Machine Embroidery designs now available

Check out some of the new machine embroidery designs now available on the website! They're easy to get to with new website navigation. Just click on Machine Embroidery in the menu!

This is only the beginning. We'll be offering lots more designs in the future and our machine embroidery club will also be offered online, soon.

We're very excited about all of the possibilities and we hope you are, too. You've been asking for my designs in machine embroidery and now they're here :)

Cheers!

Holiday Embroideries

We launched our new Machine Embroidery Club this past weekend at my Quilt & Create Studio in Phoenix and had a great time. You've asked to be able to get the designs for yourself, even if you can't join us at the studio, and now you can!

My holiday designs translated beautifully into machine embroidery thanks to our digitizer, Susan. If you'd like to add them to your collection, take a look at what we have so far, here. I can promise many more in the coming months.

Just a little more holiday cheer :-)

Have a great day and don't forget our Cyber Monday sale.

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Cyber Monday savings

We've started our Cyber Monday special a little early so head on over to the website for 20% off all patterns through tomorrow! What a great way to save on gifts for the quilters on your list this year.

Best of all, you won't get trampled trying to get them and we won't run out ;-)

I also wanted to let you know that, as you requested, I'm beginning to offer some of my artwork for redwork and hand embroidery. Take a look at the first one here. He's a familiar holiday character of mine just in time for some holiday handiwork. Hope you like it.

Happy Shopping!

Don't forget!

We have a great giveaway drawing coming up and I wanted to remind you so that you get your name thrown into the hat - maybe twice!

All of the details are here so be sure to check it out, now, because tomorrow is your last chance (and you know how busy you'll be tomorrow).

This is just a little token to say we're thankful for YOU, our friends and "fans", and want you to know it :)

I hope your holiday preparations are in full swing and you're enjoying every minute of them.

Cheers!

Become a fan of Quilting Celebrations

We've started a separate Facebook fan page for Quilting Celebrations so that you'll have a place to go to get the latest information on my new magazine for Fons & Porter.

Please stop by the page and "like" us so you can converse with other fans, share photos of your accomplishments from the projects offered, and participate in the surveys and recipe sharing that are a fun part of Quilting Celebrations.

Stop by now and become a fan by clicking the "Like" button. Here's a link to the page:

Quilting Celebrations fan page

Cheers!

Day 6 - Mistletoe Make & Bake

I'm sorry my post is late today but, if you had any idea of how I've beaten every challenge with an internet connection in all of 7 states and Ontario, CA, over the past week during this blog hop, you'd understand! I've been on a 2 week long workshop/lecture/trunk show/book-signing tour in New England and Canada and just got home.

My first order of business after the plane landed back here in Phoenix was to go pick up the grandgirls for dinner and it was wonderful. I really missed them :(

This morning, I went to upload my post and, after looking at a few of the others, noticed that Vickie beat me to the Rolo Cookie recipe! I don't blame her. It's a good one. So, I had to rethink mine and remembered this recipe I got from the Betty Crocker site. I'm sure they'd appreciate my sharing it with you. It's a good one, even though I'm not a big almond fan. I think the key is in chopping them up into very small bits.

Here you go:

Chocolate Snowballs

In honor of the last day of the hop, I've posted my Sugar & Spice pattern in this entry. It's one of my best-selling patterns ever. If you'd like to try it out, you can get one here.

Be sure to visit these blogs for another couple of fun projects to make: 

Vickie Eapen Spun Sugar Quilt 

Melisa Morrison Sweet Home Quilt Company

I hope you've had a great time with the blog hop. I've really enjoyed your comments and emails!

Remember - you can also earn two entries into a drawing to win one of my books and a stack of fat quarters! Details here.  

Happy Holidays!

Day 5 - Mistletoe Make & Bake

Congratulations to Nana Jo, who is the winner of the two patterns in my give-away on Wednesday. Please contact us (gary@patricklose.net) with your mailing address so that we can ship the patterns to you!

The one holiday tradition that must happen at my house is to get the tree up and ready to decorate by Thanksgiving night. Sometimes it's even decorated by then, but not always.

A newer part of that tradition that I'm loving is having my granddaughters help with the trimming. To me, Christmas wouldn't be the same without little ones around. Lauryn is getting pretty good at hanging the ornaments but Lily still needs a little guidance. Anna, born just a couple of months ago, will just watch in wonder at all of the lights and the glittering colors of the more than 500 ornaments I've collected over the years.

