I've got a notion....

We finished taping another four episodes of Quilting Celebrations with Patrick Lose last weekend and had a blast! Having a few "under our belts" made this round of tapings go even smoother than the first ones did. I want to thank all of you who have sent such nice comments on Facebook and in emails. I'm glad you're having fun right along with us. Be sure to visit the website from time to time so you're not missing out on any of the  "extras".

I also want you to be aware of something new that we've developed just for those of you who want to know all the latest about Quilting Celebrations magazine and show. Starting next week, we'll have a new place, just for us, at Quilters Club of America.

It will be a great place for chatting with each other about our quilting and other creative endeavors and to share how we celebrate life's events, season's and holidays with our creativity! We'll also have fun quarterly contests. It's free to become a member and to create a user name and password to join the group. There are also options for paid memberships including a year's subscription to QNNtv.com (home of Quilting Celebrations with Patrick Lose). Many of you already belong so I just wanted to give you the heads-up that we'll all be able to gather there soon. We're hoping to "go live" next week.

Some BIG news - the winner of our first quarterly contest will be the proud owner of an entire roll of Warm & Natural batting - 90 x 40 valued at over 500.00 retail! I think it will be worth your while to join us at QuiltersClubOfAmerica.com.

Why is there a photo of a seam ripper (looking an awful lot like a scalpel) on my blog? Well, I have to say that visitors from all over to my Quilt & Create Studio in Phoenix have fallen in love with this particular one whenever I demonstrate how WONDERFUL it is - especially for those of us who do a lot of satin-stitching (and un-stitching!). Many have told their friends about them and some are having trouble finding them in their local shops. Well, if that's you, you can now find them on our website, along with a lot of my other favorite notions - especially for machine embroidery and machine embroidery applique. So, check out the new notions page!

To all of the "moms" out there - have a carefree and relaxing Mother's Day weekend. I hope you can find some time for your favorite creative pastime.

Be sure to watch the Facebook pages for information on the new community starting at QC of A. If you're not a member yet, you can go there and sign up for free so you'll already be one when we launch. I know we'll have a great time "partying" there.

Cheers!

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.

Who needs fruitcake?

I've been thinking about starting my yearly tradition of making my Caramel Christmas Mix by the boat load today. I'm wondering if I even want to open that can of worms after last season. If you didn't read about it, here's a link to the post I wrote after hearing from shop owners who tried the recipe that's included in my A Patrick Lose Christmas book.

Call me a pusher, but you really need this recipe so you can start another holiday tradition, too.

You can order your copy by calling us at 623-414-9464 or by emailing gary@patricklose.net. You can also order online here. And if you're looking for single holiday patterns, you've come to the right place.

Here's to a good sugar buzz!

Patrick

Critics :-)

I woke up this morning, still tired, after a not-so-great night of sleep, made some coffee that's strong enough to strip the finish off of some of that horrific, black lacquered Deco furniture (it truly needs to be done), and went to my computer to check on the "stack" of email as usual. Someone had sent me a link to this review of A Patrick Lose Christmas:

Reviews

Another winning selection of quilting projects from Patrick Lose
By jenniequiltsit

Pros:
These are the kinds of Christmas quilts and accessories you'd find in the stores like Crate & Barrel or Pottery Barn...GREAT stuff. They're not the sugary sweet and overly cutesy stuff you see at every craft show across the country. These are some sophisticated but still very fun and humorous designs.

Cons:
I wish there were even more projects but it's well worth the money.

If anyone knows jenniequiltsit, please tell her she made my day! I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday...especially you, jenniequiltsit. And I hope you like my new book ;-)

Don't forget to stay updated on the latest info we have on That Dam Christmas Party retreat in July. I wish we had a bigger location because I'm afraid it's going to fill up as soon as we start taking reservations so, if you're seriously interested, watch for details so you're not left out. It's gonna be a blast!

Let it Snow!

I had the pleasure of going to Cleveland as a representative of The Warm Company last week to tape a segment on America Sews with Sue Hausmann and it was a great time. This was my second appearance on the show and even more fun than the first. We displayed a lot of my quilt projects and newest patterns using their products and talked about them in Sue’s sewing studio. Then I demonstrated how to make a placemat project geared toward children. Sue and the entire crew were great hosts and made the entire experience completely painless.

But I have to say that my favorite part of the trip was that I got to see snow! Everyone on the crew thought I was crazy when they saw how happy I was when the snow started falling but I truly miss it (see the disclaimer below). I’m from Des Moines, IA, originally, and have lived in the Phoenix area for the past 8 years so I don’t get to see it too often. I especially miss it at this time of year and it wasn’t easy putting up my Christmas tree a couple of weeks ago in 80 degree temps. I’m sure many of you think I’m nuts, too, but Christmastime always seemed to be snowy when I was a kid in Iowa. Memories of sledding and snowball fights and building snowmen and snow forts are what I try to bring to mind when I’m designing for the holidays and winter. Of course, snow has its ugly, dark side, and I’ve been witness to that also. I simply choose to repress those memories.

Whether you’re working on a wintertime or holiday project or not, this is the perfect time of year to shift your quilting into high gear. If your world is snowy and cold right now, use it as your inspiration to catch up on all of your quilting projects in the works! And, this is the perfect time to resolve to make more time for quilting in 2009.

Disclaimer: Snowfall must be in small, aesthetically pleasing amounts, during the holiday season, not accompanied by bitter cold, and gone, for the rest of the season, by the time I wake up in the morning on January 2nd.

Another busy weekend

Although the weekend was filled with work, I still enjoyed it because I started one of the projects for my next book from C&T Publishing. I can't tell you what kind of projects will be included in this one yet but it will be a bunch of very practical and useful pieces that are fun and easy to make. I know...that pretty much sounds like most of what I design but I can't think of a better way to describe them.

Some of the gang at Cotton Fields Quilt and Knit here in the Phoenix area will be getting together with me for another Project Party like the last one we had with the ladies from Quiltz. I'm sure this one will be as fun as the last and I'm really looking forward to working with some more talented quilters from the area on this next book.

A Patrick Lose Christmas is selling very well so it sounds like a lot of you are gearing up for the holidays already. That's great news and now you'll be able to find even more Christmas designs in the quilt shops or on my website. For those of you who aren't quite ready to start Christmas quilting just yet, check out my Halloween designs.

There are still quite a few more holiday and winter designs coming so stay tuned! Thanks for looking in on me :)

"A Patrick Lose Christmas" is in.

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.

:)

Busy, busy, busy...

...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...

Updates coming soon...

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 :)