Simplify

Pillow talk

(pillow from my book.  my pillow talk pillow is still in the...early stages.)

You've probably seen this already, (I'm a little behind), but during the month of February the Moda designers are doing a blog hop.  Actually, a pillow talk blog hop.  Think pillows, and fabric, and MODA, and giveaways.  You'll like it, I promise.

My day is Feb 10, and I'm crossing my fingers that I'll have something finished to show you by then!  We have a crazy week ahead of us, with my parents and brothers fam coming on Friday, boy 1's 7th birthday on Saturday, Nic's baby blessing on Sunday, parents fly out on Monday and our 8th Anniversary on Tuesday.  Whew!  

Wait, what was I saying?  Oh yeah, so this is how it's going to go down, starting at Aneela's tomorrow...

1-Feb   Comfortstitching 

2-Feb   Blackbird Designs

3-Feb   Jan Patek Quilts

4-Feb   Bunny Hill Blog

5-Feb   Cotton Way

6-Feb   Fig Tree Quilts

7-Feb   Kansas Troubles Quilters

8-Feb   Kate Spain Designs

9-Feb   Kathy Schmitz Studio

10-Feb  Simplify

11-Feb  Me And My Sister Designs

12-Feb  Minick And Simpson

13-Feb  Oliver And S

14-Feb  Pieces Of My Heart

15-Feb  L & J Blog

16-Feb  Sweetwater

17-Feb  Barbara Brackman

18-Feb  Deb Strain

19-Feb  American Jane

20-Feb Primitive Gatherings

So check it out, and feel free to come hang out in my sewing room with me at 3am on February 10, where I'll likely be sewing up a storm.  Or desperately searching for a patchwork pillow at Target. Lets pray it doesn't come to that... ;-)  

See you soon!

Heads up

I have had at least 50 emails over the last month or so asking if/when the One Line a Day book from this post was going to be back in stock.  Well, I just noticed today that it is.  Hooray!  I am actually picking up a couple more, and thought I'd give you the heads up too.  Here's the link on Amazon.  And the mom version is here.

Enjoy!

It took me an hour to type this post

This has been an interesting week for me. A computer free week. My poor little laptop had to take a trip to the Apple hospital. 2 trips, actually. That means all of my correspondence has been through my iPhone, and I am not what you would call a savvy phone typist. Please forgive all one line emails, spelling errors, and lack of response via blog, email, Twitter, flickr etc. Not to mention this post. Yikes. I'm hoping to be back online by Mondayish.

At least I have an iPhone pic of Patti at the Modern Quilt Guild meeting last night to liven up the post, huh? (hi Patti!). Btw, the Las Vegas MQG is going to be a lot of fun. You should come! More on that later.

Cross your fingers for a speedy recovery for Mac and no more iPhone posts from me, will you? I know I will.

Dream big

(Dream big quilt- from my book)

Oprah would be so proud of all of you.  I know I am.  Way to dream big!  I loved reading all of your comments (and yep, I read every single one). Lots of dreaming about quilt shops, more babies, farms, kids, fabric and so much more.  Love it!  

Since there were so many entries, I decided to draw three names instead of just one.  Each of you will be getting a book/surprise in the mail, so email me your addresses and I'll get them right out.

The winners are:

NQuinn who would love to start a family

sentimental Erica B who wants to be a great influence to many

and Elisabeth B who dreams of more storage

Congrats!  I wish I had time to respond to all 988 of you directly, to tell each of you good luck, and to go for it, but these days I'm lucky if I can get out of my pjs before its time to put them on again.  So just know that I am rooting for each and every one of you. Promise.  Be sure to let me (and Oprah) know how it goes!

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a fresh pair of pj's and a snuggly little baby waiting for me.

Dreamy.

 

a few notes:

*Something else that has been on my list?  A Simplify Flickr group, which is now ready to go.  I'm currently the only member (lame), so head on over, join, and add your projects, whether they are finished, in progress, or still stacks of fabric.  I would absolutely love to see them!

*For those who asked, Simplify is available in your local quilt stores, book stores (Barnes and Noble, Borders, etc), on Amazon, and in my shop.  

This year

Each year, I pick something, a word, a phrase, something to focus on for the year.  Then I put it somewhere I can see it daily, like the inspiration board in my sewing room or the display on my laptop.

In 2008 my word was "Simplify" (I tried)

In 2009 my goal was to stay afloat (I did)

In 2010 my quote was "The grand and the simple.  They are equally wonderful." from Marjorie Pay Hinckley. (I agree)

This year, 2011, my motto is simple:

"Let what you love be what you do."

That's an easy one. 

Dream on

I've been singing Dream On for weeks now.  Partly because of Glee, and partly because I've been on Neil Patrick Harris overload (between Doogie Howser  reruns and How I Met Your Mother, which led to my re-watching him on Glee... it's a whole big thing...).  Most of this was middle of the night.  Yeah, I don't sleep anymore. As if you can't tell from my grammar and punctuation.

A few days ago I received some really great news via twitter.  Turns out my book, Simplify, is #6 on Amazon's Best of 2010 list. Crazy. The best part about it?  I beat Martha by 3 spots ;-).  To celebrate what is surely never going to happen again (and by that, I mean beating Martha at anything) I thought today was a perfect day for a book giveaway.

 

When I started my company almost 4 years ago, I set three rather unrealistic goals.  (To tell you the truth, I think it had something to do with Oprah?) My dream was to design fabric for Moda, write a book, and be in American Patchwork and Quilting. Some nights when I was up all night sewing away in my kitchen, I would dream of these three things, pretty darn sure that none of them would actually happen, but dreaming nonetheless.  

I guess Oprah was right, because 3 years, very little sleep and an unbelievable amount of work later, my dream became a reality.  I still can't believe it.  

(Sorry about all the cheesiness, really I am.)

(note: Pages stolen from the Stash Books post.  I hope that's allowed... )

Writing a book was such an amazing experience for me.  From start to finish (especially finish) it was just surreal.  I wrote every word and took almost every photo (the one on the cover was taken by the husband- now that is a story!) And even though I wanted to pull my hair out at least half of the time, I am so grateful that I was given the opportunity to write it.  

So here's the giveaway part.  Want to win a copy?  Better yet, a book, some Bliss, patterns and a few more fabric/sewing treats?  Just tell me what your dream is. Whatever it may be.  If you want an extra entry, mention this on your blog and come back and leave a second comment.  If you already have the book and you win, I'll still send you a package of treats, but I'll swap the book out for something else.  Something good.  Not sure what that will be yet... :-)

Anyhow, here's to dreams.  

And Neil Patrick Harris.  

And Oprah.  

 *Comments are now closed, see winners here.