Sneak peek | Brrr!

When I got my samples of Brrr! a few weeks ago, I simply could not wait to share them with you. It's an early look because the line won't start shipping until June 2012, but I am so excited to show you the wee little polar bears!! I hope you love them as much as I do.

The colors are really more 'winter-ey' instead of 'Christmas-ey'. Which is exactly how I had hoped they would turn out. I really love working with the entire team at Kaufman and the design team is absolutely no exception. They are simply amazing, especially around collaborating with me on color. And they really know how to size  prints so they really come together just perfectly. I feel so fortunate to have such a wonderful partnership with them. And I am just beside myself with excitement over how this collection turned out. There's a salmon color that's part of both the red and blue color stories which is so yummy I could eat it. I hope you will find lots and lots of projects to make with Brrr! For myself, I see some great lap quilts for snuggling under, a bathrobe and PJs (of course!)

 

Final Goodie Giveaway post. Yea!

We made it! Boy... 12 days are really long when you are posting every day! Thanks so much for hanging in there with me. I had a great time and I hope you did too!


Let's start with the final goodie winner, shall we? Via random number, the winner is #14, KatieQ.
We have a very busy bird feeder in our yard, so I'm sure the partridge would feel right at home. I would love to have a pear tree and smell the sweet blossoms in the spring and taste the pears in the fall. Perhaps, the partridge will eat the pears and get so fat that I'd have to eat him on Christmas Eve. This comment definitely took a wrong turn.


There was a comment yesterday from SassyCathy who told me about a sweet little boy named Trey who was having trouble with the 12 days song.
At Sunday School on Sunday, he sang a new rendition of the 12 days of Christmas. Perfectly in tune and time - but just a bit confused on the words.
On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me
4 crunched hens,
3 turtle ducks,
2 lords a leaping,
and a Poodledop in a pear tree.

Totally darling, isn't it? Poodledop. So sweet.Cathy, thank so much for sharing Trey's rendition. I'm also sending you a FQ pack of Modern Whimsy. :)


And then there's our version of the song. Less sweet but plenty of sassy :) Pretty challenging to sing in the tune of the song of course (I tried...and it wasn't pretty people...). But pretty darn funny. All of the new lines are based on some of my favorite comments from you guys over the course of the last 12 days. And without further ado...

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me

1 David Cassidy of the Partridge Family hanging out in a pear tree

On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me

2 Golden Turtles with frosty wings

and David Cassidy of the Partridge Family hanging out in a pear tree

On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me

3 French hens, Marie-Therese, Louisette, and Clemence living it up in their urban coop

2 Golden Turtles with frosty wings

and David Cassidy of the Partridge Family hanging out in a pear tree

(etc, etc, etc…Skipping to the end!)

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me

12 drummers drumming and marching flash mob style down the street 

11 pipers making piping for a pile of pillows

10 lords a leaping and performing Christmas numbers a la Glee style

9 ladies doing Byonce's Single Ladies dance

8 maids a milking and making artisan cheese and butter

7 swimming swans leashed together and pulling the aquatic version of a sled...a water sled!

6 geese-a-laying (and waiting for the golden egg)

f-iiive golden rings to sell and fund a fabric buying spree

4 birds calling our friends

3 French hens, Marie-Therese, Louisette, and Clemence living it up in their urban coop

2 Golden Turtles with frosty wings

and David Cassidy of the Partridge Family hanging out in a pear tree

I leave you with a shot from tree decorating. I do however look like I have a branch stabbing me in the eye while I'm trying to get the angel on the top...But, we all know that would mean that I likely wouldn't have that goofy grin on my face :) Happy ho-ho holidays everyone!! I'm so thankful for all of you! 

p.s. I was a member of the David Cassidy fan club when I was a kid. Anyone else? :)

Day 12 of 12 Goodie Giveaway

Whew! We made it! Today's the last day of the Goodie Giveaway!

