Good Riddance to May

What a month! I won't be sorry to see May end. I have had a lot of deadlines this month. My friend and I made a quilt for the pastor of our church, my other friend had 2 quilts to make for her grandchildren and needed a lot of help and I had a quilt I had to make for Quiltmaker magazine.

All of this, along with computer problems and regular life mixed in, made May a tough month for me! Anyone that has been reading my blog for awhile knows that I teach quilting and sewing classes on a regular basis, design quilts for my own pattern company and take care of my aunt (and one of my best friends) who has MS.

Last year I had to reduce my teaching hours at my regular job to make taking care of my aunt my "regular job". Unfortunately, my aunt has had some setbacks this year and she has been back in the nursing home for a couple of months which gives me a little more time for my other jobs, but now I am no longer receiving the small salary I was getting as her caregiver. The hours I gave up at my teaching job are no longer available and I want to remain free to go back to taking care of my aunt if and when she needs me again.

I am typing this post on my husband's ancient computer as my four month old laptop is being repaired.

I taught a class earlier this week in which I had a very disturbing experience. I had a student pack up her supplies and machine and announce that she was "done" and that she'd had "enough". I have never had this happen before and was so shocked that it took about 5 minutes to realize she was upset with ME! Anyone that knows me or has ever taken a class with me knows that I go out of my way for my students. I make sure they understand what I am teaching and have actually redesigned projects for some students who have difficulty or want to see what a project will look like in a different color way or size. I'm still not exactly sure what I wasn't doing for this student that she expected me to do. I had made several visits to her side and always check to see if anyone needs help during the course of the class. I give my cell phone number to anyone that wants it if they have any questions after the class ends. I had at least 3 of the other students contact me the day after the class to thank me and tell me how much they enjoyed the class and how much they appreciate me, so I'd like to think the problem was with her, not me.

I know this post seems like a series of complaints, and I suppose it is, but I consider it venting so feel free to ignore it or if you feel the need to vent a little yourself post a comment!

Thank you for visiting my blog!

I had close to 500 visits so far to my blog thanks to the Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Blog Tour! I had a lot of wonderful comments to sort through and want to thank everyone who took the time to leave a comment yesterday. I have chosen my winners and have sent the winner's info to QM and also contacted the winner of the copy of the magazine from me and the page of clown faces. If you would like to purchase a page of clown faces I am charging only $5 per page. Postage in the US is included in that price. The page has enough faces printed on it to make 12 blocks!

I thought you might also like to see a picture of my newest design, Country Claus, which is being tested as you read this and will be available soon. As you can see, he is similar to my Clown block and just as fun, if I must say so myself!

Get a head start on Christmas and order today!

larkspurlanedesigns@yahoo.com

Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks--Just Clowning Around



This is just one idea for a finished quilt using my block design



This is my block featured in and on the cover of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks by Today's Top Designers!





And this is a picture of what one of my winners will receive along with one copy of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Vol. 3. Is a page of my clown faces printed on Printed Treasures. You must be one of my followers to qualify for this prize and also leave a comment on today's post.



If you leave a comment on today's post you will be entered in a drawing to receive a copy of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks from Today's Top Designers Vol. 3. In addition, if you are one of my followers and leave a comment you will have a chance to win a copy of the magazine and also a page of my clown faces printed on Printed Treasures so you will be ready to start sewing when the issue arrives!

For anyone who might be interested in purchasing a page of my clown faces please send me an email for more info at: larkspurlanedesigns@yahoo.com

Here is a link to Quiltmaker's blog with all the information for all of the other designers participating in the blog tour. http://www.quiltmaker.com/100blocks.html There are some amazing blocks and amazing designers in this issue so be sure to check them all out!

The issue will be available by May 10th, so if you don't win one, you're not out of luck!