So I got my Hello Pilgrim strike-offs in today.... It's crazy to think that we sent in artwork in the first week of August, and here it is with me on fabric. FOR NEXT YEAR. I like being ahead, but I feel like I am keeping a lot of things from you.
I really like seeing how 1001 Peeps, Outfoxed, and Hello Pilgrim are all playing together. All I can really say is that I am building you a rainbow. I'm also working on a fun/ amusing project that I should be able to show you this weekend. And maybe you'll want to participate too.
Market is just around the corner, and it seems like I am getting new fabric every month, and I live in a tiny place people.... so! I am doing a special, very limited edition fabric sale. Each box will contain fabric from Lizzy Dish, Red Letter Day, Castle Peeps, 1001 Peeps, and Outfoxed!
There are 15 boxes total and each box is a USPS Priority Mail Medium flat rate box and will be filled to the brim with pieces of fabric ranging from a couple of inches, to strips, to fat quarter sized. Some of the fabric is left over from projects, and others are just extra I have laying around! These are all functional pieces, no string pieces... these aren't really scraps, people.
I'm trying my best to put a full range of color in each box, so that you could potentially make The Colorist a couple times over with one of these boxes.
So don't miss this limited limited opportunity to build up your Lizzy House fabric collection!!! Also, I am putting other LH goodies in these boxes. It will be like a real life surprise when you open your box. A good surprise.
For this first round, I am only doing domestic shipping. If you are international and really really interested, email me, and we can possibly figure something out!
*Update*
The boxes sold out in 24 minutes! Wowzers!
So I have a waiting list going, but if I do a second round, it will include international peeps.
Thanks so much everyone! Also, next time, I will announce that I am going to sell the boxes before I actually sell the boxes, so everyone gets a shot
I've read your comments and emails, and I think that we can really help each other. I have been giving a lot of thought to some of the problems we seem to be collectively facing, and how we can collectively kick the habit this year.
We are too hard on ourselves. I was in Salt Lake the other day, throwing my little Asher in the Rye a birthday party. On one of the days I was there, I met this lady, and we were talking about art and what not and she started talking about how hard she is on herself, and the expectations she puts on herself, and then she said, what I feel is the common thread with all of us, "No one expects it of me but I figure if I don't do it, it's not going to get done right". So, I think this is one of our issues. We are taking on so much, and when we don't accomplish everything we get so down on ourselves... when we were the ones!
I taught myself a lesson in this. You have to be realistic. Simplify. Remind yourself how many hours there are in a day, remind yourself who shares your time, remind yourself of your resources; financial/mental. When we were planning Ashlee's party, we knew that we didn't have much money to put into it, and we only had the day hours to prep everything for the night. I went from having a menu with a cake, and 3 different appetizer things, to no cake but six kinds of profiteroles; 3 savory and 3 sweet, to finally, cream puffs. We just had cream puffs, and everyone loved them. I just made up four batches, whipped some cream, dipped the tops in chocolate. No one complained about there not being a cake... or more stuff, we just had cream puffs, and everyone danced.
I could have done it. I could have baked the cake, and made the appetizers. I am more than capable of making everything I want to have happen, happen. I would have spent more money then I had and driven myself nuts...But I wanted to spend that time with Ashlee, on her 23rd birthday. I didn't lower my expectations of myself, I was just more realistic.
I started on this path to simplification my senior year in college, when I was finishing up. I had all these crazy expectations of myself, because I felt like it was what other people expected of me, what I came to expect of myself... but one day, I was too tired, and too worn out, and not everything I had had planned worked out... and amazingly enough, the world didn't end. It's like in A Boy Named Charlie Brown when Charlie Brown looses the Spelling Bee, and Linus comes to visit him when he doesn't come to school the next day, and he says... oh just watch the video
the other thing. Times are hard right now. I know that sometimes it seems like you have been sold up the river without a paddle, and that you have been left alone. Forsaken by friends or family, or worse, forsaken by God. This is an imperfect world we live in, made to shape and change us. I've known financial troubles, and family troubles, heart ache, and disappointment. But you can't loose hope. You can't loose hope that there is something better and brighter. We are innovative people. We have an oppurtunity everyday to better our situations.
I look at my different issues like a design problem. And often times I find myself running into the same problems. I keep hitting the same brick wall. Why? How? I need to step back. I need to assess the situation, and see if there is anything that I can change.
If we are approaching things, like we always do how would things ever be different if we are staying the same? If you look at it in an equation, you are the control in your life, and everything else is the variable. So, you always have the oppurtunity to change, and better still have some say over your situation.