Via random number, the winner of the day 11 giveaway was #90, Gwen, Congrats!!
Are turtle doves a mix between that oh-so-delicious Turtles candy and Dove Chocolates?... If so, I'd eat 'em up!!! ;-) But if we're talking about turtle DOVES-- the bird kind--- I'd release them to join in with all the other doves that live here and feed on our bird feeder! I'm sure they'd fit right in! :-) 

And while you guys comment in this final day of the giveaway, I'll be going back through all of the comments from all 12 days and will be putting together 'our'version of the song. It will feature some of my favorite comments from our 12 Giveaway days together. I think it could be pretty funny. Or totally dorky. Probably a good helping of both. :)

But while that's going on, here's the final piece of loot for the day 12 giveaway - a Modern Whimsy FQ pack in Meadow.

• To be registered to win, just leave a comment here on this post.
• Please make sure you I have a way to contact you 
• Entries from around the world welcome!! I'm happy to ship your prizes to wherever you might be.
• In your comment tell me what you'd do with one partridge in a pear tree

Good luck! And see you tomorrow for the announcement of the Day 12 winner and our song.

Day 11 of 12 Goodie Giveaway

I think yesterday's comments were my favorite so far. Who knew that the idea of French poultry could lead to such creative responses? You guys are so funny! Let's keep the creativity going today. Bring on the turtle doves! :)


Yesterday's winner was #65. Not only did the random number generator select that winning number, it was one of the comments from yesterday that led to an outloud giggle.

#65 - Lisnaweary Quilts
I think 3 French Hens would be very posh, I think they would need their own castle..they would probably have little parasols..little pillbox hats...little bows around their necks and they would chatter all day.

Today's goodies are a full FQ set of Tufted Tweets in all 3 color stories.

• To be registered to win, just leave a comment here on this post.
• Please make sure you I have a way to contact you 
• Entries from around the world welcome!! I'm happy to ship your prizes to wherever you might be.
• In your comment tell me what you'd do with two turtle doves

Good luck! And see you tomorrow for the announcement of the Day 11 winner and for the start of the Day 12 (last day!!) giveaway!!

Day 10 of 12 Goodie Giveaway

Well we're in the home stretch now! Only 3 more little piles of fabric on my shelf all bundled up and ready to go live with you. 


The random number generator has selected # 96, honeyguide,  as the winner of yesterday's goodies. Congrats! And I loved your kind comment :)

I would give them to someone who was lonely and needed the company.

Today's goodies are a FQ pack of Modern Whimsy in Park. 

A reminder about the bunny selvage!

 

Dexter helping me when I was shooting pictures of my chair cover  :)

• To be registered to win, just leave a comment here on this post.
• Please make sure you I have a way to contact you 
• Entries from around the world welcome!! I'm happy to ship your prizes to wherever you might be.
• In your comment tell me what you'd do with three french hens

Good luck! And see you tomorrow for the announcement of the Day 10 winner and for the start of the Day 11 giveaway!!

Day 9 of 12 Goodie Giveaway

Well its a grey and sort of gloomy Monday morning here in Austin, so let's get right to some goodies to kick off the week!

Courtesy of the random number generator, yesterday's winner was #79 - SewLindaAnn:
Let's see, 1 for each of my 4 BFF's and 1 for me.

Today's goodies are a FQ set of some of the fabric I self produce using Spoonflower. A FQ set of Nesting Chairs in Blue and Aqua and a coordinating pillow panel.

And for inspiration a few goodies I've made using the fabric.

Zipper pouch 

My sewing machine cover

• To be registered to win, just leave a comment here on this post.
• Please make sure you I have a way to contact you 
• Entries from around the world welcome!! I'm happy to ship your prizes to wherever you might be.
• In your comment tell me what you'd do with four calling birds

Good luck! And see you tomorrow for the announcement of the Day 9 winner and for the start of the Day 10 giveaway!!

