there are about 2600 drawings, half in color, half in black and white. They have to be number separately for the manuscript and then re-numbered for the CD-Rom. She is the poor soul that has to hound me to find or re-draw missing images that I swear I had included but of course I have not! I don't envy her task because it drives me crazy doing it on my end and I think I know where everything is. For her it must be like putting together a giant jigsaw puzzle. Thanks Melissa! I'll be mailing that surprise I promised you soon...

I also appreciate the support and encouragement I have received from Suzanne Taylor and Christopher Robbins, two of the big wigs at GS. I think they took quite a chance on me in the beginning as my book was definitely not the norm for them. It had no beautiful glossy photographs or fancy prose. Just hundreds of drawings of window treatments. I am so thankful that they had the vision to see that there just might be something there.

There are many others at Gibbs Smith whom I have never met that contribute to putting my books together and I would like them all to know how grateful I am.

Writing and illustrating my books has been such a fabulous experience for me and it has opened so many doors and allowed me to meet so many wonderful people that I would never have encountered without it.

If you have a dream - don't be afraid to follow it - it could just lead you into a whole new world full of fun.........

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Fabulous Fun at Quilt Market or Traveling Part II

The second leg of our recent trip was packed with firsts for me. I'd never been to Pittsburgh, I have never attended a Quilt market and I was about to meet some fellow bloggers and extraordinarily gifted and creative women whom I had become friends with through the blogosphere. First I have to say that Pittsburgh was not at all the dark smokey industrial city I had imagined. It is green and beautiful and looks like a great place to live. We thought there were no cameras allowed at the show so I've had to borrow these great shots from other bloggers who were more prepared. Thanks




My first stop was at Michael Miller Fabrics and the inspirational booth of a new blogging pal the super talented interior designer and fabric maven Paula Prass. My good friend Kay Ellen Hammer introduces us via the web. Her fabrics are vibrant and full of color and energy which pretty much describes Paula as well. I didn't get a chance to visit with her for more than a moment at the show but spent about an hour with her on the phone yesterday. She is a sweetheart and is my kind of gal.



Let me tell you that there is a whole lot more than quilting going on at this show. Fabulous patterns for purses, kids clothing, home decor, and everything else under the sun are for sale at every booth. Paula line in particular is suited for home dec sewing.



Some of the displays were just adorable and the whole show was chock full of inspiration and new ideas. Loved these aprons displayed over tutus - Yummm

Met the queen of Midwest Modern, Amy Butler. She is one of those gals that just exudes style. Her booth was fresh and clean and swamped with devotees of her fresh style. This entire show was packed by the way and I am told that this is the years "small " show with the Fall show in Houston each year being the "big one".




Another blog buddy, designer Jennifer Paganelli ( sorry couldn't find a picture of her adorable booth) introduced me to new fabric designer Vickie Payne who was introducing a home dec fabric line. Loved her bold use of color and classic motifs that had a very current edge to them. I'm sure she will do very well with this new line which I understand is a departure from the norm at the Quilt show.




Lila Tueller is a Utah girl and is too cute for words. She actually made her mannequin friend with a pvc framework and some stuffing. Isn't she great? this was my daughter Angelica's favorite booth and I wish I had taken pictures. She had the greatest idea for creating simple fabric covers for those inexpensive fabric globe party lights. Angelica wants to make dozens of them. You can barely see one hanging in the back of this photo.





There were samples of bedding here along with the many quilts and traditional goods.




This fabric line, Thimble Blossoms is a mother daughter team and the daughter lives right here in Las Vegas. I tried to meet her but her booth was always full. I'll have to stalk her and track her down here in town.





Patty Young is a fabric designer whose blog I read and she posted right before market of how her husband had built this great booth in their garage and just as they had put the finishing touches on the garage door was mistakenly hit and the door took the booth down in one fell swoop! What a nightmare - luckily her talented hubby was able to put it back together and it looked great.





I've got to say that my eyes have been opened to a whole new busy bustling world of fabric and soft goods construction. I had no idea until just a few months ago that this world even existed and I am so glad I stumbled upon it - just another happy coincidence of blogging!!! Can't wait to go to the October show in Houston......

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4 Months 24 -7 Later - A Collection is Taking Shape

Ok Buddies - here it is, the first cut of the JVT Collection for Adaptive Textiles. 18 classically hip patterns in three distinct colorways sure to fit your every need and desire! The suzani pattern was inspired by one of the first blogs I began reading years ago now - All the Best. Rhonda loves suzanis and ikats and I learned quite a bit from her blog about them.




This grouping is tentatively named happy because that's how I feel when I look at it. This whole "naming" thing is much harder than it seems. You want to give your creations names that are descriptive yet catchy without sounding cutesy or overly serious. Not an easy task....




