Holly Blog

My Favorite Things...181...My Feet on the Ground

I was so traumatized by my foul-weather-flight into San Francisco on Tuesday, that I almost blocked it out until now.  I was the ONLY person in my row of 6 people who didn't have her face in the "little blue bag" as we landed.  In fairness to my fellow passengers, I wasn't nauseated, but I was crying huge alligator tears for the last 15 minutes of our flight. Wish that I had the presence of mind to snap a picture when we landed, it was a darkly funny scene.

Instead, I'll show you the last few shots I took of our booth...

This is the pink side of our booth. These fabrics are from our Teatime Floral II collection that have just arrived in the stores!  We had a few bolts of our new range of our best selling Frosted Dots LH 03035 in champagne, pink & red tones positioned on the edges of the tables, so that people could come up and "pet the fabric".  I was amazed at how many people did just that.  The little dress on the end is Cheryl Winslow's latest creation, the "Madison Rose Dress" # MD-02.

Here's a close up of the pink endcap...

The "Sweet Tea" quilt I designed this summer, will be in American Patchwork & Quilting, which is due out in December, if memory serves.  The "Garden Party" tote & DREAM pillow are by Penny.  The sawtooth edged quilt which has a working name of "Stars & Stripes" on the lower left is one that will be in Quilts & More early next year.  On the lower right, is my working name "Scrappy Pinwheels" quilt that will be in McCall's Quick Quilts next year as well.  The quilt at the bottom is called "Poet's Corner", it was published earlier this year.

Last but not least is a slightly better picture of the new "Dolly Dress Up" quilt that will be in McCall's  April 2010 issue (newsstand February).  The Dolly Dresses 2 collection, (fabric for this and other quilts will be a part of), will be in the stores in late March/early April.  At market, a lot of stores mentioned that they'd be taking orders ahead of time...so if you have a little cutie in mind for this colorful new collection, please make a note of this!

The lower quilts are made from fabrics in the Doll Dresses I collection from this past winter.

I will provide you with links to the LakeHouse website for a better look at all of the new Dolly Dresses 2 & 3 collection, just as soon as we are back in the office and we can get the fabric swatches online.

I hope to have some great shots of Marin, just as soon as the weather clears.

Back in two shakes... :º)  H2

My Favorite Things...180...When My "Dogs" are on the Coffee Table

Don't freak out, I don't let my dogs on the coffee table, that's just an expression for when I put my feet up on the furniture.  Yes, I have that kind of house.  It's been shabby and not-so-chic since before I'd ever even heard of Rachel Ashwell.

Right now though, I'm in CA, with the intent of working on several fun projects here (as soon as I get my brain back)...so I'm sitting cross legged on my friend Ric's sofa with my laptop on a pillow.  It's the most comfortable way I know to work.

We had an AMAZING market.  With the economy the way it is, I set my sights low (to avoid disappointment), but this market I was in the booth meeting new customers and writing up multi paged orders -- pretty much the entire time.  I did not get out to see Brenda Riddle (but she did drop by to say hello), Anne Sutton, or the "Moda Mob" (I must admit, I am a reduced to a syrupy mess around a lot of my design faves).  I did have some visitors come by though (a couple that I actually remembered to have a picture taken with). 

Pam Kitty & Elizabeth came by (all bright eyed and bushy tailed), and took this shot with me (looking "rode hard and put away wet") and Penny (the photogenic one on my left). We had a fun "chicken-fried-chicken" dinner that night with them and Penny's daughter Darci at the House of Blues.

I was also thrilled to see Tula Pink and her mom come by, (the two of them are so much fun), Rosalie from Melly & Me, (who is also a delight), Lynda Milligan of the Great American Quilt Factory, Cyndi Walker of Stitch Studios, Tricia Cribbs of Friend Folks, Gina Halladay & her quilting sidekick Kay, and Sheri Bignell of Freckleberry Farm...forgive me if I have left anyone out...I think it was the new Dolly Dresses 2 "Dolly Dress Up quilt" that made a lot of people who like bright fabric stop by. (Then I swooped in like a spider in her web to meet people who I am a fan of.)

Here's a picture of the "bright side of the booth"...

 

The red bordered "Dolly Dress Up" quilt will be in McCall's Quilting magazine in the April 2010 issue (newsstand February).  It's a panel that is made to look like it's all applique'd.  People seemed to really like it. All of the dresses are in place, so it's the perfect on it's own or with lots of fun embellishments, I designed the panel and the applique' embellishments and our quilting maven Cheryl Winslow of Starshine Quilting whipped up for the booth a few days before market, (and those are her hugley popular & adorable little dresses all over our booth).

