What a Joy!

Just like in the stores this time of year, we can’t get through halloween without having Christmas right along side it. Well, the same goes for creating fabric. Just as the Costume Club will be seen for the first time at Fall Quilt Market, so it is with the 12 Joys of Christmas. This is the holiday collection that I have just finished with Nortcott and it will also be on display at Market on the weekend.

This collection really has been a joy to create. It means a lot to me for a couple of reasons for the season! My family enjoys the experiences of Christmas time with all the many activities, music, aroma, warmth, friendship and family that this season involves. The other reason this collection was fun to work on was for the simple fact that it reminds me of all of the wonderful childhood memories that Christmas gives me.

Admittedly, only once do I remember actually going out into the woods with my family and cutting down our own Christmas tree. However, there have been many a paper snowflakes cut in this home; a few consecutive years of trying to make and decorate holiday cookies like Martha can do so easily, and every year without fail my husband’s “vintage” turntable plays the original Goodyear Christmas records from his childhood.

They may not be wrapped in lovely papers with beautiful bows, but the memories we receive from these holiday moments are the best gifts we receive each Christmas.

When you start hearing Christmas music this holiday season and “The Twelve Days of Christmas” has begun to play, over and over again in your mind, I hope you will now think of the 12 Joys of Christmas, and spread a little joy of your own.

Below you will see the twelve different joys Christmas brings to me and my family and maybe it will bring a little to you as well. En-joy!

The Costume Club on Parade in Houston

It’s that time of the year again. The leaves are changing colors, the air is cool and crisp and the kids are finding the perfect costume (to quote Lucy of the Great Pumpkin) “which is in direct contrast to their personalities” for trick or treating.

Well, it was my treat again this year to produce a sequel to the Trick or Treat Street fabric collection that I did with Northcott last fall. I have had wonderful responses from many of you about that collection and I thank you for letting me know. It is you whooo have made this collection even more fun to create.

The collection, Costume Club, will be debuting at Fall Quilt Market in Houston next weekend. Hopefully, some of you will get a chance to see it. For those not attending, I want to share the collection with you today.

Once again I give you halloween in sweetville. It’s not just the candy that is sweet around here, but the characters as well. I have always loved halloween for the reason that I could create cute costumes for my kids and now for fabric. Halloween at our house has never been about the scary, but a friendly ghost approach. Hope you find this collection just as sweet as Trick or Treat Street. Have a sweet and safe Halloween!