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My Favorite Things...122..."Renee Wear"

Before I get to the tater tots...I must show you the cutest lady who waltzed into our booth on Friday, the morning we opened the show.  She's Renee Savage of Renee's House of Quilting in Williamsburg Michigan...

She had on a jacket made out of a bunch of our Fall 2007 intro'd fabrics...the most prominent was the Cherry Squares fabric that had all been cut up and patched into different places on the body of her garment.

Love the little pocket detail above, below is a close up of the beautiful quilting...

Thanks Renee for coming by and showing us your handiwork, it's absolutely fabrilicious!

After the show that day, the ladies in black and I got together for dinner with Nancy Singh from American Patchwork & Quilting...She's definitely one of the most interesting people I've ever had dinner with in a long time, she had us in stitches (sorry).  The actual food, not so much...

Here's the story...one of my friends who lives in the Portland area recommended McMenamins Kennedy School Restaurant.  After going in the opposite direction (thanks to the concierge at our hotel), we arrived a good half hour late at a most charming old elementary school building (I'm guessing it was built in the 1920's)...This is a really clever restaurant idea...gone tragically wrong.  The minute my nose caught the knock-you-over smell of cigars just inside the front door, I knew that things were not as I'd hoped.  Call me a food snob, but any restaurant who let's people smoke cigars anywhere (and seemingly everywhere), isn't really serious about their food.  Turns out my instincts were right...the old building oozed charm and a "sense of place", but in addition to the cigar smell that seemed to follow us everywhere, the private dining room we'd reserved smelled like a musty old wardrobe.  Things got even more comical when I asked our waiter "What food do people come here for?" and she said without missing a beat..."the tater tots".  We all burst out laughing!  She was right though...the tater tots were the best thing on the menu.

Still more to tell, and the meals got LOTS better as the trip wore on, MKSR was our one and only "culinary bummer" (a nod to Top Chef fans out there)...  ;)

Back in two shakes...H2

 

My Favorite Things...89...For A Good Cause!

As promised, we are starting off our little charity* Show & Tell:  "12 Bears For Christmas" with one of my favorite designers, and a cute little bunny herself...Miss Anne Sutton.

Here's Anne's bear "Lenya" with a little-bear-sized 2 piece Bib & Quilt ensemble...

Below is a closer look at Anne's precious little quilt...

We've got oodles of beguiling bears, scads of guest quilters (with their little creations), lots more tricks up our sleeves...and we'll go all the way 'til the 24th...so join us as we celebrate the holiday spirit, won't you? 

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*Details announced on Christmas Eve!

My Favorite Things...81...Editors with a Sense of Humor!

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

My Favorite Things...76...Let the Show Begin!

And without further ado...Our first baby line.  I'm not sure what was more fun, the fabric or the reactions to it!  It seemed that something about this line touched the little girl in all of us.

With all of the comings & goings, packing & unpacking, I managed to misplace the little kitty bibs that I made for Kammie and Vickie...(you remember..."who wants to lick the beaters?") that was going to be my little inside joke with all of you. Thankfully, M2 loaned us her lightweight Janome, and Penny (yep! those are all her tote bags) helped me stitch up some new bibs for our two little mascots...Boo & Honey.  The little E-M-M-A garland was made for Kimberly Jolly's little girl...The Alphabet Soup quilt was pieced by Patchwork Maven Martha Hall and quilted by Cheryl Winslow...they were a huge help to me getting ready for market...thanks girls!

Here's a view of the booth taken from the left...too bad about the patriotic color scheme at the George Brown Convention Center, eh?  Also, the color in these photos is more "washed out" than the colors are in reality...I'll make sure to show you some fabric swatches sometime soon that gives you a much better representation...(Meanwhile, if anyone out there has better pictures...do not hesitate...I seem to go through this every market!)

And another view from the right...

The kitties in bibs inspired the Bears...they spelled out L-A-K-E-H-O-U-S-E

I invited some of my favorite designers to make a bib...more on them and the Bears & Bibs project next time.

Still napping every day trying to catch up on lost sleep....lots of pictures & lots more to tell!
Back in two shakes...H2

My Favorite Things...75...Talented Designers & Beautiful Quilts

We're back from Fall Quilt Market, and things went very well...(more on this soon) We're waiting for booth photos from our photographer, Gregory Case  (hurry please!)... In the meanwhile, some photos that I took at some of my favorite designer's booths...

