Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch...

Well, things can change in a flash at the Hollyhock Quilts house!  Here's what's happened over the last month...

As you know, our kids adopted 3 siblings last fall.  If you didn't get to read that story, I shared it here. 

So when we were back in OK during the holidays, it quickly became apparent that 1100 miles is just too far away for a number of reasons.  In light of that decision, we listed our house here in St. George, UT after the first of the year.  Wouldn't you know, it sold in 10 days!  Fortunately our buyer was not in a big hurry, so off to OK we shot to see if we could figure out a place to live.

We luckily found a house under construction about 20 minutes from the kids.  Not too close or too far away.  It seems perfect for us!  We were able to pick all the finishes to put our own stamp on it.  I think we'll be very happy there and love the idea of being closer to Kim and being available when needed.  We'll miss our view and the wonderful weather here, but everything is a trade off, for sure.

As for work, not much sewing going on around here, but I have been selling some bundles of vintage fabric!  The pics show you a few of the things that were available and there will be LOTS more!  Can you believe we'll be moving all my stuff AGAIN??!!

See you next time~

Reminiscing ~ 10 Years Later...

I can't believe it's been 10 years since Hollyhock Quilts came to be!  Bill was thinking about leaving his job, but he was too young and we were too poor for him to retire.  I had been collecting vintage feedsacks and fabrics, vintage quilts, tops and blocks, and most any other vintage textile I could get my hands on for almost 15 years and it was taking over our house!  So I decided I'd try selling feedsack squares online.  I had a friend set me up a website in 2003 and started cutting 6" squares.  Who knew that a few years later I'd be designing fabric and quilts, publishing patterns, writing a book and traveling here and there giving lectures and classes to quilter friends from all over as well as trying to keep up with a retail website?  It's been a blessing and a great ride!

I think about what this business has seen us through.  Bill was able to retire and help me full time.  Thank goodness for that since it left me much more time to be creative when I really needed to be.  He's been  my accountant, computer guy, packing and shipping department, square cutter, errand boy, mule and anything else I needed him to be.  What a joy to be able to do this together!

It's seen us through the loss of both of our Moms, clearing out their estates, making a huge move ourselves, and the adoption of 4 grandchildren.  You've been there through all of that!  Thank you for caring.

Well, I've come full circle it seems.  I'm not too inclined to design new patterns (although I do plan to add some of my magazine quilts as PDF patterns) and have no desire to ever design fabric again!  Too much work!!  I love making little projects using my vintage stash and selling the things I know I'll never be able to use in one lifetime.  Starting this week I'm back to selling feedsacks and vintage fabric on eBay and Etsy along with many more vintage items, just to clear things out.  You've seen how much crap great stuff I have!  It's got to go. You'll also see lots of fun things shown here and on the tabs above over the next few months.  We're still making up for lost time with travel and enjoying our new lives.  I'm just so glad I have you to share it with!

I've come to know many of you as though we have been friends a long time.  Most of you I have never seen face to face, but I consider you important to my life.  This blog has been a blessing to me because you were willing to take a couple of minutes to read it.  Thank you so much!  Please know that I treasure each and every one of you.

See you next time~

Fusible Fabric Bees for Your Quilt Garden or Beehive!

I thought I would let you know about a little something that I'm listing on Etsy.  When I was designing fabric, I did a collection called Bees Knees.  One of the prints had cute little bees that I used to embellish on one of the quilts that I made into a pattern called, uuuhhhhhh, BEES KNEES!!  Original, huh??

Anyhoo, they are really fun to use on your floral applique quilts to add a little extra interest.  We have cut out little pieces for you, each with a bee on it, added fusible to the back and they are ready to iron on!  All you have to do is the final cutting on the bee and voila'!  A bee in your quilt garden or flitting around your beehive!!

They measure about 3/4" x 1 1/8" when finished and they come in 4 colorways.  Here is a pic of part of the finished quilt so you can see how they look.  Click to enlarge and see them better.

 Here are the 4 different colorways...

If you don't want to buy on Etsy, you can send me an email at hollyhockquilts@gmail.com to order.  They are $4.95 per dozen, including US postage.  If you want a mixed group, just let me know what you would like and I'll send you an invoice through PayPal.  Enjoy!

Saying Goodbye to My Button Collection

 

Good Morning!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!  I don't know if I've talked here about the fact that 2013 is my year to get rid of stuff, so be prepared to see a lot of things going away on this website!

I started last week by listing my 20 year, 34 pound Button Collection on eBay.  I priced it at Buy It Now and it sold it within 24 hours along with 4 books on Button Collecting.  I am THRILLED!  What a great way to start the New Year!!

Here are a few pics to give you an idea of what I had accumulated.  You can click to enlarge the pics.  See you soon!

