Hope. Courage. Family. Support. Love.

I was touched by all of your entries to my contest. Thank you for entering. I am blessed to have such great readers! As with any cause, hope, courage, family, support and love are most important. Before I get to the winners, I have a little gift for everyone because we're all in this together. We may not be personally battling this horrible disease but we know family members, friends or friends of friends who are.  I hope that you enjoy making this adorable tote for yourself and for your loved ones. I carried it all around Houston and loved it. The pattern is here. Enjoy!

Now, drumroll, please! The winners were picked randomly by my two helpers, Big A and Little A. The winners [with the time of the posting in case there is any confusion] are:

Jeanette 12:02
Amanda 7:42
Tozz 5:39
Always Sewing 8: 44
Quiltcetera 4:55

Please e-mail me your snail mail and I will send the fat quarters to you! Thanks for entering. xo, L

Quilt Market [Houston 2009] - Part One

Quilt Market is over but there's a lot of work to do. "Jolly Stuff" made its debut at the Leisure Arts booth at the show. I am so stoked about this little book. LA, you guys rock. The photography and styling of the book are awesome. I know that you guys will love it too!

I thought that I'd show you some people shots. Mark was looking pretty good. It is an awesome feeling to meet up with your piers. The creativity is inspiring and yet almost overwhelming in a good way. Once at home, I have to process the show's events and then get down to work!

My favorite Henry Glass ladies. They worked hard but had time to smile for me! Thanks!

One of my special meetings was with Marianne Byrne-Goarin of The Cinnamon Patch. I'll show some of her work in the next market post. She is a Facebook friend but she is gorgeous and charming in person. Pleased to meet you Marianne. I hope to do some work with her in the future. Wait until you see her book. [The designs behind us are lovely but they're not hers. She does stitchery work.] Gorgeous!

One of my favorite parts of Fall Quilt Market is catching up with Amy Butler's dad. I look forward to chatting with him every fall. He's a sweet guy and such a great help in her booth. He is quite a gentleman who always makes time for questions and he's so supportive and proud of Amy.  Amy's booth, as usual, was gorgeous and luscious.

Nicole of Alexander Henry Fabrics is a treat to spend time with. She and her brother are so talented and terrific people. Wait until you see their new Halloween line. To die for!

Next, I headed over to the Martingale booth to meet the editors there. I'll have a little sneak peek in the next few posts. I contributed to a new book and you'll just have to wait and see.

Heidi Kaisand [APQS ], Jennifer Keltner [American Patchwork & Quilting ], Lila Scott [APQ] and I had fun catching up.

Barbara of Quilt Soup  is a sweet lady. I love her designs and she happens to design for Henry Glass too! Yes, Barbara, I do talk a mile a minute! Sorry! I caught up with the wonderful gals at Bigfork Bay Cotton Co. Traci is on the left and Lynn is on the right.

I'll have some more market stuff in the next few days. xo, L

To Quilt Market We Go!

I don't know how many bloggers will show you the lovely side of travelling to Quilt Market at 3:30 a.m. but I will! I travelled with Mark Lipinski . I wanted to show you how hard he works! He's constantly on his e-mail account and I am not! As you can see, he can be quite wonderful and humorous in the wee hours of the morning. [ed. note: There are no photos of me because I will not be photographed at that hour! Vain, I know.] We got into Houston and our friend, Lila Scott, technical editor of American Patchwork and Quilting, kindly let us freshen up in her room. Thanks, Lila!

The man kept working but he did have a moment of fun! Silly guy.

Mark took out his quilts for a little show and tell. Aren't the quilts and his fabric beautiful? Toby from Kindred Quilts made the one with all of the starry points. I'll have to check out the maker of the other one. I think that we cleaned up nicely, don't you? I have tons of photos to plow through. I saw a lot of old friends and met a lot of new ones too! There was a lot of fun to be had. 

I will be getting back to you with some market reports and some patterns. The giveaway will close this Saturday at 8 p.m. so that I can recover from the show! Let your friends know!

xo, L

Houston, Here I Come!