Day 8 of 12 Goodie Giveaway

Yea! Weekend! I've had a great one so far and hope you have too! Today's post will be a quick one though. Headed into the studio for a morning of designing patterns. Have coffee in hand and ideas in head :)

First, yesterday's winner via random number generator. Congrats to Tammy who left comment #25: 

Geese and their eggs would be wonderful. So many things to make. Hallowed out egg ornaments for the tree. Lots of deviled eggs to eat! Can use the goose's down feathers for a comforter and it's meat for pate! Hope that end part isn't too gross to folks, but I love pate! 

And now onto today's giveaway! 

-A pair of Olive the Ostrich Pillow Panels

-Two half yard cuts of ANY of my Robert Kaufman fabric (winner's choice!)

Store note: All of the holiday pillow panels (in all 4 panels) have sold out. I did really love doing them so I'll create some new ones next year! :)

Here's one of the Olive panels that I stitched up with black piping. 

• To be registered to win, just leave a comment here on this post.
• Please make sure you I have a way to contact you 
• Entries from around the world welcome!! I'm happy to ship your prizes to wherever you might be.
• In your comment tell me what you'd do with five golden rings (I can't even type that without singing that portion of the song!)

Good luck! And see you tomorrow for the announcement of the Day 8 winner and for the start of the Day 9 giveaway!!

Day 7 of 12 Goodie Giveaway

Loads of great comments yesterday. But, who knew so many of you had so many traumatic experiences with swans as children?! I tried to feed one in my 20s and was chased too. Gorgeous birds but best viewed from afar. :)

On to the winners from yesterday! 

The winner of the FQ pack of Modern Whimsy is: 

#54, Cherry Red Quilter

I think I would take them down to the local water system where there are currently ducks and grumpy geese. It would be fun to see swans there too and lots of kids go there to feed the birds so they would love it too - and baby swans - too cute!

And the 2 winners of the Amanda Murphy pattern, Bejeweled, are: 

#116: Lesley

Ummmm, seven swans a swimming would have to be put in our community's pond, with little red ribbons tied safely around their necks for a photo opportunity...no swans would be endangered during the process...thanks for the great chance to win and fun with this question!

# 16: frozenMandMs

Oh, I really need those seven swans. We always have sooooo many geese in the pond behind our house. These geese leave lots of "presents" in our backyard. Swans protect their territory and chase the geese away. Bring on the swans!

Today's goodies are: 

Urban Circus fabric! Half yard cuts (2 yards total) in the Earth color story

And for some inspiration, here's a picnic blanket I made last year when Urban Circus came out. Boy does that seem like it was a LONG time ago!

• To be registered to win, just leave a comment here on this post.
• Please make sure you I have a way to contact you 
• Entries from around the world welcome!! I'm happy to ship your prizes to wherever you might be.
• In your comment tell me what you'd do with Six geese-a-laying. 

Good luck! And see you tomorrow for the announcement of the Day 7 winner and for the start of the Day 8 giveaway!!

Day 6 of 12 Goodie Giveaway

We are half way through the goodie giveaway! Thanks so much for playing along with me and I hope you're enjoying it as much as I am.

The winner of Pooches and Pickups from yesterday's giveaway is #57 - Lori.

I would have them go grocery shopping! It's my least favorite thing to do, and I haven't gone in two weeks. It needs to be done desperately!

And now onto today's goodies. Since we're half way through, today is a big one! There will be 3 winners!
Winner number one will receive a FQ pack of Modern Whimsy in Meadow

And the lovely Amanda Murphy, a fellow designer with Robert Kaufman and a talented pattern designer, has created a really beautiful pattern called Bejeweled. She used Modern Whimsy for her sample and it is simply gorgeous. Amanda has kindly provided me with a few copies to giveaway to you! So winners 2 and 3 will each receive a copy of Amanda's pattern, Bejeweled. Thanks Amanda!

I also wanted to show off my new chair cover. It's for the chair I use at my sewing machine and I just love the way it turned out. Its one of my favorite chairs in the house.

And I cannot believe that I haven't shown you the selvage from Modern Whimsy! It has my bunnies on it! Eeeeee!!! So cute, huh?! Cannot wait to come up with a bunny selvage project. And just wait until you guys feel the hand on this fabric. Its  100%organic and soooo soft and its a dream to sew with.

