Day 2: Sew Merry and Bright book tour

Holiday Musical Chairs Quilt [Sew Merry and Bright by Linda Lum DeBono]

We are on day 2 of this little book tour of mine! Thank you to Carrie for a great post yesterday! You can still enter her giveaway. It's a cool one.

Today my guest is Sew, Mama, Sew!. I love their site and it is a great source of inspiration. Not only is Sew, Mama, Sew! a store but their blog is full of tutorials, giveaways and great information for quilters or sewers. The ladies at Sew, Mama, Sew! invited me to be a special guest and what does a special guest do? She brings along a special project, of course! Go and check it out. Say hello to Little A because he is featured too! Enjoy it!

On their shop site, you will find lots of great holiday fabrics. Some fabrics are too cute to cut up! What do I do? I design easy projects that have large blocks so that I can feature the fabric as much as the design itself. That's what happened when I designed the quilt above. I loved the hot pink fabric and didn't want to cut it up into little pieces so I made sure that I incorporated that into the design. The same goes for the easy placemat designs in the book. Great, easy projects that still maintain the integrity of the design of that favorite project.

Peace Place Mat

[Sew Merry and Bright by Linda Lum DeBono]

So hop over to the Sew, Mama, Sew! blog today for some fabulous fun!

xo, L

Merry Christmas!

Joyeux Noel! Happy Christmas in July! Today is the start of my Sew Merry and Bright book tour! I've invited my awesome friend, Carrie Nelson of Miss Rosie's Quilt Co., to be the first guest. Thank you!

Carrie designs very beautiful scrap quilts and I love her books. Her another Bite of Schnibbles is one of my favorites. For a working mom like me who [confession here] does not like to design pieced quilts, her designs inspire me to make lovely quilts that are easily achievable! 

She's got her review of the book over on her blog. The one thing that I adore about Carrie is her sense of humor! She's a funny, witty girl in both written and verbal form. Go over to her blog to check it out. 

These are two of my favorite Schnibbles designs. They're in her shop.

Do come back to visit with all of the other guests on my book tour. It's going to be fun!

xo, L

Sew Merry and Bright Book Tour!

This week! Be here or be square!

-hg

Creative Mojo!

Tomorrow, I will be going to Pickle Road to see my pal, Mark Lipinski, and to co-host on his fab show, Creative Mojo. What will we talk about? Stuff, whatever you call in with and of course, MY NEW BOOK!

Sew Merry and Bright is officially available! Thank you to the awesome folks at Martingale! It is fabulous!

Talk to you tomorrow!
ox, L

Things I Can't Live Without

I am sitting here Saturday night in my kitchen after a large thunderstorm and the power has been out for a while. I have been doing a bit of work eithout the use of electronic devices (well except this post) don't get me wrong. I love my electronic gadgets but there are certain non-electronic things that I just can't live without.

This week I went to find a Moleskin calendar and the Barnes and Noble location didn't carry them. I was in a panic. I know that it may sound anal to you but nothing comes between me and my Moleskin journals. Ever use them? My husband didn't believe me but then he took one of mine in a pinch and has never looked back.

I adore are my Post-It tabs. I would never find anything without them. I also love my Japanese markers. I go to Kinokuniya in NYC and make sure that I pick up a bunch every time!

What are your essentials?

xo, L

What are you essential?

Sew Merry and Bright Book Tour!

I can't believe it! The publication date of my newest book is next week! Oh boy! I am so stoked to tell you about this book tour of mine! I am in awe of the lineup if I may say so myself. I asked and begged these awesome folks to join me on this tour. Come here on the 18th for the links to the sites! Join us won't you?


Here are the links to each site. This will be posted here on the 18th again.


July 18 - Carrie Nelson
July 19 - Sew Mama Sew
July 20 - Pat Sloan
July 21 - The Long Thread
July 22 - Kate Spain
July 23 - Freshly Pieced
July 24 - Martingale & Co.
July 25 - Henry Glass Fabrics
July 26 - Fat Quarterly
July 27 - Aurifil
July 28 - Fat Quarter Shop
July 29 - Mark Lipinski




xo, L

Sunday In NYC

I went to Soho today to visit Purl Soho. There's a lovely casual flow of crowds through the streets in the middle of the afternoon. I so love the architecture in this part of the city.

I replaced these photos because the original post from mobile Blogger published really low resolution photos. Anybody know how to change that?

xo, L

Where I Go For Inspiration

Angelfire Studios is one place that I love to go for some inspiration. It's a lovely place, the people are nice and they listen to me ramble on as I talk through my ideas out loud! It was 90 + degrees out but it felt good to be at the shop for some knitting fun!

Bev just took over the store and has put her wonderful touch to the changes to add her flair and make it hers.

xo,
L

Yay, Mobile Blogger!

I am so glad that Blogger has a mobile app. It makes my life so much easier.

I'm slowly pulling myself from the honking pile of stuff that I had to do after market. Still deadlines to meet but getting into the grove. I hang out on my business blog too (another thank you for mobile apps).

I've running a little group over on Facebook called Inspiration Workroom. We've worked on challenges but I've been looking at my huge stash of fabric. Thinking I'm going to start posting blocks or something! Need to de-stash. What do you do with your "extra" fabric?
xo, L

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