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March 24, 2013

Over the moon!

I am over the moon! The book I have been working on for close to a year has a book cover and a title, Painted Applique; A New Approach with 112 pages of yummy stuff. It will be published by AQS and will be coming out early Fall 2013. I love my cover, it is soooo me! Each and every pattern will have two, yes two tutorials on how to make it. One with fabric applique and the other painted applique. There is a wealth of knowledge on paints, mediums, fabric, brushes, trims and machine applique. It is a very exciting time for me!

I finally did it! I created a little pattern store where you can get the COLOR PDF downloads of the pattern everyone has been asking for. I learned alot. I learned how to merge PDF's and that is a huge accomplishment for me. All my patterns are written with step-by-step photographic tutorials. I like to write a pattern the way I want to learn, and being a visual person, I need photos!
To get Elegant Hearts, click the photo:


Source:
To get Heart's Desire, click the photo:


Source:

I'm getting organized! I like to think I am organized. My husband, family and my book keeper would tell you different. I keep everything, and I mean every single receipt, piece of paper in a big 'ol box and hand it off to my book keeper who has to try her best figuring it all out....and then the phone calls and emails come asking what is what. I don't like paperwork. I rather paint, quilt, sew or be elsewhere. Paperwork does not excite me one little bit.

And then my husband steps in!  My husband gets me. He sees my pained face every time I have to staple receipts to an invoice. Yes, it is an easy thing to do, but I rather let them pile up....out of order...and then my chaos begins. So....while visiting my parents, he saw my mother scan her receipts and bills into NeatDesk. He was intrigued and I got pulled into the room to watch. (I wanted to pull my hair out). Mom has the smaller one and it works like a charm. He told me we were getting one. NO!!! Buy me fabric, paints or a pretty something to wear, but NOT an organizational machine!!! Reluctantly, I said okay, thinking he would be doing it. 
 
We got the big NeatDesk because I have, as he says, "Big stacks of papers".

The one my mom has:

 OK...I adore it! Yes, you heard me right. I am a scanning fool....who woulda thought?  I just load all the papers, the thingamajig scans multiple papers (50) at one time, back and front and the software is intuitive. I do nothing. It has a category and the name, the purchase, the sales tax AND the total are all there. Halleluiah!!!! It is the best thing I have ever owned in the business paperwork category. It does it all for me and I can find anything now. I even scan medical records, business cards, birth certificates and yes!!!!....recipes too.

Check it out, you will not be sorry.....promise!
The one we got:
 
Now for fun stuff! I took Mickey Depre's Pieced Hexies class on Craftsy. Lecturing and teaching workshops and writing books is my career....but quilting is also my hobby. I Hex! Yes, I hex as a way to relax and this is the class that got my attention. I still get to piece very super simple bloacks together and then I get to do some simple hexie handwork while relaxing, watching tv to take on the road with me. Mickey is a great teacher. Patient, loads of knowledge and sharing her super fun way to twist and turn the pieced hexies to create multitudes of different designs to stitch together. I am addictive. What's happening to me? NeatDesk and Pieced Hexies....new hobbies for me! :-)
If you are looking for something new, different and in the need for a legal addiction....go check out Mickey's class!
Pieced Hexies can be purchased at 33% off right now!
Go for it and Click the photo!

YOUR COLOR FIX FOR TODAY!

Some stuff I have been working on....

 More about this coming up in the near future....it's a super secret special project I have been working on!

NEW CLASS...Click on photo
Come say "hi" to me on Facebook.
Click on the photo!

Till the next time everyone!!!
Now go create something beautiful......Linda


 

February 7, 2013

Doodles, Fitbit and I LOVE Stella!!!


 3 times a week, I draw or doodle something in my sketch pad. It helps keep the brain thinking. Many times, as I am painting in my little sketch, an idea or two or eight make an appearance in my thoughts. That's my kind of multitasking!

So what has been rolling around in my thoughts? It's time to get serious and take care of my health. Writing a book and other life interruptions left me not thinking about myself and my health. I have (GASP!!!) 20 lbs to lose. I can't believe I just told the world, but I did. The words are staring me in the face and it's time I hold myself accountable to take care of "me". 

I am not good at remembering to log in a book what I eat. I tell myself that I will do it later, and later never comes. I ordered a Fitbit. Yes, these tiny little miracle that will log for me my sleep patterns, the steps I take, the calories I will burn and will even wake me in the morning. I can enter a food and it will log it and tell me about it. You can plug it into your computer and see charts and get little reward badges. (That is soooo me!). It is like having this little cheerleader by my side helping me every step of the way. I am cautious what I spend my money on. I rationalized that Fitbit is like eliminating the purchases of just a few bad items I eat in 2 weeks. Who's gonna Fitbit with me? At least go read about it! I ordered mine from Amazon.