Here's Barbara Jones of Quilt Soup with just about the most adorable applique quilt I've ever seen...made up in our La Belle Rose fabrics from Spring Quilt Market...(forgive me Barbara, your eyes were shut in all of my photos!)

Here are some close ups...so clean, so clever, so Quilt Soup!

I just love her use of fabrics in this quilt...the daffodils, the pink & black stripe for the flower pots, inner border & bindings, the thin stripes for the leaves...(I could go on and on)

Thank you so much Barbara for thinking "outside the box" and coming up with this really joyful, pretty quilt!

More soon...just getting my feet back on the ground.

Back in two shakes...H2

My Favorite Things...51...Annie Bakes!

Day 4 of 13 A Dazzling Dozen Delicious Desserts

Today we are so happy to have Annie Smith take us on a trip down memory lane, with one of her family's favorite recipes, and she's working on the cutest new project, too!

And make sure to check out the interview Megan and I did with Annie on her recent east coast trip.  She just posted the second of two parts a few days ago it's Simple Arts podcast #98.

I must say, Annie is a great interviewer, me thinks "our little quilt community" has a budding Oprah on our hands...I'm just saying...

Annie put Megan and I at ease immediately...and she seemed genuinely interested in what we had to say...imagine that!?  Our conversation was so much fun, we laughed and cackled for hours like the three little hens.

So here's Annie with her mom Joyce's Lemon Jello Cake.

Back in two shakes...H2

Meanwhile, Kammie's guarding the new stash...

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My Favorite Things...47...A Fun Week Ahead

H O L L Y C A K E S   is   H O L L Y B L O G   with sugar and spice and everything nice!  It's time to have a little celebration...as they say:  "so many desserts, so little time".  What better way to kick off our little escapade than a banner that's just that?

It looks like this is going to be a big week here at our little studio at LHDG ...

First, I can't let another minute go by without telling you about the podcast interview that M2 and I did with Annie Smith on her recent trip to the east coast.  Aunt Blabby (you know I am talking about moi, right?) & M2 yacked it up so much with Annie that she was forced to split the conversation into 2 parts.  I am told that they are podcast programs number 97 and 98.

Second, we start our "Blog-able Feast" subtitled "A Dazzling Dozen Delicious Desserts" aka "HOLLYCAKES" on this Friday September 14th.   The summer's almost over, the kids are back in school...so what better time to reacquaint yourself with your bundt pan?...I ask you!?  It's time to do a little baking and start a new fall project, don't you think?
I've asked all of the participants to share photos and recipe for a favorite dessert, as well as a picture or two of what they are currently working on.  You know what you-know-who is currently working on, so "big surprise", it will be more of what is coming in for our new Fall 2007 collection.  I'm such a tease, aren't I?
So make sure that you mark your calender for Friday and come see what's a-goin-on!  Not giving away any names of participants or what they are up to just yet, but I am pretty sure that you will get some sneak peaks at some really beautiful new projects from some of my favorite blogging designers!

Third, we will have a private preview for our distributors both domestic and international up and running by week's end. We won't be able to show you this online until after the collection's debut in Houston, but it will go up right after market.  I must say, I am thrilled with the way it is coming together, the colors are so yummy and one design element flows beautifully into another...(it even surprised me a bit!).

So that's all from the Boulders...

Back in two shakes...H2

My Favorite Things...44...Eye Candy!

I just couldn't resist showing you a few more tidbits from the new line...It seems that we are going through a second childhood here at LHDG.  These were my favorite colors back then, and I still adore this "girly" look. 

If you are not sensing how this is all going to go together into a collection, well that's partly by design.  One, it's coming in dribs and drabs from different suppliers, and two, it's a bit like a treasure hunt...the clues don't start to make sense until the end...We're all about the suspense, right?

Stay tuned...the excitement is building for me, and I hope it will for you too!

Back in two shakes...H2

My Favorite Things...32...Girly Girl Purses

Tammy Tadd, who has been making projects for our booth since our second market, called me sometime in March to say that she was going to be swamped with the Rosemont show, the Paducah show, and getting ready for Salt Lake City...and would I take a look at some of her new patterns, make suggestions on the fabrics and tell her what I wanted for my booth?  Control freak that I am...(that's the amen chorus in the background) I leaped at the chance to tell her exactly what I wanted...