Well thanks for sticking with me through this long post!

• To be registered to win, just leave a comment here on this post.
• Please make sure you I have a way to contact you :)
• Entries from around the world welcome!! I'm happy to ship your prizes to wherever you might be.
• In your comment tell me what you'd do with Seven swans-a-swimming. 

Good luck! And see you tomorrow for the announcement of the Day 6 winner and for the start of the Day 7 giveaway!!

Comments are closed

Day 5 of 12 Goodie Giveaway

Again, I love the way you guys take the 9 ladies and turn them into free labor! I'm behind on my household chores too so am right there with you. Totally behind on my cleaning around here too!

The winner from day 4's giveaway was MeganAnne - #49!
They would be the backup dancers to my impromtu, in-my-pajamas, wooden spoon as mic while cooking dinner singing performances I grace my husband with. I'm sure they'd totally class it up!


Today's winner will receive half yard cuts of Pooches and Pickups (winners's choice of color story).

And as inspiration, here are a few goodies I made with the fabric.

My market bag

  My outdoor cushion (It looks a bit like a suitcase... totally wish I had a Pooches suitcase!) 

• To be registered to win, just leave a comment here on this post. 
• Please make sure you I have a way to contact you :) 
• Entries from around the world welcome!! I'm happy to ship your prizes to wherever you might be. 
• In your comment tell me what you'd do with eight maids a milking. And I challenge you to not put them to work cleaning your house. Tee hee!!  :)

Good luck! And see you tomorrow for the announcement of the Day 5 winner and for the start of the Day 6 giveaway!!

Day 4 of 12 Goodie Giveaway

Well, 10 Lords a Leapin did not disappoint. Totally hilarious comments. I love how many of you immediately tasked your lords with house or yard chores. Cheap labor :) Thank you so much for playing my silly game! I'm having loads of fun and hope you are too.

Congrats to number 88, Sara, who won yesterday's giveaway. I hope you love the pillow panels and the fabric Sara!!
I would have them leap through the door, over the counter and into my kitchen to help roll meatballs for Xmas eve dinner and then cut out sugar cookies to decorate for Santa!


And now onto the Goodies for today!
Day 4: Urban Circus fabric! Half yard cuts (2 yards total) in the Spring color story

• To be registered to win, just leave a comment here on this post. 
• Please make sure you I have a way to contact you :) 
• Entries from around the world welcome!! I'm happy to ship your prizes to wherever you might be :)
• In your comment tell me what you'd do with nine ladies dancing...keep it clean people, keep it clean...

Good luck! And see you tomorrow for the announcement of the Day 4 winner and for the start of the Day 5 giveaway!!

Day 3 of 12 Goodie Giveaway

Another fun day of reading your posts! I think this could be my favorite giveaway. Ever. The winner of the day 2 goodies (the FQ set of Tufted Tweets), the random number generator selected #72, Mab! I love her response too.

I'd really hope that they are the type of pipers that make and sew custom piping... I've got some pillows I'd like to do, but I don't want to fool with the piping. I'd assign at least 4 of them to that task. The other 7 of them could get the icing bags and do the piping work on a fabulous gingerbread house. If even one of the 11 tries to pull out an actual pipe, I'd full-body-slam them.... my 3 year old is finally taking a nap and ain't NOBODY waking her up!

And now onto the goodies for Day 3:
-A pair of Olive the Ostrich Pillow Panels
-Two half yard cuts of ANY of my Robert Kaufman fabric (winner's choice!)

I stitched up one of the panels and added black piping to finish it. Easy Peasy. 

• To be registered to win, just leave a comment here on this post. Make sure you I have a way to contact you. Entries from around the world welcome!! I'm happy to ship your prizes to wherever you might be :)
• In your comment tell me what you'd do with ten lords a leaping (he he, this one should be very entertaining!) 

