More Scribbles

Guess what?! My Scribbles "Meander" collection is now posted in all 23 (!) colorways on the Robert Kaufman website. They'll be arriving in quilt shops soon and, from the emails we've gotten, I know there will be some happy quilters out there :)

Take a look and I hope you like this new group. 

:)

And the survey says.....

I'm hearing about all of the nasty arctic cold going on in so much of the country right now and feeling bad for all of you that don't live HERE in Phoenix where it's cool in a refreshing way! So, today is a good day to ask a new survey question for the next issue Quilting Celebrations;

What's your idea of the "Perfect Picnic"?

We want to know what you would bring, who you would bring, where you would go, and so on. Give us all of the details of the things that would make up a picture-perfect picnic.

Post your comments here and we'll collect them all and you may even see your response printed in the Spring/Summer issue that will be on newsstands May 3rd. So, go wrap yourself in a quilt and warm up thinking of the coming of spring and summer and picnic season and share your thoughts with us!

A whole lotta love!

This is just one of 5 designs in my new collection of machine embroidery applique hearts. These scroll hearts can be stitched two ways - with running stitch details, as shown here, or with chain stitch detailing. Purchase the set, and you'll receive a total of 10 embroidery files for only 14.95.

You'll see a project featuring some of the hearts in the next issue of Quilting Celebrations on newsstands May 3rd. Get them now to have on hand when you pick up your copy!

Of course, they're perfect for Valentine's Day but hearts are useful motifs all year long. Take a look at the collection here and just think of all the things you could create with them :-)

Lucky Shamrock

Take a look at this fun new machine applique embroidery design we've added to our offering here!

Whether you're irish every day or only on St. Patrick's Day, you'll love how easy it is to add a touch of green to your quilted and other creative projects. At approximately 3 x 3", it's the perfect size to add to towels, napkins, baby bibs for the little leprechauns and any other piece you can dream up. We embroidered it into blocks and made a square mini-quilt to hang and we'll get a pic of that to show you soon, also.

I hope you like my whimsical new shamrock design and all of the new embroideries we've been adding to the website. Go check them out!

Have a great weekend everyone :)

Luminescence

Here's a link to a couple of scans of my new collection, Luminescence,  that will be coming to quilt shops soon! I'll try to get more colors posted when I have the chance. I LOVE this group and I think you will, too!

If you're in Phoenix area, come visit me this afternoon and help with 3 Dudes Quilt Shop a Happy 2nd Anniversary! We'll be there from 2-4 p.m. and, besides all the great fabrics and quilting stuff you'll find, I'm sure you could score some of Frank's freshly-baked cookies!

Have a great Saturday :-)

MORE new fabrics coming

The sample yardage of my new collection for Robert Kaufman, "Luminescence", just arrived. It was like opening a box full of colorful twinkling lights. I'll scan some to show you as soon as possible! :)

A challenging and exciting year ahead!

It's a new year and I've hit the ground running. Those who know me well would say I'm always running and I do like living more uptempo than adagio but even I'm wondering about the pace at which 2011 is going to keep me. It's definitely going to be a challenge and that's always exciting so I'll embrace it and see where this year takes me.

The first place I know it's taking me for sure is to Boulder City, NV, this coming weekend to work with the "Boulder Babes" (perhaps you read about them in the first issue of Quilting Celebrations?). I haven't seen them since July of last year and I don't know if we've ever gone that long without spending time together in the last few years. We're going to be working on the projects that will be featured in the next issue of QC and I can't wait. I'm excited about making the new designs but even more about seeing my friends and catching up and all of the laughs that are a part of our times together. Seriously...it's like getting another big Christmas present :)

February will bring another exciting challenge and one that's been in the works for awhile so it will be great to see it come to fruition. We begin taping the first few episodes of my show for QNN-TV, Quilting Celebrations with Patrick Lose. It will be like bringing the magazine to life with some of my friends helping me to show you how to celebrate life's events, holidays, and seasons with quilting and camaraderie! If you're a member of Party with Patrick, you could be one of those friends. :) I hope you'll be a part of the show and magazine from the beginning by joining us on my Quilting Celebrations fan page on Facebook. I'll be giving sneak previews, asking for your input and offering surveys there and would love for you to participate. You may even see your comments in one of the issues! Toward the top of the page, now, is a question asking how you welcome the new year and we need answers so go visit us there and offer your two cents.

