Favorite Book?

Do any of you have a favorite book from childhood? Mine is A BOOK OF MERMAIDS by Ruth Manning-Sanders. I borrowed that book week after week from the local library and read it over and over and over again. On a whim this morning, I did a search on Amazon and found two old copies for sale. The lesser expensive one was $120. My 12 year old daughter said, "You should buy it since you want it so bad." Knowing that its just not practical right now, I put the book on my wishlist and logged out.

A few minutes later, my 9 year old son asked if he could sell hot chocolate out in the front yard. I thought it was an odd request until I asked him why he wanted to do it. His answer was, "So I can buy you that book."

Both of those responses were worth more to me than the book!

I know I have a mermaid quilt in me somewhere, so I might have to get to work on that soon!

Buy 2 Get 1 Free Pattern

Some days I struggle to find SOMETHING... ANYTHING to blog about because I feel guilty if I don't do it regularly. This is one of those days.

There are a lot of things going on in my life right now, but some of them NO ONE wants to hear about and some I can't talk about yet for fear of jinxing them! I have 2 quilts, so far, that will be published this year in 2 different magazines, but I can't tell you any more about those until they go to print. I have several new designs I am working on for Spring Market, but my friends tell me not to post any pictures of works in progress, because someone else might "steal them". So I am very limited right now in what I can talk about.

I did get a very nice phone call this morning from a lady in Omaha, Nebraska. She said her group decided to use one of my designs for their raffle quilt! What an honor! I told Linda that I would post a picture of their finished quilt in my blog or on my website, as well as information to purchase a ticket, so check back for that. It will be a little while for that though, since I am just sending out the pattern today.

Here's a thought:
How about a pattern sale on my website? http://www.larkspurlanedesigns.com
Market can be a very expensive undertaking and in an effort to NOT run up my credit card balance any higher, I will make a special offer to those that read my blog:

Purchase 2 patterns and I will send you another one of your choice for free. I will charge for the 2 higher priced patterns.

Feel free to tell your friends about this offer!

I will be out of town the first week in February, but will do my best to get out any orders that come in before the end of this month and the first thing I will do when I get back will be to fill any orders that come in while I am away.

Quilting Gallery Contest

The Quilting Gallery is running weekly themed contests. This week's theme is snowmen. This is the quilt that I have entered, but there are a lot of REALLY cute quilts in the contest! Check them out and vote for your favorite. http://www.quiltinggallery.com

Voting starts today and runs through Sunday (I think)

New Experience

Yesterday, I took a break from quilting and did something I have never done before. My daughter's Girl Scout Troop volunteered to serve food in a soup kitchen. Because our girls are young (12 and under), the moms were asked to come along and help. The high temperature yesterday was around 14 degrees here, so the people that came, not only came for a good, hot meal, but to get out of the cold for 45 minutes. They were so appreciative of the girls' effort and were very forthcoming with their praise. It was a great experience and one that I hope to repeat in the near future. Our girls got to see how fortunate they are and how, with a little effort, they can make someone else's life better, at least for a little while. Its a shame we have homeless people at all, but it was a very rewarding experience to have had, and one that I hope others will take advantage of, if the opportunity to serve ever arises.

QUILTY SIDE NOTE: The man at the camera store was right about the type of batteries I was using in my camera. Now that I have the right kind in, my camera is working again, so I will be posting some new pics very soon!

Just a Little Update

I actually have 2 days off in a row!

That is almost unheard of in my life. I have printed the foundations for the second quilt I need to make for publication in a magazine and will attempt to get as much done in these 2 days as possible. This quilt is the one that some of the fabric isn't available for yet. But that fabric goes in the borders, so I can make the center of the quilt and wait for the other fabric to arrive.

When this quilt is finished, I will start working on my new designs and class samples for 2010 classes. Some of those, I plan to post pictures of when they are finished.

I haven't gotten a new camera yet, but found out something interesting when I went to the camera store. Most digital cameras have a feature where you need to tell the camera what type of batteries you are using, because different batteries behave differently in your camera. Here's the problem, though--using alkaline batteries (which is what I have available at the moment), because the camera isn't on the alkaline battery setting, the camera tells me the batteries are low and shuts off immediately without giving me any time to change the setting! What a pain. But, that may mean I don't need a new camera right now. If you start seeing pictures show up on my blog again soon, you'll know I figured it out. Just don't hold your breath for that!

