I’m SO excited to announce a new project! I’ve teamed up with author Terri Thayer, actually she’s the one that approached me with the project over a year ago. She’s writing an 8 month series of stories, Tales of the Quilt Shop and I’m creating an applique project to go along with it called Sugarplums.

This is a monthly download in which you will receive a pattern for a quilt block and a story about the Stitches in Time quilt shop. As you work on your quilt, you’ll be able to follow the adventures of Maizie Jenkins, the owner, and the Tuesday Treadlers, five quilts who sew at the shop.

Terri and I have different styles, so you’ll be able to check out each of them. She’s doing fusible applique while I’m doing my favorite glue-stick turned applique. And our color palettes are totally different as well.

Since this is the first time we’ve done something like this we’ll probably be fine tuning things as we go. I’d really appreciate any comments that you have - again this is uncharted territory.

I will try to stay on our current schedule of posting here the first Friday of each month. The cost will be $2.25 per month and you’ll need to go to Terri’s website to make the purchase. This will be in digital format only during the course of the 8 months. At the end of the year I will be releasing the pattern in its entirety (no stories though).

So again, please let me know what you think. Wahoo! So lets get started!

Toodles,
Holly

This weekend was my birthday weekend. I am now officially closer to the next decade versus the other, younger one. I don’t think I obsess about age, I think the old adage of “you are as young as you feel” tends to hold true. Some days I hop out of bed and feel like I’m 20, other days Betty White and I could be BFF’s at the ripe ol’ age of 90 (this tends to happen when all the pets pile in the bed and I find myself sleeping in some contorted position all night).

So now that I am over the half-way mark do I sit and contemplate life or do I start looking for wrinkle creams, a good “nightly repair” lotion and up the Metamucil intake. I’m starting to see a few more gray hairs - I think I shall call this a “highlighting opportunity”. I am an artist and we take creative licenses all the time, why not with myself?

It was a very nice birthday weekend. I received a box of homemade persimmon cookies from my parents (yum). My husband and I hung out and went to the movies - twice (we haven’t done that in ages) and then we went out to a simple dinner. We topped it off at my favorite store - Barnes and Noble, the magazine section to be specific. The newest issue of Mollie Makes was in so I was happy to peruse the pages with a cup of hot chocolate.

Life is good.

Toodles.
Holly
=^..^=

I don’t know about you but I subscribe to quite a few newsletters - in fact so many that I’m actually starting to unsubscribe to those that aren’t my favorite because my inbox just gets too full. But I love seeing what’s new, what’s happening and just feeling like I’m in the loop since I don’t seem to get out much. :)

Anyway, I subscribe to the Shabby Fabrics newsletter - a shop that I love (well online shop anyway, I’ve never actually visited them). So today when I got their newsletter they said they were having a sale on all their patterns and as I scrolled down I saw my most recent quilt. It was so exciting to see it! Sometimes it’s the little things that make one smile and today this was the little thing for me.

I hope you all had a great weekend and maybe it was a long one if you got Martin Luther King day off. If not, then I hope you have a happy Tuesday and rest of the week.

Toodles.
Holly

Well, it’s been a very busy year and we’re only into the second week! I have been filling lots of stamp orders but still have quite a few to go. While out in the garage I did a little cleaning and organizing of some supplies - gosh that feels good (note to self - remember this feeling).

Also while at the quilt shop we got in some cute doggie fabric - Squeaky is showing it off here. I haven’t had time to make a quilt of just dog fabric yet, but I was able to make this little jacket. I hope you don’t get sick of hearing about my pets, but they bring so much happiness I just can’t help it.

Otherwise, I was thrilled to be able to pick a new design team for my stamp business. I can’t wait to see what they create! It’s always a thrill because in the past they’ve come up with wonderful things! I think one of the goals this year is to figure out how to let people post projects that are sparked from the ideas of the design team or just ideas they have themselves. I’d like to have a much more interactive site, but am not totally sure how to do that yet. Any thoughts from you out there?

On another note, I can’t remember if I mentioned it before, but I teamed up with author Terri Thayer again. This time we’re doing a block-of-the-month quilt! It’s adorable to say the least (but then I might be a wee bit biased). The details will follow in a couple weeks. So stay tuned!!

Toodles for now.
Holly

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted, nothing wrong, just busy is all. I wanted to wish you all a Happy New Year and good luck with any resolutions that you may have made. In all honesty I didn’t really make any because I can never seem to keep them!

This little picture is of our dog Squeaky. He got a santa hat in his stocking (thanks to his grandma and grandpa). He sat still for just a moment and I snapped this photo. I think he looks quite dapper, but then I am a little biased. :)

Anyway, I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and a safe new year. Here’s to 2012!!

Toodles.
Holly

I wrote in a previous post that I had found Christy Tomlinson through Scraptime, a blog with videos about what’s new and exciting in the crafting market. Anyway I loved her workshop and got so much out of it that I signed up for this mini one. It’s all about ornaments and Christmas!

