Holly Blog

My Favorite Things...84...Tiny Bears All in a Row & Kitty Cats All Aglow?

In case I haven't mentioned it, things have been absolutely nuts around "The LakeHouse" here since market.  I came into my studio this morning, and the bears were all waiting to see me.  They wanted to remind me to tell you about a "Bearly There Special Event" that we have planned for Xmas.  I will be covering this fun new project in HOLLYBLOG really soon.  But I'm not quite ready to tell you the details yet, so you'll all just have to stay tuned...and keep a watchful eye  ;)

It the midst of all of the excitement here with the bears, Di & Shirley & Jackie found the new Feb 2008 McCall's magazine...

Not one of you mentioned seeing the quilt that I designed that was supposed to be in there too...and since I have yet to actually lay eyes on the magazine, I am wondering if it's even in this issue?...

Meanwhile Sandy Kitty, part of Pam Kitty's posse in the Bay area photoshopped her way into the fray...I am guessing this was originally part of an internet ad (for naughty behavior?...LOL), but I have talking bears in my office, so who am I to judge?

So much more to show and tell, I can hardly contain myself!

Back in two shakes...H2

My Favorite Things...82...Enthusiasm is Contagious

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

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...78...Quilting Blogs!

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!

 

My Favorite Things...8

Oh Baby, did we have fun at Faustina on Saturday night in Salt Lake City.

LakeHouse Dry Goods hosted, Gina Halladay was our unofficial moderator, and a total natural in a big group of people.  She has been blogging about as much as anyone I know of in the quilt industry.  Gina started the conversation with the everyone by asking each of us to give our names and then asked us to tell a little about ourselves.  Deb Luttrell the Quilting Queen of Quitman told us about several of her slam dunk hits like Patchwork Party and QuiltFlix...Did you know that she has a large log cabin that she rents out to quilters as a retreat on some of her land in Texas? Yowza! Deb's friend Jerry Stube of Quilter's Quarters talked about her life as a quilt shop owner and cancer survivor...(and being a success at both...you go girl!)  Kris Giannetti from Cozy Cottage Fabrics expressed her admiration for the quality of the blogs she had seen in our industry, as well as the trials and tribulations with her own digital camera.  Pam Vieira McGinnis and Elizabeth Scott were both great to meet.  I have admired Elizabeth and Pam's work from a far but hadn't really had much time to get to know them before our dinner...they are lots of fun and full of ideas. Tammy Tadd who carries our entire line of LakeHouse fabric in her bricks & mortar and online store, said that she had recently commissioned a 12 year old girl to set up her blog! Tammy seemed really fascinated by everyone's story...she even took notes.  Cindy Taylor Oates was her usual low-tech loverly self.  She said that she was inspired by all who attended to think about what her blog would be about...she was happy to tell us that she'd just successfully completed her first course in Adobe Illustrator, which she loved, and that she'd be using it to publish her patterns.  Heather and Anna Maria came late but not least, as they were both even more adorable in real life than in their blogs.  They had the kind of optimistic can-do career /motherhood stories that reminded me of myself at that age (minus the children, of course!)...wait I'm tearing up...That reminded me for one (and I am sure others too) that I was glad to have been born a woman in the U S of A back in 1957, we have opportunities that most other women world wide only dream of.  Penny, Jean & Martha (my SLC show posse) were more quiet that night at dinner than any other time during the entire trip...but they all later told me how much they enjoyed hearing everyone's story.  I was a combination of joy (at being able to get everybody in one place to talk!) and nonsequitur sentences...(the old girl was just plain tired!).  Quilt market is usually a blur of memories for me...but this time it's a blur of poignant memories.  We all really enjoyed each other's company.

Here's a picture that Penny had the good sense to get up and take.  I sat mesmerized with my back to the camera (second from the left).

Speaking of enjoying each other's company...two of my favorite friends!

Back in two shakes...H2