Open House

Saturday was the Open House at my local quilt shop, Sew Much for Quilting, where I'll be teaching a bunch of classes this fall.  I'm teaching a class on scalloped borders and binding, one on T-shirt Quilts, and also the Quilting 101 and 301 classes (6 each.)  This Friday 8/29 is also the last class in my Sleep Mat Workshop, so we'll be finishing those.

As for today, I realized that we are at exactly 2 months until the Houston show begins (International Quilt Market), and with the Labor Day and our local Shop Hop yet to come, there's going to be a lot of work left to do without much time.  Today, since I didn't have any pressing deadlines, I'm spending some time catching up on some projects that I've put on hold.  One of which is an expansion of my Idea Book for the Quilter's 2 1/2" Toolkit.  I've been wanting to add information about the use and capabilities of each of the individual pieces and now I'm about half way through.  This will add another 4-5 pages to the Idea Book, which I'll be reposting on my website once it's done.

I've also decided to add a paper copy of the template into the Bethlehem Star Tree Skirt pattern, so if you bought the pattern, and don't already have the Quilter's 2 1/2" Toolkit set and need a paper template, email me at: email@LilacCottageDesigns.com for a copy and I'll send it to you.

Another summer gone- well not quite

Well, It's August again, and as far as school is concerned, summer is over.  I wish they had told the weather, because it's definitely still too hot.  But the good thing about August in Phoenix is that July is over, and soon we'll be on the down hill slide to cooler weather.  By September it should start getting a little cooler, and by October, we'll be back down into the double digits.

Of course, as every mother of school age children knows, school starting is also a flurry of activity.  We've been running all over town buying clothes and school supplies, everything from backpacks and lunch bags, to new sneakers.  But they're finally back in school.  Which means a few blessed hours of peace and quiet to regain my sanity.  I hadn't noticed how much I had gotten used to having them around, until I realized that this was the first time I'd been alone in the house for almost 3 months!  While I have found that I can sew projects while the kids are around, I'm just not able to concentrate enough to do any design work.  So now that they are back in school, I'm finally able to spend some quality time designing some of the projects that have been running around my head for the past few months.

This is a good thing of course, because I have made the largest commitment to my business life so far.  I've signed up to have my own booth at the International Quilt Market in Houston, TX this October.  So the next 2 months are going to be a flurry of activity making arrangements for travel and hotels, planning my booth layout, as well as preparing samples and finishing new patterns.  I also have to get patterns printed, and a brochure handout designed.  So, I know that at least I won't be bored.

As if that wasn't enough to do, over the last 2 months I have been working with friends of mine who own a local quilt store to help them get their education program up and running.  I've done some Interior Design work for them as well, for their store expansion, and I'm teaching several upcoming classes.  So I've also been sewing class samples. (I did the one in fall colors).

On top of that, I'm also taking a class from another local store to do my first Judy Neimeyer quilt, Glacier Star!  So, if I go awhile without blogging, you now know what I'll been up to.   So long for now and Happy Quilting!