Wilderness Wildlife Week

In the past few years Maria has slowed down on traveling to shows.  Or so she tells us.....

While she may not be traveling all across America to go to shows, she is still adding local shows to her repertoire.

This year Holloway's Country Home was asked to participate in Wilderness Wildlife Week in Pigeon Forge.

A quilt booth at Wilderness Wildlife Week?  Yes, a quilt booth at Wilderness Wildlife Week.

 There is even a mini-quilt show!
This quilt show exhibits many of the nature and wildlife quilts created by local quilters as well as a showing from the Quilts of Valor, Smoky Mountain chapter.



As our loyal customers know our use of fabrics is not limited to the sewing machine.  We use our scraps to make rag rugs. And Maria is offering rag rug classes during the week.  And for the ones who are unable to attend classes, you can stop by the booth and see us demo the rag rug making process.

And of course anywhere Maria goes she is always designing and creating.  Here she is at the show working with some of the latest arrivals of precuts.

If you are in the area, Wilderness Wildlife Week runs through Saturday, January 31st at the Leconte Center in Pigeon Forge, TN.

Thanks to the city of Pigeon Forge for inviting us to be part of such a great event.

Making Memories Class

I promised you info in a few days on our Making Memories class, but I just couldn't wait.  I am so excited about starting classes and using our new classroom.

Using family photos

Using scanned child's artwork

The dates for the class are January 9-10.  Call the shop to check availability.

Using our Cades Cove pictures and original oil paintings by JM Stewart

Our goal for the class is to enable you, the quilter, to put some of your favorite pictures on fabric in order to make a memory quilt.  When you get to class we will have your pictures printed and ready to go. You will have the choice of a one day or two day class during which we will help you complete a project using your pictures.

And if you are unable to attend one of our classes we can still print the pictures on fabric for you.  Below is a price list.

(1) 8 x 10    $8.00

(5) 8 x 10  $35.00

(2) 5 x 7  $9.95

(6) 5 x 7  $25.00

A completed pillow  $45.00

Sneak Peek

Well, it has been a crazy past couple of months.  Thank you so much to all of our customers who have helped to make this one of our best fall seasons ever.  That's what quilt shops are all about.....quilters who love to quilt.

So we are very excited to announce a new addition to Holloway's Country Home.  We have just completed remodeling our back building into a classroom just for you quilters, complete with sewing tables, design walls, ironing table, a kitchenette for your snacking needs, and even a sitting area if you need a break.

Classes will be starting in January.  Stay posted for a listing of classes.  Almost before the paint dried our first Making Memories class scheduled in January was tentatively filled up.  Look for a post in the next few days with the info on this class.  There may still be room for you !

Are you getting excited about coming to quilt with us?

I hope so.

Quilt Collaboration

So often customers, especially new quilters, will ask us if we belong to a guild or a quilting circle of some type.  The answer will vary depending on which of the girls are in the shop that day.  Pauline has a group of friends she meets with once a month. Jessica is teaching many of her friends on campus how to sew.  Maria, of course, is part of the quilt world at large.  The rest of us are pretty much on our own.

The next question these customers will ask is if we find it beneficial to quilt with a group.  Now for those of us who don't have a group to meet with, this has been a tricky question.  Until just a couple weeks ago, my answer would have been I don't know.

But then I realized something.  The Holloway's group of friends and family is our quilt group.  We are constantly bouncing ideas off of each other.  And often each quilt is a collaboration of ideas.

For instance, take this quilt.....

We have this beautiful monochromatic fabric featuring owls.  But it has been overlooked for a few weeks on the shelf. Amanda wanted to do something to feature it, but what?

Then during a discussion about the quilt Pauline made for her grandson, an idea was born.

We used these fabrics in keeping with the monochromatic theme....

Then made these blocks that Maria had shown us how to do earlier this spring....

And used Pauline's layout concept...

Voila!!!! A quilt of collaboration was born.

Now our beautiful theme fabric is featured in a quilt kit in the shop.

So the answer to all our customer's questions is yes!!!!

We belong to a group of quilters....it's the friends and family of Holloway's Country Home.

And yes, it is beneficial to our quilting. We inspire each other.

And you are part of that group too.  We welcome show and tell customers at the shop and online at both our Facebook page and our blog.

And the winner is.....

Maria has really been on the go lately.  She just returned from a trip to meet with Ro Gregg, designer for Paintbrush Studios.

They look like they are just having too much fun.

The week before she was at AQS Chattanooga.

What a wonderful time she had meeting with all the quilters who stopped by the booth.  Many of those quilters also registered for a drawing for our fantastic gift basket for a Quilter's Weekend in Pigeon Forge.

So without further ado........drumroll please.....

The winner is.......

Lyn from Dayton, TN

Lyn has already been notified and her prize has been shipped out.  We are all looking forward to hearing how much she enjoys her trip to A Mountain Quilfest in March.

Hope to see you all there too.

Original Art and the Designing of a Quilt

We completed a new quilt design this week. 

Introducing "Springtime Blooming in the Cove"

Our shop is nestled in the sleepy town of Cosby, TN right in the midst of the Great Smoky Mountains.  Over the years Holloway's has become known for our quilts that reflect the beauty of nature that surrounds us.  We are 2 miles away from one of the many entrances to the National Park and many of our customers stop on their way to or from one of the campgrounds or hiking trails.

These campers and hikers have usually ventured throughout the many areas of the park.  One of the most beautiful and historic areas is Cades Cove. Holloway's has been pleased to provide our customers with printed fabric blocks of the buildings of Cades Cove for many years.  These blocks have always been screen printed so we have advised you to use them for primarily art quilts that are not washed frequently. We have now begun commercially printing the cabins ourselves.  They are beautiful and able to be washed more frequently.

Recently with our acquisition of a Fabricmaker we have ventured even deeper into the fabric printing options.  Maria's friend Jean Stewart from Stewart Gallery in the Arts and Crafts Community has painted gorgeous depictions of our favorite wildflowers of the Smokies.  We used our Fabricmaker to print these wonderful blocks for our quilts. 

If you would like to see the original artwork, it's just a short drive from the shop to visit Stewart Gallery where they are displayed.

Sometimes as quilters we see things around us that we would love to memorialize in fabric.  That's the way we feel about the beauty of nature in Great Smoky Mountains.  We are loving the flexibility of creating our own fabric elements for our quilts.

The Unglamorous Life of a Quilt Shop

So often our customers will tell one of the girls at the shop how wonderful it must be to work there. And it is! We are truly like family at Holloway's. And our customers are part of that family too. But like all quilters we have deadlines and projects that could easily overwhelm us. For the past few weeks we have been moving stock and fixtures all around the store to make your shopping experience better and to make room for all the new fabric coming in.  Check out the new Christmas look of the fireplace room.

And our new line of civil war fabrics - "Memories of the Civil War" by Studio E

Unfortunately all this rearranging put us just a little behind on a special order and on a lot of the basic things we do every week.

 

So Monday we got busy. Making potholders is not one of our favorite projects simply because we do so many (we keep small finished items in several of the National Park Welcome Centers). But we got busy and finished part of a new order.

And Jessica spent a large part of the day fusing fabric for all those die-cuts you find in the shop.

All in all I would say we have had a very productive week so far.
What about you? What projects will you tackle this week?