I can't remember where I got this recipe but it's becoming a new tradition at my house, too. I hope you like it.


Raspberry Ribbons

Be sure to visit today's featured bloggers/designers: 

Roseann Kermes Rosebud's Cottage
Brenda Riddle Little Acorns

Remember - you can also earn two entries into a drawing to win one of my books and a stack of fat quarters! Details here.  

Happy Friday!

Day 4 - Mistletoe Make & Bake

Congratulations to Nana Jo, who is the winner of the two patterns in my give-away on Wednesday. Please contact us (gary@patricklose.net) with your mailing address so that we can ship the patterns to you!

 I knew today's post would be the one for which I wouldn't be able to decide what to write. Our go-to holiday book? There are too many to single out just one. But Christmastime, a ridiculous look at the holiday season by Sandra Boynton, has to be one of them for me. I make sure I pack it up with my Christmas decorations when they come down every year just so it's there the next year when I start decorating and I don't forget to read it!

It's a really clever little book by a really talented artist and writer and I love it. She offers up her take on everything from Christmas carols ("Deck the malls with plastic holly....") to fruitcake (there's a whole chapter on it that makes me laugh harder every time I read it).

To top it off, it features a bunch of her wonderful illustrated characters worth a look in themselves. This is one you won't regret looking up, if you can find it.

And here's another recipe you won't regret trying out. This one's from my friend Barbara Geraldi:

Date Nut Balls

Be sure to visit today's featured bloggers/designers: 

Julie Stewart Quilts 4 Julie

Lissa Alexander Moda Lissa

Remember - you can also earn two entries into a drawing to win one of my books and a stack of fat quarters! Details here. 

Day 3 - Mistletoe Make & Bake

We were asked today to share with you a "cocktail party conversation starter that allows you to avoid standing in the corner alone".

How's this - "I have stuff to give away!" :)

And today, I do.

There's a theme I'm sticking with for today's recipe and the project I've designed to share with you...SNOW!

My recipe is for a traditional holiday cookie that goes by lots of different names but I've always called them Snowballs. And my project is an easy-to-make set of coasters (or ornaments!) with 3 different snowflake motifs quilted onto them.

Click the link to download the recipe and the project instructions:

Snowballs and Snowflakes

Everyone who comments on my post today will be entered in a drawing to win the Christmas Card Caddy pattern, shown above, and my newest pattern, Peace. I'll announce the winner in Friday's post. If you like snow as much as I do, you might want to check out some of my other patterns, here. You'll see it's a recurring theme with me. Let it snow!

Be sure to visit today's other featured bloggers for more fun:

  

Celine Perkins

Kelly Ann Richardson  

Would you also like to earn two entries into a drawing to win one of my books and a stack of fat quarters? Details here.

Day 2 - Mistletoe Make & Bake

Thanks for all of the comments from those who visited yesterday! Today we were asked to share a holiday sanity saver with you (what’s the one thing you do or don’t do to get through the season?)

I try to keep stress to a minimum even though it seems impossible. Having a shopping list of gifts that have been "requested" can cause stress, especially if they're hard-to-find things.

When it comes to the kids on my list, it's fun to shop for and give them the things they've been wishing for. But for other gifts, I'd rather get family members or friends the things they might not think to ask for or things that they wouldn't expect but I know they'd like. That cuts down on the stress a bit, at least in the shopping department.

So, I guess my advice would be to not ask everyone on your list what they want for Christmas. Take some time to think about what would really surprise them or make them happy and go for it! Give presents that you WANT to give. It's a lot more fun. Just ask Rudolph ;-)

Here are a couple of recipes I'd like to give you! ~

Ginger Snaps with Pumpkin Fluff Dip

Be sure to visit tomorrow because I'll have a fun free project for you to make and use throughout the holiday season or give as a wintry gift. These bloggers have something special for you today:

• Heidi Kaisand Hen and Chicks
• Monique Dillard Open Gate

Cheers!

Day 1 - Mistletoe Make & Bake

Yesterday, Gary and I had the pleasure of touring the Connecticut countryside and a lot of its wonderful shops with quilt shop owners Barbara and Cheryl from The Yankee Quilter in Oxford.