I'm off to Quilt Market in Houston. In the meanwhile, you should check out my friend Sarah Fielke's blog over at thelastpiece.typepad.com [Sorry about not linking. Is anyone else experiencing this with Blogger?] She's going to have a giveaway of some French General stuff. See you next week!
xo, L

Jolly Stuff. Giving. Giveaway.

Thanks for the comments for the contest. Let your friends know about the giveaway! They'll have until next week after I get back from Houston.

I was going to post the pattern for a tote bag but it will have to be tomorrow. I had to take my baby to see the doctor at short notice. His neck began to swell and he couldn't move it. The doctor didn't know the exact cause so we are on antibiotics and will see if that will work for him.



In the meantime, I thought that I'd show you a sneak peak at my new book for Leisure Arts. It's called "Jolly Stuff" and it's part of "The Modern Crafter" series. I came up with the series a couple of years ago and the titles have been so much fun for me to design. There was "Tot Stuff" and "Home Stuff". Of course, I had to bring in a holiday themed one! Enjoy!
xo, L

Awareness. Giving. Giveaway.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I'm sure that many of you have been affected or know someone who has been affected by this horrible disease. I encourage you to do your part in promoting awareness of breast cancer and to learn or share information about the disease.

My latest fabric line is called "Inspiration" and I not only love how pretty the line is but also how positive and uplifting it is when you look at each of the prints. I've designed this little pouch pattern for you.


Make one for yourself, for family or for a friend. I've so much fun with this little pouch. I added photo transfers onto the fronts of a few of them for a dash of personality. I've even added a few inches to one so that I could make a larger pouch.


I hope that you love this zippity pouch as much as I do. Get the pattern here.

Please briefly share your story in the comments section and I will giveaway 5 fat quarter stacks of "Inspiration".

xo, L
p.s. Sorry the post looks so wonky and weird. Anyone else experiencing this on Blogger? My images only show up as word text when I am loading and the text spaces are strange.

I MIss You

It has been a tough two weeks. Not going to dwell on it but in the end, all is great. There's going to be some interesting things popping up in the next few days [for sure this time, I promise!] so please come back for a visit.

xo, L

Topsy Turvy

Ok, craziness over here. Seriously. Can't scan, no fabric delivery, car is in the shop and I was displace and out of my home for two working days because they were paving and other stuff around here. Let me re-group for a day or so. Meanwhile, enjoy these videos. One is of my funny friends from Kindred Quilts and the other is of an amazing sand artist who won Ukraine's Got Talent.





xo,L

Nourish The Soul

It has been a nutty week. Don't I always say that? Well, I finished a couple of projects and then was displaced for a couple of days. I had to leave early and I had to stay out of my house all day because there was paving and other stuff going on around here. Of course, my car and printer had to break down amidst all of this. Timing is everything! You just have to smile and move forward.

I'm not trying to bore you with the details.  All of it made me think about how lucky I am to be crafty [in the artful way, of course]. Sewing, knitting and all of the other things that I do make me who I am. What a great relief and distraction when my day is turned upside down. That's how I felt when I designed the projects from my "Inspiration" line for you. 

For now, I can say that I am thankful for a lot of things and that whenever life is just a bit out of sorts, sitting down to sew or knit is nourishing to the soul. Sometimes a little escape is all I need. Next month is breast cancer awareness month. I'm sure that many of you have been affected by someone who has had to deal with this horrible disease. I hope that you will make these little gifts for the loved one in your life who's dealing with and fighting this terrible disease. 

This little zippered pouch is the first pattern for you. I use mine all of the time and I put all of my itty bitty things in it. Otherwise, my purse would be a big, black hole and nothing would ever be found. [*Link will be posted tomorrow. Technical difficulty and technical guy is out of town until tonight. Sorry!]

Thanks for reading.

Enjoy!

xo, L

On The Shelves Now!

Busy, busy, little bee. So much work, yet so little time. Who said that I'd have so much free time since Little A would be at school all day now? FYI, not true!

I can't believe that summer is nearly over and that fall is upon us. The kids are back at school and we are adjusting to the new schedule.  I've been so busy these past few weeks with school, birthdays, activities and deadlines. How do we get some more time in the day? 

