MERRY CHRISTMAS

FROM MY HOME TO YOURS

I WISH YOU AND YOUR FAMILY A WONDERFUL JOYOUS TIME

MAY THE NEW YEAR BRING YOU NOTHING BUT HAPPINESS

                                               EILEEN & LYNN 

                                                                                HOLLY TAYLOR DESIGNS         

Contest Winners Announced

Winners are:
Sue from Vermont, Sharon from New York, Linda from Georgia, Cindi from Georgie, Julie from Michigan, Kristen from Minnesota, Rosa from Spain,and Gwen from Minnesota.  The following two people I have not heard back from for an address Barb D.  11/ 13 who said "pick a favorite Holly Taylor line ummm like them all. And Barbara who posted on 11/22 and said"I love all the lines but cardinal was the favorite as it was their school mascot". If you are one of these two please e mail me with address at        hollytaylordesigns@gmail.com

We want to thank everyone who sent in their comments. We loved reading them. If I ever have a day feeling down I can always go back to all your lovely comments that were so uplifting.  They were also very helpful in choosing a subject for our next Spring line. Starting in January we will be doing a four part series in how we design. We hope you will follow along with us, as we choose color pallet and proceed threw the process.

Please remember to add your e mail on our follow section. We will be sending out fun little random gifts occasionally. We can't forward them if we don't have your e mail address.

                                             Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,  Eileen

FROM THE PAST CONTEST

    We will soon be starting our 65th line of fabrics for Moda. We could not have done it without all of you. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
.   One of my favorite lines Lynn and I have done is Canoe Country. It was a spring line from 2007. It had the scenes we love to do and our most favorite color pallet.  The pillow was done by This & That Patterns using the center of the panel. The quilt was done by a small pattern who moved on to take a full time job.
The other quilt is also a This & That from our Christmas line North Woods Botanical.

     We are giving away 10 prizes of Charm packs and a  Layer cake. All you have to do is head to the bottom of our page and comment on your  favorite Holly Taylor fabric line. We will do a random select from the entries received. Names will be selected by December 15.  I will notify you by e mail and send a request for your address. Good luck.

     Next month we will be taking you along with us as we create our next line. We will try to show you the process we use to design.    Happy quilting, Eileen

Happy Halloween

My family loves Halloween. Every year we all get together, we all dress in costumes and take the little ones trick or treating. It is always such a fun time. I usually make a kettle of homemade soup and we make sandwiches before we head out into the almost always cool Minnesota night. My family's favorite soup is Chicken Wild rice. (recipe below) Here are some of my costumes I have come up with in the past few years. I have been old man winter, a Christmas present and just a crusty old man. The best was last year when my grandson spent two hours putting fake tattoos on the baby, (he slept threw half of it) he was adorable. He won best costume.



Chicken Wild Rice Soup

32 oz chicken broth

2c water

4 carrots sliced

green onion tops

2 chicken bouillon cubes

simmer in a large soup pot until carrots are tender
add 2 to 3 c. cooked chicken
(if I am in a hurry I buy a precooked rotisserie)

In another pan

1 stick of butter

1/3 c flour

 poultry seasoning to taste seasoned salt and pepper

stir until mixed and bubbly

with a wire whisk add a carton of half and half

Add slowly to the broth mixture

add in 2 to 3 cups of cooked wild rice

Enjoy

Minnesota Grown

 My little Grandson was visiting this weekend from Nebraska and my daughter and I wanted to do something fun with him. We had a beautiful fall day so we headed off to Stillwater to visit the apple orchard. Aamodts Orchard is one of many in our state. It was amazing and I couldn't believe the crowds. You could pick your own apples or head to the store where you could taste all the different apples they grow, Honeycrisp, Fireside, Regent, Jonathan and Haraldson. They had a bakery and you could smell the apple donuts frying or sample a piece of apple pie,apple crisp, turnovers, and muffins all made on site. Outside they were making kettlecorn and it was delicious. There were so many fun things for the kids to do. Eric's favorite was the maze made of haybales, feeding the animals and climbing the apple trees.You could take home all kinds of fun pumpkins but the best part for me was spending a day with family.
 Don't forget to submit your e mail for the upcoming contest starting in November. I will be giving away 10 prizes of charm packs and layer cakes of past Holly Taylor groups.

Trunk Show returns home

 When ever we get advanced yardage on one of our lines I try to have a trunk show that shops can use to help sell the fabric. Yesterday the doorbell rang and it was UPS bringing one back to me. I get so excited opening them. It's like I am seeing them for the first time again. Shops ship the trunk show  from one to another so it can be months before I see it again. I haven't seen these quilts since May.
  This one is from our Christmas line called " Northern Cardinal" in stores now.  It included six projects from a book by This and That Patterns titled the same name as the line.  Pictured is a pillow and a cream quilt from the book. It also had two quilts from Antler Quilt Design and two from Mountainpeek Creations. For me it was like Christmas. You can check out all of  the patterns on their websites.
      This and That Patterns     Antler Quilt Design
      Mountainpeek Creations  
                                                                           
                                                                       
                                         Until next time,     Eileen

Getting ready for Quilt Market

   Minnesota is starting to show it's beautiful fall colors. I cleaned out my summer plants and bought mums and added my silk flowers. I headed for the pumpkin patch this afternoon and picked out two pumpkins and now the house is feeling like fall.
   Now I have to get a quilt ready for fall market. It's all pieced and my dear friend Sherri Falls will be doing the quilting. When it's finished it will get shipped to Dallas to pack for market.
    

 This quilt is from our new batik line called "Sunrise Sunset". We used 15 out of the 30 prints. The purples and rich teals were selected for this one. The line also has some great light backgrounds and  includes some warmer tones in golds and browns. It will be in the stores spring 2012. We used a pattern from a great booklet by This and That Patterns called Moonlight Lodge. It was originally for our flannel line but as you can see it worked great for the batiks. The pattern from the book is called Around the Campfire. The little toes you see under the quilt are none other than the pattern designer herself, Sherri Falls.
    Although there are two of us designing fabrics, I will be the one writing the blogs. Lynn is still busy working everyday at a regular job and I on the other hand retired from my sales representative job of 17 years for Moda Fabrics.
     Watch for lots of fun updates on our fabric lines, new patterns and books coming out and we will be running a great contest in November with a spectacular prize. Don't forget to sign up as a follower so you don't miss out. 
                                                  Until next time Happy Quilting,    Eileen Taylor