Party with Patrick ONLINE!

Party with Patrick is entering its second year in many quilt shops and, if you're not partying with us, here's what you'll be missing out on in April :(

But, if you're one of the many who have been asking and hoping for an online version of Party with Patrick, you're about to get your wish.

We realize many of you don't have a shop in your area that is a participating member of the club so we've been developing an online party for you. We still have a few details to iron out but it's looking as though the club will operate much like Party with Patrick operates in quilt shops.

If you choose to party with us, you'll get a new project each month along with a couple of recipes, blank recipe cards for your personal use, and stationery designed to coordinate with the month's theme. We'll even be offering kits you can purchase to complete the projects using my personal fabric choices!

That's the bare bones of it but I just wanted those of you who are anxious to know that we're not ignoring you. There's a lot going on and we're just figuring out the logistics on our end. Please speak up and let us know if you want to be on the invitation list here.

So, check back here from time to time or, if you want to be involved with a fun group of partiers right from the start, join in the conversation here and on the Party with Patrick fan page.

Back to the drawing board.....

:)

AWOL

If it's a little quiet it's because I'm taking some much needed time for designing and instruction writing and doing it away from home at the lake where there aren't as many distractions.

I'll add a real post (and get rid of the St. Pat's Day theme) soon :)

Cheers!

Talent all over the place

If you've been following my posts here and on Facebook, you already know that I'm really excited about my new project, Quilting Celebrations, which will be on newsstands in September. We've been working on the projects and enjoying the entire process (which, just for the record, is a process!). Much of the reason for that is the group of people who have become a part of it by spending time with us quilting up a storm to complete the projects I've designed.

I could make and quilt them myself or enlist the talents of quilting peers all over the world to help me finish them in time for the deadline but that's not what Quilting Celebrations is about. What we've chosen to do is get together with quilting friends and, as we do every month with Party with Patrick, work on the projects together. One of my favorite quilting clans is in Boulder City, NV, and we spend "work weekends" at the Boulder Dam Hotel there cranking out my latest designs.

If you're a quilter and go to retreats or day classes, you know how much fun it is to have the company of fellow creative-types and spend the time quilting, grazing on snacks and laughing. These friends have become very dear to me and I feel privileged to have their help. Groups of like-minded quilters exist everywhere and you're missing out if you're not a part of one. I have some photos of the gang I wanted to post here but realized that the projects show up in most of them and I can't show those to you yet :(

Just when I was counting my blessings over these friends, I had the good fortune to meet another extremely talented quilter. I had a great time this past Tuesday night speaking to the Night Owls Chapter of the Arizona Quilter's Guild. What a fun bunch of people. I took a trunk show of my stuff and we played show-n-tell and I told them bits and pieces about what it's like to do what I do for a living.

One of the quilters who attended is an extremely talented girl named Jessica who I had attempted to contact in the past about her work. I think fate brought us together because I really wanted her to do the longarm quilting on some of my larger quilts. This young dynamo has actually quilted over 4000 quilts! Well, long story short, I brought a pile of my tops to her last night and she's getting started on them. A couple of them will be featured in Quilting Celebrations but I'm not going to make you wait for the magazine to come out to see her work. This stuff is too good to wait that long for. Jessica's website and tons of photos of her beautiful quilting accomplishments can be seen here: http://www.jessicasquiltingstudio.com/ Be sure to click on the small "Customer Quilts" button in the yellow box to see all of the photos.

You're probably off to Jessica's page anyway so I'll end here and get back to some hand embroidery on a holiday project for the magazine. Have a great Friday, everyone, and spend some time this weekend with your quilting and creative friends if you have the chance.

And if you're in the Phoenix area and would like to become involved with Night Owls, here's their info:

Night Owls - Phoenix
St. Paul's Church
330 W. Coral Gables Dr.
2nd Tuesday, 6:30 p.m.

Guaranteed fun :)

Cheers!

Quilting Celebrations!

As I said in my blog post last week (see below), quilters and otherwise creative people know how to celebrate. We also enjoy incorporating quilting and creativity into our celebrations of holidays, seasons, and life events throughout the year. Those of you who entered the contest told wonderful stories of how quilting is an integral part of your celebrating and gift-giving.

When I began developing Party with Patrick over a year and a half ago, I wanted to turn my love for designing seasonal and “celebratory” quilting and crafting projects, along with your love for making them, into a monthly club that quilt shop owners could offer to their customers. We’re coming up on the one year anniversary of the club and I couldn’t be happier with its success and with the number of new friends I’ve made because of it.

As quilters, there’s another thing that’s pretty universal about us; we have hearty appetites for the things that get our creative juices flowing. So, with that said, I’m about to offer a lot more of those things to whet your appetite.

I told you all I’ve been working on a big project and guess what? You’ll be able to grab it off the newsstands this September! It’s my magazine, Quilting Celebrations and it’s like Party with Patrick on steroids. I can’t give a lot of the details here but if Party with Patrick is “a monthly dose of Patrick Lose”, then Quilting Celebrations is an overdose!

You’ve shown me that you love to have projects to quilt that are just the right size and won’t end up being the next UFO in your heap. You’ve told me that you’re making multiples of the Party with Patrick projects and proudly giving them to everyone you know. You’re showing me, more and more as the club grows, that you really enjoy the “monthly celebration of quilting and camaraderie”. You might say that Quilting Celebrations will be “party central”.

If you’re a Party with Patrick member, you’ll still have your exclusive projects each month and the parties and get-togethers that go along with it. But, if you embrace my new magazine the way you’ve welcomed my club, you’re going to have even more to create and celebrate throughout the year!

So I hope you’ll look forward to Quilting Celebrations as much as I’m looking forward to bringing it to you. Now you know what’s going on and we can talk about it. I hope you’ll be among the first to join the new Patrick Lose fan page on Facebook where most of the discussions about the magazine and all of the new things I’m doing will take place. There’s also a Party with Patrick fan page specifically for the club. I’d love to hear what you think so speak up!

Cheers :)

A Reason to Celebrate

As I said a couple of posts ago, I've been working on a SUPER exciting project lately and I can't wait to tell you all about it. There's going to be an announcement here and on Facebook soon so I wanted to give you a heads-up so you can keep an eye out for it. I want you guys to be the first to know!

Here's a hint: if you like to Party with Patrick and if you've been enjoying the projects I've designed for the club and all the other stuff I design, you're gonna have LOTS more of it.

I'm anxious to let you in on the secret so keep your eyeballs peeled and your ears to the ground and we'll have something to CELEBRATE, together, very soon :)

Cheers!

Become a fan on Facebook

You don't have to be a member of the Party with Patrick club at your local quilt shop to be a fan of it on Facebook. By becoming a fan, you're the first to know what's new around here and what I've been designing lately. You also get to interact with other quilters and make friends all over the world. We also have lots of contests and you could be the next winner of my fabrics, books, or patterns!

So go to the Party with Patrick Facebook fan page and join us today to see what it's all about. We'd love to see you there :)

Cheers!