Happenings

I'm busy, busy, busy. No, I haven't quit quilting. I'm finalizing my CraftEdu classes and then it's on to filming. Then, I'm working on something special for the Aurifil people and some fabric stuff for Henry Glass . Some other things rumbling in the background begging for attention too.

So what do I do? I buy some bead kits from my local bead shops and make some jewelry so that I can think/process while I'm crafting. I've told you before that all ideas are born in my brain and stay there until I execute it. I need something else to divert my attention and making these trinkets did the trick.

I also needed to prove to myself that I'm not an incompetent beader too. Oh, I'm not into beading so much. Kelly, another mom at our Chinese school, takes the beading class that is offered at our school. I bought a wreath kit from her and I just couldn't wrap my brain around the directions. In my defense, the directions weren't entirely clear. So, she ended up making the wreath for me. Now, I can say that I can bead! Oh, yes I can! These are some of the projects that they offer in the classes at the school. Amazing!

Earlier in the week, I visited this terrific guy at his new digs.  Mark Lipinski is on track to bringing you some awesome craftiness. Look for his new magazines this fall. Meanwhile, if you are on Facebook, you can become a fan of Mark Lipinski's Create and Mark Lipinski's Fabric Trends magazines.

Have a great weekend! xo, L

Filling The Void

Don't you find that when things happen in your life, things really happen big time? The timing is usually off and everything should be finished yesterday! I love that pressure but it can cause a lot of insanity.  I have been battling bronchitis for two weeks now but I have been forging ahead, albeit slowly, and working at some new things.

I have just finished one fabric line and am working on a second one. They'll be showing at Spring Market in Minneapolis in May. I can't wait!

                                              

In the meantime, I am working with an incredible group of artists from varying fields at a new site, CraftEdu. This is a new on-line learning site for crafters. I am going to teaching a few courses and am working on the content right now. Is there anything that you're looking for in a quilt, knit or scrapbooking class that you haven't seen? I always love to hear what you're interested in. You can check out my portfolio here.

Check out the latest Quilts and More magazine. That's my little monkey bib on the cover. There's another bib of mine inside and a cork board idea! So fun.

I hope that you're getting a lot accomplished this week. It's been great staying inside weather. Is anyone else anxious for spring? I am. xo, L

Gung Hey Fat Choy! Happy Valentine's too!

Happy Chinese New Year! It is the year of the tiger!

It is a great day to celebrate with family and friends. We had a wonderful celebration at our Chinese school last weekend. Three lions opened the ceremonies and every child in the school performed in a song or dance on stage. The show was followed by a yummy dinner!

xo, L

UFOs and NUFOs

It has been an odd week. A week of new stuff and a week of old stuff. I've been invited on the faculty of CraftEdu.  You will have to check it out. We're working on some fun stuff and it will be a fun and inspiring place to hang out. If you are on Facebook, please become a fan on our page. Otherwise, you can sign up for updates.

One of my "resolutions" this year has been to try to go through my stash and either finish projects or discard if possible. I was cleaning out a few things the other day and found some quilt tops. The design above, Byzantium, is one of my favorite designs. I loved art history in university and I loved the Byzantine period. This design was inspired by the tiles of that era.

These two tops were really quick tops that I did when I first started quilting. I wanted to practice piecing and this was a really simple pattern. 

Now, with UFOs, there has to be NUFOs [new UFOs]. I got this lovely book from Kim Hargreaves and I was crazy enough to start a sweater with Kidsilk Haze. Super fine yarn and super tiny needles. Yikes!

In other miscellaneous news, I don't normally have a lot of gadgets and tools but I bought this guillotine recently. I am in love.  I love my tonic scissors so I had no problem investing in their cutter. Love it.

See you soon! xo, L

The A-Team. Awesome. Alluring. Aurifil.

It has been one crazy, crazy week. Not a lot of sewing but a lot of stuff happening. First, I am happy to be able to announce that I am on the A-Team, a team of designers invited by Alex Veronelli, Product Manager of Aurifil, to share his/her love of Aurifil threads. What's not to love?

The beautiful color range of the Aurifil line is unsurpassed by any other brand. Do you remember this quilt from last year? I tried to buy thread to be used for piecing and quilting and couldn't find color that matched the  colors in my Inspiration fabrics until I bought a few spools of Aurifil. No kidding.

Here's a sampling of the colors in the range of cotton Aurifil threads. Can we say oooooooh?

If you have visited my website in the past, you will have notice the gorgeous spools of Aurifil thread gracing my photos. 

I wrote a brief review of Aurifil threads here last year but I will post a full review on the website in the near future. I'll let you know when I have it up.

On the fabric front, I've been busy working on a couple of fabric lines. One line is pretty well finished. There's a teeny, tiny peek at the line if you squint and look at the drawings underneath the color chart above [sorry, that's all I can show you for now]. I am looking forward to showing this line in Minneapolis at Spring Market!

Oh, did I mention that we had two tae kwon do testings and one rank ceremony this week? I may need to take a vacation next week but there's an even bigger project that I need to tackle. Great job guys! I'm so proud of you.

Phew! That's a lot of news for today! See you. xo, L

Dreamy

I was in Kindred Quilts yesterday and oh how I love Valentine's. I bought some fabric to make a little quilt. The colors are so sugary sweet. Darling! I'm going to have fun! I started to make a drawing for the applique in the quilt. You can see a hint of it below.

