It’s hard to believe that Thanksgiving is almost here, which means the holidays are here!  We have some ideas for holiday gifts to make for the loved ones in your life – or to give to your favorite quilting friends.

Purses are SO in this year!  We’ve gathered a number of patterns to help you make one for every occasion.  Our most popular pattern is the Zip ‘n Go Tote.  With 6 outside pockets and a zippered large pocket, this is one great purse.  The Charm Party Tote is another great option.  Grab a stack of 5 inch squares and a yard of a pretty matching fabric and you will have a bag in no time!   The Sophisticated Purse-O-Nality bag is a totally awesome purse that I can’t wait to try.  I just bought the pattern at Quilt Market in Houston.  Won’t it look fantastic in some of our traditional batik design fabrics?  Another great option is the Quilter’s Rucksack pattern from Bethany Reynolds.  I’ve been looking for a great backpack pattern and I think this is it!  It’s supposed to be comfortable, practical, and fun to make!  I hope so, because I’m hoping to try this one too.  Can I make all of these before the holidays?!  The Easy on the Back Bag is designed to help reduce stress on the back, shoulders, and neck. It works too! I love this design.  I’ve worn out at least 2 of these bags that I’ve purchased already made.  Won’t it be fun to be able to make it in fabrics that you just love instead of the plain colors available in store.  One last purse pattern I’m going to suggest is the Diva Essntial Designer Bag.  This bag is just cute!  And it looks easy to make too. 

There’s always some great seasonal patterns to buy.  We love Poinsettia.  This way you can give a poinsettia that won’t die within a few months of Christmas.  I’ve seen them growing in Bali on the sides of the mountains and they are 5 or 6 feet tall!  Snowmen (pictured above) is another easy and fun pattern that you can display throughout the winter season.  I made this recently and it was just as Diane says, addictive!  I can’t wait to try another one of her patterns.

Some favorite quilt patterns include Argyle Blues designed by my friend Rochelle Martin of Cottage Quilt Designs.  She designed it specifically for my fabric, but I know it will look fabulous in any fabrics.  It is quick and easy!  She’s revised the pattern to include sizes from throw to king.  For the man in your life, we suggest Stash Box.  More than one man has admired this quilt in our booth at quilt shows!  Soliah, a new pattern designed by Sheryl Mycroft, is just beautiful.  She suggests using acrylic templates for the Drunkard’s Path blocks and says her method is simple and easy.  I know we sold a lot of this pattern in Houston.

We have many more exciting and new things in our online store.  I’ve added all of the new traditional design batiks that we received earlier in the week and many new Balis and patterns.  Come by and check them out. 

Happy Quilting!

Patti

Batiks by Design

I knew I hadn’t added anything to my blog in a while, but I didn’t realize it had been 2 months!  Things have been busy, but not THAT busy.  August was spent preparing for the AQS Nashville Show, which was a great success.  We had lots of people stop by with positive comments on our fabrics and had positive feedback from Pepper Cory, the editor of Fabric Trends Magazine.  We returned from Nashville to start working towards Houston and The International Quilt Festival and surgery for me.  I had a full hysterectomy and I’m recovering faster than expected, but that means I usually try to do too much and am sorry for it the next day.  It’s hard to take it easy when you have a business to run!

Yesterday, I walked to the mailbox (which is a fairly long walk down our long driveway) and retrieved the mail.  As I walked back I looked through to see what was there and the latest issue of Quilter’s Newsletter had arrived.  I paged through it and came upon fabrics from Batiks by Design!  I had contacted them after talking to the editor of QuiltMaker magazine (their sister magazine) in Paducah and Barbara Fieldler was very interested in placing samples of my fabrics in their Fabric Focus section of an upcoming issue.  I had sent the fabrics so long ago, I had all but forgotten about it – and there they were!  Check out the November 2007 issue on page 76, plus their web extra at http://qnm.com/webextras/feature321/!  I feel like my fabrics have been given a “seal of approval”! 

We’re getting ready for The International Quilt Festival in Houston and will also attend Quilt Market, the Quilt Show for quilt store owners!  It will be a long trip from Murray to Houston, but one that I’m looking forward to very much.  If you are in Houston for the show, please stop by and say hello.  Our booth number is 1549/51.  My doctor says I’ll be fine by then, but I’m taking two friends to help since I know it will be busy.  Rochelle Martin and Peggy Welchert are both quilt designers and Peggy also teaches!

