A Thanksgiving Weekend

I am nesting in my little house during this holiday weekend. After the big house cleaning I was anxious to add a spark of celebration. A tablecloth is a good place to begin. This year we are introducing a buttery soft laminated fabric in two Early Birds designs in three colorways. Two of them will be perfect for Christmas decorating. This is the Primrose Posy in the Blueberry colorway. The Christmas cactus is right on schedule.

I also thought it was time to update the speakers with fresh new covers. Now they look like bright Christmas presents in the corners. The Zinnias are from the Garden Divas line and all the others are from the new Early Birds collection. Dapper "Basil" is an alley find that has become a family heirloom.

For some reason I am really looking forward to this holiday season. A sprinkle of snow is predicted tomorrow. Ahhhhh....

More holiday ideas to come.

Holiday Brush Up

Friday was house cleaning day. The dust had gotten pretty deep during all the Houston preparations and I was determined to spiff things up to start the holidays right. So this weekend I'm feeling renewed and ready for the next phase and enjoying the perfect Thanksgiving weather... dreary and dreamy. 

Our house is the laboratory for Sassaman designs and it is fun to switch out fabrics from time to time. It's amazing how refreshing a simple change of pillow covers can be. At our house the walls set the scene as each room has a color theme. Our bedroom is turquoise with a pink adjoining bathroom. It has been decorated in the dusky colorway of the Prairie Gothic line from a few years back. But it is time for a change! So here you see a welcome lamp and pillow made with the new Early Birds fabric in the plum colorway.

The lamp shade is covered with the Primrose Posy fabric and trimmed with pastel green bands of rick rack. I like using fabrics with white backgrounds for lamps and curtains because the white still lets light shine through.

I also like to make my pillows reversible to get twice the use from them. In this case, both sides have the same simple layout, but the fabrics have been swapped around. On this side the Strawberry Serenade is in the center and the pretty Prairie Poppy are the corner blocks. The purple Poka Dots border both sides.

This half is a reverse of the other side. Each half is actually a mini-quilt and I entertained myself with the quilting on both sides. I prefer using heavy topstitching thread for all my quilting since it shows up so much better. Well, I guess this means the new duvet cover can't be far behind!

I wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving and hope you all have a little time to yourselves in the sewing room this weekend, too.

New Goodies To Wrap up the Year!

This week has been spent cleaning and organizing after the studio mess devoted to Houston Market.
Before I leave for my last teaching gig of the year, we were able to get our two new designs added to the webstore... the new mugs and the Hepburn Apron pattern, too. Hooray! We have also posted my workshop schedule for 2012. It has been an intense couple of months and it feels like we have accomplished a lot.

But the activity isn't over! The rest of the year will be devoted to working on the new book, Patchwork Sassaman Style for Dragon Threads. The designer has sent some sample layouts and they look great. It really makes a difference to be able to imagine it in print. Looks fabulous, YES!

Houston Market Report 2011

With a sigh of satisfaction and exhaustion, I can show you the results of all our energy for the past month. Here is our Houston International Quilt Market booth for 2011. It is amazing how it all fell together. The booth was designed around the fabulous party dress in the corner. The new Early Birds line has a really nice border print, so I knew it would be perfect for the edge of a fancy garment. We added drama by framing it with some fabulous curtains and adding a coral pink backdrop.

My steadfast friend and super sewer, Susan Tempin, made this show stopper from a current Vintage Vogue pattern. Then she added the icing on the cake by hand sewing a gold sequin in the center of each little daisy. I just LOVE it!

To the left we had a display of Early Birds purses and bags, many made by Melissa Peda from her own pattern designs. You can find them at her Etsy store. The Pretty Perfect Pocket Purses, a Sassaman pattern, were made by the fabulous and enthusiastic Juanita Whiting. The almost whole cloth quilt on the table was pieced by my quilting buddy, Susan Buckingham.

I was lucky to have both Susan T. and Melissa P. in Houston for support and companionship. Thanks to everyone!! Thanks for making the booth such a success. Thanks, too, to all the folks who stopped in for a visit and shared so much encouragement and interest in our new designs!