 
I got the biggest surprise of my year last week.  I searched to see if Stella Lighting had a Facebook page and they did. They just put the page up and had 99 "Likes". I clicked to like the page and I was #100. I posted a little funny, saying I am the 100th Like on the page so do I win a trip to Disney?  I awoke to find an email the next morning that I won their new Black Stella Lamp. I NEVER win anything...I was literally jumping in my seat!!!! My lamp just arrived. I truly love my Stella. For real. Let me tell you why....
 It has a soft twist-able neck that you can flex to your liking.
 It is LED and soft yellow lighting. You can switch to your liking. 
AND...it has multi -dimming selections. COOL!

 It had a nice long cord that you put into the back of the lamp.
I love this kind of cord. It wraps up nicely and you don';t have to wrap it around the lamp for transportation.
 
 Look at how I can position my lamp to however I want!


My husband is eyeballing this lamp for his fly-tying. 
Keep the box! It has a nice handle on top so you can bring your lamp to classes or retreats. You can put your cord back into the little white box, but I put my cord into a little zippered bag I made. Hmmm....maybe Stella will consider little zippered Stella bags?

I am super excited to tell you about this lamp. I started to think at 3am like I always do. I wanted to know more about the lamp and the Stella people, so I emailed them and asked questions. Wow! I got more than I imagined and will share my little Q&A with them.
 
Many thanks for your interest in Stella Lighting.  We always love hearing about individuals stories and continue to achieve  three critical things in our business….LISTEN……INNOVATE……..FULFILL.  We try and always put our customer first, delivering personalized lighting solutions that users find value in.  Anyhow, I wanted to answer a few questions that you had.



ME:  How did you come up with the name Stella Lighting?
Great question!  To begin, Michael McCormick our Vice President and Director of Brand Development called me up one night after I had tasked him with developing a "lighting company name".  We had previously developed the lamp for school children here in Eugene as there is lot's of research on how our brains interact with light.  Anyhow, Mike called me up on night very late, about 1:00am and said, "I have it, Stella Lighting".  He asked, "Do you know what that means in latin?".  I said "of course, we just named our 6th child Stella, it means star".  Stella Lighting Inc was born.  He sent over the logo the next day and we were off to the races.

ME:  Is this a mom and pop business?
It is interesting, Michael and I started selling lights out of the back of our truck.  Originally, we were sitting in Starbucks, having a cup of coffee one morning about 6:30 AM and a woman came up to us randomly.  I would say she was in her early 60's, frankly, kind of caught us off guard.  She said, "Excuse me, I just could not help but notice your light and the way the light changes color.   I am a seamstress for a living and I use what are called Ott Lights, do you know what those are?"  I said "no, and proceeded to explain that I knew nothing about the sewing industry".  She looked at me and said "Well, you should, because everybody in our industry uses the Ott Light, and that light will do anything and everything that my Ott Light will do and more!"  We proceeded to bring in 150 lights as a trial order.   We sold all 150 lights throughout the state or Oregon in 7 business days, and set up 23 authorized retailers from Ashland, in southern Oregon to Portland in the north.  We are now represented in 48 states, in over 280 shops.  That was in June of 2012.  As of December 2012, we were the #1 ranked notions item for the distributor EE Schenck and the #8 notion item for Brewer.  So, we started as a mom and pop, and morphed into something bigger.  This said, we will never forget who we are.  The small independent shops put us in business, gave us the opportunity, opened a door.  It is because of them, we have had our success today.  Our story is part of the fabric of who we are, and we never want to loose that identity.

ME: Where are you located? 
We are located in a small community called Coburg, just north of Eugene, OR.  Our offices are in a located in the historic "Purkerson House, built in 1890" on cottage row.  We also have a small warehouse where we prepare, store and ship product.  It's a really neat place to have an office and work, again, part of the fabric and culture of our company.

ME: Will you be coming out with new colors in the future, like purples and teals?
It's funny, we talk about this quite a bit.  I suppose the short answer is, I don't know.  People ask, and frankly we want to deliver what the consumer wants.  This said, the most realistic color in the future would be pink.  We have thought about doing a breast cancer awareness lamp, to where part of the proceeds form each sale would support this cause.  We would love to get more feedback from people regarding what they might be receptive too.

ME Tell me out the dimmer, yellow and white light?
In a nutshell, lighting is extremely personal.  I think in this industry, lighting is especially critical, matching of fabric and thread, individuals that may have a hard time seeing, or simple illuminating a controlled space.  We have had the opportunity to talk with people all over the united states, and the story is often the same.  People just are not happy with the products that have been out over the pst 5-8 years.  Lights get to hot, don't provide enough light, have expensive replacement parts, ext……This all said, we wanted to provide products that could provide solutions for these types of issues.  The Stella has the unique capability to provide three different kelvin spectrums, warm white, pure white, and cool white.  These spectrums give the user maximum control to adjust the color that they work best under.  So, as an example, if you are reading, the warm spectrum really encourages your eyes to not work as hard, reducing brain activity, resulting in a  very calming light, easy to read under.   The opposite is true regarding the pure white setting where the spectrum is the closest thing to natural outdoor light.  As a result, true color is illuminated, while your brain is being stimulated.  Brain stimulation in essence encourages the user to pay attention to the task at hand.  Stella further provides the user maximum control through the capability to dim up or down to 10%, flex the neck to produce light where light is needed.  Last but not least, Stella produces minimal heat, has no replacement parts and comes with a 12' power cord.  Again, it's all about our user. Our user expects excellence in what they do, sewing, quilting, fiber arts and mixed media.  Why should the lighting products they use be anything less than exceptional?  It's quite a bit to strive for, and we might fall short, but we are going to work hard trying.