Thank you for all of your support during this first year of my business.  Yes, it will be one year on October 2nd!  It’s hard to believe, but I love what I’m doing and hope that it continues to grow.  I’ve learned so much and know I still have a long way to go.  I couldn’t do it without all of you.

Happy Quilting!

Patti

Last week was difficult because we were forced to get rid of my buddy, Maddie, a dachshund who was my shadow.  I miss her a lot.  She was such a sweetheart.  But this week we have aquired a 10 week old dachshund male puppy named Joey and a 2 to 3 year old Heinz 57 mutt named Sadie.  They are both sweet and adorable and are slowly worming their way into our hearts.  I’ve attached a picture of the two of them together.  They’ve become the best of friends and play and sleep together.  Sadie is slowly relaxing (we got her from the Humane Society and don’t know her background) and the two of them rumble.  Sadie seems to understand the Joey is very little and is very gentle with him – for the most part.  I still miss Maddie, though.

We had a lot of traffic through our site during the month of July with our sale and The FabShopHop.  Thank you to all of you who visited.  Remember, we’ll be glad to send you samples if you want to see and touch the fabric before buying.  Just send me an email to patti@batiksbydesign.com and I’ll get them out in the mail to you.  I’m getting so much more “professional” with my samples and have ordered cards where I can write the SKU number and let you know if the fabric has borders or not.  Much better than the stickers I started with!  Hey, I’m new to this and learning more and more every day – thanks for putting up with me.  Also, if you have any suggestions or comments for me, please pass them on to me.  I would love to her from you.

 I’ve also added my  first kit to my store.  I kitted the Argyle Blues pattern.  I think it is a wonderful, easy pattern and I just love it.  I hope you do too.  I used the same fabrics that are in the cover picture – and the pictures on my website.  The kit is available at http://estore.websitepros.com/1572400/Categories.bok?category=Kits.  Take a look!

I keep finding patterns that I love and I know you will love them too.  I have ordered patterns from Details by Diane.  Her site is http://www.detailsbydiane.com/products.php?pg=1.  I should have the patterns by early next week and will get them up on the website.  I’ll also have them in Nashville at the AQS Show.  If you are attending, I hope you’ll stop by and say hello!

Pray for rain for us.  We are SO dry. 

Patti

I’ve been having some quilts made using the patterns on my site and my beautiful batik fabrics.  They are turning out better than I could have dreamed!  As soon as I get them finished, I’ll be putting pictures of them online.  I’m thinking of putting together some kits for my quilt patterns.  What do you think?  Which patterns would you like to see put into kits? 

I know that I’m going to do a kit for Argyle Blues, a new quilt that was designed by Cottage Quilt Designs.  It is in the picture above.  It is a beautiful, but simple quilt.  You can see another picture of it on my website at www.batiksbydesign.com .  Let me know what you think of it.

Keep quilting,

Patti

Hey, if you’ve been waiting to buy batiks from Batiks by Design, now is your chance to buy them and save money at the same time!  We are having a 20% off sale through the end of July.  We hope you’ll stop by and shop!

If you have any suggestions about our website, please contact us at info@batiksbydesign.com and let us know.  We always appreciate feedback from our customers.

Until next time,

Patti

Hey there!  It’s been a while, but I thought it was time to let you know that our BIG shipment came in and we’ve added most of the fabrics to our website and those that aren’t there yet, will be there this week.  We received a lot of the blue and white traditional designs, especially a few of our old favorites that had gone out of stock.  Unlike a lot of fabric stores, we import our own fabrics and this means that sometimes the designs and fabrics we want are not necessarily available.  Usually if we are patient and keep looking, they show up again in the fabric markets and we are able to buy them again for Batiks by Design.  In the mean time, we buy and try out other new and exciting fabric designs.  When we receive a shipment it is kind of like Christmas.  Some of the stuff we expect and others are totally unexpected but always a great surprise!  Come check out our store and look through our new – and old designs.

We are also adding patterns that we think would be wonderful made out of a combination of our traditional design fabrics and our Bali batiks.  In the near future, you will be able to see many of them made into quilts!  We hope this will stimulate your imagination and get you thinking of how you can use these beautiful, unique fabrics in some of your quilts.  We even found some applique’ patterns that we think will work!  If you know of a design or pattern that you think is especially suited for our fabrics, please email us at batiksbydesign@gmail.com.  We would love your input.