 

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year, my Friends!

I wanted to show you one of the coolest things we saw on a trip this year in Seattle.  Here is the outside of the shop downtown.  Look toward the bottom of the pic for a tease of what you see inside....

And here is what you see from the inside looking out...

Fabulous, huh?  Have a wonderful and safe New Year and we'll see you soon~

Christmas Quilts!

 

Good Morning!  I thought I'd show you a couple of Christmas quilts today.  This first one is a little vintage quilt.  I assume it was made for a child since it only measures 34" x 42".  It takes every bit of willpower I have not to take it apart and use it in something else!  Not sure I'll win that battle.  Same fabric both sides, tied with little red pompoms.

 

 



 

 



The next one was made with my fabric collection called "Sugar N Spice" for McCalls.  I do enjoy hanging it each year.  The kitty/puppy fabric was based on an old wrapping paper design.  You can see the magazine layout under the 'Featured In' button.

 



 

 

 

Enjoy your week!  See you next time~

 



 

A Gift for You from Fons & Porter!

 

Hello, Friends! I hope this Christmas Season is finding you full of peace and joy rather than fretting and struggling to get things done. After being gone for over a month, we are enjoying some quiet time at home. Glad to be getting back to normal a bit.

I want to share something with you.  I was asked to do a review on this little eBook from Fons and Porter and to pass it on to you! 

This little Build Your Best Log Cabin book is only 24 pages long, but it's packed with several different Log Cabin designs and instructions to make your own quilts.  I like that it includes pictures of antique quilts as well as quilts made from contemporary fabrics.  There are also several tips, facts about the history of Log Cabins, and ideas for quilting and binding!  Designers Ricky Tims, Sharon McMain, and Marti Michell are featured.

All in all, it's a nice little book with lots of information for Log Cabin lovers.  The best part is that it's FREE to you!!  Click here to get your own copy and enjoy!

I hope that each of you have a wonderful Christmas and are spending quality time with the ones you love most.

See you next time~

A 20 Year Old UFO and Some New Old Fabric!

I'm kinda in the finish-it-up mode and when we took off for our month long vacay, I reached WAY back in the UFO pile for this project!  I guess I was in my contemporary art quilt period when I started this one 20+ years ago.  Hand-dyed fabrics were just hitting the market and I figured why not?  So I decided to use 4 of them to design a cityscape in different times of day.  I drew the paper pieced design on graph paper and numbered each diamond.  You can click on the pics to enlarge.

 

Then I figured out where each fabric would go and numbered the paper pieces to coordinate.  Here are the first two blocks showing morning and midday (in reverse)...



Evening and night are still in progress....

I'll let you know if they ever get done!

Did you know I went to Festival?  Had a great time and got to see lots of pals which is the very best part, of course.  Didn't buy much but found a few decent feedsacks both there and antiquing.

My favorite finds were vintage yardage.  LOVE those strawberries in two colorways!

Hope you're having a great week and we'll see you next time!

 

What I've Been Working On!!

Just wanted to share a little piece that I've been working on.  I'm FINALLY getting back to what I love the most.  Which is, of course, working with vintage fabrics and quilty things. 

This little piece is composed of vintage barkcloth for the house (which I can't seem to get enough of since making my bed quilt), a vintage pink polka dot and floral for the background.  Since there was gold flecks in the barkcloth piece, I thought metallic gold rickrack was perfect for it!  Otherwise embellished with vintage buttons, rickrack and other trim.  An aqua feedsack is on the back and wrapped to the front for finishing.  All the pieces were cut freehand without a pattern and free motion quilted.  Seriously need to work on my quilting! 

 

Another little piece is in progress.  Will share it when it's done.  Hope you're having a fabulous week! 

See you next time~

Utah State Guild Quilt Show!





First of all, let me say thank you for all the wonderful comments on my previous post.  It means so much to know that you are so supportive to our family in this endeavor to bring these kids a better life.  You all are the best!

 

This week the Utah State Quilt Guild is having it's show here in St. George.  It's not a huge show, but they are having some good teachers and events.  There were some nice quilts and a few are worth showing you here!  Click on the pics to enlarge.

 

This one is amazing!  The design and workmanship were awesome!  Sadly, there was no name or other information on the quilt.

 

 

 

 

I just thought this was a nice applique piece.

 



 

Another example of fine piecing and applique.

 

 

I thought this one was exceptional!



 

 

A fun quilt with vintage feedsack logos!  You know me and my love for feedsacks!

 



And it was fun to see my own quilt there.  This is the one that was 'Miss April' in the APQ 2012 Calendar although you wouldn't know it since they lost my paperwork and there was no info on it either!  Apparently there were several that the paperwork got lost.  :-/

Have a great weekend and we'll see you soon~