The groupings are designed to mix well together with similar and contrasting colors. We are still working on ground cloth selection. There will be a generous helping of organic cottons along with a smattering of washed linens and linen cotton blends.





The corner piece of this group called Bouquet, is the Birds & Branches toile which was inspired by my friend Joni from Cote de Texas. I set out to design a fabric that captured her aesthetic and this is what came to life.




Choosing the colorways was extremely difficult. I whittled some patterns down from 10 colors to 3 or 4. The toile and damask will be available in the most colors as they are the most versatile patterns. I could have had a zillion colors - it's so hard to choose so few.




These choices were selected from well over 100 patterns and colorways. I feel so guilty about those who didn't make the cut. They have been abandoned and may never see the light of day! I'm not used to editing myself as you must know if you have my book! I just include everything.... Oh well, hopefully I will find some use for them in the future. Sorry my little babies.


This group is called Moon Flower - I don't know why, it just came to me when trying to describe the large floral design on the bamboo trellis. I love the geometric shapes in this group and I must upholster something in the zebra stripe immediately. Preferably a beautiful antique french chaise lounge for my boudoir!



This grouping owes it's inspiration to my long time blogging pal the uber talented Patricia Gray and the wizard of interior color blogger Toby Fairley. I have learned some seriously insightful lesson from both of their bodies of work and have tried to apply some of it here.



I can't wait to put the finishing touches on all of these and figure out what cloth they will be printed on. Jeanelle Dech of Adaptive Textiles and I met at the Window Fashions Expo to discuss new options for groundcloth and I can't wait to see what she sends me. The pattern is only as good as the cloth it's printed on!

If you are reading this post, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, comment and give me some feedback on the designs that I have chosen. Which is your favorite? Which ones do you think still need some work? Which ones would you drop altogether? I would so appreciate any input you can give me. I really want to design a collection that is appealing to others besides myself - so I need your insight.. Don't be shy, tell me like it is.

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Whew - What a Great Trip !! Here's Some Highlights

Debbie Green of Minutes Matter & Studio & Me

I'm back from my whirlwind tour of creative trade shows starting with the International Window Fashions Expo in Atlanta. It was a great show despite our current economy and I was so encouraged to see how enthusiastic and positive all of the attendees and vendors were. Vision magazine did an absolutely fabulous job of managing the show and putting on some great educational seminars and industry events. Thanks to Grace McNamara and her staff for providing such an invigorating and vital opportunity for our industry. I look forward to attending again next year!


Here's the Minutes Matter booth - always one of the most crowded spots on the show floor and not just because they were giving away fresh popcorn!

Pate Meadows Patterns

Just behind the Minutes Matter booth was Pate Meadows my favorite pattern design co. They introduced four new fabulous and truly innovative patterns this show. As always they were made up in the cutest selection of fabrics. These gals really know their stuff.

My daughter Angelica loved the York Wall coverings and Fabrics booth. They had beautiful dresses made up of wallpaper on mannequins in their display that were works of art.

As always the designer vignettes were fantastic. I forgot to write down who designed who so if you are responsible for one of the great treatments I am showing please let me know and I will add your name. Here are two very different designs using the same fabric. Love Them!



I liked this geometric fabric and the way the designer utilized it to form a dramatic border on the panel.

design by Robin Mcallister

This was Angelica's favorite vignette - I loved it to! The window treatment is great but I also loved the pillows, the mini chaise lounge and the surrounding wallpaper and draped walls. These vignettes are much harder to put together than you would think and it is a challenge to give the illusion of a real space with such a limited amount of room. I think this one did a great job of hitting those points.


Love the pillows and the combination of fabrics and trims.


Me and Angelica - this picture doesn't show how much my feet hurt - Ouch!!!


This treatment was truly innovative. The designer used glass mosaic tiles as a trimming element to create the square pattern on the leading edge of the panels and cornice. The addition of the beaded fringe on the swags and cascades balanced it out and the overall effect was reallly dramatic.



I was really excited to see a few treatments at the show that might possibly have been influenced by my book. This one was a real standout - I adored it!


Here I am with my fellow award winners at the WOW Awards ceremony. We had a great time. Congratulations to all of my fellow recipients your work was truly outstanding. Can't wait to see what you all come up with next year!

Check out my next post for more from the show including new hardware and beautiful bedding. See you then ......

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I'm at the Window Fashions Expo in Atlanta, GA to see what's new in window fashion design and technology and there's pleanty to look at. The show is not as crowded as in past years due to the economy but that hasn't kept forward thinking companies from putting their best foot forward to show their new and exciting offereings for this year.

Pate Meadows is a fantastic pattern company known for their unique design style and terrific use of pattern. They have introduced four new patterns that appeal to the modern aesthetic of pared down, siplified style. I love the new designs and the fascinating way they are put together. Sometimes simplicity can really be brilliant.