I bought this book too. I love all things zakka. Do you? I adore linen and this book will make me cut into some of that wonderful Japanese fabric that I have in my stash.

Do you remember this quilt? This was the quilt that started it all. My quilt career was launched with the publication of this quilt pattern. It was a BOM pattern and now, I am proud to offer it as a complete pattern. It will be available next week and you can order it from Kindred Quilts. It is called "Believe" [there is a boring story as to why this wasn't named "Dream"] and it was fun to make. I'm interested to see how you will color this quilt now! Do send me a photo when you're done. xo, L

So Behind!

Postings have been a bit scarce. I have been working, working, working. I keep things in my brain but once I'm ready, everything starts coming out like crazy. This is what I've been looking at. Just what's around my desk. Hm, I should spruce it up a bit.

I did pop into my LQS, Kindred Quilts a little while ago to be their video camera chick. I helped them film their video for the Saturday Sampler. Toby was kind enough to demonstrate this wonderful "toy" that she's selling in the shop. It's the Accuquilt Go! The machine is a die cutting machine for us quilters.

Very crisp, and precise.

Here's Mary getting ready for the filming.

I thought that the colors in this quilt were rich and lovely.

See you next week when everything slows down a bit. xo, L

Refresh

I think that my undeclared word of the year is refresh. My husband's wondered what's possessed me! I have been tossing things, making changes in my life and starting to do minor renovations. I'm even itching to move but that is not something that will happen soon. [You see, my theory in life that movement, motion or change is a great thing. I think that people need to get out and see things even on a daily basis. I also believe that moving every five years is a great idea. Unfortunately, it doesn't always happen. My husband is warming up to the idea though!]

Instead, I have been refreshing things around here and going the renovation route.  I wanted to make something fresh and fun for the kids' room so I made this little stencil from Little A's photo. We have a lot of photos around but I wanted to put up something a bit more artsy.

After I made the stencil, I thought that it was too boring. I added turquoise. Did you know that turquoise is supposed to be the color of the year? I love turquoise!

It's spunkier, don't you think? I put it in a frame that I had around but I'm not sure that it will be the final one.

Sorry for the bad photo. I was just too darned excited when it was all put together!

There, this photo makes me feel so happy! Is anyone else feeling the same way? Let me know and let me know what you're doing about it! I think that it is going to be a fun year trying to freshen up our lives and surroundings. xo, L

Everyday

It has been an busy week filled with everyday little events. Have you been inspired to start a lot of new projects yet? I had hurt my wrist last week so I was limited to what I could sew. I finished this little card holder. I picked up this kit last fall in Houston at Quilt Market and made most of it but I had to finish up the circles. I love the colors.

Then, I dug out my wool stash. I haven't decided what I'm going to make but I think that the colors reflect a Valentine's sort of color scheme, don't you think?

Then, this week, Big A had a violin recital. How did he grow up so fast? One day, he's my little baby.

And, the next, he's all grown up and so excited to wear a tie! Great job!

Awww, so handsome! xo, L

Three Little Pigs

There has been a theme around here lately. Our most favorite story is the Three Little Pigs, hands down. We love the story told in any way and from any perspective. We have the traditional story, of course, where the Big, Bad Wolf comes along and causes all sorts of trouble. Then we have A. Wolf's version of the story in The True Story Of The 3 Little Pigs. It's only fair.

As you know, my little guys have creative minds. When  Big A was asked to write his version, the pig ate the three little dogs.

Now, momma is in on the action. I just bought some lovely Japanese fabrics. Trains are a big part of our lives.

Little pigs are too. I haven't decided on what to make with this fabric but I think that it's darling. Any suggestions?

See you! I hope to get back on track soon. [I hurt my left wrist and it is healing.]

xo, L

Old Decade. New Decade.

Wow. 2010.
Over the holidays, I relaxed and enjoyed the time off but my mind is always thinking and dreaming. I had time to think about the past 10 years and to start dreaming about the next 10 years.

I thought about the big events in my life in the past 10 years. [Pardon me for coming across as vain, I'm not trying to. This exercise is necessary for me in order to be able to process things and to put things into perspective.]:

* I had my first, beautiful baby boy
* I had my second, beautiful baby boy
* I celebrated a lot of years of marriage with my guy
* I lost my father, grandmother, father-in-law and uncle in a year
* I wrote a bunch of books on quilting, knitting and scrapbooking
* I was profiled by American Patchwork & Quilting
* I designed a lot of magazine projects
* I designed a lot of fabric for Henry Glass Fabrics
* I appeared on Quilt Out Loud!
* I met and worked with many wonderful people in this industry
* I went to Quilt Market many, many times and had loads of fun
* I met a lot of wonderful people like you via my blog, website and Facebook

I laughed and cried, and succeeded and failed. I came out a stronger, wiser and better person. I am lucky!

What about the next 10 years? I'm not exactly sure yet but I know that I am ready for more. More of what I'm not quite decided. Still thinking. I've spent the last little while trying to forcast in my mind the direction that I want to take my design work. I've started to refresh my inspiration wall too.  I do know one thing though, I've got a lot of excitement in my body and that's a great feeling. Now, I've got to get to it! I hope that you will stick around for more adventures with me. xo, L