I've got a lot of design work beckoning so, even though it's a Sunday, I better get to it so that we have lots of fun things to work on in Boulder City with the "Babes" :) There's nothing like being creative with our friends and I hope 2011 offers you lots of time for that.

Happy New Year!

Happy 2011!

Happy New Year to you and yours! Wishing you only the very best of everything and a happy, healthy and bountiful 2011 :-)

 

Cheers!

Rockin' Applique Alphabet

Take a look at my new machine embroidery collection, Rockin' Applique Alphabet, now available on the website! This is a great lower case alphabet with a lot of "energy" for using on all of your embroidered and quilted projects. The collection would also make a great gift  for any machine embroidery fan on your list.

We're always looking for alphabet collections to personalize things like baby and kid quilts or anytime we want to add text to our projects. They would also be great on some of your Party with Patrick projects. And the applique letters are super easy to stitch out, too.

Take a look at our machine embroidery page to see illustrations of the entire alphabet. I hope you like the collection.

Cheers!

Party with Patrick for six months!

How would you like to join us for the second half of our first year of Party with Patrick Online? Come to the party and stay for six months - January through June - by becoming a member of the club here.

You can still choose the option of joining for the entire first year, if you'd like, and you'll get all of the project packets from July 2010 through June 0f 2011. 

'Tis the season to party!

Cheers :-)

NEW COLORS!!!

I've been telling you about all of the new colors coming for my Fizz and Dot-to-Dot collections for Robert Kaufman Fabrics and now you can see them all on the RKF website! (The ones to the right are just a sampling.)

Stop by and check them out and start dreaming of all of the wonderful things you're going to make with them when they hit your local quilt shops in January :)

You can see Fizz here and Dot-to-Dot here. I don't even want to get started on all of the other new fabrics coming very soon (because it would take too long to go into right now) but you won't believe how many there are. I'll start giving you some sneak peeks as soon as I have time to get some of them scanned.

Happy Friday! :-)

A lucky day for a fan!

I was so looking forward to an uninterrupted, creative day at the studio. Ri-i-i-ight - First thing this morning, the fridge breaks down. We get a repairman...could just be a switch...blah, blah, blah. Pay him 50 bucks to tell us to trash it and get a new one. So, within an hour, I buy a new fridge, so that we don't also lose everything in the freezer. This couldn't have happened at another time of year, maybe?

Oh well...not my lucky day. But it is Dorothy Fry's lucky day because she is the winner of a signed copy of "A Patrick Lose Christmas" and a stack of Satinesque Stripe fat quarters!!! All that, just for being a fan on at least one of my fan pages. Congratulations to Dorothy and thanks to ALL of you for entering! Be on the lookout for more contests in the future only for fans ;-)

And, I hope your day is luckier than mine!

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.

***********************************************************

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 ;-)

After receiving an apology and a promise to look into it further from the Publisher of McCall's Quick Quilts, I decided to remove the post concerning the copyright infringement. But I do want to say thanks to everyone for all of the support and understanding of a huge problem in this industry.

I mostly wanted to bring this to light and that's been done so, unless there are further issues regarding this, I'd like to just move on.

Thanks, everyone!! It's nice to see people in support of doing the right thing :)

Thank you

I got some great news from Quilting Celebrations publisher, Kristi Loeffelholz, today regarding initial reports on sales of the magazine and they are, as she put it, "GREAT"! In fact, they're right up there with Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting and Easy Quilts! Now that's some great company to be keeping :)

Thanks to all of you for your support and, if QC continues to do well, I'll be able to bring it to you on a regular basis. So, please tell all of your quilting and creative friends to get their copy before it's gone from their local retailer. It's also available on our website.

Quilting Celebrations is on newsstands through December 20th.

We'll be having a little celebration tonight at our Area 51/UFO night at the studio! Join us if you're a Phoenix local. :)

Have a great weekend, everyone, and I hope it includes some quilting and creating!