Store Announcement
I only have a handful of holiday pillow panels left and won't be printing anymore this year, so if you'd like any, they're on sale in my shop. Discounted from $15 each to $10 each! So get them before they're gone. I have the full set on my sofa and they look darling.

Good luck! And see you tomorrow for the announcement of the Day 3 winner and for the start of the Day 4 giveaway!!

Entries closed

Day 2 of 12 Goodie Giveaway

I had so much fun reading your 12 drummers drumming comments. And there were a whopping 155 of them!

Thanks for the giggles and a big congratulations to the lucky winner # 116 - Carbonated Creations who said:


Fabulous giveaway!!! If the drummers were cute I'd say take off their shirts. Otherwise I'd send them over to annoy some people I didn't like, lol. Loving everyone's answers so far.

Here's the loot for today!
Day 2: Tufted Tweets FQ pack in all 3 color stories (12 FQs)

• To be registered to win, just leave a comment here on this post. Make sure you I have a way to contact you. Entries from around the world welcome!! I'm happy to ship your prizes to wherever you might be :)
• In your comment tell me what you'd do with eleven pipers piping 

Good luck! And see you tomorrow for the announcement of the Day 2 winner and for the start of the Day 3 giveaway!!

Entries closed :)

12 Days of Goodies Giveaway

I am soooo excited about this giveaway. My tree went up last weekend and I'm in the holiday swing and ready to start spreading the holiday cheer. (Although... I'm still blogging from the bed and am trying to not spread germs along with the cheer. I still haven't kicked this plague like virus I have!! Mom: Pictures are from last weekend and just now getting them posted. So yes, I'm still resting in bed!)

For the next 12 days, I'll hold a daily giveaway. And here's a picture of all the stuff that will be leaving my studio and headed out to you! How's that for a big old pile of goodness!

For those of you with keen eyes, you'll spy: Modern Whimsy, Tufted Tweets, Urban Circus, Pooches and Pickups, Nesting Chairs and Olive the Ostrich holiday pillow panels.

Every morning I'll draw a winner from the previous day and post a picture of the next bundle of fabric that's up for grabs. So put a note on your calendar and remember to come back every day for the next 12 days and leave me a comment and you could end up with yummy some fabric treats. Tell your friends and spread the cheer. The more the merrier!

Here's the goodies for today's giveaway!

Day 1: Modern Whimsy FQ pack in Park color story (7 FQs)

• Just leave a comment here in order to be registered to win. Make sure you I have a way to contact you. 
• And if you need inspiration for your comment, just tell me what you'd do with 12 drummers drumming. (I bet you can figure out the theme for the giveaway. Should be a hilarious post on the final day when I compile the list from all 12 days...)

So take a quick pause in your reading right now, and leave comment on this post in order to be signed up to win the Day 1 giveaway.

Now on to some show and tell! Through Flick and my blog I've met some wonderfully kind, talented and funny people. Alison over at Little Island Quilting and I have been emailing for a while and she has made some DIVINE quilts from my lines. Just spend a few minutes in her Flickr stream and you'll see what I mean. Take a look at this brand new gorgeous quilt she made from the Park color story of Modern Whimsy. The way she pieced the border and incorporated the solids along with the big cuts of Modern Whimsy is just lovey isn't it!? What a great quilt. Thanks so much for sharing it Alison! And thank your penguin for the help with the styling. :) (You'll have to read Alison's post...)

Good luck everyone. And see you tomorrow for the announcement of the Day 1 winner and for the start of the Day 2 giveaway!!

Update based on a question received: Entries from around the world welcome!! I'm happy to ship your prizes wherever you might be :)


Giveaway is closed.

Modern Whimsy shower wrap

I have a mop of curly hair, which means some time standing under the blow dryer every day. And sometime last year I used some scrap fabric to sew up a little shower wrap for myself. And I'll admit that it's seen better days and looks more like a rag than a wrap. 