Here's a page out of our spring sales support booklet...We squealed like school girls when we opened the Fedex package right before market.  Fist fights and arm twisting ensued and guess who won?  Actually, I asked Tammy if she'd donate the lovely little black bag to the ever faithful Megan after market.  Needless to say, she was very generous!

Remember ladies, purses and shoes, you can gain five pounds and they'll still fit!

Back in two shakes...H2

My Favorite Things...31...A Little Charmer!

At the risk of over-using the adorable thing...(I could imitate one of my old bosses with "eeets tooooo fabbooolous...but without the arm and hand gestures, well it's just not the same!) On that note, here is Pretty Penny's adorable Mini Charmer bag.

Those of you who prowl Checker's Top 20 patterns page know that the larger version of this bag called Charm Party is #2 today on the list!  We-hoo Penny, and to think old Hol' had to practically twist your arm only 3 short years ago to get you to write your first pattern!  My how time flies when you are working your butt off!

More soon my little accessory mavens!...

Back in two shakes...H2

My Favorite Things...30...Accessory Encore

OK, ladies...and the ab-fab adorable contest winner is...

Am I on the pipe or is this a de-light?  This little gem is the girly version of a carpenter's apron.  It's got more pockets than you'd ever need and one size fits most!  It's from our "QOATF": Cheryl Winslow.  She's got all the "engineering" just right...

More sweets next time.

Back in two shakes...H2

My Favorite Things...10

I am starting to feel a bit like Lois Lane, ace reporter...Have I got a scoop or two for you...and I am NOT talking ice cream!

Scoop 1:  Today is Marvelous Megan (aka M2) Johnson's first blog post ...where as I am writing from my childless, kooky & creative point of view, Megan's new blog "Will Work for Fabric" will be about her life as a quilt teacher, a mother of twin boys and what it's like to be the yin to my yang here at LakeHouse Dry Goods.

Scoop 2:  The exuberant Jennifer Paganelli of SIS BOOM fame held her summer show at her charming house in Wilton Connecticut at the end of last week.  M2, Su and PM Martha all tagged along with me to join in the fun...Since a picture is worth a 1,000 words, here's a few thousand for you:

JP's dining room was filled with goodies galore...Tunics, Banners & Pillows in every shape and size...

Party Hats, Framed Collages & Sun Dresses...

Jennifer's light-filled family room had several vignettes...this one was set up with quilts, pillows, hair bands, and fabric covered storage boxes. It was totally unconventional, and yet everything looked "wunderbar dahlink"...There was magic in the air!

Everywhere I looked, it was a riot of color and spontaneous joy!

There's lots more to show and tell about Jennifer's home and work...so come back for part two of the story in my next post.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, today is a big day...I've completed what I wanted to tell you all about my experiences at Spring Quilt Market in Salt Lake City, except for one little foodie detail...Just across the street to the north from the SLC convention center was a little sandwhich shop called Toasters...OMG!  I haven't had a sandwhich that good since my days at University of Illinois Champaign, when I used to eat lunch at Eddie's Deli. Turns out it's all in the rolls, which the owner told me were from Vosen's right down the street. If you ever find yourself in SLC don't hesitate!

So that's it for SLC...and I, for one, am relieved.

While in the process of recounting this market's activities, etc., and reading your comments, it dawned on me that most of the people reading this blog have never seen the booths that we have done in the past...I'd love to show you how they've looked over the past few years (we are still a young company, so it's not really that far down memory lane!). It's a bit like planning a theme party each time.

Designing booths for market, (although usually under a HUGE time crunch), is still one of the most rewarding things I do here at LHDG.  The chief cook & bottle washer thing...not so much!

We'll work our way backwards to our first market in the fall of 2003...when we won our one, and only, "1st prize for Best Double Booth"...My how time flies when you are working your butt off!

Without further adieu then, here's a quick peek at our "DayZ Deux" booth (based on the success of our first DayZ Collection...and still available in stores NOW!)  We hope to have swatches from this collection up on our new website in a couple of weeks.  In the meantime, you should be able to see this collection at your local stores, or online.

A 3/4 shot of the front of our Fall 2006 booth in Houston...

