Holly Blog

My Favorite Things...237...Roses from the Garden

These SweetHeart Roses remind me so much of the lush flowers in our Penelope series...And by-golly, it's that time...Penelope 4 5 & 6 are being packed & readied to leave our warehouse on the East Coast as I write...

Even better, I have done a few new designs that can use any of your favorite Penelope Fabrics...(1,2,3,4,5 or 6...) These quilts weren't in the latest Penelope 4, 5, 6 sales booklets, so your LQS hadn't seen them until last week in Kansas City at Jennifer's booth...

That's the Big News...Jennifer Bosworth of Shabby Fabrics has graciously taken on the writing & publishing of my quilt designs.  This is a huge relief to me on so many levels...writing patterns has always been a challenge.  I've received my share of hate mail over patterns that took me weeks & months to conceptualize, write, check, re-check & re-check again...And when I am wrting patterns, I am not designing fabric & quilts...Of course those of you who have seen how Jennifer writes a quilt pattern or her beautiful Block of the Month programs...know why I am clicking my heels!

Thank you Jennfier for freeing  me up to do more of the projects that I have been thinking about for years, but haven't had the time to focus on...I am chomping at the bit to do my first Block of the Month...I can't wait.

Here's the first two of my quilt designs that Shabby Fabrics Pattern Company will be publishing that use new Penelope Fabrics.  First, the "Teacup Star" quilt...

 

Second, the Scrap Happy Baskets quilt...

Lots more on my favorite Penelope fabrics, projects & people too, coming up...

Back soon...H2

My Favorite Things...236...The Day After Market

It's been too long...Forgive me.  The last 15 months of my life have been filled with new adventures, new friends, lots of fun :o)  but also the craziness of not one, but two moves...& more things to do than I could do myself or delegate.  I had to put several things on hold...and blogging was one of them (even though it is one of my favorite things to do).  Thank goodness things are settling down a bit now...more details on all of the above later.

For the first time since 2003, when we started LakeHouse -- the fabric company, I did not actually make it to Quilt Market.  I came down with my second bout of the flu (in 6 weeks time) the week before market & it really hit me hard.  Luckily, Pam & her daughter Frankie were there to help out...Kudos & Hugs for stepping up girls!

Luckily, Pam took lots of fun shots of the Pam Kitty Love themed LakeHouse booth in Kansas City...(it's like they asked us what color to make the aisle rugs) -- LOL!

On our side & back walls were a combination of oversized posters that I designed for the booth, as well as quilts made by Pam, Nanette from Freda's Hive & Darla Padilla from Wildflower Quilting.  Many of you will recognize the gingham block quilt on the right (click to englarge photo), it's the one that I designed for McCall's Quilting Magazine, and oo la la -- I just love Nanette's sampler quilt!  The "Come Around For Coffee" quilt on the poster in the middle is a freebie click & print pattern from Pam...it's on the right sidebar on her blog...it's UBER CUTE! (I'll show you more color combinations of this quilt from our sale booklet sometime soon--wait till you see how she designed the handles on the coffee cups!)

Here's a couple of close up shots of the little goodies in our booth, (Is it just me, or do Pam's fabrics put a smile on your face too?)...The adorable bags filled with goodies are by Keiko Clark of K Cotton Studio.

Frankie helped us fold dozens of the heart-fan decorations, & Pam's accessories on the clothesline are just darling, aren't they?...

Before I close for today...Don't miss having your own mini version of the Pam Kitty Love sales booklet...just click on the 9-patch Pam Kitty Love sidebar icon to the right--->  So you can run in to your LQS and make sure that they'll be ordering exactly what your heart desires!

Sorry, but the perfectionist in me needs to mention that the colors on the .pdf are not the greatest. (They are muddy!)  Since you've probably seen the colors of Pam's first collection in your LQS, you already know that her color palette is clean & bright and filled with "good cheer".  Most importantly, the new Pam Kitty Love fabrics due out at the end of this year, will "play nicely" with the original Pam Kitty Morning fabrics...so you can't go wrong blending the old with the new.

Sort of reminds me of the song we used to sing in girl scouts..."Make new friends, but ke-ep the old, one is silver but the other's gold"...Do any of you remember singing that song too? 

Back in two shakes...(promise!)

