Over the past year, i've had the great pleasure of working with Andrew's McMeel Publishing on many of their Pocket Posh® puzzle books and a few fun calendars. I absolutely love how they've turned out and was so happy to see many of them available at our local Borders bookstore over the weekend! The Christmas ones would sure make some cutie little stocking stuffers — but i have to warn you...get your gatorade out and your sweatbands on and prepare for some brain exercise. Whew! Below are some direct links to specific designs shown in the photos, but you can also find these and many other Pocket Posh® products at these online retailers:
Hey, speaking of Sudoku, have you heard about the Central Park Sudoku Quilt Kit?? Nono, i'm not kidding! Look:
Moda has done it again. A quilt puzzle! How do they think this stuff up? They must do lots of brain exercises. So why not head over to the Fat Quarter Shop and sign up to receive notification when this is available. I think it should be some time in January, but don't hold me to it. I need to go do some memory exercises :)
In case you're looking for some fun holiday greeting cards to send out this year, i've got some new designs for you to pick from on Cardstore.com! You can personalize the cards by adding your own photos, writing your own greetings, and selecting just the right the font. Cardstore will even address the envelopes for you (and mail them out too). The busy elves are also offering free shipping and 20% off your entire order. To take advantage of this holiday special, enter discount code CYBERSALE at checkout.
And a P.S.: many of my new card designs are actually sneak peeks of something new that you will be seeing ver r r r y soon *wink, wink*
In the midst of pie-baking, cranberry sauce making, and turkey prepping, i just wanted to let all of you know how incredibly thankful i am for you. I'm so grateful for your thoughtful comments, lively encouragement, helpful support, and friendship. This has been a whirl of a year for me, and being able to share much of it with you has made the sun shine a little brighter in my small corner of the world. Thank you.
And speaking of stuffing...how about we ring in the holiday season with a stocking stuffer giveaway? Leave a comment and i'll pick a winner each day for 12 days starting December 1st. Winners will receive a surprise stocking stuffer! Could be fabric-ie, could be stationery-ie, could be scrapbook-ie but no matter what it is, it'll be fun!
Hope you have a festive Thanksgiving with your family and friends and celebrate the abundant goodness in your lives.
Oh Autumn, how do i love thee? Let me count the shades... I love the crimson leaves and withered berries,
...vermillion fruits against crisp blue skies......golden foliage with toasted edges......luminous fuchsia blossoms and sad, sweet buds that will never bloom......dry, petal-less plants that will soon be capped with snow......and hope-filled seeds that will someday be... ...the radiant blooms of Spring.
Red, silver and a hint of gold..oooooo, ahhhhh! They're on the shelf waiting for you in the Cards & Party area. And another *hint*: you just might be seeing that giant poinsettia somewhere else...soon. Keep your eyes peeled. Happy getting-ready-for-the Holidays!
This may have to serve as my official Quilt Market recap since i pretty much stayed in my booth the whole time and didn't roam around to take pictures of everyone! But surely by now you've seen lots and lots of photos of the fun that was had there and next time you'll just have to join us.
When i arrived in Houston, i met up with Joanna and we set off to do a little prop shopping for our booths. We had three places we wanted to go, but only made it to two because i read the wrong directions first. Does that make sense? I'm sure it does to my hubby! It's a recurring theme when i'm in the navigator seat. But it does lead to unexpected adventures and Joanna is certainly a fun person to have an adventure with. So we ended up in Spring, TX which is such an adorable teenie place that is packed with antique-ie gift shops and lots of eye candy. On our way into this one, i just had to take this pic for a certain someone. Joanna obliged my request by jumping into the frame: Then we were off to unpack all our boxes and start booth setup. Which brings me to a GIANT THANK YOU to Lissa, Joanna, Liesl, and Deb for responding so helpfully to my first-time-with-a-booth S.O.S. and for sharing their Quilt Market how-tos with me. Had it not been for them, none of my boxes would have arrived on time, i would have had bare poles and ugly white curtains, stark tables and nowhere to put all the stuff i brought. So thanks to them and to Heather and Melanie for their expert shelf-assembly, my booth went from this:
to this:
And if it hadn't been for Sherri, i would only have had one quilt to hang! Just look at this beauty she made: It's called "Carousel". You can read more about it on her blog. And, there's some very special news we'll get to share about her quilt...soon (eeek,so exciting!).
I have to say, once the booth was put together and my anxiety about all the logistics had subsided, i loved every minute of it. You know why? Because i got to meet so many creative people from shop owners to blogland friends to fellow designers — people who i admire for all sorts of reasons. And after chatting it up with everyone who stopped by, it was so clear to me that the common thread that ties us all together is that we're doing what we love and willing to take chances on our abilities in order to sustain our creative lives. What could be better?
One of the people i was lucky to meet was Kathy Mack, owner of Pink Chalk Fabrics. It was the first time i had met Kathy in person, though i felt like i had known her forever! In fact, thanks to some pointers i found on her blog, she unknowingly helped me through a sewing-with-laminates-conundrum (you can read her tips here)! On day two, Kathy came back to my booth with her flip video camera and asked me to give her a tour. I can't believe i'm going to share this with you! When i get in front of a camera (of any kind) my brain goes ______________and all i hear in my head is "blahblahblahaablahahablahh". But i managed to get some sentences out and if you weren't able to come to market, you can have a look around:
Kathy, i so enjoyed meeting you. Thank you for including me in your video tour and for making it as painless as possible with your kind and warm spirit.
Here are two other great gals: Julie Herman of Jaybird Quilts and Kim Knight of TrueUp. I adored meeting Kim and always love seeing julie — who, by the way, is toting quite an impressive resume of placements in quilting magazines. Way to go! I seriously think i could have giggled the day away with these two! Once julie took the lense cap off her camera (she's actually trying to hide here), she snapped some pics of my booth and was so nice to include them on her blog in her market recap.
Here's my wonderful booth neighbor Deb Strain: You only have to meet Deb once to know how incredibly sweet she is. Not to mention unbelievably gifted and prolific!
And i can't believe i captured so much talent in one picture!! Lynn of Kansas Troubles, Karla of Sweetwater, theKathy Schmitz, and Sandy of American Jane. (thank you all for finally looking at the camera! sheesh...i almost had to pay them to pose! but you know i ♥ you all)
And here's one of me and Joanna in her beautiful booth and i mean beautiful! The pictures on her blog do it much more justice than mine. Hmm...we were moving along so well there, but i've run out of pictures...
So you'll have to just imagine what the Moda party was like, what silly things people were wearing on Halloween, what the booth breakdown looked like (wait, you don't want to do that)— and then what it was like to come home to see my sweet hubby, and to kick up my feet for a whole hour before diving into designing my next line of fabric. The promise of a blank page is always an inspiration to me. What oh what will it be this time..
In case you're looking for some fun holiday greeting cards to send out this year, i've got some 
