Lynette Anderson Designs

LAPC 2012

Well, its hard to believe that the 2011 LAPC has come to an end and I would like to thank the hundreds of women around the world who participated and to say how much I loved getting the photos of your finished projects. I have had lots of lovely emails asking if I would continue the PDF pattern club this year, yes of course as I have loved creating the projects for you plus you have no idea how much pleasure I get from your emails, thank you please keep sending them. Here is a lovely email that one of last years club members wrote:-

 "I first became aware of Lynette about 2.5 years ago when I undertook my first Lynette project with Maureen through  Quilt Aid . So when Lynette said she was going to form LAPC , Maureen and I signed up immediately.  The projects are well designed and the instructions are straight forward and can easily be understood by those new stitchers. The fact that they can be downloaded is great and not having to wait for it through the post. I also like that Lynette has the facility for you to purchase any small items that you might need to complete the projects. I suppose the only downside is that the project are only every 3 months , but that maybe a good thing because I have a job to keep up with the stitching.  My friend Maureen and I meet approximately every 6 weeks and we have called it Lynette Anderson Project Club , there are also about 4 other friends that join us and if they don't have the LAPC badge on that I made out of paper , they get told off. 

Maureen designed a badge for me and her and we made it for when Lynette visited us in April 2012 , I very proud of it because a picture of mine was in July 2012 British Patchwork and Quilting magazine ." Valerie

Three Amigo's, Valerie

Reindeer Freinds in the making, Valerie

Here are two of the ladies from the Lynette Anderson club...looks like they are really enjoying themselves. I was very honoured as on my recent trip to the UK I got to have dinner with this lovely group of ladies.

More lovely words from another LAPC member.....

"I can’t believe our first year of the LAPC has gone so quickly. I have had so much fun doing the projects!  Out of the four we have had over the year, I have finished two of them, I just have the “Reindeer Friends” table centrepiece to do, which I must start soon or I won’t get it done before Christmas and our latest one, the sewing case. The nice thing about Lynette’s projects is, that I don’t have to wait a week for the pattern to get from Australia, I can just switch on my computer, download and print it off. I love doing Lynette’s projects because they are small and don’t take weeks to do, the instructions are easy to follow and I love stitching them.  I feel Lynette is pushing us to try different things; she has made me confront my worst nightmare of putting a zip into something, and succeeding! The tutorials that we get with our patterns are also very useful, really good if you are a beginner. I don’t think there is anything I dislike about the LAPC, apart from the fact I would be happy to have more!!!  Maybe we could start a LAPC Facebook page then we can chat to other members and show each other how we are getting on." Maureen

Peacock Manor, Maureen

Three Amigo's Bag, Maureen

Alphabet Purse, Domy

Three Amigo's Bag,Virginia

Reindeer Friends, by Hanneke (This gorgeous table centre piece Reindeer Friends is in my new book 'Stitch It For Christmas')

I don't know about you, but I love to be working on smaller projects in between stitching a big project. The frequent need for a gift for a stitching friend, or a swap partner for that swap I just had to join, combined with the huge satisfaction of finishing something, often gives me the much needed spur to continue to work on my big quilt project and with this in mind I developed the pdf pattern club.

The world is changing and I think I speak for most of us; when we want something, we want it today or, if it was possible, yesterday!! I think that downloadable patterns are the answer, they are a great idea and can be obtained instantly and without the cost and often lengthy wait for the postman. For the last few months I have been planning and very busy designing four projects especially for the Lynette Anderson Project Club (LAPC); the four projects will be exclusive to club members for six months.

So it is with much pleasure that I announce that we are ready to take your registration for the 2012 Lynette Anderson Project Club.

Starting in September 2012 as a LAPC member you will receive one exclusive downloadable pdf pattern via email, the other pdf patterns will follow in December 2012, March 2013 and June 2013. To make things fun Emma, my assistant has been busy taking photos of me stitching so each newsletter will also have some step by step ‘how to’ photos for the project we are working on, it will be just as if I was at home with you stitching.

Last year we were organised and some of the projects were available as a kit or I sourced the ‘hard to find’ bits and pieces I had used and offered them to club members. This year I have had fun using some very interesting things which I am sure you will want!!

LAPC members will also have the added benefit of an all year round discount on all purchases in my online store. Once you are a fully paid up member you will be given a secret code which, when applied at checkout, will give you 10% discount on everything in my online store.

Click here to sign up now

copy the code below to add this cute badge to your blog or website

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Sewing Kits and Quick Unpicks (seam rippers)

Horray, a lovely parcel arrived this morning and it was filled with these gorgeous hand made quick unpicks and sewing kits. I absolutley love them, they are handturned from recycled timber and each one is lovingly handpainted.