:oP

H2

My Favorite Things...235...More with my Peeps

Here's me with the lovely Jennifer Bosworth at her beautiful new Shabby Fabrics booth at Salt Lake City.  She had some exquisite new quilts, and of course she pointed out her favorite "shimmer dot" that she used in the quilt behind us.  It's our LH 03035 Champagne -- one of our top 5 best sellers in the history of LakeHouse.

I also got to meet the irrepressible Pat Sloan for the first time...we have so many friends in common, and somehow we've not been introduced until SLC...

Last but not least for today are Pam & I trying to contain our glee (and our fatigue at the same time), at the end of our first day on Friday...it was a labor of love -- it was many months worth of work and we were toast!

still lots more to show & tell...

;o)

H2
 

My Favorite Things...234...And Kitty Makes Three!

Here's a picture of Pam Kitty, McCall's Quilting's Beth Hayes & me (looking dazed & bloated--LOL) at Quilt Market this year, taken by Laura Roberts (also from McCall's -- thanks Laura!)...

Is it just me, or does Pam look like her feline alter ego?

A little bird told me that PKM is on her little quilt retreat, so it looks like she hasn't totally scooped me on photos from the booth (yet)...

Many Thanks to Nadine Woodraska for loaning us all sorts of cute things from her shop in South Jordan Utah...The Material Girls...We love you Nadine!

We had lots of giveaways at the booth.  Pam made up the cutest little fabric strawberries...with a pattern on a recipe card, called Strawberry Delight.  She also made up a free pattern for the circle pot holder...(hint: with googly eyes that pot holder turns into a hand puppet!)  We also gave away lots of little jars of Pam Kitty Jam, and Pam Kitty Candy (cinnamon hearts)...And of course Ric Rac was from our buddy Adam at CheepTrims.com (Oh, and can you tell that these pictures were taken b4 the show actually opened...that's the boxes from our tables & benches in the background ;o(

That's one of Nadine's antique child's sewing machines from her collection on the top shelf.  On the tabletop is the New Pam Kitty Morning sales booklet, and more of that delicious Pam Kitty Jam.

Here's a picture of the large Jars of Pam Kitty Jam we had on display...

Wouldn't you know that the crack security team at the SLC airport confiscated the Pam Kitty Jam that was in my carry on (on my way home)...Wondering who gets the spoils from all they confiscate...The man who checked my bag was rather chubby.  I'm just saying...

Oh, and if you are wondering where the playful pink dotted fabric on the table top & strawberries came from, it's the Annie's Farm Stand fabrics we introduced last fall, that are just hitting Independent quilt shops near you right now!  (Most of you know by now, that we really try to make our fabrics play well with others, so have fun mixing & matching the new "Annie's" fabrics with the "Pammie's" when they arrive in October '11...

The LakeHouse fabric for quilts motto: 

"Matchy Matchy":  No!   "So Happy Together":  Yes!

More pictures from SLC coming soon...so y'all come back now...

H2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Favorite Things...214...Annie's Farm Stand

It's been an embarrassingly long time since I last posted...This past summer was one of the worst I've ever experienced here on the east coast.  The heat, the humidity & (resulting heat rash in unsightly places)...I'd like to just cross off the last 3 months right off of my calender.  With not much nice to say, I mostly just stayed inside in the AC and got to work...

I was nostalgic for summer shares (eons ago)...I had with really great housemates...bike rides to the beach, lazy days with a good book under an umbrella in the sand, the Barefoot Contessa (before Ina was a star), tag sales & most of all the dozens of farm stands that were all over the east end of Long Island...They sold everything from Blueberry Crumb pies to bouquets of Zinnia's.

I did do my share of (almost nocturnal) flea marketing...the beauty of this activity to me, is that by the time the heat and sun are out in full, I'm back in my car and on my way home.

My ever growing dolly dresses collection, other flea market goodies and a nostalgia for simpler times (and cooler summers) inspired my latest collection:  "Annie's Farm Stand".

Here's a little peek at the covers from the latest "Annie's" booklets that have just gone out to our sales reps, (so that they could be shown to independent quilt shops near you--just ask if they ordered it!)...

Annie's Farm Stand is divided into smaller "grouplets" by color...it will be arriving from March to May 2010.

The front cover tells the first part of the color story...

"Annie's" back cover completes the color palette...

If you'd like a better look at the fabrics from Annie's Farm Stand, we have the new swatch pages up on the LakeHouse website.  You can also download a mini swatch sheet for AFS, by clicking on the icon on the right side column this blog.