Back to work

Now that Christmas has passed, its time to really get to work! I finished one quilt top the weekend before Christmas for a magazine that needs to be ready for photography around January 8th. I Fedexed it on December 23rd to Colorado to be quilted and hopefully bound. I have another quilt to make that another magazine wanted for the third week in January, but one of the fabrics won't be available until the second week in January, sooOOOooo I don't think I'll make that deadline. Fortunately, the editor likes the quilt so much, she's willing to wait.

Since my teaching proposal was accepted for Chautauqua Institution's Summer season, I need to get my sample made asap. And then there's Spring Quilt Market in Minneapolis. I plan on having at least 3 new designs ready for that, but I also need to make travel plans as well. One of my sisters lives in Wisconsin and has agreed to come to Market to help me, so I am planning to fly to Wisconsin and rent a car and drive the 5 hours from there with all of my stuff and my sister.

Its going to be a busy year!

Sorry, too busy to blog!

I think it has been a couple of weeks since I last posted (I'm too lazy to check for sure), but I thought I should put in a quick appearance before the holiday rush truly begins around here. My kids have a couple more days of school before Christmas break, so I still have to get up with them and get them to school.

After I drop them off, I have almost an hour to work on a quilt that I am doing for a magazine (due for photography Jan. 8th), before I have to get ready to go to my job.

At work, we are dealing with all the husbands who wait until the last minute to find a sewing related gift for their wives. The hard part is getting a machine, that has to be ordered, in time for the holidays. And if it doesn't arrive in time, guess who's fault it is? Not hubby's, that's for sure.

Thankfully, my husband prefers to do the shopping for our kids and the rest of our families. I think he's afraid I'll spend too much. Which is probably true, since I shop from the heart not the wallet. I don't check prices. If I see something I think someone will like, I buy it and worry about how much it cost later. Not the smartest way to shop, but its the only way I know!

Anyway, I am looking forward to the calm after the storm, so I can get back to work on the things I truly love--designing and seeing my designs come to life in fabric. I have lots of things planned for next year and I can't wait to start working towards those goals.

One of the things I am most looking forward to is the opportunity to teach at Chautauqua Institution next summer. I got the confirmation email a couple of days ago that my teaching proposal was accepted and I will find out the schedule in mid-January and can start planning around it!

Christmas Quilt Contest

There is a contest going on at the Quilting Gallery website: http://quiltinggallery.com/2009/12/08/voting-now-for-the-holiday-traditions-quilt-contest/

Check out all of the wonderful Christmas quilts and vote for the best (A Few of My Favorite Things) LOL

Confession

A week from today will be my last lecture for 2009. I am doing a trunk show for the American Sewing Guild in Pittsburgh. I have a special way I like to prepare for public speaking--I try not to think about it until I am standing in front of my audience!

I have no problem teaching a large group because of all the "give and take", but being the center of attention can be a little nerve wracking. Once I get going, I really enjoy showing my quilts, but that first 2 minutes can be torture.

I did a trunk show for a store a few years back, that was scheduled for 2 o'clock in the afternoon, but as I was arriving in town around 1 o'clock, my cell phone rang. It was the owner of the store asking if I was close. I told her I was about 10 minutes away and would be there shortly, not realizing that, according to her schedule, I was late. I walked into the store still expecting to be able to take my time and set up, when I turned the corner and saw what looked to be about 100 people (but in actuality was probably less than 50) waiting for me to arrive.

I just had to jump right in and it was probably my best and most candid lecture so far. Fortunately for me, several more ladies came in closer to 2 o'clock and were shocked to see that they had missed my trunk show (I did a private showing for them). It turned out that the original notice that had been sent out had the 2 o'clock start time, but in the reminder notice, the time had been accidentally changed to 1.

I am looking forward to the day when standing in front of an audience is "no big deal", but I don't want to lose the excitement that comes with being a little nervous.

Trying Something New

Well, I guess I'm gonna go for it! I gonna put myself out there and see what happens.

