Christmas in July . . .

. . . well, almost in July anyway! Christmas came to our home right in the middle of the sweltering 100º heat and we welcomed the cool packages sent from Santa. We spent the week opening boxes upon boxes of samples of “Have a Sheri Berry Holiday” fabrics and “Swell Noel” ornaments and table top holiday items. Even Logan, while carefully unwrapping each delicate ornament said, “Wow Mom, it really does seem like Christmas.”




The entire fabric collection can be viewed on the Northcott site and in a short time can be found in quilting shops. So, if the hot summer is keeping you indoors, head on over to your favorite quilt shop and find the cool, swell Christmas collection that will get you in the holiday spirit.

The ornaments and other holiday sit-abouts were exciting to get as-swell! Suddenly our living room looked as if we had just decorated for the Christmas season. I have a few snapshots of ornaments to share now, but will unwrap the secret to this exciting holiday extravaganza when the weather cools and the Christmas season is just around the corner.



So, for now, have a very berry Christmas . . . in July!

Summer Playlist

Nylon Magazine is offering a free summer playlist for anyone who is interested. I'm really enjoying it. I've found a few bands that I really like but probably wouldn't have heard about otherwise. Their playlist inspired me to make my own filled with songs that remind me of summer.

Dandys Rule, Ok?

I'm completely in love with The Dandy Warhols right now. It's not summer without their music. They're the perfect blend of happy, poppy, sometimes dark, fuzzy psychedelic rock. They seem to bounce around between 60s pop, shoegaze, and 90s psychedlia. I feel like I could lay in the grass and look up at the clouds for hours while listening to them. Seriously I wish their music would follow me around all summer. I'm going to make and post a summer playlist later this week and you can bet a few of their songs will show up on it. They have a "rival band" The Brian Jonestown Massacre. They're also amazing. If you haven't seen the movie Dig! I highly suggest it. It's about both bands.

Reason #503 Why I Want A Bunny

Sci-Fi Romance

"Keep your 'lectric eye on me babe
Put your ray gun to my head
Press your space fave close to mine, love
Freak out in a moonage daydream, oh yeah!"

David Bowie - Moonage Daydream

For some reason ray guns have become a romantic symbol to me. I can't place where or why this happened. It baffles me. Maybe I watched too many Sci-Fi movies as a kid. Maybe it's because of Bucky O' Hare. Maybe it's something to do with Barbarella. I really can't put my finger on it. Of course you could say it's because they're phallic but it's nothing sexual. I think of them in a similar way as flowers or heart shaped boxes of chocolates. Plus the ones I tend to like are curvy and feminine looking. I'm going to assume it has something to do with liking the idealistic picture that was painted of the time in America when futuristic things like ray guns and flying cars were said to be the way we were headed. Part of me would be very happy being a 1950s house wife but I love the technology of today way too much. I guess the combination of the two is a perfect mix for me.

I've fantasized about finding a bubble gun that looks like a ray gun similar to these. I want it to have that perfect future/ retro look. I think I may have to figure out how to make one myself.

Bucky O'Hare, one of my favorite cartoon heroes when I was a kid.

Jane Fonda as Barbarella, one of my all time favorite movies.

What a Treat!

No tricks pulled here, only a treat! I received samples this week of the fabric collection I worked on with Northcott called Trick or Treat Street and it is scampering into fabric shops now.


I grew up thinking of Halloween more as an occasion to put together a fun costume than a time to scare people. I always enjoyed “Casper, the Friendly Ghost,” and liked the idea of a Halloween theme that played up the dress-up angle instead of “real” ghosts and spirits. Beyond the innocence of the characters, I really tried to capture that exotic feeling you get as a kid going from house to house on a cool October night--the lighting, the romance, the touch of mystery--without making it too scary.

I am currently working on another collection for Halloween called Costume Club with some new cute little Halloween kids who--if we're lucky--might just wander over to Trick or Treat Street in Northcott-ville.

Here are some samples of the Trick or Treat Street panel and fabrics. I hope you find them a treat to look at!



So, don't forget to take a stroll over to your local quilting shop when the weather cools and the nights are crisp. Knock on their door and ask for this little treat! I think you'll find it a rather sweet collection.

If you want to see the entire Trick or Treat Street collection go to northcott.net and click on Sheri Berry in the designer section.