With her last workshop I found myself feeling much free-er with my artwork, kind of anything goes. I went to Michaels and bought a package of 8×10 canvases and have been painting backgrounds like crazy. I pull them out and when inspiration hits I start creating. I’m still enjoying myself so much!

Anyway, I had so much fun I thought I would just share this tidbit. I’m sure it’ll be a hoot.

Hope your December isn’t too crazy. :)
Toodles.
Holly

A couple weeks ago I went to Houston’s Quilt Market. It’s a huge place for quilt shops and anyone related to the quilt industry to go and see what’s new, what companies have to offer and what’s coming as far as fabric lines go.

I went because I wanted to show some of my fabric designs to different companies and because I’m now working part time in a quilt shop.

I had to be brave, something I don’t always do well. It’s much easier to be brave for someone else, but when I have to do it for myself I become unsure, somewhat shy and my confidence always come into question.

I took along a small portfolio of projects and showed them around to a few companies. I could tell right away when I was more or less just another person in line showing designs - I’ll chalk those up to getting some experience. But there were a couple where they were really excited about what I had to show. They were huge confidence boosters and all-in-all I walked away feeling great just because I did it. I’m not sure what will happen, but I did it, I put myself out there.

On that same note, I was talking to a very good friend. She was feeling blue because she seems to have misplaced her motivation and more importantly I think, her inspiration. At times I’ve done that too, so I knew exactly how she was feeling. She’d like to design fabric and wants it to be brilliant. We’d all like to have this wonderful design (or whatever it is) that everybody loves and even better, that everybody wants. But I’ve found that when I try to plan for something spectacular, I tend to paralyze my creativity. My inner critic kicks in and I question, “is this good enough” and then I slide down the slippery slope to “am I good enough”.

One of the things I continually have to remind myself is something I started learning while going to school. We don’t have to be exceptional…we just need to be. With every step you will learn, you will be become better, you will find your way, your place. But only you and you alone can make yourself take the first step.

Here’s to taking your first step. :)

Every year there’s a large quilt show in Santa Clara - Pacific International Quilt Festival (PIQF). I was able to go yesterday and in between looking at all the amazing quilts (took only a couple hundred photos), I did a little looking at some of the vendors that were there - after all, what is a quilt show without a wee bit of shopping.

I found this book “A Field Guide to Fabric Design: Design, Print & Sell Your Own Fabric; Traditional & Digital Techniques” by Kimberly Kight (published by StashBooks, ISBN 978-1607053552) and LOVE IT!

If you’ve ever thought about what it would take to create your own fabric - whether it’s block printing, screen printing, digital printing or licensing to a fabric company - this book is a really great start.

Kim goes into detail about terms, motifs, layouts and most of all repeats, both by hand and on the computer. It’s a real gem with tons of photos so you can actually see what’s being said. I know that I went to school for all of this but oh how I wish I’d had this book a couple of years ago. :)

Anyway, if you’ve ever wondered and wanted a really great read I highly recommend checking out this book.

Ok, gotta get to work!
Toodles.
Holly

When I came home this evening I found this lovely scene.

Apparently I left the new Connecting Threads quilt catalog within reach of a certain small dog. Although you see Tucker laying in the catalog carnage (he’s never chewed up anything, only rearranged things as seen in previous posts), you will notice little Sneaky Squeaky in the background chewing. He is quite the paper piranha when left alone. Usually I do a quick once-over to see that all things paper are off the end tables and the office chair (as seen here) is pushed away from the computer desk. Apparently I need to do a “twice-over”. Hmmm…could this be a new business venture? Shredding-while-you-wait? Naughty Squeakers.

Back in February I’d written a post about our dog Tucker and the fact that he had had a small seizure. When we took him to the vet back then we talked it over and because they were so infrequent decided not to put him on medication because it’s very hard on the liver. We were just supposed to keep an eye on him and keep track if anymore happened.

Well early this morning, 7 months to the day, he had another one. Tucker sleeps at the foot of our bed, so we were awakened by him shaking. It’s kind of like when dogs have dog dreams and chase things only you can’t wake them up from it. This one was longer than any of the others he’s had during his life (4 that I know of). We stroked his fur and made sure he didn’t get off the bed. He was dazed for a few minutes but within 15 minutes he was fine, wanted outside to pee and got a big drink of water.

I’m still don’t think we’ll put him on medication because the last one was 7 months ago, but we will continue to watch him as always and keep our vet informed. It’s just very scary - knowing there’s nothing we could do while it’s happening other than being there with him, makes one feel pretty helpless.

Otherwise he’s is doing fine, it’s later in the day and he’s back to his old self.

As always, thanks for listening.
Holly

No rain, no wind - not even a cloud in the sky! What’s up with that?! A few nights ago we woke up to this in the morning. My husband said these trees, a flowering pear, have a lot of moisture inside. We finally had a really hot day and the tree “popped” a branch. I never knew trees did that but he said he’s seen it before with trees around the city he works in.
So now our tree has a bare spot. Yikes! Thank goodness my car wasn’t parked closer to the edge. As it was it brushed it on the way down but only seems to have swiped away some of the dirt (yes, I’m admitting I haven’t washed my car in quite some time).

