Brrrrr.....

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.

Forging ahead

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 HOT!

"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!

"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 :)

On The Road Again

I'm sorry I haven't posted too recently but I've been doing some traveling. I spent the day today with Martha Pullen and her incredible gang and taped a couple of upcoming episodes of Martha's Sewing Room to air on PBS Create toward the end of this year and beginning of 2008. I appeared as a representative of one of their sponsors, The Warm Company, whose products I've been using for years. I had a great time and it was a lot of fun to meet and spend time with everyone. The staff made it super easy to tape both shows in a day and they're such a talented group! I just got back from having dinner with them and really enjoyed the entire day. Hopefully, this will become a yearly tradition.

I'm anxiously awaiting word on how Spring Quilt Market went in Portland this past weekend and will let you know as soon as I hear details. I'll try to update the blog from the road. Have a great week!

What a day!

First of all, Lily is here with me today and that always makes for a good day. Then, a gorgeous floral arrangement showed up from my friends at C&T Publishing to congratulate me on our new book and my advance copy arrived almost simultaneously with the flowers. The book looks great and, as I said in my last post, enough time has passed since the final work I did on it that it looked almost brand new to me. I hope you'll consider adding it to your collection. I believe the release date is June 16th.

As if all of that wasn't exciting enough, FedEx showed up again this afternoon with a box from Robert Kaufman Fabrics. I was expecting a couple of sample yards of "Satinesque" but I thought this box was too big for that. I was right...it wasn't just a couple of sample yards but a couple of yards of each of the 29 colors we're introducing! Seeing the whole collection when I opened the box was such a rush. And, since I still have a few projects to make for my new book that I'm working on, I'll be able to use some of them in it. I can't wait to start.

One of the things I'm happiest about with this new fabric is this: If you take a look here, you'll see a scan of the artwork from which this fabric was printed. Click here and you'll see a scan of the actual fabric (enlarged) or here for a detail that actually looks hand painted. I think you'll agree that it's a great reproduction, on fabric, of the artwork. That's what we strive for. Not only are the colors rich and vibrant but there is a depth and dimension that was beautifully recreated also. Take a look here for a couple more colors I scanned and a list of the colors we'll introduce.

"A Patrick Lose Christmas"

I got the word from Zinnia at C&T Publishing that the advance copies of my new book are in and I'll get mine tomorrow...YAY! It's been long enough now, since I finished working on it, that I can be excited to see it again. There's always a short period toward the end of the process that I get pretty tired of looking at the same quilts, photos, and words...especially technical words.

But this book is full of fun stuff including a recipe for a "Caramel Christmas Mix" that I always make a boat load of to have around to snack on during the holidays. (I just got a craving for it and that usually doesn't happen until about November.) I'm anxious to get the book into stores so you can start working on your Christmas projects for this year. Believe it or not, it's time to get started on them again. Where does the time go?

Happy 1st Birthday, Lily!

It's hard to believe that today is my granddaughter Lily's first birthday. It seems like only a few months since the day she was born.

I was on my way to the airport that day to go to Salt Lake City for Spring Quilt Market when I got a call from my daughter, Katie, who was at a check-up with her doctor. She told me that they were going to keep her for awhile to do some tests but that everything was fine and that I should go ahead and fly out. After all, Lily wasn't due until June 2nd and Katie and Toby had just gone to their first childbirth class the night before. But I just knew I shouldn't have gotten on that plane.

When it touched down in SLC, I had a message on my phone that I was going to become a grandfather that day. I couldn't get off the plane fast enough to find another flight back home. Nothing was going to keep me from being there! I had to wait for my luggage to arrive and take all of my pattern samples to the convention center for the sales reps first and, even though it was a little over an hour's drive there and back to the airport by taxi (in pouring rain, no less), I was on a plane bound for home within 2½ hours of landing. I made it to the hospital with plenty of time to spare and Lily came into the world at 10:15 that night. And my world hasn't been the same since!

It was a great birthday party at her house this afternoon and she got her first taste (and then some) of birthday cake. Take a look at the photos here and you'll see why I won't be volunteering to change any diapers for a few days! What a wonderful day :)

A Busy Week

It's been a busy week here. My sister and brother-in-law are visiting and it's been great to have them here. Not just because it's been too long since I've gotten to spend time with family from home but also because it made me take a little time away from the drawing board, sewing machine, and computer! All work and no play.....well, you know what they say. We made a trip to Sedona yesterday and took my granddaughter, Lily, along. Sedona is a beautiful place and Lily had a ball.

I haven't told you all yet but I will be representing The Warm Company on a couple of television shows coming up. I'm taping two episodes of Marth Pullen's Martha's Sewing Room in May. You'll have to check back to find out what projects/products will be featured.

I love working with The Warm Company and have used their Warm & Natural batting and Steam-A-Seam fusible adhesive products for years. They're great products and great people to work with.

I'm going to use the weekend to refresh and revive and then it will be back to work on Monday. Have a great weekend!

Project Party

I want to thank the owners and staff of Quiltz quilt shop in Phoenix, Arizona, and all of the ladies who came to help create the projects for my new book in progress for C&T Publishing. If you'd like to see some pics of the shop and the project party click here.