Renaissance Festival

Last Saturday my boyfriend and I went to the Georgia Renaissance Festival for my friend's birthday. My boyfriend had never been to one before and I hadn't been since before I started high school. I'd heard it wasn't as good as it used to be but I had a lot of fun. There were all the basics like jousting, people dressed up, and the giant turkey legs. We just wandered through looking at all the different stalls and shows. My boyfriend bought me my first funnel cake. It was really really yummy. I hurt my ankle so I wasn't able to do as much as I wanted to do. I'd definitely go again next year.

Here's some pictures:

Trevis is trying to hold cold cokes on my hurt ankle for me.

There were sheep and sheep dogs. I would have gotten better pictures but I was afraid to stand up.

Trying to shade him from the sun.

It was a really gorgeous day.

Anniversary Picnic

I would have had a post up sooner but my laptop decided to stop working, sorry :(


Ok anyway...May 30th was my boyfriend and my one year anniversary together. I decided to have a surprise picnic for him. He told me when we got there that he'd never been on a picnic before!! We had a lot of fun. There's a park, well actually there are a lot of parks, near his house. The one I chose to go to is where we used to take our dogs to play when I was little. It's really pretty. You follow a trail through a line of trees into a big field. If you keep following the trail you're led into woods and down to a stream. It's not as busy as some of the other parts of the park so it's fairly private. Sometimes you'll see people walking the trails or riding their horses. I was going to include all of the recipes from the menu but a lot of them are trapped on my laptop but I'll give you guys the links to recipes that are on other website. They're the cute recipes that you'll probably want to try anyway.

Olive Penguins! Mine got a bit tossed around on the car ride but I think they turned out ok. You can find how to make them here.


Rainbow Cupcakes! These have a special meaning for us because I made them for a party the day we started dating. My boyfriend loved them, and he doesn't really like cake very much so I felt like I had to make them for him again. You can find how to make them here.

More random pictures from the picnic.


I also made a couple of presents for my boyfriend. One was a time capsule. I actually got him to help me work on the box I used without telling him what it was for. We spray painted it blue. Then I painted stars on the top and used this cool glue I found on sale at Michael's that had stars and glitter in it and I put that all over the box too. I also used wooden letters I found at the dollar store. I used the letters of our initials and glued them to the front of the box. For inside the time capsule I had a notebook that we would write answers to questions in. I wrote ten questions on index cards and put them in an envelope so we can reuse and reanswer them every year. I also chose three things to include in the box and my boyfriend put three things in too. I really like the way it turned out and I'm excited to have such a fun tradition to do every year.


The other present was a bottle filled with 365 origami stars. They all have love quotes written on the inside. Now he can open one everyday for a year. I thought it would be a special presnt because it echoed the first presnt I made him which was a box filled with 100 origami stars that I gave to him on the 100th day we were together.

A return to blogging after two months!

I see that it has been two months since I last posted a blog. I had no intentions of waiting so long, but all got too busy and so it goes!

I have spent the last two months preparing for and exhibiting at a licensing show, Surtex, which is in NYC each May. We have attended for three years now and thought it would be fun to show you where my last two months went. Usually, I prepare for the show for about a month getting my seven displays and a few other goodies ready for the show.

This show, as I am told, is the best for artists who want to license with many types of manufacturers both here, in the US and throughout the world. I have found it to be a great show for my type of art and have made fabulous contacts as a result with other artists and manufacturers.

This year's show was no exception. We met up with old friends, found new manufacturers and made new friendships with other exhibitors during the show. All in all, it was another great experience and one more step to finding the best fit for Sheri Berry Designs to call home.

To all those who happened by our booth, I hope you enjoyed it. To those who faithfully return each year, thank you. And to all the new faces we met at the show, we hope to see you again next year.

I have a few snapshots of this year's booth to share. Since I hadn't been blogging prior to this year, I thought I'd show the booth displays for Surtex 07 and Surtex 08 as well.

I hope this sheds a little more light into the Sheri Berry studio and how my days are spent leading up to the end of May each year.


Sheri Berry Booth at Surtex 2009


Sheri Berry Booth at Surtex 2008


Sheri Berry Booth at Surtex 2007

Top Five Collections in the last three years: Trick or Treat Street/Costume Club, Swell Noel, Sprout, Organic Fruitation and TikiTikes! Where are they now? Stay tuned! I'll clue you in over the next few months. ;)