I'll have more pictures of new projects etc, as we roll on into Fall Quilt Market in Houston...it's that time again!

back in two shakes (fer sure)

;o)

H2

My Favorite Things...212...Pretty Packages!

Do you know what this is?  This little bundle of joy is a new design that we are calling totes on bolts* -- Let me explain...

This is a picture taken by Penny Sturges at her QuiltsIllustrated studio.  We've been keeping a secret...

Penny has a new tote pattern called Veranda PS021, it's uber-cute --self ruffles, fabric covered buttons, pockets galore, just adorable.  For years Pen's been talking about doing panels with LakeHouse designs on them to make her tote bags out of.  But it wasn't until perilously close to Spring Quilt Market, that she gave me the info on the pieces to make her new tote. Then it was my job to see how to fit all of the pieces for a tote bag on a few panels...That's how we got the name totes on bolts*, get it?

I don't mind telling you, it was a lot more challenging that I thought it would be. 

The first reason for the difficulty is that tote bags use up a lot more fabric than you'd think.  Also, we wanted to figure out a way to build in some options for the way you put the fabric together on the bag so that the finished products wouldn't all look alike...In the end we came up with over a dozen different ways to put the different designs together on a bag!

Penny was also working on her new Vera apron PS005 at the same time and miraculously, she got that pattern to work with the same 3 totes on bolts* panels!  Even better, the 3 new Veranda panels make her best selling PS026 Mini Bow Tucks bag, too...believe it or not.

Here is a few shot of Penny's new Veranda bag in our booth at Spring Quilt Market made up in the new Veranda Style Panel--Fun Flowers Design:

 
Shown above are three variations of the bag made with the Veranda Panel.  We had 12 different variations on the bags shown on our display wall.  You'll notice that this new panel grouping comes in two different bright colorways -- on white called "WOW" & on black called "BOB".

More shots of our Spring Market booth...know that I am long overdue, since we've been scooped by several of my quilting buddies & shop owners who attended the show -- Jen & Julie to name a couple... I'm fairly confident that they didn't tell you the whole story behind the projects in the booth though...

The 12 Veranda bags on our feature wall at SQM are all different from each other...

The quilt on the left was designed by me for Beth Hayes at McCall's Quilting.  It will be in the February 2011 issue, newsstand November.  The middle quilt is by my friend Rachel Griffith of psIquilt, it will be in McCall's Quick Quilts in the January 2011 issue, newsstand October.  The Pinwheel Party Panel quilt on the right is made with another new panel that I designed with our new Pinwheel Party panel -- LH10027 that made it specifically for your LQS to see this fun new quilt at Spring Market (sort of a "thank you note" for the success of the Fun Flowers line!) it will be in stores in early December.  You'll be able to download the FREE pattern for this quilt by following links from the side column of my blog...We'll have this up within the next two weeks.

 
The table skirts were made from shipping samples of the Fun Flowers fabrics we received only 5 days before we left for SQM...The scalloped edging was made from an extra long row of the Fun Flowers Charmers fabric -- LH10004, tops were made from the BG dot pullout -- LH09031 (of the scallop edging) and the "tucked in place pleated skirt" (so easy), was made from favorite Ric Rac fabric -- LH10007

Many thanks to Darla Padilla of Wildflower Quilting for her talent & diligence with our quilts in the last 10 days before market.  It was about as tight as it's ever been, sample-fabric-wise, but we made it with time to spare.

I've so much to do post-market, that I've not yet taken so much as a day off, thank goodness it's a holiday weekend.

Lots more to show and tell you...

back in two shakes...H2

PS  You can see more about the NEW Veranda panel sets and the NEW Pinwheel Party panel on our website within two weeks, they will be noted as "Fun Flowers 4 December 2010 delivery".

PPS * means made with love & other good stuff

My Favorite Things...209...Deliciously Excessive!

Not to sound like a broken record or anything, bu-ut...Pastries, aka Patisserie are the nectar of the gods, IMHO, mousse-y things, creamy things, crunchy, crispy, chocolate-y things...Paris...like I've said before, what's not to love about a city that has a pastry shop on every block?

Here's a peek at another inspiration sheet from Penelope, with the new Patisserie, because Paris without Pastries, ho hum...

This is my favorite color palette from the collection...I just love PINK, and all new cakes too.

Running now, late for set up.  More tonight...lots more to show & tell.

;o)

H2

My Favorite Things...208...Excessively Excessive!

Good morning from Minneapolis ladies...