The new season also means that Quilt Market is around the corner and that my fabric line, Inspiration, for Henry Glass Fabrics, should start hitting the quilt shop shelves any minute now. I'm excited about this line because the colors are upbeat and the message is good. Let me know what you think and of course, if you make something from the line, send a photo! I'd love to see!

Next month is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Many, if not all of us, have been touched by someone's story in her fight against breast cancer. I've designed a few projects for you to make as gifts for your loved ones in support of breast cancer awareness. There will be a lap quilt or two and a tote bag. Here's a sneak peak of the first design, Twinkle. I'm just tweaking the patterns right now. Drop by early next week for the patterns and to share your stories. 

Super exciting news! You'll see Inspiration in a design for American Patchwork and Quilting this winter. The design will accompany my profile in their February 2010 issue! So awesome!

I think that my work of late has had a sense of "purpose" beyond making a beautiful quilt. I'm just about finished a knitting design for a prayer wrap. I'm giddy with excitement because it came out so beautifully. Be patient! You'll get to have a peak in time. xo, L

My New Pincushion

Look at what I made for myself! I bought a couple of these ring notions at a local bead shop recently. How cool! I've wanted to make a finger pincushion for a while now because I use teeny, tiny little applique pins when I hand applique.  I just couldn't find these ring bases until now.

Then I dove into my roving stash and made a felt ball. For those of you who have never played with roving, run out and buy some! It's addictive. I sewed on some cute little seed beads and hot glued the felted ball onto the ring base. Look at my pretty new pincushion! 

I love my new pincushion. Hmm, could be an easy holiday gift to make for my sewing friends. Shhh, don't tell them, ok?  xo, L

Believe

I hope that you've had a great week. My brother and I got sick while we were in Toronto.  He had to fly back to Vancouver so he had to go while still sort of under the weather. By then he was feeling much better. I delayed my return home and I feel so much better now. Then the kids had their first day of school and I worked on another deadline!! It has all been crazy and chaotic!

See that quilt up there? Believe is a fun and funky applique design that I used to sell as a block of the month set. People still ask me for it. Good news! It will be a single packet pattern very soon. Even better news! The entire pattern will retail for $24! I'll let you know when it will be available. 

Remember when I made an appearance on Quilt Out Loud? One of the other panelists was the wonderful Patsy Thompson. She sent me a pile of her wonderful DVDs. I watched a few of them and all I can say is that they're terrific! She's clear, and she packs in a lot of information. I like the way that she shares her tips and that she points out areas along the way where you might run into trouble. In essence, she's teaching, guiding and troubleshooting for you as you're quilting. 

See you later! I have some more videos to watch! Have a wonderful and safe weekend.  xo, L

Be Back Soon!

I've been taking a break before the end of the summer. It's back to school next week. I can't believe it. I've got some quilt content coming next week so come on back for a visit. Meanwhile, we went to the C.N.E. yesterday and it was lots of fun and fond memories. Funny how some things never change. As I walked along, I felt like that little girl attending the Ex for the first time with my dad. A lot of the vendors still sell the same things as they did then and the games, like the ring toss or balloon popping are still around.


We wandered over to Ontario Place too. I used to work there during the summer when I went to the University of Toronto. So many good memories there too.

This longneck dinosaur was new to us. The kids were in awe of its size. As always, the rocky shores of Lake Ontario are wonderfully relaxing and the breeze is always a cool comfort.


Our adventures are over and we'll be back to our usual routine. We've had a great summer and are sad to see it end. xo, L

Summer Fun

I'm excited to tell you that Inspiration should be in your local quilt shop very soon! I've designed a few projects with these fabrics and have had lots of fun with the prints. I can't wait to see what you'll do with the fabrics!


This lap quilt is going to be a free project for you soon. I love it. The blocks seem to swirl and twirl!

Oh how I've loved spending the summer with these rolls. We've had lots of fun together!

Speaking of summer fun. I can't believe that we'll be back to school so soon. We've had lots of summer fun filled with swimming, nature camp and birthday parties.

It's see you soon and back to work for me! xo, L