Drum roll please...
So here she is, my little muse for my favorite new quilt...none other than the Fat Quarter Shop's "little-girl-in-residence": Emma Jolly. Check out the little gingham-covered toy basket...it does my heart proud!
On that note...have a relaxing weekend.
Back in two shakes...H2
Once again...Some of you will remember the Sneak Peek of a darling baby quilt (yes, I will say so myself) that I mentioned right before Fall Quilt Market on Holly Blog...if not, click here.
My friends with subscriptions are writing to say that they have just received the new McCall's Quilting April 2008 today, we have another quilt to share with you.
As most of you know by now, I don't get out much...(and oddly I don't have any magazine subscriptions either!*) So you guessed it: I haven't seen it.
So here's my design sketch...Sorry gals, but I just couldn't help myself...
"Prairie Points again" (said with a very whiny voice!) I am just smitten with this little sampler quilt. The kits are available from Fat Quarter Shop. I want an adult sized one for myself! I am on such a pink and pastel jag...and I don't know why!
Oh, and under the category "don't believe everything you read", let me make a special point of correcting the misinformation in the magazine: our "always-quilting-ever-faithful-friend-of-LakeHouse" aka Kathleen Nitzsche is actually the gal who pieced the top and folded prairie points for us...(and in a huge hurry right before market, I might add.) Our Cheryl did do the quilting...It was pretty much the most precious baby-bunny themed quilting I've ever seen. Glad to put that in print here and now, so that credit is given where it is due. We've had issues like this before with other projects in magazines, and people really do get upset about it.
As long as we are on the subject, in case you've ever wondered...people who design quilt patterns and fabrics for a living MUST have people to help them out. I don't know if you all have thought about the timing on these projects, but almost every editor I have ever had the pleasure of working with, "needed it yesterday". They are under more time constraints and pressure than I am...(and I am a total slave to this entire ball of wax: blogging, fabric design, quilts, ya da, ya da, ya da...I really do I look forward to designing every morning...but I can't possibly make every quilt that we need to support the all of the fabric lines I design.
Meantime, my muse for the Emma quilt? More on the little "pink-cheeked-doll-baby" who inspired me quilt coming soon...
Back in two shakes...H2
*But don't feel too sorry for me. Manhattan has some of the best magazine stands and shops that you could ever imagine...I have been known to spend hours at a time picking out irresistible magazines from all over the globe.
As some of you already know (thanks for the notes!)...Cherry Baby has been included in the "This We Like" column in the February/March 2008 issue of Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion magazine.
You may remember that I said a while back I didn't design anything with a cherry on it for for a really long time. When I saw cherries, I thought of Mary's work, and although she inspired us all, I just didn't want to "monkey see, monkey do".
So doing a whole collection that revolves around cherries is a big step for me...there has been "a lot of water under the bridge" in the last 20+ years as a designer. Like Alex Anderson (six degrees of separation?), I too have fond memories of cherries from Door County Wisconsin. Cherry pie was served with almost every meal we had at a restaurant or Fish Boil, and we also bought delicious pies at the roadside stands. When I was still a little pup, my parents and older siblings helped pick cherries (on really tall ladders) during harvest time at the Ray's farm outside of Bailey's Harbor. Younger kids passed their time by playing in the barn on bales of hay with the cats and their kittens. Those are some of the fondest memories an animal lover like me could have.
Do any of you have some vivid memories of cherries in your childhood? Any delicious recipes you'd have to share?
Back in two shakes...H2
Happy New Year Everyone!
The other day I was in the car listening to WNYC, They were talking about many of the customs to bring in the New Year, all over the world. A lot were food-related, like in Spain they eat 12 grapes at midnight... what's that about? Some were spirit-related, like opening all of the windows in your house to free the souls held captive in your home from the year before. And in New York, they were activity related...like the yahoos that drink themselves silly (while freezing their buns off & while having their pockets picked) in Time Square.
Paton and I, we took the "path of least resistance". After a picnic in bed complete with some divine desserts from a favorite Japanese bakery, we cranked the mattress pad way, way up...That's when the real fun began as the kitties became heat seeking missiles under the comforter. We all started to watching a video ...and that's pretty much all I remember.
And no hang over this morning...so it's all good (more energy for other things!)
So here's a fun new project to 'whet your whistle' for the new year. (I never tire of pink, and I'm crazy for my new Floating Petal fabric.) It was commissioned by Jill Meade of Quilts & More magazine...
This sneak peak* is actually part of a room ensemble designed for a girl's room, compete with shams, dust ruffle and a really cute window treatment, if I do say so myself, it's a cutie pie!...A prize goes to the person who guesses the name on the pillow.
Today I'm making my second attempt this winter to fly away for a little R&R with some family and friends. I'm crossing my fingers as I look out again at another gray and stormy, winter's day.
Back in two shakes...H2
*Sara, I was just being "kute", peak as in high(light), get it? But thanks for asking!
Remember my Cherry Baby quilt from Fall '07 market? Some people like shoes (think Imelda), some people collect cars (like Paton, whose motto "he who dies with the most race cars & trophies wins") me, I am besot with sewing notions, or as most of you know by now...covered buttons & ric rac to be specific. (Besot, you say?...I don't know why I like this word so much...I guess it's from being a junkie for those Word-A-Day Calenders...)
I could have sold that quilt over and over again...I'd committed to our distributors to have the pattern for Cherry Baby available, so when Beth Hayes from McCall's came by our booth and went "coo coo" over that quilt, I had to reinvent it for her...I might like this version even better...