Speaking of waking up to something, this was not the first time. A couple weeks ago my husband was going fishing and hooked up our little trailer the night before. He woke up bright and early and started his car - a terrible, terrible noise! Found out that someone that evening tried to steal the catalytic converter!

We spoke to the police and apparently there’s been a ring of thefts for these things in the area. What?! We were lucky in that they didn’t get the thing all the way off. The police said they usually cut one side and then leave, come back and unbolt the other side.

Might I add…the dogs can tell when a cat walks on their grass out front or a little bird lands on the fence rail but heard nothing that night! Good grief. No more treats before bedtime!

Oh…he was able to get it fixed and go on his fishing trip - thank goodness!

Awhile back I worked on a project with a wonderful gal I met through school, Jill Turney. She’s an Art Director with Klutz (those really fun books that always have stuff with them).

Well the book arrived in the mail!! I was so excited.

For the book, we could only work with shapes. See those dark purple shapes on the cover? That’s all the artists who worked on the project could use. Let me tell you, it’s easy and hard at the same time. Some things came pretty easy - you know how I love animals, so the dog on the cover is a version of mine (wahoo). That came pretty easy. But sometimes they’d need something and trying to figure out how to create it with just those shapes - I went through a lot of paper.

It’s been so much fun to look through the book and see what everyone came up with. Right about the time I was working on this we had just gotten our little dog Squeaky. One of the sections in the book is called “Dog Show”. Squeaky made the cut!

If you’re at a bookshop or art store or wherever, please check it out. It’s fun and colorful and comes with 64 stamp shapes, 6 colored pencils, a clear block and a little stamp pad - oh and you can create your projects right in the book!

Stamp Art
ISBN: 978-0-545-94626-9
$21.99
Ages 8 & Up

This past weekend we did a little camping trip - Calaveras Big Trees was our destination. It was so nice to get away, if only for a weekend.

We went with my brother and his family. It was the first time our nephew met our new little dog Squeaky. There was an immediate connection. Squeaky was just his size and he walked him and went looking for wilderness-what-nots all weekend. They were true pals.

The weather was absolutely beautiful, the mosquitoes however, not so much! I have over a dozen bites and I’m trying not to think about them or they itch. But as my husband said, better those than poison oak! I agree.

We went hiking, sat and chatted and of course cooked marshmallows over the campfire pit (setting fire to only a few).

There were bear-proof boxes all the food was to go in for each campsite. Hmmm. Good thing we have a trailer instead of a tent I told myself. We actually ended up putting a bag that carries our dog supplies inside the box. It was something I had purchased off of etsy years ago - a 50 pound Purina dog chow bag made into a tote, so it was rather large.

We went to bed, were sleeping soundly and all of a sudden heard the bear-proof-box creaky hinge! The dogs barked, my husband grabbed the flashlight, shined it out the trailer window - nothing. I would have preferred he didn’t check things outside the confines of our cozy trailer, but he had to see.

The bag was gone! Apparently we had forgotten to lock the box, it was dark when we went to bed and hadn’t noticed.

The next morning we got up bright and early to see if there were any tracks. I thought maybe some racoons had taken it, but there were no drag marks, and unless they were standing on top of one another there was no way that could have happened. Then we heard other people discussing a bear. A very clever bear though, because the way it had grabbed the bag nothing had fallen out - no leashes, no dog dishes, no dog food.

I had to giggle (now that I knew I wasn’t the entree) when a mental picture popped into my head - I thought here was this big bear, carrying around this big green dog chow bag going shopping around to all the campsites. It would have held quite a lot of loot!

We never found any signs of the bag. But somewhere out there amongst the big trees there is a nicely accessorized bear.

I hope you all had a wonderful Father’s Day.

I spent the day up at my parents house - beautiful weather and a lovely afternoon chatting on the screened porch.

I was going through photos and found this one of me and my dad back in 1968. I guess I’m showing my age. I think the photo was taken out in our front yard. A happy memory. I hope you all have some of your own.

I believe this is the 3rd year in a row Anne Sutton, Bunny Hill Designs, has done a free block-of-the-month pattern. I think at the beginning of the year (or around there) she puts out the first free pattern, then once the year is over, the patterns aren’t free anymore, you have purchase them - but please don’t quote me on this. :)

Month 1

This year’s pattern is called Henrietta Whiskers and I just love it! The main feature is a squirrel which is too cute! But then all of Bunny Hill’s patterns are just adorable.

Month 2

Don’t let my blocks fool you, I have them all glued up but I haven’t finished stitching them or adding all of the embellishments - embroidery, eyes and buttons. If you go to her blog you can see the actual finished blocks.

Month 3

If you like applique and want to join fun I’d highly recommend hopping on over to her blog. You can put yourself on her mailing list and then on the 5th of each month you’ll get a note showing the next block.

Month 4

The next block is coming out in a few days and the anticipation of what it will be is always something to look forward to!!

Month 5