Deb Strain joins us on the Jolly Jabber for the first time!! We are thrilled by her newest holiday collection, It’s Snowing! Have you seen it yet? After you’re done fawning over it, show someone else and make their day too! This collection is strewn with happy candy snowmen (and snowladies, as Deb calls them!) in the cheeriest Christmas hues. Besides the snowpeople, the strips, dots, and “Snow Fun” stripes are sure to please as well. So without further ado, please join us in welcoming Deb to the blog!
Hello! My name is Deb Strain and I am so pleased to be visiting you through the Fat Quarter Shop blog! What a wonderful way for friends to get to know each other, share ideas, and just have a lot of fun! I have been a designer for Moda Fabrics for about 12 years and thought you might like to know a little about our world.
My husband Scott and I live with our children in a Saltbox house that we built ourselves, along with A LOT of help from our family. 
(A project that was fun, but not something I would want to do again!) Our oldest is Arrin Turnmire, who also designs for Moda, lives on her own and is extremely talented. She teaches high school art when not coming up with wonderful, new fabric designs, that have developed a following of their own. (I’m so proud of her!) Katie, our middle child, is also a creative artist, is graduating from high school this year and heading off to art school. 
My studio is often filled with three drawing boards, lined up in a row, with the three of us working away! Our son is not interested in art (right now!), but loves basketball and all sports. He is a lot of fun and a great son, but doesn’t want anything to do with pretty paintings and designs!
Moda approached me about designing fabric for them at one of my first Quilt Markets. We had a small, greeting card company, Saltbox Illustrations, and many of the images had a quilting theme to them. We have since merged our small company with Legacy Publishing Group which allows me more time to spend designing. What a thrill to design for Moda! It has been fun to watch them grow over the years and still retain that same wonderful sense of goodness about them. It really is genuine! They are such special people to work for…so creative and fun and always, always with the highest integrity in both quality of product and relationships.
Well, enough about my world…I would like to introduce you to my newest group with Moda…it’s called “It’s Snowing!” What could be more fun than spending a Snowy Day with 8 fun, happy, celebrating snowmen? I’ve created the panel using 8 jolly snowmen and snowladies enjoying all kinds of winter fun. From skiing down a snowy slope to hitching a ride on snowflakes, these busy snowpeople show how even a day filled with winter, can become a day of fun. This line is bursting with festive colors and patterns, sure to bring cheer to even the coldest of days. These snowfolk all have their own personalities but share one common feature…their arms and legs are made of candy canes! Gingerbread men and light-hearted words complete this bright, happy group. Designing “It’s Snowing” was so much fun, I hope you have as much fun using it in your next “Snowy Day” project!
I would also like to give you a “sneak peek” at my next fabric collection called “Bistro.” It is filled with patterns, color and images based on my favorite food group…coffee!
Hope you enjoy it!
Deb Strain
Saltbox Illustrations