Holly Blog

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)

My Favorite Things...204...Dolly Dresses Fabrics, Coming to a Store Near You!

It's finally here, and on it's way to a favorite independent quilt shop near you.  Fabric for the Dolly Dress Up Quilt that was published in McCall's Quilting March/April 2010 issue...and all of the other little goodies from the Dolly Dresses 2 Collection, too.  The Dolly Dresses 3 fabrics (with the alphabet panel, etc) will be in the stores 4 to 6 weeks later.

For those shops kitting the Dolly Dress Up Quilt, I have a special diagram on how to cut the Dolly Dresses panels...LH 09002 & LH 09003.  PLEASE LOOK AT THIS CUTTING DIAGRAM BEFORE YOU CUT ANY PANELS--It will maximize your yield for kits!  It's really easy...Download the click & print .pdf file we made for you in the right side column.

Many of you already know that there were lots and lots of quilts made out of the Dolly Dresses Panels for our blog event back in December '09.  If you want to refer back to those projects (some of the projects will be offered as a pattern), click on the DOLLY BLOG icon in the left side column.

Meanwhile back at the studio, we've been hard at work on another free pattern to go with our new Fun Flowers fabrics that will be out in late summer/early fall.  We'll be introducing the Pinwheel Party Quilt at Spring Quilt Market in May in Minneapolis.

For the first time ever, LakeHouse Dry Goods will be offering the quilt pattern  in a "Quick & Easy" panel format as well as a traditional "Cut & Piece" method.

Here's a little sneak peek at the Pinwheel Party Panel LH 10027 used in the "Q & E" version of the quilt:

We'll show you the whole quilt when we get back from Quilt Market at the end of May.

That's all for now gals, it's as busy as Santa's workshop here today, as we prepare for SQM.

Back in two three shakes...

:ø)

H2

My Favorite Things...203...Fun Flowers Fabric!

For what seems like years now, people have been asking for "more brights", when are you going to do brights again?...By now, most of you have figured out that I LOVE COLOR...and that I refuse to be pigeon holed with one look or one color palette...The brights in this new collection remind me of my favorite 12 piece marker set (complete a carrying case and vinyl handle) from the Lillian Vernon catalog that my mom bought me back in 4th or 5th grade.

That color palette is still with me...

Here's the covers to the new Fun Flowers collection that will be going our to our distributors this week (to be shown to your local quilt shop owner shortly after that)...so make sure to ask your LQSO if she's seen the new Fun Flowers collection, OK?  You can tell her you saw a sneak peek of it on my blog.

Fun Flowers I (with White Backgrounds) & Fun Flowers II (with the Cocoa Backgrounds) along with our colorful Fun Flower Library of coordinates are slated to be in the stores this August.

Fun Flowers I (with White Backgrounds) & Fun Flowers III (with the Black Backgrounds) along with the same colorful Fun Flower Library of coordinates are slated to be in the stores this September.

Hope you all are as excited about this new collection as we are here...I LOVE to change things up a bit...and this new collection is just what I needed to lift my spirits, this stormy, snow covered winter.

I'll have lots more sneak peeks on Fun Flowers in the days & weeks ahead...magazine quilts, new (and not so new) quilting buddy's projects with the FFF (Fun Flowers Fabrics), so come back soon...

In two shakes...H2  :øP

My Favorite Things...104...A Quilt for a Little Girl...

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!

My Favorite Things...88...Cherries Jubilee

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

My Favorite Things...85...Working on a Chain Gang!

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

My Favorite Things...55...New Fabrics & New Friends

Day 8 of 13 A Dazzling Dozen Delicious Desserts

It's a big day here at our humble studio-by-the-lake...lots of new goodies...you're on notice Brenda, Elizabeth, Pam, Anne & Annie...It's better than Christmas morning around here when the first rolls of fabric arrive before market...

We could have waited until tomorrow, but then again, who knows when the courier service would have arrived...?  So we drove to my agent's office tonight and got the boxes of ROT...FYI, we don't say it like its rotten, we say R-O-T...that's the term for fabric, when it comes "rolled on tubes"...

Paton, wielding a box cutter under the cover of darkness...

"Paton step back", I said.  " I need to get a shot of this for the blog"...(taking my instructions from the LHDG shameless promotion department, of course)...