I'm planning another Dolly Dresses holiday event in December with some quilting buddies...more on this very soon. 

Lots more to show and tell tomorrow ladies...

Back in two shakes...H2

My Favorite Things...179...A Little Birdie Told Me

Without further ado, here are some close up shots of "me little birdies"...

Here's a shot of the tree, and the little goody basket we had the little bird-stickered-favors in...

I got all of the little German gold foil die cuts (even the crown on the back shelf) at a wonderful place in Berkeley, during my last trip to CA...More on this shop soon, when I get back over there.

Here's a little close up of the marvelous garlands that I bought in the flower district (28th & 7th Ave) in Manhattan...I also got the little eggs and many of the birds that I used in our booth at Bill's Flower Market which has been there as long as I have lived in New York. 

I'll be back again tomorrow for more show & tell.

X;º)   H2

My Favorite Things...178...When the Day is Done

I have had so many things to show & tell between my trip to California in early September and now.  But I have had to keep my nose to the grindstone in preparation for Fall Quilt Market.  We ran into a lot of snags along the way.  It was like a comedy of errors a lot of the time...(things just kept running amok!) Big thanks to Martha Hall for making the 3 new quilts shown below.

We featured our new Teatime Floral III grouping "front & center" in our booth at market.  A new panel fabric that I designed featuring North American Song Birds prompted our decorations...We had great fun with all of the little "do dahs" -- eggs, nests, lots of little birdies, some old fashioned feather trees...

 

The urns in the center are from the Clignancourt flea market in Paris.  I bought them almost twenty years ago for my own studio (w-ayyy before French General), when I was there working on an interior design project.  (So I really have to laugh when I hear back from sales reps that "this collection doesn't look like something Holly would do"--when in reality what I have done in the last year is actually inspired by some of my most treasured things). 

Believe it or not, the peeling paint and rust on these antique urns is practically the same color palette as the blues and browns in TTF 3...click here for a closer comparison!  The LOVE pillow is by pal Penny Sturges of Quilts Illustrated.  My new Whirlwind quilt in the background features the "Song Bird I" panel fabric LH 09024.  I'll be making inspiration sheets for this quilt available on line very soon.

Here's a close up of my peeling, rusty, iron garden urns...I know, I know, one person's trash is another's treasure!

 

Lots more soon after a little R&R. 

Back in two shakes...H2

My Favorite Things...177...Good Food & Friends

Decided to take a little business trip to California, before the onslaught of market preparations.  Much to my delight, I was able to have a delicious lunch with two of the funniest blogging quilters I know...

I call them "Elizapam".  We met in Mill Valley, which IMHO is pretty much the cutest town in Marin.  With it's little parks, turn-of-the-century shingle style cottages, and a storybook downtown, a girl could fall for the place...

It's too bad we had to "pinkie swear" about some of our next up-and-coming projects (lots more soon).  We gabbed for several hours, only to call it short when East Bay traffic patterns caused them concern.  (They graciously offered to come to my side of the bay, as I am again staying in Marin county with my old buddy Ric, who I have mentioned before).  It was great seeing you girls!

Over this past weekend, I saw a really fun arts & crafts exhibit called "The Box Show" in Point Reyes Station.  The show has become so popular, that they have to hold a lottery for open spots. It was so much fun.  Each artist got a box to do anything they want with. Here's a few examples of some of the projects they showed...

This soft sculpture was made by Mollie Lounibos.  I just loved her birds, and wherever did she get that wood textured fabric?

Don't you all want a box made of Blue Willow china?  It's by Pattie Grey.

Simon Jeremiah did this homage to Joseph Cornell, one of my favorite 3 dimensional collage artists.

It's magazine quilt season right now, so I'll have lots more to show and tell when I get back to the studio.

Back in two shakes...H2 @:º)

My Favorite Things...176...Teatime Floral 3 & More Cupakes Dear?

I have a new favorite color, it's just a soft whisper of blue.  We'll be calling it "Cloud".  It's used a lot in our new Teatime Floral Three collection, and it's being shown in our new sales booklet format to independent quilt shop owners all over the world as I write.

Here's the cover from the sales booklet...

