Lineanongrata

Useful, beautiful, thankful... (the Advent calendar giveaway, day 19)

This year's Advent gifts: Colorful. Useful. Thoughtful. Thankful (I am)...

Kiddingful, too. Not to forget glitterful!

Have you guys your gifts all ready for Christmas, or am I the last one running late? If you're my sister you're excluded from any comments. I don't want to hear it.

....................

Sara and Lubaska, you won gifts number 17 and 18. Would you please send me an email with your addresses?

For everyone who's new to the Lineanongrata blog: We have an ongoing celebration of Advent until the 24th of December. Every day one of you readers wins a small gift. If you'd like to participate, just leave a comment on each post until the 24th of December and you'll automatically enter the draw.

it's 11:40 pm and if I had a wish...

Lord, it's 23:40 - no, please correct that. It's 23:44. 11:44 pm. I'm working and I'm exhausted. I hope you are well, though.

If I had one wish, a professional wish, you know, not the kind of wish that kind of warrants the answer 'world peace'. Just a working person's wish, I would please kindly ask for the ability to plan ahead. Or to just let it go sometimes.

If there could be a ban on new ideas before trade fairs that would greatly improve my sleep pattern also. Could we install that, let's say, two weeks before each trade fair?

That would give me the time to finish all the projects I already have going on.

I wouldn't be loosing sleep because of new projects that might or might not get finished before the fair.

Which is Sunday, by the way.

Possibly maybe if I promise to be good for, let's say a week?

Two weeks? No?

extended, extra special, extra secret and extra free

I'm on a roll! Spitting out new patterns left and right. People around me have to duck every ten minutes or so because another applique pattern comes flyin' their way.

Or at least something like that. You get the drift. Basically I'm drowning in tiny bits and pieces of fabric, sifting through words that best describe what I need to say, poking my fingers (and my feet, though that was an undesired side effect of my untidiness) with needles and fighting bias tape. A basket of snakes can't compete with pink bias tape with white polka dots. I swear.

To celebrate these memorable events the free extra pattern deal on all the applique patterns available in the shop will be extended for another three days.

You buy any one of the applique patterns in the shop and you get this little bit of unbearable cuteness above (the pattern is called 'best friends') for free. This pattern will never again be available for sale. Never ever.It's extra special and extra secret. And a whole lot of other superlatives.

Uh... that's it. Publicity ends here.

A very happy summer's week to all of you!

although teasing you was fun...

I shall herewith reveal my secrets.

Not all of them maybe,

after all I do have siblings who could blackmail me,

but some of my professional secrets.

This weekend I have a SouleMama sponsorship interview, and in it I will announce...

Tataaaaa: The launching of a new series of pdf patterns (no shipping, I send them, you print them yourselves) for illustration quilts. They will be in the shop starting this weekend. There will also be special deals on many items in the shop for a couple of days and a chance to win a little something on the SouleMama blog, so do have a look.

This is a sort of a sneak preview.

Because I like you.

things I can't tell and things I can't show

The things you can see are those I can't tell.

And the things I want to tell I can't show.

Because I would love to show you what my students did and learned in the eCourse.

The first one has been over for a while and it was a fabulous experience. In six weeks the participants have made progress I wouldn't have thought possible. I was amazed both at that and at the kindness and support the group developed after just a week or so. Every evening when I looked in on our Flickr group I was dumbfounded by what I saw. Really. No kidding. Every one of them made progress. In their own way and their own time.

If you would like to read a bit more about the experience from the student's point of view you can visit with Kristy over at Various Joys and Musings. She has been, and continues to be, a wonderful person to work with. Have a look, you can see how her artwork changed throughout the course, changing style and feel. At the moment I can see her bringing all the new things and experiences together and it's an amazing process to watch.

If only I could share some of the other amazing illustrations I've seen. You'd be amazed.

The really gratifying thing is that many of my students actually got so much out of the illustration eCourse that they wanted to continue to work with me. We have a monthly subscription plan they can sign up for, with one new weekly assignment... until in fall there will be the follow-up course. Of course.

Were I a bird, I'd be preening now. As it is, I'm grinning wildly.

secrets

Yes my dears. I'm having secrets.

Things I'm not telling you.

It's a tiny bit like Christmas.

...Only in July.

And just in case you wonder: Not telling you is a lot of fun.

(hoping for a) quiet moment

What do you do when every possible surface in ones apartment

- and I do repeat: every possible surface - is covered in things to print, glue, make or finish?

Well, you weave a way between your kitchen and your sofa, sit down with a beer,

knit quietly and silently, fervently, pray that it may pass until next you sneak a look.

moments (the logistics of paint)

Paint is logistically magic.

Put it anywhere around your work area (the floor, in my case) and then sit back and pretend you're not watching from the corner of your eye.

In a matter of minutes it will sneak onto your hands, your pants, onto the floor, into the bathroom sink and quite possibly, if you really don't watch it, your hair. 

And all that without any legs.

 

five minute kitchen makeover (washi tape frenzy)

Spring is a bit grey around here at the moment, although some rain is probably a good thing for all the growing green things out there.

But although I'm green at heart, I'm not green on the outside and I stopped growing when I was in my early twenties. Or maybe when I was around fifteen. I can't remember the day.

And although I still appreciate a good splashing leap into a puddle, I prefer to do it in sunshine. And maybe clad in a bathing suit, now that I think about it. Possibly barefoot, too. And if maybe my little sister could stand right beside that puddle and get splashed, that would make it about perfect.

As sunshine isn't forthcoming at the moment, I made my own. Or at least something equivalent that makes me smile every time I look at it.

Have you heard of Washi tape? It's sticky, beautiful, exists in a variety of colors and patterns, comes off the wallpaper without leaving any trace... it's like sunshine for your home.

There are many many things you can do with Washi tape. For more inspiration have a look at the hostessblog or greenteadesign.

If you feel you need some of that tape, too, you might want to have a look here and here.

There are a number of online shops that sell Washi tape. Cutetape is one example, happytape another, but there are tons of other ones, too.

Happy decorating everybody!

Many a night

Quietly at night, I cut and stitched and cut some more. For weeks in January.

In February I swore when it came to handling 2,50 x 2,50 meters of cotton batting,

I swore when I had to iron 2,50 x 2,50 meters of cotton fabric

and I swore when I had to put about tenthousandthreehundred (estimated) safety pins into a 2,50 x 2,50 meters cotton-batting-cotton sandwich.

Where are the houseelves when you need them?!

But I loved when it all came together. In the first quilt I've ever made for myself.

(It's the wedding quilt from the Purlbee)