So as soon as I got my cuts of Modern Whimsy, I knew I wanted to use the blue Rabbit Trellis and the pink Circles to make a pretty new wrap for myself. It was easy peasy and came together in an hour or so over the Thanksgiving weekend. One big panel of fabric and I just used some 1" elastic at the top to hold the whole thing up. Used the blue Circles to make some piping for the bottom and a little hanger for the door. Ta da!!

I can't wait for you guys to start getting your hands on some Modern Whimsy too!! So, I'm working on a new fun giveaway. And it's gonna be a big one! :) 12 days of goodies from all of my lines. I'm a bit under the weather (so blogging from bed today) so as soon as I'm back up and functioning again, I'll get the contest going. 12 days of goodies coming your way soon!!

30% off | Big sale on Aqua and Orange Nesting Chairs!

I hope everyone had a really wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! Mine was spectacular. So much to be thankful for and it was so great to spend time with my family and take a break and slow down a bit.

And thanks to everyone who had such great suggestions for sugar free options from my last post. Dinner was wonderful and not a bit of processed sugar to be found. :) I am, however, still stuffed to the gills and am going to have to eat air sandwiches for a week in order to get back on track. But boy was that a great dinner (and lunch, and dinner, and lunch...)

As a break from the kitchen today, I spent some time this afternoon organizing my studio. Discovered that I have too much inventory in stock of Nesting Chairs in Aqua and Orange though. So I decided to do a quick sale and see if we can clear the shelves a bit. So, the Aqua and Orange Nesting Chairs fabrics (from my inventory only) are on sale at 30% off. If you need more than what's listed in the store, just message me and I'll see what's still left. Happy shopping!!

Giveaway winner..and a sugar free dilemma

I'm excited to announce the winner of the signed copy of Pretty in Patchwork Doll Quilts by Cathy Gaubert! Congratulations to Jo Ann, who left comment #28.
I am on pins and needles waiting to see this book. Thanks for the opportunity to win a copy!
I hope you love the book as much as I do Jo Ann!

Can you believe that Thanksgiving is only a week and a half away!? I am really excited for the holiday this year. Completely not ready of course, but it always seems to come together anyway, doesn't it? :)

I'm thinking of trying to reduce sugar a bit though this year and was thinking of trying to bake a sugar free pie. Has anyone had any luck with baking/cooking and sugar substitutes not tasting all 'chemically'? I tried using Splenda last year in a cranberry relish and had to throw it out it was so icky. I wonder if it was because the relish isn't cooked and the Splenda needs to be cooked to not taste weird... But would like to give it another go and try the cranberry relish and perhaps a pie with something other than sugar. Wonder if Stevia is the way to go? Any reccos would be great. One of my guests has diabetes so would like to be able to make all of my sugar-y dishes without sugar...Suggestions anyone?

Giveaway!! Pretty in Patchwork Doll Quilts book

I was going through Flickr right before I headed to Market and spied this adorable picture.

So, how surprised was I when her smiling face walked into the Robert Kaufman booth at Market a week ago? Sweet Cathy Gaubert, the author of Pretty in Patchwork Doll Quilts, and her wonderful editor and friend Amanda Carestio, came by the booth and introduced themselves. We just gabbed and gabbed and I really loved getting to meet them both!

Cathy had a copy of her brand new book with her and let me spend a few minutes oohing and ahhing over her copy. There are 24 fantastic projects and because they are all doll quilts. Which means with their small size they all seem really approachable and would come together pretty quickly. I can hardly wait to try a few out. There are some amazing pieces in here that really have my creative juices flowing. There's a Dresden Plate pattern that is calling my name. I plan to make it for one of the walls in my studio.

And I was just tickled to spy a bit of Tufted Tweets in one of the projects!

Take a peek at this sophisticated and stunning creation by Cathy.

And how much do you love this piece by Penny from Sew Take a Hike?

I really adore this book! And Cathy has graciously offered a signed copy of the book for me to giveaway to one of you. Just leave me a comment here and you'll be entered to win. Easy peasy! One entry per person please. I'll draw the winner after 8am CT this Sunday, November 13.