lysa flower: : Page 30

And the winner is… drumroll please!

Lysa December 7, 2012 4

Thank you everyone for entering Sew Mama Sew’s giveaway day (week!). I was so tickled to see and read all your wonderful and amazing comments. I hate having to pick just one winner, even if I can do it randomly! From your comments I have discovered grandparents are the ones who have left a great many of us loving letter writing! Thank goodness for them!

However with out further ado the winner is… put your hands together for…

Holly U Congratulations! (and the crowd goes wild!)

I have to admit when I reentered the world of sewing, mostly quilting, I didn’t realize how entangled it would be with the postal system. I’ve always loved letters and what really clenched it for me was when my grandfather took it upon himself to write to me when I moved away to Vancouver. We wrote back and forth until he passed away and I kept every letter because I knew one day it would be a precious reminder of our relationship!

When I was a kid I would sometimes stay with my grandparents for a week or two on their farm. Grandma and I would drive into Halkirk (a small hamlet in Alberta. Maybe it is even too small to call a hamlet?) to pick up their mail. Grandma would chat with the post office lady, who was so nice, and they’d catch up on the weather and local news. It was always a lovely outing and I really enjoyed it! Recently I had a chance to go back to Halkirk and there it was, the old postal office. Of course they’ve put siding on it so it isn’t as cute as it used to be but in true prairie form it’s more practical.

When my husband and I moved out to our acreage and discovered our local post office, I was over the moon!

Unfortunately the postal lady wasn’t nearly as friendly or jovial as grandma’s postal lady. Mostly I think because I usually had small kids in tow. I’ve come to learn some people are allergic to young children and I suspect this might be the case at our post office. Now that my kids are older we seem to be getting along much better and I don’t seem to be getting in as much trouble about the state of my packages anymore. In fact she was quite impressed and complemented me on my Fab Bee mail out where I sewed the envelopes together!

I’ve come to learn a good postie can make quite the difference in the kind of experience you’ll have with sending or receiving mail. Between the swaps I’ve done and the quilt bees I’m in, it’s so nice when there is a friendly face on the other end of the counter. So now I am off to happily deliver my cards to Holly U! Congratulations!

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day! (week)

Lysa December 3, 2012 117

This is my first time joining Sew Mama Sew’s giveaway day and I’m very excited.I feel a bit like Bob Barker, if only I had that long microphone, that would be cool! However to win this pack of 5 cards you don’t have to jump up and down or spin any wheels, all you have to do to enter is answer one of these questions: Who was the last person you received a letter from or who was the last person you wrote a letter too. Easy peasy right! The winner will be picked at random and announced on December 7th. And yes am more than happy to ship internationally.

I love fabric! Who doesn’t? Don’t you? I love to touch it, buy it, sort it and arrange it, contains so much potential but I especially love to draw it!

I’ve drawn my stash many times and I realize I also love seeing and hearing about other people’s fabric stashes. I guess that makes me a bit of a voyeur (aren’t we all, it can’t be just me?!)I decided to ask some super talented fabric lovers if I could draw their stashes and you know what, they said yes!

Every stash is different and is a portrait of each owner. Each stash is vastly different ranging from the size of how big, or how select, to how organized, or in many cases not so organized, and of course, of colour choices.

Ahem you wouldn’t let me me take a peek at your stash would ya? …c’mon just a peek…I guess it’s only fair you peek at mine first. You can see some of my stash drawings on Flickr or more drawings of Lesley’s stash (the first drawing), Krista’s stash (second, third and forth drawing) or Berene’s stash (the last one) in my gallery.

Whether or not I get to see your stash or not, as Bob Barker always said “Good Luck!” Oh and be sure to check out other Sew Mama Sew’s giveaways. So many goodies! Bob Barker didn’t say that but…if the giveaway days would have been invented then, I think he would have!

Happy Birthday Sandra!

Lysa November 30, 2012 5

Today is my friend Sandra’s birthday. It’s kinda important birthday. Not that they aren’t all important but this is a milestone, kinda, sorta. I made a quilt specifically for Sandra on this particular birthday but I’ll show it a little later after she’s received it and has seen it first, only fair right.