That's something else too. You can't wait for other people to change. You have to be the one. Things get better when you decide to make them better. And the beauty of the whole thing is, the better you take care and love yourself, the better you are, the better you can love other people. It's amazing how the whole thing works. And to add to the beauty, we have each other. We're in this together.
So, those are just some thoughts I've been having. I want to hear how you feel about it. What are some of your ideas to simplify, and be better to yourself or better your situation this year?
In all of my traveling, and designing, I forgot to mention that my quilt made the cover of Quick Quilts Magazine!
the quilt is called, "Dîner de Canard," which when translated to English means, Duck Diner. The quilt uses pieces from both Lizzy Dish and Red Letter Day to tell a story, only you are the one who decides how the story goes.
Are the Ducks sitting down to a Champion Dinner? or
Are you sitting down to a Champion dinner of Duck?
with simple strip piecing, this is my take on the classic Chinese coins, and it goes together in a flash! Or like duck soup! No really! I made my the whole top in 8-10 hours!
So get your cute little self to a grocery store that sells Quick Quilts magazine, and pick up a copy of this beauty, and maybe some ingredients for supper? And there I will be waiting, on page 34 and 35 to help you answer the age old question, what's for dinner?
I did... I forgot to post about this cutey little quilt I made a while back. I got really busy with moving and what not... also, can I just say it's crazy getting settled in a new place. I'm still not all situated! And I've got Squam next week!
My peeps have been here all weekend and its been really great. I hope you all had a great weekend and holiday. I'll check in later this week to say Goodbye before I take off for a while!
I truly didn't realize how different it is from sewing! But it sure is cool to be done with a quilt so quickly. I had a thought though, what would our ancestors do if they saw a long arm quilting machine? Probably keel over. It would be inconceivable! I have another quilt to do this week. SO MUCH work to do! and all you tricked out acrobat sewers/quilters blow my mind!
I have been peeping at Lizzy Dish sales... is that weird? Anyway I noticed that peeps seem to be avoiding the Knives. And I want to say to you, Fear Not!Avoid no more! The picture that appears in most shops isn't very telling of the versatility of this neat-o fabric.
So I was with Carla after one of our Thursday Art Nights, and she had just made this brilliant pillow using the knives in all three color ways, as we had decided to only do projects using the knives as almost a challenge. Anyway, she was finishing her pillow so she pulled out some buttons, the covering kind, and we started to play around with some scraps... turned out that the small diamond fit perfectly in the center of the button. TURNED out it looked like a cat eye, or on its side, a frog eye. I designed the fabric and I didn't even see that! I said jokingly, "hey, that looks like an eye... HEY THAT LOOKS LIKE AN EYE!" We covered all the buttons she had, and I got started with my new family of cats.
So, not only does the fabric act as perfect eyes for feline or amphibian (think Kermit eyes), it acts as a good cat stripe. Like a tabby or a Mau, and for you cat lovers you can change the directions of the stripe to be more realistic to a cat, and further crack yourself up.
this is the kitchennaire* family. Well fed of course.
I will post more knife fabric projects over the next week or so!
Will you give me a shout (leave a comment) if you have had a Lizzy Dish sighting at a local shop? Just let me know your sweet name and where you are!
Look what I got!!! I got all three color ways on rolls... this might not be that interesting to other designers who have received fabric this way before, but I was beside myself! Don't they look neat?! If you find Lizzy Dish at your local store, or a new place online be sure to leave a comment here, or just shoot me an email!
Also, check out this interview I did over at TrueUp. I think everyone in the industry as well as the fabric loving world owes a debt of gratitude to Kim Kight. She really does such a great job at keeping everyone informed all the time. From Tweets to International sales, she really covers the gambit. Hooray for Kim!
Today I really needed lists. I got a little overwhelmed, and one of the best things for me to do to calm myself down is start making lists. Here is one of my lists that you might find useful
Do four items make a list? We'll keep working on it. Fabric Peeps. Let me know when you get Lizzy Dish and I will add you to the list. Also, if any of you peeps see Lizzy Dish in your local shops let me know, and we'll tack them on.
I got an email today that informed me that dreamer Julie/ Valentine Westphal had already made something using Lizzy Dish. That really made my day. I guess I didn't know how I would feel when someone did, if anyone ever would, and they did, and it's great!
isn't it beautiful? and in all three color ways!
I also want to say that I have a surprise for everyone this week. I can't believe how good I have been about this. But I will say that I have hinted about it since last spring market... I'm so excited.
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