I teach and lecture close to home, but I think I am finally ready to leave the nest. Starting in 2010, I am going to make myself available to guilds and shops farther away than my tri-state area (Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York). I have 2 young children, ages 9 and almost 12, but my husband's schedule has become a lot more flexible, recently, so one of us can always be here.

I am a homebody and would prefer to be here than anywhere else in the world, but am starting to realize that I would like to, at least, visit some other places!

If you belong to a guild or own a shop, and you think you might be interested in having me, or even just my quilts, "visit", drop me a line at larkspurlanedesigns@yahoo.com and I will send you my Trunk Show and Lecture Fees brochure.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!!

Wow, what an amazing experience being included in Quiltmakers 100 Blocks issue turned out to be! I have had the opportunity to work with a few of the talented women who put Quiltmaker magazine together before, and I know they are very good at their jobs, but since this was a special issue, they still had to do all their regular work on top of all of the extra work they did to put this issue together! Thank you June, Carolyn and Diane for making this so much fun and making me feel so special. Thank you, also, to all of the people at Quiltmaker that I haven't had the opportunity to meet just yet!

I also wanted to thank all of the people who commented on my blog or visited my website and signed my guestbook! For those of you who replied with their email address visible, if I haven't already replied to you, I will soon. For those of you whose email addresses weren't visible to me, I want to thank you for taking the time to visit my site and/or blog and invite you back anytime!

And last, but hopefully, not least--me

Well, its finally my turn! Although I have already blogged about the blog tour this week, today is officially my day. I've had all week to read what everyone else has written and think about what I want to say and guess what? I've got nothing! At least nothing as interesting as everyone else seemed to have to talk about, so I guess I'll just tell you a little bit about my block.

My block is #27 on page 25 and is called Art Deco Star. My New Year's Resolution was to design one block per day for an entire year. Well, I only got to the beginning of April before I finally gave up. (Longer than I've ever made it with an diet or exercise resolution, so I consider it a successful resolution.) Anyway, this is one of approximately 90 new blocks I designed this year. It is a paper-pieced block and much simpler to piece than it may appear. I did find that one section was numbered incorrectly in the magazine, so the editor has made a correction to the foundation and made it available on the Quiltmaker website, so make sure you download the new foundation. http://www.quiltmaker.com

And while you are cruising the web, check out my website, http://www.larkspurlanedesigns.com and leave me a message in my guestbook for a chance to win a copy of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks. Those of you that have already contacted me about winning a copy of the magazine will be included in the drawing when I pick the winner.

Follow the 100 Blocks Blog Tour daily Nov. 9-13 at quiltmaker.com/quiltypleasures for inspiration, ideas and giveaways galore! Look for 100 Blocks from Today's Top Designers in your local quilt shop or purchase it at http://www.quiltmaker.com/100blocks

Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks from today's top designers

What a powerful tool a blog can be! (insert evil laugh here) And when you have Quiltmaker promoting your blog, how can you lose? It is possible to reach MILLIONS with or without help, but on Friday the 13th, I am participating in Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Blog Tour and am looking forward to connecting with even more quilters from around the world!

I'm not sure what I will write about yet, but I will have one copy of QUILTMAKER'S 100 BLOCKS FROM TODAY'S TOP DESIGNERS to give away to one lucky winner. Make sure you check Quiltmaker's blog for links to the other featured designers' blogs and for inspiration, ideas and giveaways galore! http://www.quiltmaker.com/quiltypleasures

SPECIAL COLLECTOR'S EDITION MAGAZINE GIVEAWAY

The Fedex truck stopped here about an hour ago and dropped off a package. I don't know why, but I always try to figure out what's in a package before I open it. The return address didn't offer any clues, but when I put my glasses on and read the small print under my address, it said "QUILTMAKER SPECIALS, 100 BLOCK". So I tore the package open and found a special issue of Quiltmaker. The official title is Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks from today's top designers. And you'll never guess who has a block in it. Lil' ole me!!!