Many of the shops we visited and homes we oohed and aahed over had holly bushes in their lawn decor and I really liked seeing that. I've always loved holly and it's yearly reappearance as a symbol of this season. I was a little curious about the origins of holly being used in decorating for Christmas and did a little reading about it.

The shiny green of holly leaves in the winter and the fact that it bears fruit when everything else is dead or dormant made ancient peoples believe it had magical powers of healing. Holly was often used in the Ancient Roman celebration of the Saturnalia which was a festival held in honor of the god Saturn. Early celebrations of the Christmas holiday were based on Saturnalia. Among the Celts, holly also played a major role in summer and winter solstice observances.

Despite protests from Church Fathers, who regarded their use in decorations as too pagan, holly and other evergreens were adopted by common Christians as Christmas decorations in Roman times. In an effort to bring the pagans to Christianity, many of their symbols and traditions were eventually incorporated into Christian celebrations.

That's interesting enough but, honestly, I just like what it looks like. The deep green leaves and rich red berries of holly look beautiful in our contemporary Christmas decorations, too, and I often use holly in my own designs for the Christmas season.

That's a bit of trivia I thought I'd share and I also have a cookie recipe to share if you'd like to download it by clicking here:

Christmas Cheesecake Cookies If you like my Holly Jolly table toppers pattern, you can find it here.

Be sure to visit the blogs of the other designers/bakers who are participating in the blog hop and I hope your holiday season is off to a Holly Jolly start!

• Sherri Falls This and That Pattern Co (featured blog today!)
• Heidi Kaisand Hen and Chicks
• Monique Dillard Open Gate
• Celine Perkins Perkin's Drygood
• Kelly Ann Richardson Kelly Ann's Quilting
• Lissa Alexander Moda Lissa
• Julie Stewart Quilts 4 Julie
• Roseann Kermes Rosebud's Cottage
• Brenda Riddle Little Acorns
• Vickie Eapen Spun Sugar Quilts
• Melisa Morrison Sweet Home Quilt Company

Mistletoe Make and Bake 2010

Spending the past week in New England (and not in the Arizona desert) has sure gotten me in the mood for the holidays...just in the nick of time, huh?

This year, I wanted to be involved in something new and different and maybe start some new traditions so, when Roseann Kermes asked me if I'd like to be a part of a blog hop, I decided to give it a shot even though I know nothing about blog hops. To top it off, I'm on a teaching tour traveling from one small, quaint town to another. Small, quaint towns have not-so-dependable internet connections...or none at all in some of the places where we've visited. This worries me a bit, but I'm giving it a shot anyhow.

So, be sure to stop by the blog, tomorrow, for the start of the Mistletoe Make and Bake 2010 blog hop and visit all of the blogs, listed below, to get free cookie recipes and project ideas for the holidays. Each designer will offer a different cookie recipe for each day of the hop and, on their scheduled day, will also bring you a free project they've designed to help you with your holiday crafting and gift-giving!

Here's the lineup ~

Monday November 15

• Sherri Falls This and That Pattern Co
  

Tuesday November 16

• Heidi Kaisand Hen and Chicks
• Monique Dillard Open Gate
  

Wednesday November 17

• Celine Perkins Perkin's Drygood
• Patrick Lose The Latest News from Patrick Lose
• Kelly Ann Richardson Kelly Ann's Quilting
  

Thursday November 18

• Lissa Alexander Moda Lissa
• Julie Stewart Quilts 4 Julie
  

Friday November 19

• Roseann Kermes Rosebud's Cottage
• Brenda Riddle Little Acorns
  

Saturday November 20

• Vickie Eapen Spun Sugar Quilts
• Melisa Morrison Sweet Home Quilt Company

If you visit each of the twelve baking designers for all six days, you'll end up with 72 cookie recipes and that should be a good starting point for your holiday cookie baking. After you've had time to bake some of these or any other cookie recipes, you may ship a sampling of them to me at my Quilt & Create Studio for taste-testing ;-) 'Tis the season for giving....right?

You say you never win anything?

Here's a chance to change that! We just announced a new contest and you can easily get yourself a couple of entries into the drawing.

Click here for details and follow the simple process of becoming fans on my Facebook pages for your chance(s) to win a great holiday prize.

Good luck ;-)