Congratulations!

Hello Dear Friends!

Thank you so much for your wonderful comments about

Tend the Earth!"

Your kind words are so encouraging.

Just wanted to let you know the names of the 3 winners.

Each will receive a box of random

"cuttings" from this new group.

The winners are:

Susan from Georgia

MaryBeth from Maryland

and 

Barb from Washington.

I've e-mailed all of you, please make sure you send me your

addresses.

Thanks again and Congratulations!

Always,

Deb

Intoducing "Tend the Earth!"

Hello Dear Friends!

Hope that 2012 has started well for you.  I can't believe it is already February!

I am so excited by my newest fabric group "Tend the Earth," available

 in stores this month!

It is filled with the things that I love; bluebirds, butterflies, dragonflies, hummingbirds and flowers.

The colors are beautiful....reminding me of spring, which is just around the corner!

Last spring, when I was painting this group, I took a walk to find

color inspiration.  New grass was just starting to

pop through the ground and crocuses were just beginning to peak out!

Thought you might enjoy seeing pictures of my color ideas

 and the resulting wonderful fabric colors.

I love the green...it reminds me of the newest spring

grass that was brave enough to

emerge at the beginning of spring.

Soft purples were inspired by that first glimpse of  crocuses, 

peaking through, letting us know that winter is almost

over.

The blue and white were inspired by other gardening items that I saw on my

walk......

"Tend the Earth" also has a lovely panel, with 6 blocks filled with

some of my favorite painting of nature!

Barb, from "Coach House Designs" has created 2 beautiful patterns using

the group.  Be sure to stop by coachhousedesigns and see what this creative

seamstress has come up with.

Beautiful!

Would you like to win some of "Tend the Earth?"

Moda sent me a huge box of cuttings from

this brand new group and I

would love to share it with you.

The cuttings are all different sizes....mostly strips less than

a couple inches wide.  I'm sure you creative

quilters can come up with wonderful ideas!

So......

Leave a comment between now and 10:00pm Monday, February 7th

and I will use random.org to choose 3 winners

of boxes filled with "Tend the Earth" cuttings like the one above!

Legacy Publishing has also created a beautiful, nature filled

2013 calendar using all of the paintings in the panel, as well

as 6 others.

It is called "In My Garden" and will be in stores this summer and fall. 

Good Luck Dear Friends!

Always,

Deb

From Our Hearts to Yours!

Hello Dear Friends!

Last year, my two daughters (Arrin and Katie) and I were invited to create a

Moda fabric line for a group very close to our hearts.....

toddlers!

Arrin's twin boys,

Finnigan 

and Graham, are now 2 1/2 and were the

highlight of Christmas for all of us (especially in their

new Christmas jammies!)

Arrin has designed wonderful fabric for Moda before

(Arrin Turnmire) and Katie is a textile major in college.

What a wonderful opportunity to work together on such an exciting project!

We started by brainstorming any and all ideas for the patterns.

After a lot of e-mailing and phone calls, we decided 

on the ones we all liked best and painted them up.

Afterwards, the girls and I decided we loved working together

and could see it happening on other projects in the

future!

Who knows?  The sky is the limit!

"Grow With Me" is available in your favorite quilt store this month

from Moda.

Although I don't have all of my samples, I thought you might like

to see a little of it......

It is filled with monkeys and trucks and birds and trees...in cotton and

brushed!

You can see all of "Grow With Me" at Moda's

website, www.unitednotions.com.

Arrin, Katie and I genuinely appreciated and enjoyed this

opportunity from Moda to work together.

We love how the group turned out!

From Our Heart to Yours, we hope that you

like it too!

Always,

Deb

Happy New Year!

Hello Dear Friends...

It is that time of year again, when we can look back over 2011 and count our blessings of the past 12 months.  A loving family, dear friends, good health and a truly joyous year are some of the things that I am grateful for!

I am also grateful for kind people like Lorry Kirschener, of Indiana, who share their incredible talents with others in such a caring and generous way!  Lorry used "Coming Home" panels to create this beautiful quilt in memory of Donna Thacker.

It was given to Donna's daughter and, I'm told,

will be cherished always.

