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?

Missing James

As most of you know Maria is not only Grammy, she is also a Great Grammy to the adorable little boy who poses in many of our pics.

James and his mommy come by to see us at the shop almost every day, but they are a vacation to visit  family and friends out of state.  For two long weeks!!

This results in Maria looking like this:

And this:

But she's not alone.  Audrey plays with James almost every day and she is missing him too.

So Audrey came to give Grammy hugs!

Angela, Mikel, and especially James, have fun on your trip.

But these two say HURRY HOME!!!!

Happy Retreaters and a Rocks Your Socks Off Drawing

We have another happy group finishing up their retreat at our House Next Door.  Look at these wonderful jelly roll quilts they completed during their weekend stay with us.  Way to go girls!!!!

We also have a winner from our Rocks Your Socks Off Drawing! 

Again, we went old school with our drawing procedure.

Jessica is fresh back from her summer long mission trip to Mexico and thrilled to do the drawing for us today!

And the winner is......

Diane, you have won a pair of our exclusive Quilter socks designed by Maria!   I know I will see in the shop soon to pick them up!


Have a great weekend of quilting!

Rocking My Socks Off!!!!

Meet Mamie.  She came in to just look at some of what we do.  Mamie is a self described textiles fanatic.  When we reached the Blooming Nine Patch on our bed pieced in gorgeous batiks, she exclaimed, "That Rocks My Socks Off!"

So my question for you today is what rocks your socks off?  Is it a certain line of fabric, a new tool, or your favorite go to pattern?  Answer in the comments below and be entered in a drawing for our exclusive quilter socks designed by Maria.





Contest entries will be open until 11:59 PM EST on August 8, 2014.  Winner will be announced on Saturday, August 9, 2014.

Frantically Trying to Complete a Sample

Maria is always designing new quilts.  Actually her newest release can be seen on p. 55 of the September issue of American Quilter.  It's a beauty that features the AQS 30th Anniversary Dogwood Fabrics and original artwork from one of Maria's friends in the Gatlinburg Arts & Crafts Community. This quilt has been a venture into a new realm of quilting for us.  In order to put the beautiful paintings from Stewart Gallery (Art of the Smokies) onto fabric we have acquired and begun using the Fabricmaker by Sawgrass.  As a matter of fact, we were even surprised by Suzy our rep from Sawgrass this morning.  Look for more exciting things to come your way through this foray into printing our own fabric.



But now I'm going to share a little known secret with you.  Maria has a problem.  She consistently will sell her sample before we even release the pattern and kits.  And guess what?  She's done it again.









Now if you come by the shop today you might see Maria working frantically to complete a new sample.  AQS Chattanooga is just a mere 4 weeks away.  But as customers come in you will see her at the machine with a smile on her face.

But when others aren't looking this is the face of frantic sewing and creating.  Just a reminder that even when you are a designer and a shop owner those last minute deadlines will get you every time.

Visit from the Moda Fabric Rep

We often have customers who say, "Oh....it must be so much fun to meet with the fabric reps and pick out all this fabric!"

Well, it is fun!  We love when all of our fabric reps stop by and show us the new lines.  

Today, Kathy, our Moda rep, stopped in and showed us some fantastic new fabric.

There is one problem with Kathy coming by.....

We just can't seem to choose!