Lazy works for me

So, as I said before, I'm opening a small studio in Phoenix. Yesterday was another day of the usual...

The city was supposed to send an inspector on Monday to approve turning on the electricity (nothing better to do, I guess) Of course there's a hefty fee for this and I still can't tell why that's necessary because it took all of 5 minutes when he finally showed up yesterday (Monday wasn't good for him even though we had an appointment).

So once he gave his blessing on our having electricity, the power company sent out a guy to install a meter. Why? There's already a meter there. It was the only meter turned off for the building but he said it didn't have our suite number on it so he refused to turn on the power even though it was the right meter. Many phone calls and much wasted time later, another guy comes out and says it's no problem the number wasn't on it and turns it on. This is AFTER the carpet cleaner showed up...needing the electricity we should have had the day before.

The carpet cleaner is another story altogether. He didn't end up needing the electricity after all. He told us it would be more expensive to clean the carpet than to replace it. Unbelievable. How can that be? These guys didn't want to do their jobs. The carpet cleaner actually admitted that he tells his customers to schedule early in the day because if you're his last call, the job doesn't get done well...or at all in our case.

So Gary went on a rampage and ripped the carpet out of the place and we're going to have new carpet...it's a reward for what we've had to go through so far. Maybe I should hire some other lazy person so we can justify a 60" flat screen TV on the wall ;-)

Maybe today is when the fun starts? ;-) Hope you have a good one!

Cheers

Congratulations to our latest winner!

I love being able to start off the day by telling someone they've won a prize! Tina Romo submitted an answer to our question, "What's your favorite Halloween trick or treat?", and her name was drawn from all of the entrants. She's won a tower of 29 fat quarters from my Dot-to-Dot collection from Robert Kaufman Fabrics. That's more than 7 yards of fabric! Congratulations, Tina, and I hope you enjoy the prize. Of course, we'd love to see photos of anything you make using the fabrics ;-)

We had more responses to this contest than any other we've held and really enjoyed all of your submissions. I hope you had a chance to read through them and enjoy them, too. If so, maybe you've gotten some new ideas for your next Halloween celebration? I know I had some good laughs from some of the answers and was also reminded of lots of Halloweens past. Great fun and great memories!

I'll be spending the day, again, getting my studio ready to open. I decided I wanted to try out having a space to work in that I could share with fellow creative types and offer classes and open sewing/crafting sessions. I found while working with the Dam Quilters in Boulder City that I love having the instant feedback on my designs and that I'm more inspired to create when I'm in the midst of other creative people (especially when they like what I'm working on!). I'm sure we'll also be holding some fun retreats there and maybe you'll want to join us for those? If you're local to the Phoenix area, I hope you'll consider spending some time with us there. Keep an eye out here for details. You can also subscribe to my email list and join the local discussion here for updates.

Time for me to get to work....

Don't you have something creative you should be doing? ;-)

Cheers!

Good answers :)

Thanks for all of the great answers and comments on the Halloween question. Everyone who posted here, on my personal fan page and on the Party with Patrick fan page will be entered in the drawing for the tower of fat quarters. It's gonna take awhile to account for and enter all of the names so we hope to draw at the beginning of the week. Stay tuned...

A Halloween contest in April?

Yep, you're right, it's the middle of April. But I have a question for you about Halloween and I need your answers soon if you'd like the chance to have them published in Quilting Celebrations and to win a great prize!

The question is - What's your favorite Halloween Trick or Treat?

Don't blurt out your answer right away. Give it some thought and think like this:

- A "trick" might mean a harmless prank you pull on friends or co-workers. It could be a tip or suggestion you have for giving a ghoulish gift, creating a creepy costume, or staging a spooky soiree.

- A "treat" could be your favorite beggars' night swag when you were a kid or what you like to give the goblins at your door nowadays. Or it might be something as simple as the feeling you get when you see your kids or grandkids in their costumes (perhaps the ones you made for them).

Whatever your thoughts on the subject are, I want to hear them and I think our readers will love to hear what you have to say, too. Tell me - in a single word, a sentence or a paragraph - what your favorite Halloween trick or treat is.

You can post your answer here as a comment. You can also post on my personal Facebook fan page or the Party with Patrick fan page. But please do it on or before Friday, April 23. If you do, you'll be entered in a drawing to win a fat quarter tower of 29 cuts from my Dot-to-Dot collection for Robert Kaufman Fabrics. That's one of each color offered and over 7 yards of fabric! Any person who submits an answer to the question, whether it's published or not, will be entered in the drawing for the fabric. But be sure your answer is posted here or on one of the fan pages to be qualified. You may also submit as many answers as you'd like but your name will only be entered into the drawing once.

So, get your thoughts in gear and jot down your favorites to submit. I'll be anxious to hear - and share - what you have to say.

Go to it!

Chained to the drawing board...

It's a love/hate thing I have for this feeling that there are so many new designs in my head that I can't get them out fast enough. I love the feeling that there isn't a creative block anywhere on the horizon but I hate that I can't realize all of the ideas faster! In any case, I couldn't be happier with my latest round of designs :)

I've got a plethora of ideas for my pattern line, a book, a venture into hand embroidery patterns and also for digitized machine embroidery. We have an online membership club in the works and hope to launch as soon as our new website is up and running in a month or so. The projects for my magazine, Quilting Celebrations, are almost finished and ready to photograph and I love them. I hope you will, too. So, there's a lot going on here, as usual, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

My latest fabric design, Fizz, is going gangbusters and Robert Kaufman Fabrics is doing their best to keep up with the orders. Hopefully, it will arrive at an independent quilt shop near you soon. There are a few more designs coming from RK in the near future so there will be no shortage of fun fabrics to play with.

As happens each year, sales have started to pick up for the fall and holiday offerings in my pattern line. It seems you're all starting earlier each year on your holiday quilting and doing more of it! I have lots of fall, holiday and winter designs so you can get going.

Please stop by my fan page on Facebook and also the Party with Patrick fan page for up to the minute info on all that's going on here.

Even with all of this new stuff, it's back to the drawing board for me. I don't use the word "plethora" unless I really mean it.

Don't you have some quilting you should be doing...? ;-)

FREE pattern!

I've offered this before but, in case you missed it, here's a link to a free pattern for a great kids' project for you from my appearance on "America Sews". This could be a fun Easter weekend project to entertain the kids or grandkids.

Click here for the free pattern!

I hope you like it and that you're having a wonderful weekend!