ME: Where can we buy Stella Lamps?
The best way to buy your Stella is at your local sewing, quilting, fiber arts and mixed media retail store.  We are currently represented by 280+ shops in 48 states.  Detailed authorized retailer contact information can be found by visiting www.stellalighting.com.  In the event your local shop does not yet carry they Stella Light, simply ask them to either special order one in, or encourage them to carry the lamp in stock.  You can also submit an online form that records the shop information and our sales team will contact them direct.  Now, in the event these options do not work out for whatever reason, Stella products can be purchased off of the Stella Lighting web site direct.  We will drop ship to you and payment in easily processed through our online store.


Summary
It sounds funny, but I really consider our story and American success story.  We have been so fortunate to enter an industry and provide a product where users were receptive, in a very short period of time.  It's been a combination of luck, quality product, strong brand, and good customer service.  Our product has a higher price point, however, we don't shy away from this.  We produce a premium product, with premium customer service behind the product.  We consider Stella a tool.  You can buy a cheap tool and replace it in a few years, or buy the right tool the first time and save yourself the headache.  Furthermore, the fabric of who we are as a company is critical, and we want to continue to build products based on what the client wants.  Later this spring we will be releasing the Stella Sky, a state of the art floor lamp.  We developed and designed this product based on conversations with the consumer, what they want, and I am confident that we have designed a product that achieves this.  Nothing like it will exist.  In the end, it is our sincere hope that we can continue to evolve into the lighting company that people think of in this industry when they want to purchase a lighting product.  We are grateful to be apart of blogs like this, people talking about our product.  Lighting is personal, and we want to encourage people to think about that.  The best way to encourage this is to promote education.


Thank you Nathan for taking the time to answer my questions and thank you for my wonderful prize! 
You can find Stella Lighting on Facebook. Go click "Like" and learn about them.

Pssst.....I would love to have you come and visit me on my Professional Art and Quilt Facebook page too! Just CLICK HERE





 


January 29, 2013

Make it Happen!

What if we all woke up each morning saying this while we stretched and let out a yawn?
Can you imagine starting your day this way? "Making it Happen" doesn't mean you have to achieve and finish in that very same day. It can be something small, but doing it with a positive attitude that you will start with the intention of making it happen. Just cleaning out a closet is making it happen instead of procrastinating. I am a firm believer in substituting a negative thought instantly with something more happy and positive driven. 

Each night I write the things I would like to get done in the next day. When I awake I tell myself "I'm gonna Make it Happen". I may not get to everything, but crossing things off the list makes me happier than a bird with a french fry!

My new book coming out end of summer/late fall this year had one thing missing when I sent in the manuscript to my publisher. The "head shot" photograph that goes on the back of the book. I don't like getting my picture taken. I am way to critical of myself.....those aging lines,5 inches cut off of my hair, visible signs of loving cheese, bread and sweets a little to much, medications that puff ya out. But the time came for me to get this done. I went over to Bonnie McCaffrey's studio ( a few miles from my house) where she did the photo shoot. Tomorrow I will be reviewing with her the official "head shot". She did some fun pics of me as you can see above. Bonnie makes you feel comfortable and says some pretty funny stuff to get ya laughing.I've come to terms that pictures are inevitable and I am Me and that just how it has to be! Here is her Facebook link to see some awesome portrait photography she does. CLICK HERE. 
On my Facebook professional page, I was showing how I make a workshop kit with all the pieces traced and cut so you are ready to begin. (You can click on the picture above if you would like this pattern).



 I try to doodle, sketch or paint something everyday while eating lunch. Today I was dreaming "waves".. must be because I will be teaching in Florida next month!


One thing I can't so without, is my little electric battery eraser. It even erased colored pencil beautifully. I own 2 of these! To me, these are worth every penny!


Some super happy news for me happened! My new book coming out late summer/early fall this year has a name and I super love it. Her name is "Painted Applique; a new approach". It makes me happy and I just love the positive ring it has to it!  When I get the picture for the book cover picture, I'll be sure to share it with you.

I'm giving you a little peak of a picture I tool of one of the quilts in progress I did for the book. Each pattern has a tutorial on how to make it in fabric and the other in painted applique!

 I have finally got back to doing some reading. I have been working for the past year writing the book, designing the patterns, workshops and all that fun stuff from the moment I awoke till I couldn't go on any longer at night. I decided this year to work hard as always, but get some me time in there too.  I love to listen to audio books during the day, and now at night I am letting my eyes read the written words while I drift into the story line. It feels good.

And.....Your Color Fix for Today!

Hope you come over and join me on my
 Facebook Professional Art and Quilt Page...would love to see you there.


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