The wonderful Spring Trees with Ornaments were by the lovely Karina Hittle of Artful Offerings. Below them, the fat quarter bundles were the "presents"... Quilts left to right were:  Ring Around the Flower, by me...DayZ Star by Tracey Brookshier, and Night Flight by Cheryl Winslow.  As has become the norm here at LakeHouse, a majority of the bags were by Penny Sturges of Quilts Illustrated.

People seemed to really love this Lazy DayZ quilt...It was too long for the space, so we rolled it up at the bottom...Such a simple design, yet to me, a really pleasing quilt to look at.  I find simple a lot harder to do than busy and fussy, so it was a personal coup for me.

M2 and I worked on this together.  I just adore this little star quilt we named "Twinkle"...The message says "twinkle twinkle...little star...how I wonder...what you are...BTW, the alphabet fabric that we used to make the sayings is still available...if fact, it has been so successul that we re-introduced it again at SLC.

Lori Allison of Allison Quilt Designs did an "aisle catching" bright variation on her popular "Color My World" quilt...It was one of my favorites!  Her new website is due any day...will keep you posted.

Zinnia, by Anne Moscicki of Touchwood Quilt Designs was fabulous!   Anne used approximately 50 different fat quarters from our LakeHouse Brights Library. It was like an art quilt and a vibrant bed quilt all rolled into one.

It's been an emotion packed couple of days...visiting Jennifer's house filled me with a rush of memories of fun-filled summer days at my long-lost friend Ron Ryan's house right around the corner in Wilton...Where are you, and what are you up to Ron?...Looking back at booths-gone-by makes me nostalgic for all of the collections I've introduced at previous markets.

More on Jennifer and look back at another LHDG booth next time.

Back in two shakes...H2

My Favorite Things...7

Is there anything more fun than window shopping? This shot was taken a couple of summers ago when I went to Paris on my way to the mill in Asia...Of course the dots grabbed my attention, and the scattered rosebuds in displays seem to be everywhere in Paris..Judith Lacroix is related to Christian Lacroix...I love the combination of turq & pink on the cover of her book in the window.  From my travels, I can certainly see how influences in color and design spread "across the pond"...

This shot was taken on my trip to Marin County CA  (San Anselmo...a really cute little town) just after SLC quilt market...I thought that the window display was fun and similar to Judith Lacroix...

Food for thought...if you ever find yourself in San Anselmo, you must stop at Comforts a yummy little restaurant/take out place on San Anselmo Ave.  They have a wide selection of delicious cold salads...(something like 20 different choices in one day!)...their Chinese Chicken Salad has a huge following...every day they stock a huge glass front refrigerator with take out portions...I love to get  a great picnic there, drive over the hill to Stinson Beach and then enjoy myself...

Speaking of "California Fun"...how about those gals at the Threaded Pear Studio!  Gina, Stephanie, Jan, friends and family members came out of the woodwork to help not only on their display on the back side of our booth, but also to help us with a million details like dressing mannequins, making signs and candy giveaways for our booth.  It seems like it takes a village to pull off our booth each new season...and this time Gina brought the village to us! 

Gina & Co. had their lucky horseshoes in their pockets at market, since the back of our booth was actually visible from the front of the show on the main aisle...they actually had  better frontage than we did in the front part of the booth!

Those cute carpet bags on the step stool are by Karina Hittle of Artful Offerings...

The table runner on the left is by Mary Lou Hallenback of HD Designs...
The adorable aprons are by Jan Lutz of Threaded Pear...

As are all 4 quilts shown above...they were a big hit for both of us at market...If you are wondering what the cream bins are...well let's just say it was the bins or a huge electrical junction box with bright orange cables running out if it, courtesy of the show's electricians...Yikes, what's a control freak like me to do?

Below are a couple of shots of our display in the New Products Area at SLC quilt market...

Beth Hayes loved the quilt top potential from the poster that I made up for this display, so I'll be designing a variation on this for McCall's Quilting magazine sometime soon...will fill you in on the timing of this when things are firmed up.

Tomorrow some tasty tidbits from our Blogger/Internet dinner...pictures & more...

Back in two shakes...H2

Favorite Things...6

This shot was taken at night...it's a great time to take pictures in Paris, since
most of the foot traffic is off the streets.

