A cold front must have passed through. A really weak cold front moving really fast. It actually dropped below 110 a couple of days this past week but the water in the pool is still 90 degrees. How refreshing! (Yes, the sarcasm is intended to be as subtle as a jackhammer tapping.) But, you know what? It's not bothering me. The short periods I've spent outdoors in the last few days were with my granddaughters in the pool and it was a lot of fun. The girls have been with me since Friday night because Mom and Dad needed some vacation time (and so did Grandpa). We had a great weekend.
I even managed to get some work done because I've really enjoyed working on the new patterns I'm adding to my line. I'm anxious to show you all a sneak peek but I have to wait until they're all photographed so give me a little time. I think you'll like them too. I need to break down and hire some quilters so I can produce new designs for you more quickly. I have to keep my hands on everything, though, and hate losing control of my designs. I'll find a happy middle ground soon and start bombarding you with new projects to make and fabrics to use!
I've got some instructions to write and then I'm going to spend the rest of the night finishing one of the new projects. So, that's all for now. Thanks for looking in on me.
The photo, above, was taken by Everett W. Gibson of Tucson, AZ. Although I joke about the weather here, it can be beautiful sometimes.
It's not easy to be working on Christmas and Halloween designs when it's 115 degrees. Period. I may have to blast the air conditioning and put on some Christmas music. Despite that, the designs I'm working on are some of my favorite holiday designs I've ever done. Hopefully, I'll have something to show you soon. But the more than 10 days streak of temps over 110 degrees is pretty stifling. I can't believe it's only June!
"It's not the heat; It's the humidity." Whatever.... It IS the heat. Though I live in the Phoenix area now, I spent most of my life in Iowa where the summers can be oppressively hot AND humid. When it's 110 degrees here in May and June it's HOT. Right now it's 99 and not even 10 a.m. I think it got up to 112 yesterday and it looks like at least today and tomorrow will be the same. The excessive heat warnings of the past couple of days continue and summer hasn't begun yet! Okay, I just had to get that out of my system.It's still better than having to deal with the flooding that has ravaged Iowa and the midwest again. I was there for the floods of '93 and it's devastating. My heart goes out to all of the people affected.On a lighter note, I wanted to let you all know that, if you take a look at the Robert Kaufman site for my Kona Colorworks yarn-dyed fabrics, there is now an option to click to view the fabrics by color story. Move your cursor over each print to bring it forward and get the information for it. I think it's a cool way to present it and thought you might like to take a look.Other than that, I'm finishing up the manuscript for my book and starting on some new patterns! I LOVE using the new fabrics and will let you know as soon as I have new things to show you. Thanks for checking in on me and I really do appreciate all of the emails. Don't forget to send photos of anything you've made from my patterns or fabrics too! I'd love to add them to my website. Have a great day!
I'm happy to say it's arrived a little early! If you'd like to be among the first to order click here.
I'll be happy to sign yours if you email me with the specifics (who to sign it to, etc.) after you've ordered. :)
...and I've come to realize that I thrive on it! The past few weeks have been really energizing for me and I have a lot of new designs to show for it.I'm back to work on my latest book for C&T Publishing and cranked out almost 3 of the 10 projects over the weekend. That's a great testimonial to the fact that the projects for this book are truly fast and easy to create (which is what I wanted to offer in this one). It's less than 2 weeks now until the release of A Patrick Lose Christmas. I hope you'll consider it as an addition to your personal quilting and crafting library...just in time to start on the projects for the 2008 holiday season. If you plan to order from me, please be sure to email me now and I will hold a copy for you!Spring Quilt Market took place in Portland, Oregon a few weeks ago. I was surprised that even though attendance was low I've been filling lots of pattern orders! I'm glad to have a Canadian distributor now. On top of that, I got some great news yesterday from my friends at Robert Kaufman Fabrics. I was worried that the low attendance would mean low sales of my new fabrics but everyone was surprised at how well they sold despite the attendance! The samples for my Kona Colorworks yarn dyed fabrics didn't arrive in time to make sample folders for presentation so they weren't even really shown at market yet they still managed to sell thousands of yards by showing bits and pieces to several customers! If you visit the page by clicking above, please note that the color stories are grouped by name (Garden, Bermuda, etc.). RK is working on adding an option to view all of the fabrics by color families.Satinesque sales are off to a great start also. You can see the entire introductory color range here. I can't wait to see photos of the things you make using it. Please be sure to email your photos to me and, with your permission, I'll post them on my website! One of the projects I made over the weekend is a July 4th banner and I wish I could show you how great it turned out using the Red, Ivory, and Navy Satinesque colors. You'll have to wait until we're closer to the release date of the next book though :( I'll be sure to show you the newest version of my "Merry" pattern that I'm making entirely from Satinesque when I get it finished.I better get back to working on the book projects as the deadline for finshing them is getting close. I know I'm forgetting things that I wanted to tell you here but check back often and I'll post as I think of things. I'd love to hear what you think of the new fabrics!Bye for now...
I'm finally back at home and in the office after a few weeks of travel. It's good to be home and I've got some exciting updates for you but I need to get my thoughts collected and answer lots of emails and phone messages so please check back later today or tomorrow and I'll try to have something posted then. Here's a teaser!Thanks for looking in on me :)
A cold front must have passed through. A really weak cold front moving really fast. It actually dropped below 110 a couple of days this past week but the water in the pool is still 90 degrees. How refreshing! (Yes, the sarcasm is intended to be as subtle as a jackhammer tapping.) But, you know what? It's not bothering me. The short periods I've spent outdoors in the last few days were with my granddaughters in the pool and it was a lot of fun. The girls have been with me since Friday night because Mom and Dad needed some vacation time (and so did Grandpa). We had a great weekend.