The working name for this quilt is "Black Cherry", it's a similar idea, but actually very different. The thing I really love about this quilt (besides the curved front buttons that make up the cherries) is the way so many of the 2007 LakeHouse fabrics (both old and new) go together...I used little vines, lattices, dots and even little rosebuds (which look like cherries on a quilt!)in the background areas. I am crazy for using plaids and dots and stripes on the leaves, and the cherries too, but those of your who know me already know that.
Here's a sneak peak of the quilt that is scheduled to be in the McCall's Quilting June 2008 edition...
Now if I only had a clean room to put this in here at "Sawdust-Central", :0)
It's official, "12 Bears for Christmas" starts on Tuesday...Have your kidlets and grandkidlets watch along with you!
Back in two Shakes...H2
In the midst of all of the other post-market things to do, I've designed a new bedroom ensemble (quilt, accent pillow, shams, etc.) for Amercian Patchwork & Quilting's June 2008 issue (newsstand April). Here's a little sneak peak at a couple of the items that we'll be sending out tomorrow...Kathleen Nitzsche and Cheryl Winslow did the lion's share of the work (thanks gals), but I managed to find the time over the Thanksgiving weekend to piece the little checkerboard pillowtop below...It's a bit of a "Charlie Brown Xmas tree" compared to the quilt...If I do say so myself,the quilttop is "supercalafrajalisticexpealidocious" (which is to say, something about it reminds me of the beds in Mary Poppins!)
Lots more to show and tell in the weeks ahead: be there, be square, see the bears, see the bee...now ten times fast!
Back in two shakes...H2
Here's the (in)famous Pam Vieira-McGinnis of you know who...
I guess she's found the article and sees that her blog Pam Kitty Morning is the first one I mentioned in the McCall's article...
Here's Pam's great-nephew Compton Scott checking things out...Oh, and notice the Terrier-esque black nose and scruffy chin in the upper right hand corner? That's Rosie, who I am told "pig-sits"...
Compton's "grand-mama" is none other than Elizabeth Scott who sends us these adorable pictures...
Since Elizabeth and Pam can probably "bench press their weight" in LakeHouse fabrics, I am extending the prize give-away to two more of you out there in bloggie-land...a photo of you and the magazine, wins you a Charm Square packet from our recent show...
Back in two shakes...H2
We have our first winner for our "Find the New McCall's Quilting Magazine Contest"... it's Tracy from Plum Cute Designs...
Yippeee!
1 down, 2 more to go...I love a challenge.
Back in two shakes...H2
Some of you may remember that I offered a prize to the first person to find the February 2008 issue of McCall's...
No one has actually had a siting yet, but a few of you have reported that you are on the prowl for it...
Apparently there has been a slight delay getting the magazine into the stores...This picture's just in of the McCall's editorial staff: Kathy Patterson, Beth Hayes, Ellie Brown & Lise Neer...Now you know what you are looking for!
So let's up the ante, shall we?...first THREE people with pictures of themselves with the magazine (open the to the blogging article) wins a prize...!
Back in two shakes...H2
You may have noticed that there is a new H2 icon under my "what's new" sidebar...It's there because I just wrote my first magazine article ever, and it is just about to hit the newsstands. The subject of the article is "blogs I love"...hence the little heart icon. And as of today, there is a list of all of the bloggers that are mentioned in the article under it in the sidebar. You can see all of their blogs with the click of your mouse. The article is in the McCall's Feb 2008 issue which is coming out any day now...
I was told that I had 2 pages and 750 words to tell my story...Thank goodness they weren't counting, because I managed to squeeze in over a thousand words (but don't tell) and a picture, an anecdote or both on about 20 different quilting bloggers. It wasn't easy, let me tell you; so many choices, and so little space to blather on about my newest blogging friends and my favorite new pastime...I really tried to get a good cross-section of our little quilting community...Designers, sales reps, prolific quilters, etc.
I can't wait to see it all in print...Many thanks to Beth Hayes, the editor-in-chief of McCall's Quilting magazine for all of the encouragement & support. Extra big hugs and "shout-outs" to Kathy Patterson for editorial guidance & Ellie Brown, McCall's art director for helping me with McCall's first article ever where the graphics and the story were done by an "outsider". (Yep, that outsider would be me!)
I'll post some more on this subject when I actually have the magazine in my sweaty little hands...they told me that nothing drastic changed in the format or content once they got it, so I am keeping my fingers crossed...
Back in two shakes...H2
PS...I just had to show you this picture, because it cracks me up.
I asked someone to take a picture of the prairie points on the Alphabet Soup quilt...If you can guess whose toe-ringed foot that is, you win a prize! HINT: it's NOT my foot!
Who loves quilts? I love quilts, Paton loves quilts, all 5 cats love quilts, even my doll-sweater-wearing pup Kitty loves quilts! Is she the cutest little an-gel or what?
Great news, I've been asked to write an article about quilt related blogs for a really terrific national quilting magazine. I am not 100% sure which issue it will be in but the plans are for the end of this year or early next. The deadline is pretty soon, so I need to catch up and quick! I have my personal favorites, but I know there are lots of blogs out there that I haven't seen yet. So I am pumped to visit as many quilt related blogs as possible in the next few days.
If you have a blog or a friend does or you are a blogging fan...Please let me know where to go asap! Leave me a comment, and I will make every effort to get to the blog in your suggestion. May the best blogs win!
Back in two shakes...H2