Cowboy Up!

Another friend stopped by on Saturday with a baby quilt of her own. Sharon made this quilt using an older collection of my fabric from Timeless Treasures featuring a little cowboy in a not-so-wild-west theme. I think she did a great job combining all of the prints of cowboy boots, ropes, horseshoes and branding irons with coordinating blenders and a great Satinesque Stripe binding. You can click the pic for a closer look.

Nice job, Sharon, and thanks for sharing your finished quilt with us. I love seeing what my fabric designs become later in life ;-)

Cheers!

A Walk in the Woods...baby-sized!

Look what our friend, Nora brought in for show and tell. She adapted my A Walk in the Woods quilt from Quilting Celebrations into a baby quilt for her great, great niece who will have a jungle-themed nursery! I think she did a beautiful job. I believe she said it only took a fat quarter of each color except for the black. Pretty economical, too :)))

Have you completed any of the projects offered in the magazine? We'd love to see your photos, too!

Hope you're having a great weekend.

Bit by bit...

Here are a couple of photos to give you an update on the studio move. There's still a long way to go but doesn't his look like an inviting place to go to a class or be on retreat? Of course, it will look better when I get some colorful quilts on the walls :)

I'm off to move some more stuff in and start unpacking boxes (my least favorite part). Our first Quilt Cafe should be right on schedule for Wednesday morning. If you're local and want to join us, be sure to call 623-414-9464 to reserve your spot.

Have a great Monday!

Save on Halloween and fat quarters -

Halloween patterns and hangers are 10% off and the 24 color fat quarter bundle of Satinesque Stripe is $10.00 off!

Picture the Quilting Celebrations projects, A Walk in the Woods and Star of Wonder in Satinesque Stripe...or Satinesque...or Dot-to-Dot ;-)

Take a look at it all at www.patricklose.net!

Hope you're having a great autumn weekend.

A true friend :-)

Can I just say how much fun it was to see this at the local Hobby Lobby last night? Prime real estate. They put it top and center of the rack in the FRONT of the store and it caught my eye, as though I had never seen it before, when I walked into the store!

Part of what is so fun about it is knowing that my friends who helped me put Quilting Celebrations together are getting to see it, too. I know it's just as much fun for them to see their names in print and show off their work to their families and friends and that the magazine is a great souvenir of the time we spent together cranking out the projects.

On that note, I have to say how upset I am by the fact that one of those names was left out, accidentally. If you read the article I wrote in QC titled Quilting and Camaraderie, you'll know that a very talented group of my friends in Boulder City, NV worked with me on the quilted pieces featured in the issue.

It takes a lot of work to round up all of those people and coordinate everything a few hundred miles away from my studio. We wouldn't have been able to efficiently do that if it wasn't for my great friend and creative talent, Jan Urioste. When I was writing that article, I asked Jan if she could email me a list of all of the "Boulder City Babes" who helped so that I could include them in thanks. When I got her response, I copied and pasted the list of names into my story, not thinking about the fact that she may not have included her own name.

A couple of rounds into the proofreading (including Jan's own) I realized her name was missing and changed the article in Word and sent it off with some other corrections. Somehow, it was overlooked. Jan's name didn't make it into the printed story and, when I found out, I was truly devastated. We spent hours and hours proofing and it still got by us. Jan spent hours and hours of her already limited spare time helping us to create something she should be so proud of and didn't get the same recognition as the rest of the gang.

So I had to write this and share it with you because I want you all to know how much this wonderful friend of mine means to me and how I could never have brought you Quilting Celebrations without her talents and assistance and, mostly, her friendship. There were many times that I turned to her for her thoughts and opinions on what I was creating and she was there for me, with her support and constructive criticism, every time I needed her. Friends joke about the fact that we must be twins who were separated at birth. All kidding aside, Jan and I know there's some bit of truth in that as we're well aware of the fact that we are kindred spirits of sorts.

And what I love most of all about working with Jan is her sense of humor. We laugh to the point of being ridiculous. Here's what she said when I called to apologize for the oversight and told her how upset I was...."Well, get over it!". That was it (that's fit to print, anyway). And that's just another reason why I love her :-)

Thank you SO much, Jan, for all of your help. I couldn't have done it without you - and wouldn't have wanted to.