This shot is relevant to what I am going to talk about today...PRESENTATION!

How things look is very important to me, and I know that I am not alone.  As I am known to tell people, I was trained by architects, and my mind hasn't been right since.  Even with my not-so-great vision, there isn't much that I miss.

This brings us to one of the little brainstorms that I came up with for a Spring Quilt market promo...
You'd think I was trying to sell tickets to the lunar shuttle...It has turned into a labor of love!

The Back Story...
Sandy, our local fat quarter bundle guy retired right after last market...panic ensues.  We needed some sort of promotional product, so that, before our 1st big fabric shipment arrives, quilt shop owners would have something in their stores to show their customers, say a project or two, to get a buzz going about the order coming of new LakeHouse fabrics.

At LakeHouse Dry Goods (LHDG), we're all hip to the "people are buying kits" thing...so I thought, what could we do that is not fat quarters, and that we could have made up for this purpose?

Needing some packaging for this idea, I called my friend Rose from the Cloth Envelope Company...she is resourceful with a capital R, and she's full of ideas.

She gave me a whole list of websites that had neat packaging...
That's how I found the French Candy Boxes!

I got prototypes of the different sized boxes and figured out what sort of kit that could be made, given the limitations...

So that is how I came up with the idea for the Sweet Retreats TM Kits...Sometimes, as they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions...Suffice it to say, to have a thousand or more kits made up of a bunch of different fabrics is a huge job, and we met with resistance at just about every turn...

We premiered our kits as a one-time promotional offer to Independent Quilt Shop Owners ONLY at the Salt Lake City show.  Our hope was that with our fabrics and our free online sourcing info, that our IQSO would want to replicate our kits in their own shops and in turn, offer them at retail prices in their stores and booths at quilt shows.  A lot of shops placed an order for a prototype kit at market, I assume with the intent of selling the kit in their own shops.  I will say this...what I thought was fairly simple and straight forward idea was apparently not so easy.  Based on comments at the show, most of the women sales people and shop owners "got it"...that is that this was a pretty little gift-style kit, rather than a kit in a generic ZipLoc bag, and they seemed to see the value in it.

In addition, we are happy to announce that several top retail catalogs and online shops loved the kits as much as we did.  (Can you spell vindication?)  These retails sources will make the kits available in late summer/early fall. I'll give you more details on this in subsequent blogs as things are firmed up.

Without further ado, here are some pictures of the Sweet Retreats TM  Strip Quilt Kits...

The pattern to make the three quilt tops above is called "Three Wishes", and is available NOW!  It is designed by me, published by LHDG and sold separately from the kits.  All three colorways above are included in one pattern.

The Sweet Retreats TM Kits were offered in the following ways:

Quilt Kit
Strip Quilt SQ 01 Pastel
Strip Quilt SQ 02 Multi
Strip Quilt SQ 03 Black

SQ Kits include enough fabric to make a 49" square quilt top, and consist of a rolled up set of 6" x WOF strips.   The quilt border fabrics are all LakeHouse stripes...they are not included in the kit.

These are some pictures of the Sweet Retreats TM Charm Square Kits...

The Charm Party Bag pattern by Pretty Penny Sturges of Quilts Illustrated is available NOW, and is also sold separately from the kits.
Charm Square  CS 01 Pastel
Charm Square  CS 02 Multi
Charm Square  CS 03 Black
CS Kits include 35--5" charm squares & 1 yd of fabric for the lining and handles.

So that's the whole story on the kits...2 different style kits, 3 colorways each, patterns sold separately.

Quilters, ask your local quilt shops for the kits and patterns. Shop owners (who have time to read blogs)...all patterns mentioned are available through Checker, Needlecraft & Schenk.

We will make the complete Kit "how to" information available on our website for the shops some time in June...

I understand if in some markets that the extra expense of the box and ribbon might add too much to the total cost of the kit, but I also know that there are plenty of other gift-style kits in the marketplace that are selling for over $20.00 more per kit (for the same sized quilt top)...M2 keeps me on top of all of this. 

Your favorite shop may not have the kits made up exactly as shown, but you will still be able to make the same beautiful projects as above with the fabric and patterns we are offering.

It looks like this blog is getting a little long in the tooth, so I'll sign off for now.

Back in two shakes...H2