Wishing you an abundance of love and joy throughout the holiday season — and a very happy, healthy New Year too!
With love from,
kate, pete, franny and lou
December 23, 2011
December 19, 2011
Just In Time For (Next) Christmas
With a little less than a week until Christmas, i'm about knee-deep in gift wrap and tissue paper...and there is hardly a day where i don't find packing tape stuck to my shoe or sleeve (or worse). The other day i was on line at the post office and the woman in front of me was kind enough to point out that i was dragging a trail of red curly ribbon around my ankle. After removing it, i looked up to thank her and saw that the front of her coat was covered in glitter! Ah, the signs of good cheer are hard to miss...and there certainly has been a lot of it around here lately. I hope the same for you, no matter how you celebrate the season.
If you didn't get around to making everything you'd hoped to this year (like me), i definitely had you in mind when i designed my next Christmas fabric collection for Moda! It's called "Joy" and will be touring around with the Moda sales reps in the beginning of January. Among an assortment of festive patterns, the collection also includes a fabric panel that has all the pre-designed pieces to make
two cute stockings!
I sewed them together in no time, and this photo shows only one of many options for embellishment. But please refrain from throwing candy canes at me when i tell you that this collection won't be available for sale until June 2012. The good news is that will give you plenty of time to get a *big* head start on next year's projects.
So please excuse me...i'm heading back to the post office in a couple minutes, but this time, i'm going to do a head-to-toe "ribbon check" first.
December 13, 2011
Good Omen
I'm going to take it as a good omen that a bright yellow balloon landed in our tree today.
There was no note attached, which i admit was a little disappointing.
So i am going to attach this note to 12 balloons...
And i just want to say thanks to everyone for sharing your sweet, funny, touching and heart-warming holiday-ish memories. I can't tell you how happy it made me to join you in remembering fun details from the past, but also in the idea of making new traditions. It's this kind of exchange that is really the best gift of the season. Thank you for making it so merry.
xo,
kate
and send them off to the stocking stuffer winners!
xo,
kate
December 9, 2011
Furry Friday
have a super weekend!
xo,
kate
ps: don't forget to enter for a chance to win a surprise stocking stuffer!
to do so, please leave a comment on the previous post. for everyone who has already entered, i have loved to read about your holiday memories and family traditions! thank you for sharing them.
December 7, 2011
Merry Moda Blog Hop!
Or it could also be called the "Moda Jingleblog Hop"? Nah, that might turn into "Jingleblop" which just doesn't have the festive ring to it that Head Elf Lissa was probably hoping for when she came up with this sweet idea. Hmm, how about "Moda Claus Is Coming to Town"? Anyway, no matter what you're calling it, i hope you're having fun visiting everyone and collecting all the block patterns and yummy recipes that have been shared. The blocks would make a really cute sampler quilt (i can say that now that i actually know what one is), or pick a few and make a wall hanging, table runner, pot holders, pillows...the list goes on.
The block i designed for you is called Parfait and you can download it here along with a recipe that was given to me many years ago from a very dear friend. She called the recipe The Perfect Cupcake and it definitely lives up to its name — especially if you pile on the ganache frosting. But if you do that, you might want to change the name to The Disappearing Cupcake. Hope you enjoy them both! Here is what the quilt block looks like in
some prints from Terrain.
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| sorry for the poor-quality after-midnight-up-too-late photo |
I would like to thank Super Elf Lisa Christensen of Three Kids Designs for her help in writing up my block design instructions. As much as i try to take this step, she always makes it look so much easier than i can imagine — and in fewer steps, too! I would also like to thank you for making my world so much happier and brighter by sharing your amazing handmade creations with me. It is a joy and blessing that lasts all year long.
And since not many opportunities come along where you can segue into a chat about parfaits, i just have to share this with you now. I was on Etsy recently and came across a shop called SouZou Creations. You have to see it to believe it! I am dying over some of their jewelry. Sofia gave me permission to show off this adorable parfait ring:
And these strawberry jam filled cookie earrings:
Ok, moving right along...
Around here, we're starting to have a merry little Christmas. It started with this merry little tree that we put up last weekend.
And since not many opportunities come along where you can segue into a chat about parfaits, i just have to share this with you now. I was on Etsy recently and came across a shop called SouZou Creations. You have to see it to believe it! I am dying over some of their jewelry. Sofia gave me permission to show off this adorable parfait ring:
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| how cute is that? |
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| love! |
Around here, we're starting to have a merry little Christmas. It started with this merry little tree that we put up last weekend.
It has filled our living room with the sweet smell of pine, and brightened the evenings with its soft twinkling lights. I probably don't even need to tell you how happy Franny and Lou were that we brought a tree into our home...just for them of course. And then once we started decorating it, they were so excited to have a whole tree covered in new cat toys! One of my favorites happens to be one of their favorites too: the fuzzy puffball snowman head.
I should have guessed.
But luckily, we were smart enough to put our very special ornaments close to the top and out of paws'-reach. This is one of our most treasured. It was hand-painted by our dear friend Melissa. Not sure if you can see it, but there is a clothesline circling the ball and on one side are Santa's coat, pants and mittens...
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| art is ©Melissa McNamara |
...and on the other side are his socks and undies!
Speaking of Santa...when my sister and i were kids, my Mom and Dad...er...i mean Santa really got creative with the whole stocking tradition. They would find zany things that looked like they might be from other countries — like a book written in Japanese, or tiny ceramic painted clogs from Denmark, or candy from Germany — and my sister and i delighted in imagining how Santa must surely have picked these things up and tossed them into his giant sack as he travelled the globe in his sleigh. It was a magical adventure to sort through the trinket-ie treasures and a memory i will keep forever.
**Update: My Dad just emailed me to say, "What about how Santa would knock over the firescreen and then leave his footprints in fireplace ashes all over the rug?" I guess that must have been his favorite part! See? Memories for everyone. Thanks for reminding me about that, Dad. Love you.**
So in honor of this tradition, i'd like to give away some fun surprise stocking stuffers! I don't think you'll want to miss out on this...cough, cough Good Fortune...cough Terrain. Please just leave a comment below and I'll pick a few winners over the weekend. (Some of you were so quick and left comments before i revised this part! So if you renamed the blog hop, or told me your favorite holiday tradition, don't worry...you'll still be entered in the giveaway!)
Please remember to visit these designers who are also posting today:
And if you've missed anyone along the way, you can go back this post for a complete list of designers to visit. Thank you for stopping by!
xo,
kate
December 5, 2011
Hoppy Holidays
It's time for another Moda Blog Hop! This one is a little different because it has no name. I read the designers' blog posts for today and got a laugh that no one really knows what to call it. But in the spirit of the season, it's about giving, sharing and just having a little plain ol' fun at this time of year. Each designer will have a recipe and quilt block design to give you, so pop in at these blogs over the next few days to download (or win) some extra holiday cheer!
December 5th
December 6th
December 7th:
December 8th
Me! :)
December 9th
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