Sandra and I grew up across the street from each other. When we first met we were five and I knew right away that I’d love her. We played on weekends and during the summers. We played with Barbies, drew pictures, rode bikes and before we started pining for the boys in the teen magazines we built forts. We lived on the edge of town in a new development. Not only did we have construction sites to explore but we also had huge farm fields as our back yards. Sandra and I would spend hours making forts. She’d make hers, I’d make mine and then we’d give each other a tour. I always loved her forts and eventually, with much persuasion, I’d convince her to trade with me. We’d spiffy up our newly exchanged forts and then again give each other tours. More often than not I’d be left wanting my original fort back because she made it so cool. By that time one of our moms would have bellowed our names and we’d leave our forts, cold and white knuckled, only to start all over again the next day. Whenever I feel that the “grass is always greener on the other side” I strive to be more satisfied with what I have and think back to those forts.

Sandra was so cool! She had two older sisters who told her stuff that I didn’t know. She was the bearer of news like where babies came from and the truth about Santa (all in the same conversation I might add – that was a doozy!). She knew about music and which boys were cool. She was smart, outgoing and pretty.

As we grew up we grew apart. We did reconnect after college, writing letters. She went on to become a nurse, moved to the States and married a Texan. Now she’s a mom with beautiful twin boys… but no matter what changes we still share those memories of making cassette tape radio stations, her Dad always calling me turkey lurkey and building those forts! Happy Birthday Sandra!

It’s that time of year. . . again

Lysa November 28, 2012 4

Yup, it’s that time of year, again. We are about to turn over the last page of our calenders before we need new ones.

These calenders were inspired by a little 1977 calender my grandparents had tossed in with a bunch of their photos. There wasn’t anything significant about 1977. No major events happened in our family that year that I know of – hmmm? The calender did have pen scribbled on it like someone needed to test one to see if it worked. Also it seemed as if it was just tossed aside and forgotten about. However, when I found it, it reminded me of how I love the look of old calenders, especially the ones where you had to rip off each month.

Even though I like the idea of ripping months off calenders it was important to me that a tuft of paper wasn’t left over. You know the ones, where month after month it has built up and by December you have this big wad of paper at the top. I wanted the calenders to look just as neat and clean in December as they did in January. What was also really important to me was that the wood of the drawing was not marked up in any way. No screws or nails though the front face. To ensure this I used magnets on the backs of the calenders. I love magnets! Then, to have something for the calender magnets to clutch to, I used magnets on the back of the wood frames. I use rare earth magnets so they are super strong but that sometimes makes it really tricky to get them apart or picking them up. Which is why I glued ladybugs onto the magnets on the back of the drawing. It made it much easier to pop them off.

I also really wanted these drawings to have have a function when the year is up. They can contact me to order new calenders for next year, or use the magnets to hold up photos or notes… but no matter what they’ll end up with a drawing to hang on their wall. All the calendars are hanging up at Favouite Gifts at the Londsdale Quay.

Laying all my cards on the table.

Lysa November 26, 2012 5

Not only have I been busy on this new site, with the help of Cynthia, Norm, Raeanne and of course my very patient and wonderful husband Chris, but I’ve also been busy getting work ready to deliver to Favourite Gifts in the Londsdale Quay. Carol, the owner of Favourite Gifts (who is super awesome) suggested I make up some cards of my drawings. She’s a pretty smart lady so I figured… good idea! Voila! Here they are!

I received them earlier last week and I’m really happy with them. I’m very fussy about paper. Next to fabric I love paper/stationary stores! (Side note: It’s been a while since I’ve been in a great one and I’ve been searching for a stationary store that has a wide range of printer paper? A store that sells more than just the regular, regular stuff. Do you happen to know of one?)

Okay, back to the blog post! I had these cards printed from MOO cards. The weight and feel of the cards is amazing, not too shiny not too matt. Juuust right! Oh and did I mention they arrived early?

I am going to break these into packs of five but I’m also going to keep a few packs out for my Etsy store-opening soon!

Cheers!