For me, seeing my fabric designs used in such special ways,

is a blessing that I am continually grateful for and

never take for granted.

Another truly inspiring quilt, made with a past fall fabric

"Nature's Harvest" is shared below.  These two ladies

are friends from 

"In Stitches" Quilt Shop in Rushville, Indiana.

Talk about creative!!

Thank you all for your support and encouragement throughout

the year!

Be sure to stop by the first of next week, to see

"Grow With Me."

It is a toddler line that my two daughters,

Arrin and Katie, designed with me,

available in stores in January 2012.

Very, very cute! and very, very

special to all three of us!

Happy New Year to everyone!

Always,

Deb

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Hello Dear Friends!

Our stockings are hung!

The decorations are up....

and the presents are wrapped! (My twin grandsons helped!)

We took the twins to see Santa again this year...

Finnigan jumped right up on Santa's lap and asked for a

REALLY BIG motorcycle.

This is as close as Graham would get to Santa!

Everyone is home and our house if full of love and laughter!

From all of us at the Strain home,

we wish you Merry Christmas

and Happy New Year!

Always,

Deb

Christmas Gifts Early to....

The Holidays are upon us!

What a wonderful time of year.

Thank you all so much for  visiting my blog during Moda's Merry Christmas Blog Hop and sharing your favorite traditions.  It was heartwarming to read your loving responses.

So many traditions center around family and those we love...sharing this 

special time with them and remembering 

special times together.

Now to announce the winners:

Gift package #1 "Tend the Earth"

goes to 

Angbart, who left her comment at 9:30am

on the Dec. 5th.

Gift package #2 "Coffee Anyone?"

goes to

Tiffanee who left her comment at 5:41pm 

on Dec. 5th.

Gift package #3 "The Warmth of Home"

goes to 

Becky who shared her favorite tradition at

12:55pm on Dec. 5th.

Congratulations to all.

I have e-mailed the winners.

Please make sure you send your addresses, so that

I can send your "goodies" right out.

Thank you all again for supporting Moda and all of its designers

throughout the year.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Dear Friends,

from all of us in the Strain family.

Merry Christmas Blog Hop!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Dear Friends!

Welcome to Moda's Christmas blog hop!

Each day, several designers will be sending you holiday greetings and give-aways

as our way of thanking you for your support and kindess throughout

the year.

I've been so excited about this...the blog hops are always such fun! So, first thing this morning, I started 

looking at the designers to see who was blogging on this first day of the hop.

Surprise!!!  One of them was me!

Somehow, during the craziness of the last few weeks, I have missed the

e-mail with the schedule. (So sorry! I am notorious for being
technology challenged!)

Rather than freaking out (too much), I decided "honesty was the best policy" and I am

doing this on the fly....

Please let me explain the "craziness!"

We had our annual Open House at our house

this past weekend...sent out over 400 invitations..

It is a lot of fun to have so many friends visit our home and see 

what we have been up to the past year.

I wish I could have had all of you come!

The Moda designers have provided a special quilt block and their 

favorite holiday recipe as a gift for you.

Please click below for a PDF of my Holiday Basket block

and recipe for Incredible Carmel Corn (truly incredible and quick!)

Click Here!

And now for the Give-aways!

Leave a comment telling me your favorite Christmas tradition and you 

will be entered in a drawing to win one of these gift packages!

Gift Package #1- Tend the Earth

Gift Package #2 - Coffee Anyone?

Gift Package #3 - The Warmth of Home

I will use random.com this Friday evening (Dec. 9th) to choose the three winners.

Good Luck!

Be sure to visit all of the other designers to see what they have for you

this holiday season!

December 5th

Minick & Simpson
Bunny Hill
Me & My Sister
Deb Strain

December 6th

Kansas Troubles
Fig Tree
Cosmo Cricket
Lucie Summers
Liz Scott

December 7th:

Cotton Way
French General
Oliver + S
Sweetwater
Ellen Luckett Baker

December 8th

Thimbleblossoms
Kathy Schmitz StudiosLaundry Basket Quilts
Kate Spain
Primitive Gatherings

December 9th

Basic Grey
Jan Patek
American JaneSandy Gervais

and 

from the Strain family...

Happiest of Holidays

Always,

Deb