Imagine my delight, with the new TTF 3 sales booklet just out the door, when I walked into one of my favorite new neighborhood places "Magnolia Bakery", and noticed the same "Cloud" blue in the subway tiles used as a back splash in their kitchen.  Is it just me or do you love this color too?

The cupcakes are what put Magnolia Bakery on the map...rumor has it that the tiny original store in Greenwich Village sells 2500 of them a day.  The Columbus Avenue store is 3 times as big, so I wonder how many cupcakes they sell...?

I love their Chocolate Layer Cake with Vanilla Butter Cream Icing, too...

Speaking of cupcakes, our LakeHouse pink cupcake fabric (LH 08010 Pink) that so many of you have been clamoring for is back in stock in our NJ warehouse.  We actually printed it 3 more times in the last 6 months thanks to all of your enthusiasm for that print...I hope to do more fabrics "in a similar style & taste" in the near future.

That's part two of my "Midsummer Days Tales".

Back again in a few...

slurp

H2

My Favorite Things...175...A Hairy Tale With a Happy Ending!

It's been a bit of a crazy summer here on the east coast.  Lots of rain, wind & lighting storms that have upset the family critter's routine terribly, and me especially.  The humidity has been so bad that it makes me think that the wallpaper is going to unpaste itself and slither down the walls...

And yet I have a lot to be thankful for. 

Here's another quilt that I designed recently that is in the August 2009 McCall's Quilting...

I completely forgot to tell you all about this quilt, until now.  Paton and I have actually been through a bit of a rough patch with the dogs that we've been fostering.

I haven't told a lot of people about my animals lately, because when there is a lot of bad news over and over again, no one wants to hear it.  Heck, I don't want to have to re-live the story by telling it again.

But there has been some good news of late, so I thought I'd share it with you...

First, there's Hi Bit, who I like to think of as "Prozac with 4 paws".

A month ago, Hi Bit was really sick with liver failure.  We thought that he might not make it.  He and about 6 other animals from his pack, had been unknowingly fed aflatoxin-poisoned food at the kennel where he was staying after being rescued from a puppy mill in Missouri.  On top of that, Hi Bit's spinal column has fused discs in at least three places, so that he walks like a drunken sailor, and he has a wicked heart murmur, and he's not a young dog.

But today after a variety of antioxidants & Sam-E to help him regenerate his liver, and a homepathic remedy that has put some spring in his step and a twinkle in his eye, Hi Bit "is back".

Also, keeping our fingers crossed, Lady Bug the heart worm positive foster dog who I told you about this spring, is almost through her 8 week treatment, and she is ever-so-slowly coming out of her shell.
LB clearly experienced the most mental & emotional damage of any of the foster dogs that Paton and I have witnessed to date.

Here's a partial family picture, of Paton and the critters last week end.

That's "the Mrs.", Giulia--she who does as she pleases, Paton & Bitty, and Blueberry, the puppy.

More "Midsummer Days Tales" in a bit...

LOL

H2

My Favorite Things...174...Back in the Saddle Again

I remember writing a couple of essays when I was a kid at the beginning of a new school year that described what I did for my summer vacation. 

For the record, I haven't actually had an official summer vacation yet, but I have taken some time off for designing, and "re-charging my battery".  Here's a few photos of what I've been up to...

A little sneak peek of a quilt that I designed for American Patchwork & Quilting that uses our new Teatime Floral Two collection.  The fabric is due out in the stores in late September /early October.  It was made by Cheryl Winslow of Starshine Quilting.

I'll let you know what issue of APQ this quilt is in as soon as I get a confirmation on the exact publication date. 

Here's a tasty-design-tidbit from pictures that I took in Central Park while walking "the Mrs." aka Mrs Riley...

I spotted the most sensational lanterns hanging over the terrace at Tavern On the Green. From a distance, I could swear that the fabrics were Asian-inspired prints.

Up close the lanterns were actually made of decorator upholstery fabrics.

Aren't they fabulous?  They'd be pretty easy to re-create at home I think...

More later this week from the Big Apple.

It's great to be back...in the saddle again.

LOL  {:º)X  H2

My Favorite Things...173...A Quilt Times Five

Here are some close-ups of the quilts we showed in our booth at Spring Quilt Market...

I'd had an idea for a series of quilts rattling around in my head for a while.  My original idea was for much smaller quilts, but this series came to me while I was laying out the booth design...This new quilt pattern is called "Star Maker", pattern number LH 09009.