Q: Why did the designer cross the road?

A: To move into a bigger and better Quilt & Create Studio :-)

It's hard enough to believe that we've only been in our current studio location since May and we're already moving into a bigger and better place. But it's even harder to believe that we only decided to move less than a month ago and have already found the perfect spot....just across the street! To top it off, the new landlord knew we wanted to get in right away and so they began work last week and will be ready for us to move in at the end of this week , after building a kitchenette, installing new tile and carpet, repainting, and some remodeling of the walls.

I don't want to give the whole thing away yet but I'm excited and confident that our current and new customers and friends will feel right at home in this new space. They'll have two and a half times the amount of space that's in our current location to hang out with us and quilt and create. And, because hanging out with friends is always better when it involves food, we'll have a kitchen in which to prepare and serve it instead of the lone microwave on top of the refrigerator in the back room ;-) Now, even our vertically challenged friends can make popcorn or heat up a snack!

The tile and carpet go in tomorrow and then there are just a few finishing touches to attend to before beginning the task of hauling all that we've accumulated since May to the other side of 32nd Street. Best of all, we'll still be close to Quiltz, the quilt shop we've had the pleasure of being next door to in our current location.

Until we get the place just the way we like it, I thought I'd share some pics here of the space as it was just this morning. The full reveal will come soon. I hope you have a chance to visit us here when it's all finished and ready to welcome you.

New pattern!

My latest pattern, "peace", is now available!

A cat and a cardinal celebrate the season, peacefully, in this 15 x 25" applique banner. It's the perfect welcome to your winter guests.

We also offer some great hangers for displaying it on the website, so take a look.

Check out my patterns and fabrics in your local shop and, if you can't find them there, visit www.patricklose.net.

I hope you like "peace" :)

Now available!

For those who've been waiting, Patrick Lose's Christmas Cheer is available a little earlier than we expected. It's a really fun collection of embroidery designs - great for whipping up some holiday-themed home decor or stitching out some gifts for those on your list this year. It's never to early to get started!

To get an up-close view of the collection or to place your order, click here :)

Party with Patrick embroidery

Last month, our Party with Patrick member shops got a surprise with their September party packets. We had the "Ghoulish Grins" project appliques digitized for machine embroidery applique. The embroidery files were offered to those who wanted them as a free sample and we heard great things about the quality of the digitizing and how much fun it was to let the machine do the hard part!

So, since you loved having the choice of doing machine embroidery applique, we will now be selling the digitized embroidery files for your Party with Patrick projects like the new embroidery applique (pictured here) for October's project. Of course, the party projects will be the same as always, but you now have the option of letting your machine do the embroidery and satin stitching. You're under no obligation to purchase the embroideries to be able to complete the project. This is just something new and fun that we've developed for you. And it opens up many more possibilities and the promise of a new Patrick Lose embroidery club in the future (like you didn't already see that coming...).

If you're a PWP member and you'd like to order your October embroidery file for 9.95 USD, email Gary (gary@patricklose.net) for more information. The files are delivered to you by email and it's very easy to get yours right away.

Let us know what you think of this new facet to the Party with Patrick club. I hope you're as excited about the possibilities as we are.

Cheers :-)

Keep those cards and letters coming ;-)

I've spent a good part of the morning reading your emails and comments here and on the Facebook pages about Quilting Celebrations. It's been a wonderful morning to hear how much fun you're having with it. Some of you have already finished projects from it (I'm impressed!). That's what I want to hear - that it's a magazine you'll actually read and USE! Has anyone out there made one of the recipes yet? I'd love to hear from you, too.

Please be sure to also copy your comments and make them known to Fons & Porter. After all, it's the tean there that needs to know if you want to see Quilting Celebrations become a regular thing. How would you like to have it come to you 4-6 times/year? I'd love to be able to bring it to you, and so would the great people who helped me with this issue.

So please contact F&P and post your comments here as well: http://www.facebook.com/FonsandPorter?v=wall&story_fbid=154124114618285#!/FonsandPorter.