Emma has taken some lovely photos and has loaded the girls (and a few boys) into the online store, of course if your up my way then you could pop into the store and choose one but be quick as they never hang around for very long! 

 

Visit my online store to see all the girls... and a few boys (I love the 'stitch police') 

 

10 days to NZ workshops....

Its hard to belive that in just 10 days time I will be heading to Hamilton in NZ for 4 one day workshops...are you coming? I have known Hazel from Grandmothers Garden for many years, we generally meet in the US at market where Hazel is seeking out wonderful new products for her store. I was very thrilled earlier this year when she invited me to go and teach at her store in New Zealand. There are two different workshop projects, one for each day. Badgers Cottage, a journal cover and pencil case. Lots of fun techiniques to try with plenty of time for a chat in between stitching! There are a couple of places left in this classs but I am not sure which dates so to book visit here.

This great bag which is called Shepherds Cottage (very appropriate for NZ) is the alternate days project, again it has mixed techniques, we will have a fun day working on this bag. Join me, one or two places left and it would be wonderful to meet you.

I am really looking forward to visiting this part of NZ as I have never been to this area, Friday is my day off and Lesley who has been coordinating the workshops has promised me a day outing and I can wait. I will take my trustly camera with me so for those of you who live on the other side of the world can all visit this part of NZ with me :)

If your coming to one of my workshops and have made something from one of my patterns, please bring it along for show and tell and I would absolutely love to see what you have made. 

 

Meanwhile I need to go and find some warm clothes to pack! maybe a little shopping trip is in order this weekend....

New free patterns

Yes, free patterns. Everytime I design a new fabric collection I do a 'free' downloadable quilt pattern...so here are the latest two. This first one was designed using 'Christmas Fun' fabrics and I hope that you will agree, its great :)

This second one is using the Happy Halloween fabric collection for it I wanted to create a quilt that was autumnal rather than typically Halloween, these wonky webs are rather nice and I have done some applique pumkins with crows. In case your wondering the outlines on the pumpkins are done with a narrow ribbon and I love the effect.

View all of my free patterns...

enjoy

Breadboards...

This morning as my brain was waking up and I was unloading the dishwasher and putting things away, when I opened the draw where my cutting boards and breadboards live I had a little nostalgic feeling...... do you get them sometimes and for no reason? Well, I do and as I looked at my breadboards I was thinking that these everyday items will spend their whole lives with me.....I have no reason to replace them and already I have owned and used them for 30+ years...

The darker recatangular board my brother made when he was still at school and so of course I love it and everytime that I use it I think of him. The round board was a gift and I love that its round and has a gentle groove to catch the crumbs, the knife is older but I cant remember where it came from its possibly an old family one but I really can be sure, it does has a lovely ear of wheat carved on the handle which makes it quite special.

Do you have some simple everyday item that will spend its whole life with you? If you feel like telling me about it and its story please do :)

We are open!

What a wonderful day we have had, Jane (store manager) and Lyn (office manager) are having a laugh as they try to work out how to use the till!

We had lots of lovely ladies come visit us and the store looked great. There are loads of goodies still to arrive and we had many requests for classes which of course I will be doing...just need to get organised! Look how nice Minerva the sewing machine looks....the kids gave her to me for Christmas, she was covered in rust, cobwebs etc but has cleaned up very nicely and is now sitting in pride of place as you come in the store door.

I know you are all waiting to see that I did finish the cupboard before opening day....well 'tah dah' here it is and its great. Yes, I know there is a dot missing from the top of the 'i' is sewing.....I think Hugo ate it! Ssssshhh dont tell Emma, she hasnt noticed it..... yet!

Here is Emma, helping me put the final touches to everything before we opened the doors this morning. You can just my Tilda doll that I was making in the shelves behind Emma, the dolls hair is a bit wild but very she is very cute.

So much yumminess.....is that a word?? A huge thank you to everyone who dropped in today and to all those of you from far away who sent me 'good wishes' for the first day :) Now its time for bed so I am ready for tomorrow...

Fun old/new cupboard....

Hmmmmm, whats happening here....well I have this wonderful old cupboard that when we still lived in the UK it lived in the laundry with the washing powder etc in it. It was blue and yellow then but its now time for it to be transformed into something yummy for the new store. A couple of weeks ago I painted it white but it needed something else so I painted the recesses on the front doors chocolate brown, well to be exact 'Rocky Road'....but it still needed something....

Emma came up with a brilliant idea, she has painted and cut some wooden words....and drawn me a plan... which I probably didnt follow exactly (sorry Emma)!

