It's a Family Affair + Quilt Giveaway!

30" square receiving blanket

Both my Mother and Grandmother have hopped on the quilting band wagon. When they get together, the dining room table is transformed into a series of work stations for design, cutting, sewing, and quilting. They're so efficient that we wrangled them to help us with the new line of abstract/folk art quilts.  They've even taken it upon themselves to expand the line to include crib-sized quilts, so we will have not only receiving blankets, but also the larger crib-sized baby quilts available in the coming month! What powerhouses! {Thanks Mom! Thanks Grandma!}

We still have a few receiving blankets from last year & thought it might be nice to show our appreciation by giving the one pictured above away to a lucky follower. All of our blankets are made with 100% cotton tops and soft flannel backings. This one measures approx. 30 inches square and is machine washable (naturally). The giveaway will end Friday Oct. 8, when we will pick one lucky person at random.** All of this is building up to our Grand Re-Opening of our Etsy store, Oct. 1. So stay tuned, as we are working like busy little elves to get items up on the virtual shelves.  And hey, thanks again for following us. We think you're great.

To enter, fill out the following form. If you pass on the info, by tweeting, blogging, facebooking, etc. let us know in the form below, so you can have even more chances to win! And listen, all contact information is used solely for this giveaway. It will be deleted once the giveaway is over. Honest to Betsy. (we don't like skeezy mail of any kind, so there's no way we'd subject you to it - we like good karma, not bad).

** This giveaway is open to U.S. addresses only.

This giveaway has ended. Thanks to everyone who participated!

This is Handmade

This is Brilliant. The folks over at This is Handmade have uploaded a series of videos showing how tedious handmade work really is... and why it costs more than those store bought items. (5 minutes is a LONG time!)

Quilt Sketches

 

Here are three (out of the million) ideas for baby/mini quilts that we are playing around with.  The quilts will be about 30" square. Great for receiving blankets, or to just hang on the wall. In the meantime, stay tuned for a baby quilt giveaway later this month!

Back from Hiatus

Sorry folks, we didn't mean to be gone for so long. We are gearing up for the 2010 holiday season - having planning meetings... making drawings, sketches, crazy note-filled pages - in general being good little worker bees.

We are slowly cranking the gears and lighting the gas lamps to get this Etsy machine running, but until the store's grand re-opening (on October 1st) - we'll be blogging and giving away samples of our new fare. So do stay tuned.

and thanks for visiting. I know it's been a while.

Mondo Beyondo = Mondo Great

I just finished an amazing online class put together by Andrea Scher (of Superhero Designs) and Jen Lemen in which you are encouraged to pursue those dreams that you thought might be too big to make happen. You're given exercises to help you understand those dreams, tools to help make them happen, inspiration for the times that you feel overwhelmed or exhausted, and loads and loads of support. Best of all, even though the class is only four weeks long, you can go back and revisit it at any time & are given unlimited access to the community Web site where you can post your own blog and start conversations with others who took the class.

I am telling you this why? Because right now the world needs big dreams - in particular, your dreams to happen & this is a great support network to get you started.

Click on the Mondo Beyondo affiliate link above or in the side bar & go find out more about it. There's another class coming up, so go check it out. You won't regret it. honest.

How to Spread a Little Love (The Fun and Easy Way)

On the eve of Valentine's Day, that sacrosanct and not-terribly-optional consumer holiday, I propose a revolution. A little bitty, eensy, not-at-all-scary revolution. It's time to reclaim the concept of "love letters" from the dusty archives of generations past. You know what I mean: perfumed notepaper, tied with a ribbon, sealed with a kiss. What I am proposing is Love Letters for the Rest of Us.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and state: It is a moral imperative that we tell our beloveds that we love them. (I know, "beloved" is strong language. But I think the world needs to be a little less wishy-washy about love. Feel free to think of this as High Esteem, or Kindness, or whatever works for you.) Our beloveds include all the people we care about, for every possible reason, and to every possible degree. That covers everyone: your parent/offspring/favorite relative, your sweetie/partner/[insert term of choice here], your neighbor who waters your plants when you're away, that nice bus driver who always smiles and asks how you are today. Those people make your life better, but do they know how important they are?

A note for the shy or embarrassed: There's no rule about signing your name to a love letter. An anonymous love letter has just as much power to brighten someone's day. (Possibly more... who doesn't love a good mystery?)

Okay, so maybe you're on board with the overall concept of Love Letters for Everyone, but you're wondering how you're supposed to make the time for individually hand-crafted notes for all those nice people in your life. Seriously, you're too busy for this, right?

What you need is an easy, fun, FREE, and somewhat customizable Love Letter form. And here it is! You can print and hand-deliver it, or hide it for the recipient to discover. Or you can download the form, check any boxes (and add any text) that you like, and then send it electronically.

The beauty of this Love Letter form is that you don't need Valentine's Day to use it! It's appropriate for other holidays and non-holidays, birthdays and un-birthdays... because the world can always use a little love. Enjoy!


Coming soon at Defabricate: Inspiration Postcards--another way to spread some love.

The Elves at Work

It may not seem like it, based on the appearance of the Etsy store, but Tracy and I have been busy little elves as of late.  I've been trying to keep up with the demand for felted birdlies, and hope to have a new set up early this week (they go fast, so keep your eyes peeled). I've also been making hand bound books for Defabricate Designs on Artfire (to be posted soon).

Tracy made these FABULOUS knitted wrist warmers last night (forgive the picture with my messy desk in the background, I was just so excited to show everyone). They're big and chunky, extremely warm, and OH SO SOFT. They're supposed to get posted to the Etsy store, but I'm not sure I can give them up.

In other news: Yesterday, Tracy and I held the first of four sessions for our Creating Sacred Space Through Journaling Workshop, and it was SO GREAT! I think we wore big goofy grins all afternoon, it was just so much fun and so exciting to see grown-ups playing with art materials that they've never before touched!

Some background: The workshop is being funded by The Hirsch Wellness Network, a non-profit here in Greensboro that caters to people whose lives have been touched by Cancer.  They fund and host creative workshops for Cancer patients and survivors and make them available to the participants for free.

I think I can speak for both of us when I say we feel truly blessed that these wonderful and amazing people shared three hours of their lives with us, telling stories and creating art. It was amazing & we're both excited to repeat the experience next week.

Please, if you have the chance, visit The Hirsch Wellness Network Web site and lend your support.