New Place

I want to show you my little canvas. I know that I don't need a new blog. But, I sorta did need another one.  It's not going to be like this one here. Instead, Repeats & Selvage will be a place where I jot notes down, think out loud. In the long run who knows if it will stay around. Sometimes I have these random thoughts that have no place to go. This blog will still be around. Don't go away, ok?

xo, L

What To Do? (Long post)

What does one do when she's sick for three weeks? (and that three weeks started on the very last day of school until today?) What does one do when all four of the summer classes that she's signed her kids up for are cancelled at the last minute? What does one do when she is also juggling some work and deadlines at the same time? Well, she says, let's get creative!

First though, I had to deal with a nasty cold. I have been sick and coughing up a storm for the past three weeks now. I think that I am finally over the big, bad part of this awful cold and I only have a tickle now. Summer colds are the worst. I do recommend Buckley's Cough Syrup but I think it's only available in Canada! It tastes vile but it helps a lot! We had a few visitors and we had some play time with friends.

During this time, my kids' summer plans went out the window. Has this ever happened to you? My kids signed up for engineering, chemistry, DNA and algebra and they couldn't find enough kids for this new program. So I had to get creative. Luckily there were still spots open in the tae kwon do survival camp.

It was fun for a week and then we had to invent some other fun activities. We created our own stuffies by drawing monsters and aliens onto fabric, sewing and then stuffing them with fiberfill.

We made quilts with fabric in Mom's studio.

We visited our family in Canada and did some research on rocks and minerals. Here's my nephew, Dr. J!

 We wrote research papers on the characteristics of the rocks and minerals.

All the while this gave mommy time so that she could work on some magazine and book deadlines. Do you want to see some awesome holiday fabric? I hope that it gets you inspired enough to start some holiday projects. That way you won't be crunched for time later!  First, there's Henry Glass in the stack. Ooooh!

Robert Kaufman's in there too! Awww!

Michael Miller Fabrics does a wonderful job with holiday too! Double ooooh!

Adornit has some holiday cuties too!

I'd say that we made a great recovery! Our summer is well on its way. How about yours!

xo, L

Aurifil's July Guests Are Here

Here we are almost in the middle of July. Boy, the summer has just flown by so quickly. Aurifil's Designer of the Month are Barb Persing and Mary Hoover of 4 and 6 Designs. Hop over to the Aurifil blog to read the interview and to print off your free design! Don't forget to post any finished projects from the Design Team's projects to the Aurifil Flickr site. You'll be eligible to win some lovely threads! Totally awesome!

Enjoy!

xo, L

Biscornu

Things are humming along. The book contract has been signed and I have the fabric being delivered as I am writing this. We have had visitors so it's been quite busy. Reno and I dropped the kids off in Canada and they're staying there for a little while!

Oh, I love the bridges that we have to drive over along the way. There are lots of interesting lines and patterns.



There's a lovely cross stitch and needlepoint shop very dangerously close to my mother's house. I have been going to Gitta's for years and I love her product selection. The first thing that I wanted to make was a biscornu. What is a biscornu? Biscornu means skewed, quirky and irregular in French. So essentially, in this case, it is a quirky little pincushion. I'm so excited. You can find the free pattern here on her blog. As my little one has been saying lately, O.M.G.

She has a lovely collection of European patterns as well. Look at this lovely.

  

I don't think that this one is from Europe but they did get permission to chart it. Gorgeous!

Back to business now. I have some writing to do. Come back tomorrow though. I'll introduce you to Miss July for the Aurifil Designer of the Month Event.

xo, L

What Are You Doing This Summer?

I've been absent from here for a while and have missed you so. I have been battling a bad cold since the last day of school. Yuck! I still have a bad cough but I am slowly getting over it. Does it seem that colds are worse or last longer when you get them in the summer?

While I was sick, all of the kids summer courses were cancelled!  I had to scramble to get something together so they've been at a tae kwon do survival camp. Are you feeling my stress now? I worked well under these conditions just in case you were wondering about my health and well being.

How do I know this? Well, I added a book deadline to the whole thing. See? It is like Christmas around here because it is a holiday book!

Let me get my thoughts together now. Need to focus. What are you doing this summer? Are you taking any sewing/crafting projects along with you?

xo,

L