Simple Simon: Off the Blog

Even though it’s only April we feel like 2016 has already given us an entire year’s worth of events.

For me, at home, it’s been a bit of a catastrophe carnival….both vehicles, my computer, my camera, and my phone have all died.  (However, we resurrected my computer with a combination of electrical and duct tape!  It was a miracle!)  And then of course you have heard me talk about my mom and the stroke she suffered during an operation last month.  (Although, as you read this she will be on her way home…which is both a happy and terrifying day as we try to navigate through the process of how we will be taking care of her full time.)  But I am not complaining….I am hoping that we have used up all our bad luck for the year and that only sunny skies are ahead!

Meanwhile over at Elizabeth’s house she has been learning a lot with her foster children.  So far in 2016 she has housed 4 refugee foster children from different parts of Africa and ranging in age from 7 to 18.  At some point I am sure Elizabeth will share more of her story with foster care…but that day is not today and it’s not my story to share so for now I will suffice it to say the Elizabeth has been busy and has learned a lot and is awesome.

So what else has been happening off the blog in 2016?  A lot.  So I’ve made a list:

THE BOOK:

Last month we received an advanced copy of our book!  It won’t officially be released until next month (although you can pre-order it HERE on Amazon).  It was exciting to actually hold the book in our hands!  I couldn’t believe it was for real.  Next month we will giving you sneak peeks and hosting book related shenanigans…so watch for that!  (We are really excited about it!)

 

THE FABRIC

Next month at quilt market we get to debut our new line of fabric with Riley Blake Designs!  (You can see the entire line right now by clicking HERE.)  The fabric comes in three color waves and in three different types of fabric…quilting cotton, double gauze, and knits!  (Although not all prints will be available in all fabric selections .)   The fabric line was finished last fall and so we are sooooo happy to finally be able to talk about…which we will do a lot more of coming up next month as well!

 

THE MAGAZINE:

This month we were lucky enough to be featured in the beautiful magazine “Where Women Create”.  We feel blessed to have a 10 page article about our spaces shared within it’s pages….even if we are out of our league….I giggle thinking about my in home basement work space featured next to elegant studios but the editors wanted us how we really are so that is what they really got!  🙂

 

THE VIDEOS:

We have been having so much fun this year making videos with Cindy from Riley Blake Designs that they have been hosting on their YouTube channel!  Riley Blake Designs has the greatest office…aside from everyone being so nice they also have a work room to die for and a filming studio in the basement!  So if you are ever looking for fun tutorials check out their YouTube channel to see videos like this “3 Step Double Gauze Baby Blanket.”

 

THE COURSES:

Last month Elizabeth and I were able to travel to Golden, Colorado to shoot some quilting courses for Craft University.  The trip itself was an adventure that included us being snowed in during a blizzard ( a blizzard in March!), running our car off the road, and being saved by a kindly truck driver.  BUT aside from all of that the courses were a lot of fun to film and we will be sharing all the info about them shortly!

 

THE SHOP:

We would like to thank everyone who has made Our Shop feel so successful already this year! For those of you looking for more pom pom trim we will be stocking up again soon and will be adding more items to the shop again shortly!!!

 

THE PATTERNS:

Behind the scenes we have been working on both a line of clothing patterns and a line of quilting patterns.  Fortunately we have quite a bit finished on each line.  Unfortunately with the events so far in 2016 we will only be able to launch one of those pattern lines at market next month.   Happily we have chosen to launch the quilt patterns next month and will be releasing the clothing patterns in October.  (However….we still may release a clothing pattern or two before October if I can’t contain myself….)

 

THE FACEBOOK PAGES:

First of all…thank you to all of you who read, like, and comment on our Facebook page.  It really means a lot to me and I feel like all of you are my friends…whether I am talking about family tragedies or going pantsless in public you always have the best comments and make me feel both loved and less crazy than I actually am!

Secondly we have started two new Facebook pages that are dedicated ONLY to what they say in the title:  Simple-Sewing and Simple-Quilting where Elizabeth has started filling the pages with links and ideas that are only about Sewing or Quilting.  So if you are looking for pages dedicated solely to either pursuit pop on over and check them out.

 

OTHER ITEMS:

There are a few other items…one in particular that I am so excited about that I kind of want to cry…I feel like we are so lucky and so blessed for the opportunities we have been given.  But we can’t announce anymore than we have announced today.   Just know that we appreciate you who come to our blog, that leave us comments on Facebook, that send us emails, that like our IG photos, that read our newsletters, that pin our photographs.  If it weren’t for you we wouldn’t have the opportunities that we have…and we appreciate you.

Now it’s late and I need to get some sleep…tomorrow is going to be a busy day….

-liZ