Cool Girls Quilt And Other Stuff!

Exciting news for Martingale & Co. fans. Martingale has just introduced ShopMartingale! Cool Girls Quilt is still available in print but you can now get the e-book version! Whoo! Hoo! 

Have you embraced technology and started buying e-books or .pdf patterns yet? I still love a great book but for some things, a digital download works too!

I recently told you about my new patterns with Patterns Gone Digital. Kindred Quilts is carrying them so give them a call or e-mail to ask about the patterns. 

They turned out great, didn't they? 

I still have my on-line class up over at CraftEdu and I will be working on more. 

Now start clicking and exploring! I know, I am such an enabler! 

Have a great weekend!

xo, L

Goodbye Pinterest ... Sort of

I spent the past half hour deleting Pinterest. I had mixed emotions. I was sad but I also knew that the legal liabilities were more than what I want to deal with right now. Perhaps it doesn't matter to you but as an author, I just feel a bit uncomfortable for now. It is a personal thing. Please don't think that I am telling you to delete your account.

Let's back track. For a long time, I both admired the photo inspiration from the site [don't get me wrong, I love Pinterest] but I also wondered about copyright and such. Then this past week I read this blog post and then this follow-up post. I made up my mind immediately but I had to let it all sink in for a day. Then I saw this [I don't know much about this] and it was a double definite delete of things that aren't mine. Now when I post, I will post only my own images or images that have the "Re-pin" button. I totally get the desire to pin and re-pin. Am I being premature about this? I could be but with my business, I can't afford to wait for some solution. Besides, I still have my account and it will be fun to re-pin things.

How do you feel about it all?

xo, L

Easy Photography Backdrops

We had a Snowball Dance recently at school and I was the photo booth photographer! It was a blast. I had ideas for the backdrop and C [above with the white hat] came through! She made this simple but gorgeously effective backdrop from ribbons that she bought from Michael's. She tied ribbon to dowels and we hung them from the ceiling. I loved it. I made up the moustache on a stick from my templates from the Halloween blog hop. So fun. C and her family were so awesome to photograph too! Thanks, C, for the great backdrop and frame. Big A had to get in on the action too! 

For Valentine's Day, I made fans and taped them to my background for a fun effect.

It is really quite simple, inexpensive and easy to make simple backdrops. Give it a try and have some fun!

xo, L

Whoo! Hoo! I Can't Wait For Christmas!

The awesome folks at Martingale & Co. just sent over the cover for my new book, "Sew Merry and Bright." I love it!

With each publication, there's a lot of people in the background who provide support or wonderful products that inspire me to design these projects and to write these books. Fabric companies like Henry Glass Fabrics, Robert Kaufman Fabrics, Michael Miller Fabrics, Moda Fabrics and Adornit are make beautiful products. Aurifil makes equally lovely threads and Kindred Quilts provides me with much great friendship and support. 

Thanks to all.

You deserve it.

Really, really love all that you do.

xo,  L

Random Things

I just posted this new challenge in the Inspired Workroom on Facebook. Join us there won't you?  I love mini artwork and I thought it would be fun to pick a favorite word to stitch on a hoop. There are a few other little things in the challenge but you'll have to join us there.

Meanwhile, my latest patterns, Modern Quilt Sampler and Happy Days are officially available. My local quilt shop, Kindred Quilts,  has a few left. Call them, they'll gladly do mail order. Here's how the patterns look.

At the bottom, you scratch off the code like you would with a lottery ticket and go to the website to download the pattern.

Last week on Creative Mojo, my buddy, Mark Lipinski, asked me why I chose to publish patterns this way.  Others have commented here that they may not be able to get the pattern. It is no different from a printed pattern in that a quilt shop can send it to you.  This is something that works for me on many levels. I have a lot of commitments and other things that are going on in the background. It is one step between my self-publishing again and going all digital. Neither of the previous options were viable at this time for me and I was able to keep the quilt shops in the loop. I hope that you enjoy these patterns and more that I have planned in the future.

xo, L

Love

I started a group on Facebook called Inspiration Workroom because I was getting bored with the mundane. Anyone is invited to join and you can be a lurker or you can participated in the challenges. Our first challenge is up next week and I can't wait to see what the members have done. 

The other day I bought some little frames from Michael's and I made up this little stitchery. Cute, right? I'm stitching a second one. If you're out of ideas, run over to Michael's and buy a couple of these little frames and stitch away.

I used Aurifil wool and a swatch of fabric. So lovely. What are you making for Valentine's Day?

xo, L

Rosettes Make You Smile

I love little flowers and I think that they make great embellishments or quick gifts. You can use up some long pieces of scraps for these lovelies.

The great thing about them is that you can use any kind of fabric and make them in any size. Want to make some?

The first thing that you do is tear a piece that's across the selvage and about 1 1/2" wide.

Cut a slit at one end and pull the opposite end through. 

Pull the end all the way through. This will form the center of the rosette.

Start wrapping the fabric around this rosette center by folding the strip in half lengthwise as you go along. 

Twist the strip around every once in a while. Sometimes the raw edges will face the top of the flower and other times, the folded edge will face the top. You can add dabs of glue to hold things in place every few turns. [above, the folded edge is up and below, the raw edges are facing the top of the flower].

Continue in this fashion until you reach the end or until you are satisfied with the fullness of your flower. Glue the end down. If you wish, you can glue a piece of felt to the back of the rosette in order to hold things together.

xo, L