Oh, and there are a couple of other quilt designers you might have heard of before such as: Carol Doak, Eleanor Burns, Pat Sloan, just to name a few. Their names made the front cover, but I am thrilled to just be included! This collector's edition is set to be on the newsstand November 17th, but it could show up sooner, so keep your eyes open for it. In the meantime, I have one copy to giveaway, so if you'd like a chance at it, leave me a comment and a way for me to get back in touch with you if you are the lucky winner! Heck, I might even autograph it if you're lucky!

Some good news...for me!

What a nice surprise to open an email from McCalls Pattern company and see one of my designs featured! I have had several friends tell me they have gotten a couple of emails with my patterns shown, but this is the first one I have received. http://www.mccall.com/newsletters/BM200910Quilts_2/newspage.html

It is so exciting to FINALLY see some of my hard work paying off. I'm not even close to where I want to be in this business yet, but I think I am headed in the right direction.

I also got an email reminder yesterday, about an event coming up in December, at which I am the featured speaker. It is the American Sewing Guild's Holiday Luncheon being held at The Priory here in Pittsburgh. It is open to members and non-members. If you'd like some info on this event, check out the Guild's website: http://www.sewpittsburgh.org

To Mary from Lake Pulaski and anyone else who might be interested!

Mary from Lake Pulaski, you'll be happy to know I have finally started to piece my design Chocolate Raspberry Torte! I have decided to attempt to make it in miniature and have completed one block so far. The block will finish at about 3" in this format. Most of the block can be paper pieced, which makes it easier, but the center square will have to be cut with a template because it is an odd size. When I produce the pattern for it, I will include a foundation to make the quilt in miniature as well as bed-size, depending on whether I lose my mind making the miniature version or not!

My Dilemma

I'm curious about how other people keep their studios. Are they neat and organized or pure chaos? At the moment, mine is complete chaos, which I can handle, (I don't like it like this, but I can handle it). But I have a friend coming to work on some projects with me that we want to have ready for Spring Market, so I need to have everything put away so there is room for both of us to work. My time at home is limited because I work about 30 hours a week for a local sewing machine dealer, where I teach quilting and machine embroidery classes, as well as a few purse and home dec classes. One of my days off is Tuesday, but every Tuesday, I take out my aunt/friend who has MS to doctors appointments or run errands with her. Sunday is my other day off, but my husband works 12 hours that day, so it is up to me to take care of our 2 children all day. So most of the time, I have to choose between trying to clean up my mess or working on a new project. Fortunately, the batteries in my camera are dead, or I might be tempted to post a picture of my mess!

I live in a small 3 bedroom home, that has a familyroom, so I have been able to take over the diningroom and the livingroom for my business space. But both of those rooms are in the front of the house, so if someone comes to visit, they have to walk through or past my mess to reach the familyroom. It would be nice not to have to apologize for the condition of my home, but is that more important than doing something creative? According to my mother, YES! I don't expect to get rich from quilt designing, but I hope to get to the point where I can build another room onto the back of my house for my studio. One with a door that can be closed and locked!

Not in the mood to post

It has been longer than usual since I have posted, due to some things in my personal life, but I will be getting back to work and hope to have some quilty things to show you soon. I plan on finally producing some patterns for designs that I have been sitting on for awhile, like SPRING SHOWERS. Let me know what you think about this one.

I have been told that I will have a block in the 100 EASY BLOCKS magazine from Quiltmaker, which is due to arrive on the newsstand in early November, so I am very excited to see that. I believe Quiltmaker will be giving me at least one issue to give away, so if you want to have a chance to win it, leave me a comment and mention 100 EASY BLOCKS. Make sure I have a way to get back in touch with you in the event you are the lucky winner.

OOPS!!!!

I missed my deadline to have this quilt shown at Fall Quilt Market in Houston because I had my dates wrong! I thought I had a couple more days to get this to the fabric manufacturer, but...time's up. Maybe they will want it for Spring Market. I work really well on a deadline usually, but if you have the date wrong, I guess there's no hope of finishing on time, unless you think the deadline is earlier than it is! I'll have to give permission to SOME people to lie to me. Not everyone, mind you, just a select few.

WARNING

There is a certain evil person out there, who, I think, checks my blog regularly to see if I'm going to tell you all of the evil things she does. Well, I'm going to put her mind at ease, (sort of)--yes, I am going to tell you ALL about her, just not yet. But she is put on notice, that it IS coming.