Lucky Me!

I am almost finished his hat. I used the Spud and Chloe Flap Happy Hat pattern until I got to the crown shaping. Then the pattern lost me or I perhaps I just felt the need to do it differently. I still need to add a pom-pom. Isn't it darling? I had fun with the the three colors. Now I am starting one for Big A and I was told that I needn't put so much green in his toque. So funny, I don't even think that anyone around here knows what a toque is and I think that the earflaps might disqualify it from being an actual toque.

When I woke up this morning, I discovered that I had won a copy of Photoshop CS4 over at the Pioneer Woman. [Thanks, Ree!] She's so funny and generous. Her new lodge is beautiful. She should have a quilt retreat there! I'll teach! Now I have no excuse to laze about and not design, right? 

I think that this contest hit closer to home and it humbled me to read about what everyone else fights against in their lives. Her topic opened up a lot of thoughts and though I've always been an optimistic person, I must say that it felt good to say my battle out loud. Big A is a super bright kid who happens to be impulsive. Lots of effort to get things together and I don't regret it one bit. Now that Little A will be going to school all day in the fall, I'll get a bit of free time. So here's to more design and more fun. I thank you guys too for loving my stuff! Thanks again to The Pioneer Woman! You rock! Go over read about her awesome readers' thoughts and about The Fat Cyclist and his family.

 I think that Little A was secretly helping me out and he didn't even know it!

xo, L

A Rubber Ducky Day

I. am. tired. today. I was up all night with Big A because he was sick. Nap time later for me. That's for sure!

We had a great weekend. I'm almost finished the hat and I did some sewing. We managed to get to our town's annual rubber duck race for charity. So many people entered. No, we didn't win the trip to Disney or any of the other great prizes.

We walked around a bit and enjoyed the great weather. Eventually, we ended up at our favorite local bookstore, The Clinton Bookshop.

The kids love to browse and Little A fell in love with these two cute books by a local writer, Daryl K. Cobb.  The books are so silly, bright and fun.

Here's to getting back to normal boring posts. xo, L

Phew, It's The Weekend.

This week has been insane. Lots of things, lots of little things that added up to lots of running around. Lots of fabric work that I can't show you just yet. Also, one of the biggest things was dealing with the fact that my neighbor's car rolled backwards in a semi-circle down two doors and hit ours. Yep, unbelievable! Oh well, it's just a car and we can fix it. Luckily no one was injured.

So, I tried to focus on good little things. The boys and I read a lot, played board games, did some homework and I started to knit a hat for Little A. If you have kids around the house, get a copy of Eric Wight's Frankie Pickle and the Closet of Doom. I met the author and had him autograph the book for Big A but Little A devoured the comic book type pages the second I got home.

I'll be back sometime next week. Enjoy your weekend! xo, L

A Fine Day At The Fair

What did you do this past weekend? Besides drawing the winners for my giveaway, we had a relaxing weekend though we did get out to the Kutztown Folk Festival. The drive there was so beautiful. I love the blue skies and the beautiful, fluffy clouds.

There was lots to see and do for the kids. They did some crafts, got to pet some animals, ran through some mazes and bounced around in some inflatables. Big A even got to participate in a roof raising activity. There was a lot of food to eat and we had lots of fun!

I got to go to the Quilt Barn.  It was a huge place with lots of quilts for sale. Quilt heaven!

Of course, there were other crafts and lots of other things to see and do. Check out my Journal for some more fun photographs. xo, L

Happy Day! Winners and More.

Did you have a great weekend? I had a relaxing weekend and now it's back to reality! The weather was finally nice and I didn't feel moldy! We had so much rain in June and my poor plants just rotted.

We spent most of the weekend at the pool though we did manage to drive out to the Kutztown Folk Festival. We had a great time there and there was lots to see. When we first arrived, I made a dash to the Quilt Barn. Wow, to walk into a room full of quilts for sale was so much fun. Afterwards, it was time to do what the rest of my group wanted to do, of course. Photos later this week.

Well, I think that the most important part of this post would be the winners of my giveaway! Yahoo! I drew the name out of a bowl of strips paper of names from the blog, website, e-mail and Facebook. So here goes ... the grand prize goes to Happy Cottage Quilter. You'll receive a bunch of fat quarters of Inspiration and a couple of my books. In addition to the big prize, my "bosses", Big A and Little A, decided that "we should draw out some more names so that some other people can win your beautiful books and fabric". Who can argue with that? Well, Dokiquilts, Mandie, Owen's Mom, Kathy Bruckman and Ellen Yamaguchi, you've each won a little something. E-mail me your snail mail and I'll post them sometime this week. Thanks for entering! I'll get back to posting in the next day or so. I have to finish up a project. xo, L

Playing With Fabric

I just received a small amount of Inspiration. Don't the rolls look so pretty? My head is spinning. What to do? What to make? Time will tell.

Meanwhile, I made this little linen pouch for Big A. He adores elephants so I made a little sketch but couldn't wrap my brain around transferring the design onto dark fabric [hey, it was late!] so I did it freehand.

Get your comments in now. I will be closing the entries tomorrow [Saturday] at 7 p.m. I know, such a long contest. I have had just too many things going on. Plus, I figured everyone was going away. Have a great July 4th weekend! For those of you on Facebook, see you there! I may pop in over the holidays. xo, L

Who Needs Yoga When You have Quilting?

Who needs yoga or therapy when one lives just minutes away from inspiration? Right after the Quilt Out Loud taping, I drove to Kindred Quilts on my way home to chat with my friends. The ladies are wonderful and there's also wonderful stuff in this lovely shop. Check out these photos that I took on Saturday. I'll have some other photos on my inspiration journal too.

Linda Hanneman works at the shop but she also makes these beautiful handmade pieces like the one above. Look below and you'll see nooks and crannies artfully displayed with fabric and samples.

Look up at the ceiling and you will see their sampler blocks.

Wool work, felting and embroidery are other specialties of Toby's shop.

Love the birdies that they made from my pattern from Quilts and More magazine.

When I got home from the Quilt Out Loud taping, I discovered this adorable artwork just waiting for me. Little A drew, cut and climbed up a chair to stick this love note by the peephole for me.

Awww, this was a perfect ending to a perfect day. xo, L

p.s. HAPPY CANADA DAY!

p.s.s. Giveaway will close this weekend!