Be sure to visit Quiltz if you're in the Phoenix area! It's a great shop with a super friendly staff and the very best that the quilting industry has to offer in fabrics, books, and notions. You'll see lots of beautiful samples on display also.

I had a great time and hope we can all get together again soon!

The new book is underway...

Today I met with a group of local quilters at Quiltz, a shop here in Phoenix, to begin work on my next book for C&T Publishing.

I thought it would be fun to organize a "project party" and get some quilters together to work on the projects. It's a good way to test the patterns by having some objective artists help put them together. What a fun and talented bunch!

I had a great time and it's really nice to meet more local artists to work with. We're going to take up where we left off again tomorrow morning and I'm really looking forward to it. I'll post some photos of our project parties soon. But for now, I have to get back to work finishing up some of the patterns for the projects we're working on tomorrow.

Strikeoffs

Well, after many attempts to scan some of the strikeoffs for the "Satinesque" print, I'm not having much luck. Of course, the actual fabric has texture and that makes it hard to represent on a computer monitor. But, if you want to take a look at the Blueberry strikeoff, click here.

I'll try to get some more of the colors represented but, as I said, there's a great range of 29 popular introductory colors. Hopefully, they'll be in your local quilt shop by summer!

Back to the drawing board.....

Pattern Kits

Quilting kits are big business for quilt shops these days and I wanted to let you know of a shop that is doing a great job with them and has included a couple of my patterns in their offerings. Quiltfabric.com is a bricks and mortar shop in Willowbrook, Illinois as well as an online shop.

They've kitted my Halloween Hideout and Merry patterns and have done well with them. Owner, Chris Sass, also carries some of my fabrics. If you're looking to buy a kit, visit their shop online. If you're a shop owner, I hope you'll consider adding my patterns to your line of kits!

Thanks for the feedback!

The response to all of the new things in the works has been great! I've gotten lots of positive emails and pattern orders I'm really glad you all like the new stuff.

I'm still planning on getting some of the additional colors of "Satinesque" and some of the other Kona Colorworks stories posted but I'm in the middle of working on three new patterns and I'm in a bit of a time crunch.

I will be taping 3 TV spots in May and also have to get the projects for those designed and made. Not to mention all of the projects I need to get done for my new book with C&T Publishing. (Yes, I'm starting on another and I'm really excited about it.) Last but not least, there's all of the fabric designs in my head that need to be painted so that I can keep you sewing and stashing them!

I promise I will update in the next couple of days!

Cheers :)

Updated website

You'll notice some updating if you visit my website. I've been adding art and changing around colors and trying to get more of the latest displayed there. It's always a work in progress.

If you're a shop owner in Canada, I'm happy to say that I now have a Canadian distributor of my pattern line! Contact Quiltsource Canada to order. Other distributors include Checker Distributors and Quilters' Resource. Of course, you can also order directly from me :)

I hope you're having a great weekend. It's 82˚ and beautiful here in Phoenix!

I'll try to get some links added for you to see more of the Kona Colorworks weaves soon.

Cheers!

Wow!

This week just keeps getting better! The handlooms arrived this morning for my collection of yarn-dyed wovens for "Kona Colorworks by Patrick Lose" that I've created with Robert Kaufman Fabrics and they're beautiful. I've been wanting to design yarn-dyes for years and it's really exciting to see my first ones come to life. I've posted a preview of one of the six (!) color stories here. You can also click the photo in this post for a larger view of it. The scans don't do the actual fabrics justice but you'll get the idea.

Another highlight of this week has been putting the finishing touches on my new book from C&T Publishing. A Patrick Lose Christmas comes out in June.

That's all for now. Back to the drawing board.....

Fabric news....

I've been so anxious to show you what I've been working on and found out today that it's okay to give you a sneak peek!

If you've been to my website and visited the "Fabrics" page in the last few months, you'll know that it was "under construction". That's mostly because I've been working on so many things lately that I haven't been able to share yet.

Well, I can finally give you a peek at my newest fabric print and I gotta tell you that I haven't been this excited about a print since my "Sunstreaks" for Timeless Treasures came out.

Robert Kaufman Fabrics has asked me to develop a collection for them that I call "Mixmasters". It promises to be a wonderful assortment of blenders and basics. The debut print is appropriately named "Satinesque" because of it's resemblance to the reflective ripples in puddled or pooled satin. It will be introduced in 29 beautiful color ways for all of my fellow "color junkies" out there!

If you'd like to take a look, go to the website and visit the "Fabrics" page.

I'm thrilled with the depth, texture, and "motion" that the print conveys and I can't wait to get my hands on the actual goods! I'm sure all of you quilters can imagine the dimension that could be achieved by doing some free-motion quilting over this fabric.

The best part of this news is that it's only the tip of the iceberg. I have lots of new fabrics and projects in the works and I can't wait to share them all with you! So...stay tuned :)

It's About Time....

Hi Everyone!

This is my first real attempt at a blog so please be patient. There's a lot to learn and little time in which to learn it. You wanted to know more about me, my work, and my inspiration but I'm sure you'd rather I spend more time designing than blogging.

So, when I get this all figured out, I'll take a stab at giving you the information you want. In the meantime, please visit my website at http://www.patricklose.net/ to see my latest also!