Cruise

Hello again!

My husband and I are back from our wonderful cruise and seeing our son, Dan. (That's my son in the picture, not my husband) It was so good to see him, he looks great and happy. Isn't that what moms want to know. After being so busy right up to our departure date, it took me about 2 or 3 days to finally get really relaxed. The cruise stopped in Cozumel, Mexico; Belize; Isle of Roatan and Grand Cayman Island.
I have to share one special day we had with you. It was my birthday on Thursday of the cruise and we were on the Island of Roatan which is a beautiful island off of Honduras. My husband rented us a cabana for the day and we had a ball. I am not a beach person, but I could get used to it if I had a place like this every time.

There is an air conditioned room and a front porch on our cabana. We also had our own hammock.

 Two more lounge chairs on the beach, 2 floats for the water AND A WAITER! The waiter got our drinks for us as we lounged on the beach.

These pictures above where all taken from our private beach area. All I can say is WOW, honey thank you so much, it was a blast.
We even had transportation to and from the beach to the pier via a "Magical Flying Beach Chair" shown below. (a.k.a. chair lift)

Back on the ship, Dan was able to give us a tour back stage and show us were he works and what he does. I love seeing all the behind the scenes activities. One of Dan's consoles is in a perch above the stage and just happens to be right above the dancers changing station. I think I have an idea why he is so happy with his job!

When we got home our daughter, Carol,  greeted us at our house with a birthday cake "of sorts" for me. As a part time job Carol is a balloon twister and entertains children and adults with her awesome works of art.
Here I am modeling my birthday cake. My hands are in that position because it's a good way to hide the double chins. I tried to look cheery after a 10 hour day of driving.

Ok, that's enough fun for now. I will be back soon with pictures of quilt symposium.

It has been a very busy couple of weeks for me. Not only was I finishing up the Ursula & Emily details, like letting my distributors and retailers know about the new pattern, I was writing yet another pattern for the North Carolina Quilt Symposium.

Last fall I was asked to teach at the North Carolina Quilt Symposium which is held the first weekend in June this year. I was thrilled at the opportunity to teach at such a big show. Now, I could have taught any one of my bags at the symposium, but, NO, I had to design a brand new tote bag.

No. problem, I had 9 months to work on it! Well, life has a way of intervening. I had already started on the Ursula & Emily Purse so that was on my plate. I have been sick on and off since November with a nasty cough, (still trying to figure out what that's all about), we had the holidays, travel to CT to see my parents in December, and then travel again to be with my mother when she was back in the hospital again in Feb. I took the month of January to learn Adobe Illustrator graphic program so I could draw better diagrams for my patterns. I had classes scheduled to teach for Ursula & Emily that I had to cancel because I wasn't ready. Can you hear me whining as I write this?

You can stop feeling sorry for me know (as if you were), because I finished writing the new tote which is still unnamed, AND on Friday morning, my husband and I are leaving for a week long cruise on the Caribbean.

Or son, Dan, works on the Carnival Cruise ship "Legend" out of Tampa Bay, Florida. He is the automation technician for the entertainment shows on board. Mike and I are so excited to go, not only do we get to go on a cruise, but we get to see our son.  We haven't seen him since January and only get to talk with him once a week when he is at port in the US. It doesn't hurt that we are getting a great rate, too, because Dan can get us a discount. I will tell you all about it when I return. 

I also have to tell you what great friends Ursula and Kathy are. They have volunteered to test my newest pattern while I am away on my cruise. Now that is above and beyond the call of duty! I promise to bring them a souvenir tee shirt:)

For today, I am posting a few pictures of the Ursula & Emily purses that were made by my students at Bernina World of Sewing in Raleigh. The "real" Ursula was in the class and her picture is below along with my friend Kathy.

Here is my friend, the "real life"  Ursula. Below are 3 pictures of her adorable Ursula Purse showing off a favorite kitty cat fabric. 

 

 

 

This is my friend Kathy with her zipper section as a hat. Sorry, Kathy, but you are adorable!  Below is a picture of her completed Ursula Purse complete with zipper section.

The 4 pictures above are Emily Purses made by my student Nora. She made one in class and one at home and used a corduroy fabric for each of them. Great Job!!

Ursula & Emily Continued

Today is the day! I added Ursula & Emily Purse to my website for sale. It is almost like delivering a baby, not quite as painful, but pretty exciting. I think it took me about 9 months to get it together too!


 I told you a few days ago all about the front of Ursula so now is time for the back. This time with real photographs. The back of Ursula and Emily for that matter, has one large slash pocket all the way across the back of the purse. A perfect place to keep your paperwork and receipts. I am amazed that I can fit everything that I need in this purse. As I mentioned before I usually carry a larger purse, but I think Ursula (my friend) is on to something here liking a small purse. I don't seem to throw extra junk into my purse anymore and I am more organized. Inside the purse there is another zipper pocket with a small patch pocket in front of it. On the other side there is a large patch pocket that can be divided into 2 or 3 smaller pockets. That makes this a small purse with 8-10 total pockets (depending how you divide them)! I think that's very exciting!

Emily, is Ursula's alter ego. In real life my friend will use Emily as the name she gives when she is signing in for a restaurant reservation or leaving her name for a food order, because most everyone knows how to spell Emily, but not as many know how to spell Ursula. As far as the purses go, the only difference between Ursula and Emily is the handle choice. Emily has two shorter handbag handles, while Ursula has one long adjustable one.

If you have read this all the way through, you deserve a prize. If you order Ursula and Emily before May 15th, 2011, I will include 3 free notions, 1 magnetic snap (your choice of color), 1 vinyl pocket and 1 buckle. Here is the catch... since I don't know how to add a special discount code to my website, you will need to type in the comment section at checkout, "FREE NOTIONS", and then tell me what color magnetic snap you would like.
Tell me what you think of Ursula & Emily!