My first quilting starlet sighting at the hotel on Tuesday afternoon were the Me & My Sister ladies -- Mary & Barbara...they were chipper and adorable as usual, but looked a little "rode hard"...said that they had to get up at 2 am Arizona time to get to the hotel by mid afternoon. Talk about dedication...my stomach does flip flops just thinking about what that kind of loss of sleep would do to it!

Next was my old buddy & our tote bag queen Penny Sturges of Quilts Illustrated. Looking perfectly put together, dragging oodles of bags, suitcases & boxes, she showed up on our doorstep. We had to get a bigger room to acommodate all of our stuff.

Yesterday the always entertaining Pam Kitty showed up snapping photos of our booth with one hand and twittering on her phone with the other...

I already have lots of photos taken at the Walker Art museum (social commentary & criticism on this later) and the Nicolett Mall area around the convention center & our hotel (but alas no card reader to upload them to my laptop with) so I'll get you those shots asap...

Here's another little sneak peek at another of our inspiration pages from the NEW Penelope collection...

 

Penelope is such an exciting fabric grouping for me, because there are so many possibilities for color palettes.  This page is dedicated to Freddy Moran, her book with Gwen Marston "Collaborative Quilting"-- Is (I think?) where she said that red was her neutral...I have been absolutely smitten with the use of red in my quilts and fabric collections, ever since.  Kudos to you Freddy!  For me, red is the new black!  LOL...

Anyhoo, that's all for today gals, it's time for booth set up today.

back in two shakes...

H2

My Favorite Things...207...Anything worth doing is worth doing to excess!

Here's  another "composition" from the new sales booklet, that I made to show how I envisioned the colors & images going together.

 

If I do say so myself, this is sort of yummy, don't you think?

back in two shakes...

H2

My Favorite Things...206...Small Victories

This is the rear cover for the new Penelope collection...I am JUST LOVING how the NEW COLOR PALETTE...from soft to light and jewel toned, rich & dark...YUMMMMMMY!

Part Two...How I found the inspirational fabric for the Penelope line...

Can't exactly remember how things transpired verbally after that.   All I know is how fascinated I was with "the very odd artsy woman" that was now at the other end of my scraps of fabric.  I just wanted to stare at her and figure out what her story was, but I didn't want to lose my "prized fabric" to her.

I walked up to the attendant and inquired about the price.  Basia, (I found out her name later) followed closely.  In the end we vaguely discussed what we each wanted it for, and decided that I would split up the scraps with her, since all I needed was enough to see the whole repeat.

Thought that I would never see anything like Basia again in my lifetime...Boy was I wrong.  It turned out that on that particular trip to Paris, I had also planned on going to London for a few days before returning to Paris and taking my flight home.

There are a dozen or more interesting little shopping districts/neighborhoods in London that have wonderful idiosyncratic "independent" shops.  One day when I went to Sloane Square (a chi-chi little enclave made popular by Lady Di) I spotted a little jewel of a spot with luscious window displays...I went in.  It was an odd little place...one HUGE table running down the middle with all sorts of eccentricities displayed in a beautiful still life.  There before me was a pair of 18th century-inspired mules (think Marie Antoinette before the guillotine!)  It was covered in "my" fabric from the flea market in Paris. 

To make a long story even longer, apparently I didn't see the sign "DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING" right next to the shoes, and as if they had a laser system in place to catch the likes of me, a little bell went off and who rushed out of the back room, but the "artsy lady"!

Apparently I am so nondescript that she didn't recognize me from the week prior, as she scolded me and shooed me out of her museum store onto the street.

The unusual woman's name is Basia Zarzycka.  She is known for her couture "bling - cha - ching" wedding dresses and custom finery.  Her store is still in the same place just off Sloane Square. 

Here are a few pics of Basia & her "stuff"...

Trust me ladies, the above picture of Basia with her "headdress", while eccentric and "over - the - top" IMHO, is light years away from the kabuki-faced goth get up that I first saw Basia in at Cligancourt!

 

I got these pics off Basia's website.  The eerily real poodle handbag can be yours for 10,000 pounds (that's $15,098.10 to you and me at today's exchange rate, plus of course an almost 20% VAT tax and a 5% exchange loss, of course). LMAO!!!

Guessing this is one of her wedding gowns...check out the detailing on the sleeves...part fairy princess and court jester.

Hope you enjoyed my little trip down memory lane today.  I'll be previewing more of the Penelope collection in the next week or so...so much to show & tell you...

Back in two shakes...

X;O)