Whew -

I feel like I have been on a treadmill that just keeps going faster!  Graduation, grandson leaving for Marine bootcamp, surprise birthday parties, visitors from NV,  PA, Phoenix and downstate MI and then there is the quilt shop.  Good thing I have great hard working staff that keep things going at Hearts To Holly - I don't know what I would do without them!  Hearts To Holly will be vending at the Little Traverse Bay Quilt Show Friday and Saturday this week.  It sounds like they have some great quilts for us to see.  I can't wait to see the creativity and workmanship.  I think we have some of the best quilters here in northern Michigan but then I guess I am a little biased!

We are also getting ready for our shop hop - August 13 through the 20th.  We had Island Batik design a special batik for us (six shops that are part of the shop hop) and it is really pretty.  Our theme this year is fall and I think the quilt blocks and quilts will be beautiful.

Well just wanted to let you know that everything is good here at Hearts To Holly - just busy!  So happy quilting and I hope to be back again soon with more updates!

June is busting out....

June has brought lots of blooms and blossoms.  What a beautiful time of the year. The blossoms above are from a tree outside of the shop.  The tulips are done now but oh were they pretty!

The shop is busy - visitors are stopping in and our staff is bustling about cutting kits, fat quarters and more.  They have been great filling in for me while I have been out attending open houses and going to my grandson's high school graduation.  What a great time we had this past weekend.  Braden graduated, his mom - our daughter, Leslie, was the commencement speaker - chosen by the senior class - and she was great.  Braden is now in San Diego for basic training at the Marine base there.  He will return in September after his graduation from basic training to attend Eastern Michigan University.  So many many things that just makes my heart swell with love, happiness and pride!

Best get to the shop now - Happy Quilting!





June 1 and counting

June 1 and the days are nice and long.  The sun doesn't set until well after 9 p.m. and is up in the sky early - it is so good having the sunlight.  Today is sunny, warm but not humid - a perfect day.  The shop has been busy - new people coming in, quilters starting and finishing projects - it's all good!

We will be hanging our fabric challenge entries today and voting will go until the end of July.  We have had 14 entries and they are all so different!  The quilters do such a good job - I am always amazed at the creativity - the imagination - of everyone.  They all start with the very same fabric and this year we put no size limitations on them and we got small things to large.  I will be taking some pictures and will post them asap.  Monies raised from the votes will go to Women's Resource this year.  Hopefully we will raise lots!

Happy Quilting!

Flying by....

I know that we say it all the time but time really does fly by.  Next weekend our grandson, Braden, graduates from high school and then (same day) leaves for San Diego for his basic training for the Marine Corp Reserves.  He then comes back to begin college at Eastern in September.  But really I think he is only about 5 - it just doesn't seem possible that he is graduating next week, or that our oldest grandchild, Katie is finishing her first year teaching kindergarten, that our second grandchild, Nick, just finished his first year of college, that Ryleigh our fourth grandchild is going to be a sophomore in high school and that our fifth grandchild, Maddie, will be in middle school in September.  Why, in my mind, am I a much younger person with still a lot to do and these kids should still be sitting on my lap while I read them their favorite book?  But time - instead of marching on - flies by so quickly that in a blink of an eye our kids/grandkids are all grown up and taking on the world.  Maybe that's what Godspeed actually means - go with God - at His speed - not ours.

Have a great day and happy quilting!

  

Spring is here!

I think spring has finally arrived here in Michigan.  The temps are pleasant, the trees are in blossom and the tulips and daffodils are beautiful.  Mike told me to look out of our classroom door the other day stating "look outside - we are in our two weeks of pretty!"  And he is so right it is absolutely gorgeous!  The grounds surrounding our shop are nice anytime of the year but when spring arrives it is awesome.

And just when we are enjoying spring, we get a shipment from Moda - Sandy Gervais' Grand Finale - a beautiful fall line.  No wonder I get confused! 

We are getting ready for our Shop Hop which isn't until August but the way time flies, it will be here next week.  Our Shop Hop bags will be ready next week and we already received our original shop hop batik - so pretty and it was designed specifically for our six shops.  We have started working on our  shop hop quilt - will keep you posted as to our progress.

Have a great day - happy quilting!

Back again!

It's been awhile since I have put anything out here on my blog.  The past few weeks have been quite a whirlwind.  We had Quilter's Cruizine (shopping, meals and busses) which was a great success, vended at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island for Minick and Simpson's classes, had our celebration party for the Quilt Sampler magazine (lots of fun was had by all) and then went to Spring Quilt Market in Salt Lake City, UT with three of our four daughters.  Each event was great and created special memories for me.

The quilt market was filled with vendors showing the latest and greatest and we put lots of miles on our feet during those four days.  We learned lots, saw lots, ordered lots and we are now looking forward to seeing those things in our shop. The picture above shows a sample from a new pattern from Grizzly Gulch.

This picture shows off a quilt that I fell in love with.  It's done in some nice 30's reproductions and has some great embellishments done with a new type button maker.  This vendor had us making some great do dads with their handy tool and we loved them all - rings, headbands, and more.  We had lots of fun at this booth.

Well I guess that's it for now - the shop is calling - but I will be back before too long.

Happy Quilting!

It's Here!

Yesterday Mike and I were our of the shop for awhile and I got a call from Emily who was manning the shop telling me that we had received a shipment - some boxes from Moda - which really is no surprise - seems like we get something from them every week but then she said we had also received lots of boxes that FedEx delivered - lots of little boxes.  I couldn't remember anything that I had ordered that would come in little boxes so Emily said - uh - I think it might be the magazine we are waiting for - and she was soooo right - Quilt Sampler has arrived!

When we got back to the shop - which was soon after we got Em's call -  Mike and I sat and just looked through the magazine one page at a time.  What a great thrill it was to see our quilt on the cover, to read our shop story and then to read about all of the other shops.  I am still thinking that I might wake up and this will all have been a dream!  But what a wonderful dream it is.  Guess until I wake up I might as well think about what we are going to do with all of those boxes!