INTRODUCING URSULA & EMILY

FANFARE PLEASE!

INTRODUCING THE URSULA & EMILY PURSE PATTERN.

Available May 1, 2011

My friend Ursula has been lobbying for several years to have me design a small purse. She likes to carry a small purse with an adjustable handle that she can wear across her body or over her shoulder. Of course, she still wanted all the pockets and zippers that I have on my other purses, but in a small package. 

What's the saying about persistence (A.K.A, nagging)? Well, she finally wore me down. Not before she put me to shame and actually made her own version by using some of my techniques from my previous purse patterns.  Ursula made an adorable purse that gave me the push I needed to design a small purse. 

I started thinking about what I would want in a small purse. I am usually a big purse lady that likes to fit everything AND the kitchen sink into a purse. How does 8 pockets with a zipper closure at the top sound? All in a 10 wide by 7 1/2" tall package. It's hard to carry a small purse and a bulky wallet, so I added underneath the front flap, 6 credit card pockets and a vinyl pocket for your ID.  The zipper pocket above the front flap is wide enough to hold your paper money. Two side pockets are great for your glasses, phone and even a small bottle of water will fit inside the pocket.

To be continued...(I'll tell you all about the back side and lining of Ursula and who Emily is!)

Where Does All The Time Go?

I am crawling out of my cozy cave, (I must have some bear in me) to say hello! In my cave I have been designing 2 new patterns. The first one called Ursula and Emily will be out May 1st and the second one I think is going to be called Double Duty Tote. That was just a tease, I will have pictures and more details coming this week.

Cincinnati Quilt Festival

I recently got back from helping out my friend Sandy, aka Hissyfitz Designs at the Cincinnati Quilt Festival. This quilt festival used to be in Chicago, but changed this year to Cincinnati. I wanted to go so I could check things out and see if I wanted to have a booth at the Houston Quilt Market and Festival.

I had so much fun checking out every one's cute tote bags and purses as they walked by. Sandy and I tackled and pulled into her booth anyone who was carrying a Professional Tote and told them that I designed that bag, I was even asked to sign an autograph. Sandy had to bring me back to earth as I was feeling pretty special.

Valerie White & Professional Tote

I noticed a gorgeous red, black and white Professional Tote go by and I pulled Valerie White into my booth to admire it. She mentioned that her friend, Bennie Mann, had made the purse for her as a gift and was so excited to meet me that she had to call Bennie right there and then so I could talk to her. Come to find out Bennie Mann makes marvelous purses and has one of her creations in this month's Haute Handbag Magazine. I had to take a picture of Valerie and her beautiful tote.

Rita Jackson, Me & Lynn Mill

Rita Jackson and Lynn Mill both from the Windsor, Canada area stopped by to show me the Professional Totes Rita made for herself and Lynn.

Sandy and I had a great time with lots of laughs and I think I might, just might have to have a booth in Houston. Hope to see you there.

My Friend Sandy

My friend, Sandy, fellow pattern designer and ex-co worker just started a new blog. She has a very nice tutorial  for making quick and easy fabric coasters. http://sandyfitzpatrick.wordpress.com/2010/09/17/coasting-along/. So take a look and while you are there, check out the "Hanging by a Thread" article http://sandyfitzpatrick.wordpress.com/2010/09/20/hanging-by-a-thread/. It is about an art piece hanging in the NC Museum of Art that is made from 5,184 spools of thread. The artist Devorah Sperber has a wonderful collection of photographs on her website of other art pieces made from spools of thread.

Sandy designs darling light-hearted applique quilt patterns,  http://www.hissyfitzdesigns.com/,  and her business is called Hissyfitz Designs. I just love the name and it fits perfect because her last name is Fitzpatrick.

Here are a couple of her adorable designs.

Where was I?

Well, well, well, where have I been? I have been deep in a stressful fog and the fog has finally cleared. It all started in mid May with a trip to CT to see my parents because my mother wasn’t feeling well and to celebrate my birthday. The end of May we started a complete kitchen and back hall remodel. For those of you that have done a complete remodel, I need to say no more. Wow, I knew it was going to be inconvenient, but it was awful. I will spare you all the details and tell you that it is all done and I love it.

My mother ended up in the hospital for a total of 4 weeks and 3 days in 2 separate stays for heart and lung problems, in and out of intensive care.  My husband and I were in CT for 10 days in July and then I was back in August for another 10 days. Again I will spare you most of the details, but the bottom line is that my mother is an amazing woman. The doctors told her that there was nothing else they could do for her and sent her home. Since she got home she is doing remarkable and getting stronger every day.

My daughter, Carol, has been keeping my orders going and has been a life saver. She allowed me to deal with my personal issues and kept my business going for me.  Carol is going to be doing some marketing for me and writing some newsletters and blogs in the future.

With all that business out of the way, I will leave you with some eye candy.
These pictures are from the last meeting of my quilting bee.

Karen made this wonderful recipe quilt. The white squares in the quilt have our favorite recipes written on them that we exchanged last year.

Nancy made this beautiful star quilt with striped and solid fabric.

Carol made this quilt for a relative out of her husbands shirts. The solid squares are the shirts and she bordered them with 2 1/2" squares and quilted a beautiful all over design.

These last four quilts were made by Mary Lou. Every single one was hand cut and hand pieced except for the borders. There are many more quilt tops of Mary Lou's to show you. She must have finished 40 to 50 quilt tops in the last year and every one is hand cut and hand pieced. Amazing!

See you soon!
Laura