Thanks so much for your support and interest in what I do. I have a blast and want to include you all in the fun!

Keep the comments coming as we celebrate quilting.

Cheers! :)

Christmas Cheer

Good news...I thought my holiday embroidery collection wasn't going to be available for a couple of weeks but I was wrong. Christmas Cheer is available now! See the post below for more info and, if you'd like to order, here's a link.

I hope you like it! :)

Christmas Cheer

Here's a peek at my upcoming machine embroidery collection, Patrick Lose's Christmas Cheer. I don't have all of the details yet but this one should ship in October. You've been asking for them and I'm really excited to be able to bring you some new embroideries for the holidays.

Check back for more details or watch the website. We'll post the info as soon as we have it.

Click here for a larger image of the designs included in the collection.

Come see us in Houston!

After several emails this morning from shop owners/customers asking why we wouldn't be attending Quilt Market in Houston we did some checking and, lo and behold, Patrick Lose Studios is not listed as an exhibitor. The fact is, we have taken a booth in the Robert Kaufman Fabrics grouping and, although we were assured we would still be listed separately as a vendor, it didn't happen.

I'm sorry for the confusion this has caused and, no doubt, will continue to cause but it's out of our control.

Not the best way to start a Monday..... :-(

Happy Friday :)

I can't believe what the FedEx guy just dropped off. I had no idea it was coming so soon but here's a little peek in the box. It's the sample yardage of my Scribbles "Meander" collection for Robert Kaufman Fabrics. What a GREAT surprise and a perfect end to the work week.

I thought you might enjoy a look at what's coming to your favorite quilt shop in the near future. Click on the photos for a more up-close-and-personal look.

More details to come. I hope your Friday is happy, too! :)

Party with Patrick at Sea

The first 3 Party with Patrick at Sea cruises have been announced and you can find preliminary information here. I hope you're able to join us as we take the quilting and camaraderie to the high seas.

The page will be updated with information as it becomes available so check back from time to time.

Cheers!

This just in...

Quilting Celebrations! Yep, I have the real thing in my hands and I'm awfully proud of it and the crew that helped me bring it to you. It's been a long time in the making but it was worth it. I hope you think so, too!

More to come....

A whole new Party venue!

How would you like to join us to Party with Patrick on the high seas? We're dreaming up a few cruises for 2011 and would love to know where you'd like to go with Gary and me and a whole bunch of other quilting friends, old and new. It's quilting and camaraderie taken to a whole new level.

As details become available, we'll be posting them here and on the website under "Party with Patrick!". Info will also be available on the PWP Facebook page and my personal fan page. Stay tuned for the latest on this exciting new endeavor for all of us. What could be better than a wonderful cruise vacation to exotic places? Including quilting and partying time on the agenda!

I hope you'll join us on one of our adventures :)

Vintage Notions

My good friend, Amy Barickman, has done it again. Her new book, Amy Barickman's Vintage Notions, was recently released and, as with everything she does, Amy has given her all to this project. I love what I've seen so far. My copy is on its way and I can't wait to get it. This is a book I'll actually read because I know Amy has gathered together a really wonderful collection of inspirations from the past, which always get my creative juices flowing.

Please take some time to visit Amy's blog and let her tell you all about the book as only she can. Her passion for it is infectious and I know you'll love hearing what she has to say. Be sure to pick up a copy for yourself. This is one of those books that will inspire generation after generation of creative folks like us!

Quilting Celebrations cover revealed!

I know I've been a tease - only showing you little bits of projects from Quilting Celebrations. But I was sworn to secrecy.

No more! I'm really happy to be able to finally show you the full cover of QC and let you see some of the projects that will be included and give you a taste of the "party" I hope to bring you.

So, here it is. You can click on the cover to get an enlarged view. I sure hope you like it and that it gets the creative juices flowing. There are 18 projects included and they offer something for everyone.

I hope you'll request it at your local quilt shop. Tell them they can get the ordering information on my blog, in the post below.

So, what do you think? Does it look like a celebration you'd like to be a part of? I hope so. We'd love to hear your thoughts.

Cheers!