Of course Minutes Matter & Studio are here promoting the new 3.0 Studio release with all of it's enhanced features and functionality. They're also doing a great job selling the Jackie Von Tobel design modules and my book. What a great group of people! I am so fortunate to have become part of their oprganization. " at the WOW awards last night.

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Back in Action

I did not mean to abandon you my blog friends but I've been the victim of a complete technological breakdown over the last couple of weeks. It began with an aging laptop that decided it had been abused and overused and refused to boot up or preform its expected duties. Once it was apparent that it wasn't going to cooperate without a complete overhaul I broke down and bought a new desktop PC.



All was well for a few days until our cable Internet crashed. After navigating the treacherous audio phone interview system with the local cable co we were told that there had been several outages in our area but it had not been confirmed as a hardware problem yet. We would have to call the next day to see if it had been declared and then they would be able to schedule a service call. Sound ridiculous? Yes!!



Day 2: Endured the 1/2 hour phone interview again required to reach a technician to see if there was indeed a cable crisis in my neighborhood. I was told that there was no such event! Miraculously they had found the problem. They had decided to randomly discontinue the signal to my particular model of cable modem which has been functioning quite well for a few years now. Why? I have no idea. Could it be they wanted me to plop down the $50 bucks for a new one even though mine worked just fine? No!!!! Why could they have not told me this on day 1?

I'm beginning to start jonesing for my MSN homepage. No email, no blog, no face book. Would I survive. Told the hubby to go get me a new modem, stat!



Day 3: My husband in his infinite technological wisdom decided he would go buy his own wireless modem in case our now aging wireless router also decided to take a dive. He was assured by the cable geek at the end of the endless electronic phone call that this is ok and he would have no problem hooking it up. He made the sojourn to Best Buy and bought a shiny new Motorolo modem which promised to have me up and running again in no time.



By now I'm practically frothing at the mouth and having hot and cold flashes ( no not those kind) I had no idea how integral the Internet had become in my daily life. It seemed like every function I had to preform was somehow tied to the web. I had important stuff going on: last minute book edits before my printing deadline next week, changes in fabric samples for the Window Fashions Expo, Blog stalking, etc.





Day 4: The hubby hooks up the new modem and makes yet another techno call to the cable co. He endures the 1/2 hour set up interview and finally gets to a live human. They say they have done everything they can do on their end and there must be a hardware problem on our end. My husbands head is about to explode!!!! He reins in his furor and asks them to schedule an appointment ASAP noting that we had already been without cable for an unacceptable four days. They said the earliest possible appointment was in four days. A few expletives later and the appointment was set.


Four days - how could I go another four days? I thought of my pal Joni trapped last year in Houston after the hurricane for days with no Internet hunkered in her car listening to the radio for any kind of information. Would it come to that for me? How would I survive?



Day 5: Decided to take the laptop which was gasping for it's last breath to the Coffee Bean my hubby's home away from home and hook up to their wi-fi. I got it fired up, logged on and the damn thing crashed immediately. After several tries it was clear that this was not going to happen. Had to take the laptop to Best Buy, home of the non-functioning brand new modem for a diagnostic to see what the heck was wrong with it.

Had to make actual phone calls to people and talk to them voice to voice to let them know that I had not been kidnapped by South American terrorists, I had just lost my Internet connection. They all gave me that, oh-I understand, response that makes you feel like you just told your third grade teacher that your dog ate your homework. Much fun!!!



Fast forward Day 7: I am awaiting the cable man with all of the anticipation of an addict looking to score some crystal meth. Every time the dogs bark I run to the front door only to be disappointed. Finally 3:38 he arrives - my hero - here to free me from the prison of electronic solitude. He fiddles around with the equipment outside - he fiddles around with equipment inside - he calls someone on the phone and says " I don't know what the problem is here, it must be on your end. A bitter battle ensues between service technician and phone operator. It's your fault - no it's your fault. The grand conclusion - we can't hook up your new modem. We don't know why but we just can't.

My response - I don't care what you do, I don't care what it costs, I just want my freaking. &***%*#(#***$*$**%*%* cable working NOW!!!!!!!!! The solution - they sold me their $50 cable modem that is the exact same model as the one the hubby bought except for the fact that it is not wireless. Miraculously he plugged that thing in and the little row of lights that had remained blinking on the other modem all week lit up like a Christmas tree on this one.



My husband is now looking forward to yet another trip to Best Buy to try to return his modem purchase. Perhaps he can pick up my laptop which has supposedly been repaired after $385.00 labor charge and a brand spanking new hard drive. What are my chances that it will actually work?

By the way - Hope you enjoyed the preview of some of my new fabrics. I'm making progress and they should be ready to launch in July!!! We are previewing samples at the Window Fashions Expo and Quilt Inc show this month - I'm so excited !
Sorry for the crappy photography but I am having camera issues as well!

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