Back To Reality!

Quilt Market came and went. It was an upbeat market and lots of new opportunites presented itself. Here I am with my spiral-bound copy of my book Sew Merry and Bright at the Martingale booth! 

Did you go? What did you find that excited you? I have posted some photos on Facebook and will be putting them up here. I came home and got sick with a cold that zapped my energy. Will be back with photos.

Just wanted to share this one of me and my friend, Brigitte Heitland of Zen Chic.  She just debuted her first line of fabrics with Moda! Yay!

I love her modern aesthetic!

xo,

L

Who's Going To Schoolhouse?

Who's going to be in Kansas City next week for Quilt Market? I am and I am inviting you to come and say hi at my Schoolhouse for Martingale or at my Demo at their booth! If you can't see me then, please stop by the Henry Glass Schoolhouses! I don't have a new fabric line this time but I will be there to help out!

xo, L

I can't wait.

Hello!

I wrote this a little while ago and it just occurred me that it was written in March and it is now May. Sigh!

Hi, remember me? I still own this blog but have been pulled in many directions since fall that I have neglected to keep this up to date.  I've kept up with Facebook since it is so easy. Do look for me there if you're there, won't you?

We've just had a lot of things happening around here. Last fall my husband's company had announced changes in his company. He didn't lose his job exactly.  His company needs his expertise but we declined the move that the company wanted his group to take. Instead, my hubby has just finalized plans so that he can still direct his group but with some traveling, and some work from home. As a result, we had questions that we had to answer and things that we had to plan. That takes us to today.

I've taken steps to make changes in my design career. I do some work behind the scenes and I took a look at the business model of my own company. [I had been doing a lot of thinking about this for a long time.] I haven't self-published patterns for a long time but had come to the point where it became a question of figuring out the next step. I like PDF patterns but I am not totally convinced that the printed pattern is dead. I still like some sort of printed form as an option. I finally found something that will hopefully work for me and am working on it. I'm very excited.

I have a book release coming up in July and I am totally stoked by that! Martingale did a fabulous job with the design of the book! It's called "Sew Merry and Bright" and guess what? It's about the holidays! Could you tell from the sneak peek?

I will have a Schoolhouse at Quilt Market. Come and see me Thursday, May 17, 2012 in Room 2205 from 12:10-12:40. I will be doing a demo at the Martingale booth on Friday, May 18 from 2:30 until 3:15 p.m. I look forward to meeting you there!

I have started working on some new fabric again. It feels so good. I hope to show them by fall at Quilt Market. I am going to teach some classes at CraftArtEdu and to design some more patterns for Patterns Gone Digital. Please support my designs there until I can reveal my next adventure.

I am excited to be able to move forward.

L

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

Valentine's Card

Do you make your own greeting cards? It's fun. For this card, all you need is some thread, a needle and some cardstock. I used some yummy Aurifil thread and cut out a heart shape in a piece of cardstock. Using a needle, poke holes all around the outside of the heart cutout.

Cut out the heart only for a second piece of cardstock. Do not poke the holes around the heart cutout.

Stitch random stitches all around the heart shape. When you are finished, glue the two pieces of card stock together. Make sure that the heart shapes overlap nicely.

Trim the card and you have a card or tag depending upon the size that you made your project.

xo, L

Your First Project?

Do you remember your first project?  I never took Home Economics in high school because we didn't have room in the class. Too many girls so I ended up taking metal shop and woodworking.

We had just moved to New Jersey and I couldn't work. I wandered into the local quilt shop because I was so bored with the lack of the hustle and bustle of the city life. I was hesitant but I wanted to make this quilt that they had on display. Susan, the maker of the sample, was working that day. I think that she thought I was a bit off of my rocker because I wanted to make this by hand. I didn't know any other way because I didn't have a machine. I bought some fabric and started to make several of the blocks by hand!

I found a few of the blocks a while ago. I look at them with amazement. I think that my piecing technique was much neater then. I don't have the patience now. 

It was fun to look back. Do you remember your first project?
xo, L

p.s. Yes, I know that I am an overachiever. I didn't go for basic squares for my first sewing project.

Happy Days

The publication of this pattern is really a happy day for me. For a long time a lot of life things have been sucking up a lot of my energy and consequently, aside from magazine and book work, I neglected to
explore the next step for my designs. Then, Rebecca from Patterns Gone Digital, and I chatted. It was a good fit for me and here we are. This is the first pattern that I have designed for Patterns Gone Digital and I hope that there will be many more.

The patterns are available in the quilt shops and are sold like an iTunes card. You buy the placard and take it home. Once you're home, you will then scratch off the code and download the pattern.

Let me know what you think!

xo,

L

Un-Match It Up

Are you a matchy-matchy sort? I don't think that I am! In fact when I was selecting fabric for my last few projects, I found myself trying to use as many different fabrics in the applique as possible. I find that this method results in a quilt that has depth and many layers of discovery.

As I was selecting the fabric, I'd ask myself if there was another pink in the same color range but perhaps had a different print or scale to it. What sort of questions do you ask yourself as you are selecting fabrics for your quilts?

xo, L

Surround Yourself With Cuteness

Cute things can cause smiling and therefore is good for your health, right?

xo, L

Helping Our HG Sister, Amy Hamberliin

We received this sad news about our friend, Amy Hamberlin. Please go and send her some love and prayers.

xo, L

It's A New Year.

I have been quite busy. It always happens to be around the time when everyone else is enjoying a holiday or vacation time! I have popped into Facebook and started up "Inspiration Workroom" which is a group that anyone can join for inspiration obviously. There will be challenges too [though you don't have to participate for everyone one to be part of the group]. Join us, won't you? I will try to coordinate things between here and there. At some point, you'd think I'd figure out how to link one to the other.

It's not like I had nothing to do. I had just designed and made a couple of quilts and thought something challenging and outside the box would be great. I ask questions, people have show and tell, and we all have fun!

Here's what we've done so far. We've chosen a word for the year and mine is "daring" because I want to do more [yes, even more than what I do now!]. What is your work for the year?

Here I challenged the members to take a photo of a flower but in some unusual way. Cell phone photos are ok.

Try scribbling words that describe you or your life.

Why not make something for yourself? This scarf is easy, peasy and oh so cute!

Sharing family heirlooms. I asked members to show family heirlooms. My aunt made this for me when I was little.

I hope that you join us! Happy New Year!

xo, L

Holiday Greetings

I love greeting cards. The clever and creative ones impress me the most. I especially love pop up cards. This deer one was my business greeting card last year. I designed and made a few of them. 

Many of you know that I designed 3-D cards way before Hallmark ever made them popular. That was another lifetime but I still enjoy them. I thought that I'd share some that I got this year.

My boys love cards too and I try to get them one each year. 

Don't tell my hubby but he first captured my heart with a simple and modest greeting card that had a very cute saying on it. After all these years he still knows how to capture my heart. I am not hard to please. Just a beautiful card will do.

xo, L