So with my trusty hot glue gun in hand I started glueing the shapes and words in place on the cupboard doors....starting at the bottom and then.....well, it was such fun that I forgot to check the plan and went freelance! 

However I think you will agree the front of the cupboard does look great but hang on, why isnt it finished???How annoying I ran out of glue so first thing tomorrow my first stop is to get more glue so I can complete the second cupboard door.....

I am looking forward to finishing the cupboard tomorrow and to tweaking a few more things on the shelves so they are ready for monday morning when the 'Little Quilt Store' opens its doors for the first time.

Here is the logo.

I have kept the blue and brown combination that I use for the Lynette Anderson Designs patterns and Emma has added white which gives a nice fresh look.

Hope your having fun wherever you are and whatever your doing x

Practical and pretty scissors.....

A few of you have asked me what type of scissors do I use...well, I love little embroidery scissors of any sort and these treasures are no exception. If you take a second look they have a kangaroo where you would expect to see a stork and are one of my favourite pairs. They are not as small as some of the scissors I use which makes them a bit more hand friendly and of course I love the fact that they are a bit diferent to everyone elses 'stork' scissors!

If you need a pair of scissors like mine then you can get some Scissoroo scissors here, of course they would also make an excellent gift for a friend 😃

What I really want to tell you about is the scissors I use to cut out my applique shapes. Its really important to have a great sharp pair of scissors, if you are using a blunt pair then .....well....what can I say! The scissors I use not only have the brightest fun handles that are kind to my hands but are also very accurate + since I am the laziest most impatient person in the world I love that they will cut through four layers accurately at one time!!

Are you ready for a quick demo (thanks to Vince for the photogrpahy!)

Place 4 layers of fabric together and draw around the shape, in this case I am cutting some hexagons ready for my next project but it could be leaves or flowers ready for applique.

Simply and without effort cut the through the four layers, these scissors dont distort the fabrics at all while they cut through the layers.

The secret to these scissors is a very fine serated edge, (look closely and you can see them in this picture) the serated edge draws the fabrics into the scissors rather than regular scissors which push the fabric away. Thus the Perfect Scissors make a perfect cut everytime.

The Perfect Scissors come in two sizes and I have to admit I own both sizes, if I am working on small shapes then I love the smaller pair plus I like the fact that they also have easy to hold handles. They dont match my fabric but because they are bright I dont loose them very often either!

If you are using an old pair of scissors that you know have seen better days or that your other half or the kids have 'borrowed' to cut up who knows what in the shed or garden then maybe you need to treat yourself to a new pair! You will be amazed at how nice they are and will wonder how on earth you managed with what you had for so long!

You made it!

From time to time you share with me what you have made using one of my patterns and this week has been wonderful as there have been a few of these special emails that always give me a thrill. Today I want to share with you this fabulous 'Hens In The Yard' wallquilt that Sandy has made. I love the rich vibrant colours she has used, the fabrics are by Benartex and called Farmyard Toile.

My original quilt has sweet triangle borders and a great handpainted chicken hanger which my dad cut out for me and I painted. The original quilt has faded quite alot since this photo was taken but its still really nice. As you can see I went completely chicken mad and made lots of other samples using the chickens....the pattern gives instructions for all the extra ideas.

 Radka sent me this lovely picture of her completed 'Sweet Home Pillow', there is something about red...I love it, do you? 

Here is my original, as you can see I did a few extra samples for this pattern too! My favourite 'extra'in the pattern is the little house shaped pillow and can you see I had fun covering a lampshape (what would we do without glue!).

Do you have something that you have made that you would love me to share on the blog?? (Maureen and my new best friend need not apply, your show and tell is coming soon).

Jolly Jabber....Halloween...

I was so excited when I was invited to design a colleciton for Halloween, its not a huge holiday here in Australia although over the 20 years that I have lived here its noticably growing. 

These days we can buy quite a variety of fun halloween decorations at the newsagents and dollar shops and in the last few years there have been quite a number of children who dress up in our area to come 'trick or treating'.

For this collection I have chosen dirty terracottas, greens, charcoals and purples.

 This fun, simple crow quilt is proving to be a popular pattern. It combines some simple piecing, stitchery and wool applique.

This bag turned out really well.

Table toppers really set a theme in the room without the need of too many other decorations, this round table topper looks fantastic on the table and is realtively quick to make. 

Emma could not resist making these cute wooden buttons using some of my halloween drawings, I hope you like them too.

You can view all of my Halloween themed patterns, buttons and fabric in my online shop. If you want to read a bit more about me and my Halloween collection visit this blog.