A New Chapter

This is my newest design, called Star Crossed, just published by Arbee Designs! It is a small, paper pieced wall quilt and I had a lot of fun making it myself, so I hope others will, too. I am so excited to be working with Arbee Designs since I will have more of an opportunity to do the part of quilting that I love the most--DESIGNING! I love being able to create something that didn't exist before. So many people think quilts can only be made with half square triangles and squares. That is simply NOT true and I aim to prove it. Traditional quilts are beautiful and I admire them but today's quilters have so many tools and techniques that we aren't limited  (unless we want to be) to doing what our mothers and grandmothers did. Try something new, spread your wings and fly!

Ruth Blanchet and her team at Arbee Designs will do the part I like the least--printing, folding, marketing and selling. I've already got 2 more designs in the works with Arbee so its back to work for me.

Check out all of the other amazing quilt patterns available from Arbee Designs here: http://arbeedesigns.com/

What I'm Working On

This is a Christmas version of my design called Lexa's Angel. This is a design I use to raise funds for my friend's family. My friend Nikki lost her 7 year old daughter in a car accident almost a year ago. A young man, after having too much to drink, crossed the center line and hit Nikki's car head on. Lexa died that night and Nikki spent a month in the hospital and about 5 months in rehab. I think this block would make a wonderful holiday decoration or gift! If you are interested in making a donation to The Cleland Family Fund and getting this block design as a THANK YOU send me an email at: larkspurlanedesigns@yahoo.com

Quilting Gallery Weekly Contest-Nursery Rhymes

This is a picture of my quilt, Three Little Pigs, that I have entered in the most recent Quilting Gallery contest. The theme is nursery rhymes and there are some wonderful quilts in the contest. Check them out and vote for your favorite at: http://www.quiltinggallery.com/

My quilt has raffia straw, and several 3 dimensional elements such as the ears, legs, and tail as well as either a polymer clay button or applique for the nose and beads for the eyes. I hope you like it!

Why I Design

LEXA'S ANGEL

When Wayne Kollinger asked me to blog about why I design and to help inspire others to try their hand at designing, I was flattered...then I thought "Wouldn't that be like shooting myself in the foot?" But after a little more thought, I realized that even though I am a designer myself, I still like other peoples' designs and although I don't do it often, I still purchase patterns by other designers and I'm hoping others will do the same. So, here goes nothing!

Why I Design
The first reason I design is because I LOVE IT!
I love creating something from a thought, something that hasn't been done before or, even if it has been done before, doing it better. I have designed since I was a small child. I started out making dolls out of the wooden spoons that came with little cups of ice cream. My friends and I would draw faces on them and then make paper clothes. I sure wish I had saved some because I would love to look at them now.

I was fortunate to be chosen to take art lessons at our branch of the Carnegie Museum and did that every Saturday for about 3 or 4 years during grade school. When I went on to high school, I took only the required courses and then filled the rest of my day with art and craft classes. If I couldn't do something creative with my life I don't think it would be worth living!

Out of high school I went on to art school and earned a two year degree in graphic arts. My first job after finishing school was with a fine jeweler. After learning how to carve the waxes used in lost wax casting and to melt and pour the gold I was given the opportunity to do a little designing of my own. I worked in that industry for about 15 years before being bitten by the quilting bug.

COUNTRY CLAUS

The second reason I design is because I CAN!
Designing is the one thing for which I feel I have a talent. And I think we should all be using our talents to make other people happy and to make the world a better place.

For example, my design called LEXA'S ANGEL is my way of helping a friend deal with a recent tragedy in her life. My friend lost her 7 year old daughter Lexa in a car accident with a drunk driver December 6th, 2010. I made a small donation to a fund set up for her family and will continue to donate to that fund as I am able but my design abilities make it possible for me to help her in a bigger way and also to give others the opportunity to help her as well and get something in return.

The third reason I design is because I LIKE A CHALLENGE!
I will redraw a design as many times as necessary to make it as perfect as possible. My final version of LEXA'S ANGEL was the 11th version of that design. The original drawing was done about 4 years ago but I never did anything with it because there were other designs and deadlines that took priority. Now I'm glad I didn't use that design before because I think there was a bigger purpose for it.

The fourth reason I design is I LIKE THE ATTENTION IT GETS ME! 
The feeling I get when someone tells me how much they like my designs or how much they enjoyed making one of my designs is amazing. Every once in awhile I'll get a card in the mail or an email in which someone tells me the story behind a quilt they made from one of my patterns, such as who it was made for and why and that can totally make my day!

My New "Toy"

I am mainly known for paper pieced designs, which I love to do, but I am starting to venture into some applique. My most recent applique design is the mermaid I have been working on. Because of a recent event at the sewing machine dealer where I teach, I have purchased an Accuquilt Studio Cutter and have inquired about having a custom die made to cut out my mermaid pieces. I should get a quote today to see if it is possible for me to produce my mermaid as a precut applique and offer her for sale without having to remortgage my house first!

I didn't buy any dies with the Studio Cutter, since I only bought it to do custom dies, so it is set up in a corner of my studio, just waiting to be put to work. I hope it isn't waiting too long. I have a lot of students who want to purchase my mermaid applique and put her on all sorts of things, like tote bags, jean jackets or make a small wall quilt like my sample, so I am hoping I don't have to disappoint them or make them wait too long.

Carson's Star update

Here are 3 of the blocks for my design Carson's Star. There have been so many things to do since Quilt Market this past May, this had been put on hold for awhile. But now that I see it coming together, I want to keep working on it. There will be 9 blocks total, each one a different color. The hardest part is finding 3 values of the same color to get the 3D effect, but I am very happy with the progress so far.