So here they are ladies, the first of the new fall fabrics...The colors are soft and clear and remind me of sherbet and ice cream...What's really great is that the new things for Fall 07 cozy up next to the May 07 collection really, really well.  One of my "ab-fab-favorites" is the Saturn pattern...the pink circle tone-on-tone.  "La Grande Rose"...is one of the new additions to the La Belle Rose collection.  It's big pink rose on the pearl background, and let me tell you, it is not fooling around!  The roses are 4-5" across and they are in bouquets that fill an 8" square. So now the La Belle Rose collection (that has only been out since July), has teensy-weensy, small, medium, large & now extra large roses too.  Still delicate & pretty enough for a smaller quilt, but big enough for a knock-down-drop-dead-gorgeous queen size bed quilt as well...It's a beauty, if I do say so myself!

More show and tell soon...we have the whole back of the wagon to unload in the morning.  I'll be sure to have my camera with me.

Meantime, let's not forget about dessert...(quel horreur, certainment pas!)

Tonight is a blogger who puts a smile on my face.  I still remember the first time I went to Thimbleanna's post...She had all sorts of amusements...I instantly fell in love with her banner...you simply must see it, the banner is worth the cost of admission!  Next, she had a place in her side columns for other blogging "Anna's"  (that touched me, in a "being kind to others sort of way").  The thing that made me crack up was her description of her family members.  So genuine, and yet such a kick in the pants!

Meantime, she too likes to cook and has many yummy sounding recipes in addition to her sewing and quilting posts.  From her description of her dessert, it sounds like a winner to me...So take it away, Anna...(I want to taste it all by now, don't you?)

Back in two shakes...H2

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My Favorite Things...28...A Mid-Summer Night's...Quilt?

Faithful Blog-ettes...here's a little sneak peak at one of my new quilt designs from the La Belle Rose collection.  Make no mistake about it, it's been a long time a comin'...It reminds me of the old fashioned high top shoes with buttons.
    

It took me more than a few late-nights on my laptop propped on pillows in bed, to get this quilt to look like anything. I had designed one small block for the cover of our sales booklet for spring quilt market, and sho-nuf, Beth Hayes of McCall's picked right up on it and wanted me to develop it further...

My ever-diligent, queen-of-all-things-fabric: "QOATF" Cheryl Winslow just dropped off this new quilt...(adorable--if I do say so myself!) Picture this delivery..."QOATF" pulls up on a shiny new retro-style Harley Davidson with a HUGE throughly modern black helmet and large bulging knapsack on her back.  I squealed with delight when I laid this quilt out...promise you this...for those of you who loved Victoria magazine...this quilt will not disappoint.  It's nostalgic and romantic, and yet fresh & new at the same time (she said humbly!)

The piecing is pretty much standard-fare for Cheryl...impeccable! The quilting....sublime. So "up my alley" I can't even tell you!

So here's the scoop on the quilt: It will be in McCall's February '08 issue...newsstand late November early December...And, if you are at all like me, you want it when it comes out...(weeks before it actually hits the newsstand)--get a subscription!

Oh and in case you are wondering (and I am sure many of you are!) why I am not making my own quilts...honestly, the day-to-day demands of this business are just too great, and my eyes frankly are really not great anymore.  I have been severely near-sighted since 2nd grade, (and I have the pictures of me in my brownie uniform and brown coke-bottle-cat's-eye glasses to prove it!) On top of not-so-great eyes, I have been overusing them for 10-12 hours a day for over 30 years...Oh, and most of you know about lasix eye surgery...dozens of my friends have had it with great success...well, let's just say--I'm in that 3% that no one ever really wants to talk about...I am just thankful that I can still see at all.  So I guess what I am saying is, pretty much the last thing I can do for fun & relaxation involves hours of working at a sewing machine! Honestly the best thing I can do for my eyes and to relax is stare into the distance (like across the lake from a deck chair) and focus on something a mile or two away.

That said, I do still love applique and I do think that I will be doing some of that again sometime soon...Also, my excuse for that is that I can take that in a car, and do it while I am waiting for things to happen.  It's generally portable and I I don't have to make a huge fuss to do an applique project.  Megan and I had a lot of fun with the LOVE HOPE FAMILY quilt that we did for Spring 06 market, and it reminded me how much fun applique can be. The pieces in that quilt were ginormous, so I could actually see what I was doing without too much stress!

Meantime, back to my second favorite past-time...eating!  It occurred to me that there were a lot of other people out there in bloggie-ville who also loved to share their recipes and thoughts on food.  I have read some mouth watering descriptions of late...

So I "wrastled up" some fellow quilt-lovers and we are going to do a  "Blog-able Feast"...The fine points of this are not finalized, but it will go something like this:  every day of this event, you'll come to my blog and I will give a little intro about the person, the course that they are doing and something about the recipe, etc. that they will have that day...I will provide a link to them. Then you'll go over to them and have a treat!

I'll have more on this as soon as it's all laid out...so keep checking back and I'll let you know the who, what, when & where within a week or so.

Back in two shakes...H2