Holly Blog

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

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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)

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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...

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216...My Favorite Things...A FREE Quilt Pattern!

Hi again everyone,

Fall Quilt Market has come & gone, it all happened so quickly.  I got to see lots my favorite people...Beth Hayes from McCall's, the Fat Quarter Shop brigade (minus Kimberly, who was home awaiting her latest), and Gina & Melinda from Fresh Picked Fabrics, to name just a few.

By the end of the first day of market, it was obvious that I was fighting something, and spent the next 5 days in and out of bed.  So oops, no booth pictures.

Right before market, I found out that my Brownie Points Quilt (re-named Fast Flowers), and would be put on the Quilts & More website as a FREE DOWNLOAD. 

Ironically, when the Brownie Points Quilt was on it's way to us at FQM (from the photoshoot at Q & M), it "went missing"...Here's a picture of her...

I love this simple & straight forward quilt, and I am, still hoping she will show up, but she's been missing since October 21st...Come back soon, Brownie.  :@

For those of you who want a Quilt Kit to make the "lovely lady", we'll be having a special Brownie Points Blog-a-thon starting after Thanksgiving.  They'll be lots of fun & frivolity at this upcoming event. We'll have Brownie Points Quilt Kits for sale, FREE GIVEAWAYS from my private LakeHouse stash, some of my favorite "quilties" will join in the fun, and other surprises too.

I'll be back in soon to tell you all the details for the Brownie Points Quilt Blog-a-thon.

3:o)

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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...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...

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My Favorite Things...205...Encore Paris!

The new Penelope sales booklet front cover.  This new collection is due out in about two weeks at Spring Quilt Market in Minneapolis. . .

Hello Ladies,

I have been in a "Paris state of mind" lately...Missing the flea markets, the patisserie, the confisserie...I could go on, but to those of you who know me, I'm a bit of a broke record when it comes to Paris.

I've named my new "Penelope en Paris"  It's the fourth intro we've done of the Teatime Floral series...The color palette is slightly muted.  It looks great in with "tea stained" fabrics. 

It all started with the piece of a slipcover that I found at a little stall at the now famous Cligancourt flea market just outside of Paris. I'll never forget the experience I had buying that scrap of fabric...

So there I am in this little lean-to fabric shop in one of the alleys in Cligancourt.  It's one of the little shanties that seem like they have been there forever.  There are all sorts of tassels, shawls & embroideries hanging in fragments from the ceiling, with piles of large fabric scraps of every description:  huge drapery panels, parts of old quilts, you name it..all over the floor.  The aisles are tight and the people, and as you might expect, are as eccentric as the day is long. 

I spotted a lovely 19th century floral scrap of cotton out of the corner of my eye.  I moved over to it and began examining it for the quality of the printing, the repeat sizes, the motifs.  I loved it, but I stood around with it in my hand, thinking about what to do with it...it seemed a little sophisticated back then.  I closed my eyes and the next thing I know I feel a tug on the fabric that I was holding.  Opening my eyes a woman in a "get up" that was a cross between Vampira & a Nicholas Nickleby character, had her paws on the fabric I had not yet relinquished.

She clearly wanted the fabric that I had in my hand, and she wasn't giving up until she had it...

I'll finish this little tome in my next blog, when I tell you the rest of the story and show you the other cover from our new sales presentation booklet....it has some unexpected twists & turns and a trip in the Chunnel...so stay tuned.

Back in two shakes...

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My Favorite Things...200...The Big Two Oh-Oh!

Day 15 of 16

 

The ric rac & ribbon is from my buddy Adam...(quilt shop owners take note!) The Forget-Me-Not millinery flowers are from my personal stash...but I have seen something very similar recently at Michaels.

Well Ladies, it's my day today, and a bit of a coincidence, actually...It's my 200th blog post. I have to laugh, when I think of what my webmaster said about blogging a couple of years ago, when I wanted to add a blog onto my website.  Something to the effect of "be careful with that and make sure you really want to do it and that you won't run out of things to say".  LOL...

Actually, I only run out of time, not things to show & tell.  I have pictures from trips and projects and things that inspire me waiting in files to show you...

Anyhoo, I designed the panel to expand the "circle of friends"...that is, people who liked the Dolly Dresses quilt from last fall & who would like to work with the Dolly Dresses fabrics, but like me, don't have the time to do all of the applique'.  Tick-tock, I say.

So before I even was finished with the dolly dresses panel fabric, I called the Beth "the Beauty Queen" Hayes (it's the cheekbones) at McCall's Quilting.  What I love about working with Beth is that she has even less time to waste than I do.  I send her a picture, she loves it, she hates it...I get instant feed back...Tick Tock.

So the embellished Dolly Dress Up panel quilt that was shown in the LakeHouse booth at Fall Quilt market, (which I showed in a previous blog back in October)...Is going to be in the McCall's Quilting April 2010 issue that hits the newsstands in February.  The timing is perfect, because the Dolly Dresses 2 fabrics will be getting to the stores in early April...For those of you with scraps left over from Doll Dresses 1, I used a lot of scraps from that collection in my quilt...Not to worry though, DD 1, 2 & 3...they all go together, it's a mix & match thing...like Garanimals...LOL

Meantime, it's time for you to give it your best shot...Remember the scene in the movie "Notting Hill"...Hugh Grant's character is sitting around the dinner table with friends?  Each of them had to tell a story about why they deserved the last brownie...Well now's the time...Give it your best shot & tell me why you deserve to win the Dolly Dress Up panels (months earlier than anyone else) from our secret stash here at the studio. 

Leave your story below and I'll announce the winners of the Dolly Dress Up panels tomorrow.

Make Me Laugh!...Back in a Flash,

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My Favorite Things...194...We're In the Pink!

Day 9 of 16

I met our next guest Miss Tula Pink at Spring Quilt Market in Pittsburgh.  It was a mutual admiration society...Tula was with her mom Kathy Runyan.  Kathy owns Country Expressions Quilt Shoppe in Stewartsville Missouri.  It didn't hurt that our conversation started with Kathy telling me how they "sell a ton of LakeHouse fabric" in her shop.  As you can imagine, nothing makes me happier!  In turn, I waas absolutely smitten with the tote bag that Tula was carrying made of the fabric that she designs for Moda.

So here's some close ups of Miss Tula's newest project...

Tula calls this her "Hogwarts" version of the Dolly Dress Ups...

It's such a fresh look, don't you think?

click here to see Tula's entire Dolly Dress Up Panel project...

Take it away Tula!

;ø}

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