This first version of the quilt was inspired by the cover of our sales booklet...

I tried to use as many of the new Teatime Floral II fabrics as I could in this series, to give the shop owners a good idea of how all of the fabrics would work together.  It was a really fun project for me.

Here's #2 with yet another coloration of that darn Hydrangea fabric...

Version #3 was in the middle of the booth...It was the only quilt that used the new Cross Stitch Alphabet fabric (LH 09016 Bronze) to form a word.

The fourth quilt uses one of my favorite fabrics...LH 06030 Powder, I just love these roses.

The last of the series combines fabrics from TTF I & TTF II.  The Ticking Stripe (LH 08061 Powder) in the outer border is also one of my favorites.  I've had a thing for pillow ticking fabrics for as long as I can remember...

We'll have the pattern fronts available as a click & print download via the new projects page by mid June. (click the side bar icon on the upper left)  That way if you like any of the quilts, you can take a print out into your LQS and show them what you are interested in.

We are still digging our way out of the post-market-craziness here.  I am still catching up on sleep, believe it or not.

Back in two shakes...H2

My Favorite Things...172...The Devilish Details

Hello Again Ladies...

We have had a lot of fun AND a bit of a wild ride here in P'burg in the last few days...

Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill was one of the first people I ran into during set up.  She reminded me that she uses our LH 03035 Champagne in a lot of her BOTM projects.  Which of course tickles me pink, since I am such a HUGE fan of her work, and it's an honor have her using our fabrics. 

The Quilt Branch Ladies were well placed with their best selling book "Six Halves Make a Whole" (great name, huh?) near Checker and the front entrance...Susan and Mary Jane are always more fun and energetic than a basket of kittens...

Brenda Riddle of Little Acorns fame came by our table at Sample Spree..she looked great and was buzzing with energy, as always! 

Tammy Tadd (who I hear is soon to be of Quilt Sampler fame)...peaked over the flower "hedge" looking tan, thin, lovely & a little different...I couldn't figure out why...she said that she had lasik surgery.  I guess it was the first time I'd ever seen her without glasses. WOW, what a difference, congrats on all above Tammy!...

Friday afternoon Eliza-Pam made a surprise visit to our booth...those two are so much fun, (you MUST check out the recent shenanigans on PKM's blog)...I guess you have time to be involved in quilt market & blogging intrigue when you are liberated from having a booth at market...?  Stupidly, I forgot to get a picture before they left the booth.

Late Friday night and all day Saturday, I was sick as a dog with a reaction to something I ate at dinner Friday.  Before we got back to the car to drive home, I knew I was in trouble.  A major league migraine and nausea ensued.  Managed to make it to my meeting Saturday morning with Beth Hayes of McCall's Quilting...and then it was back to the my darkened hotel room for the rest of the day.  Muchas gracias to Martha, Lisa and Lorraine for covering for me in the booth while I waited things out...

This morning I managed to take a few pictures of some of the little things we offered to our guests at the booth, (before they were all given out &/or gobbled up). 

Here's a few pics...Starting with Kristine's delicious customized chocolate bars, with our new Beaded Rose fabric on the label.

Today, Audie Hittle also peaked over the flowers while I was in some sort of a meeting...I never did see Karina, his fabulously talented wife (she's is one of my favorite designers)...she's the creator of the uber-delicious pattern line called "Artful Offerings".  Karina & Audie, let's catch up...I miss you both!

With only moments to go, one of the dearest (and smartest) people I've met in the quilt biz, Cheryl Phillips of Phillips Fiber Art stopped by.  It was so great to catch up with her after not seeing her for so long...

Here are a few more pics of the little things that we designed to promote our new Teatime Floral II collection...(TTF II fabric swatches will be on our LHDG website by June 1).

The little teacup stickers on Hershey's kisses went fast...And how about the little stickers below? I had so much fun designing these...

Last but not least, a close up shot of the Teacakes business cards...

Lots more goodies to come & A Charm Square Pack give-away next week!  So stay tuned for details...

Back in two shakes...H2

PS   Gina Halladay "The Quilters Buzz Lady" couldn't be at Spring Market this year, as she had to be at a machine quilting trade show in Kansas City.  She asked me to be her "girl on the ground" and take some pictures for her blog.  I did get quite a nice assortment of new and existing designer's booths...but NOT all I'd have liked, due to the migraine...I'll be back soon with more on this as soon as I can settle back in at the studio.