More llama llove

You guys all know that I simply love to see pictures of what you make with my fabric. So when I got an email the other day from Daria from Kamloops BC of the llama baby quilt she'd made, I was beyond tickled. How brilliant is this quilt?!  There are so many things I love about it: keeping the baby's birth information prominent, the pinwheels in the corners (love, love), the yellow sashing that just makes it pop, and of course the 4 llamas standing watch in the corners. It's just adorable Daria!!

One of the things I find the most special about quilts are their enduring quality and the idea that they will be held onto for so many years. Especially baby quilts which will have so many memories associated with them. I hope Benjamin and his family will get many a giggle from the llama keeping them company!!

If you're interested, I still have llama panels and fabric available in my Etsy store here.

Big exciting news! Yea!

I have literally been bouncing off the walls with excitement over the last week or so and I can finally share my news with you! But before I get to the actual news, some quick back story for those of you who might not know it...

When I left my job in advertising in NYC a few years ago and moved back to Austin, TX, I knew that I wanted to make some pretty major changes in my life. After spending nearly 20 years in the corporate world, I really wanted to create a life for myself where I could be creative and I had much more balance. I loved my job and my career, but I knew I needed to make some major changes. I really wasn't at all sure what I wanted to do, but I just knew that I needed to take the leap and just dive in head first. 

I spent some time trying a bunch of different things on for size and fit and when I discovered fabric design, for the first time in a long time, I felt like I was in my groove. Once I set my mind to building a business around my designs, I set my sights on signing with one of the major fabric manufacturers and was lucky enough to start working with the wonderful team at Robert Kaufman. I also quickly realized that I really wanted to expand my licensing business to include not only having my designs on fabric, but on a whole range of different goods. Think home decor, gift products, baby accessories, party supplies, stationery. Oh. And melamine dishes... How badly do I want my designs to appear on melamine? :) 

Over the last 2 years, I've been hard at work on expanding not only my range of fabric designs and my design portfolio, but I've been working on building relationships with manufacturers across different product categories. During that time, I also decided that I wanted to partner with a licensing agent who could represent my work and really help me take my designs to the next level in terms of exposure. But I knew finding an agent who I really clicked with and who really got my designs, could take some time. And lo and behold, that time has come. I'm beyond ecstatic to share that I was approached by Mosaic Licensing, who are now my licensing agents! Here's a snippet from our press release:

We are so delighted to be representing Laurie and her collections of over 600 designs,” said Val Adams, Principal of Mosaic Licensing, Inc. “They have a personality and appeal that truly puts her in a special category of graphic art and pattern. We see a tremendous future in licensing for Laurie’s designs on products from home accessories and home décor to gifts and stationery, baby goods, apparel and craft”.


The full release is available here: http://lauriewisbrun.com/press-releases/2012/4/16/represented-by-mosaic-licensing.html

I can't tell you how much its meant to me to have all of you rooting me on and encouraging me as I've been trying different things and sharing my experiences over the last few years. Thank you so much for all of your support along the way.

Working with Mosaic, I'm so excited to see what else the future might hold.
xoxo
--laurie

Giveaway winners!!

I adored hearing all of your Olympic stories. So much fun! :) Loads of things on my to-do list today, so my post is going to be short and sweet. So without any further ado, let's get to the giveaway winners!! Congrats to the winners who will each receive 1/2 yard sets of my new Next Stop London Line. 

Happy weekend everyone!!

kbzelazny 111 said...

LOVE the equestrian and gymnastics events. Hope Friday the 13ths is lucky for me! My daughter is going to London this summer, so I'd love to make her something with this fabric. Thanks so much!

Laura 35 said...

This is such a fantastic line. My 3 year old boy is obsessed with red buses and would love anything made with this fabric. We live in England and are planning to go and see the cycling events but didn't manage to get tickets for anything. The olympic torch will pass 3 miles away so we're going to see that too.

London Olympics countdown... Let's do a giveaway!

I love the Olympics. I mean seriously love the Olympics. I have so much admiration for all the athletes who have worked so hard for so long to achieve their goals. And there's so much pride and kinship. I just get all squishy inside just thinking about it. And that its being held this summer in London. Oh... how I wish I could go!! Only 107 more days until opening ceremonies!

So you can imagine how spastically excited I got when Robert Kaufman picked up my Next Stop London line and when I learned that it would be releasing amid all of the summer Olympics excitement?! Beyond excited about this line. In fact, I'm thinking a little skirt for myself with red double decker buses may be in order to kick off summer. Now just to find the time to get back to my sewing machine!! :)

How would you like some Next Stop London fabric for your own kick-off to-summer sewing? I'm giving away two half yard sets to two lucky winners.

Just leave your comment here on this post and I'll draw a winner this *lucky* Friday 4/13. I'd love to hear what your favorite summer Olympic sport is or have you share a favorite Olympics moment/memory. Let the Olympics and London love commence. :)

Giveaway winners!!

I have had a wonderful week and every response to the giveaway post earlier this week has made me smile. I love all the enthusiasm for textiles and fabric design and I'm thrilled to be able to share what I've learned (and continue to keep learning more about every day!)

Here's a list of the lucky winners of the 3 signed copies of my book, Mastering the Art of Fabric Printing and Design.

And as a quick side note, make sure you either have your email address available in your blogger profile or that you leave an email address in your comment. I want to make sure I can contact you if you win!! :) 


Michelle # 86
being an absolute fabric nut, I've always been fascinated in the process of fabric design and making and how they evolve. This is the sort of book I would love to own! Congratulations!


amy dame # 95:
i've always been a sewer, but it's only in recent years that i've been so obsessed with quilting. before quilting i did a lot more "art" - that is, printing, silkscreening, mixed media, etc. i keep thinking that designing my own fabric would be a great way to bring the art side back into my life, and i think the book would be a great motivation. i've been eyeing it since it was first announced!

in terms of something specific to learn, i already know that i need to learn more about repeats, positioning, etc. it seems mathy to me, and therefore scary to my right-brained self!




kayajoy # 104: Please email me with your shipping information :) 
Your book looks fabulous. I'd love to find out more about established designers' experiences in the field as well as other printing techniques. It is so inspiring to read the story of someone who started where I am now & has had such success.

Book giveaway!

Thank you so much for everyone's tremendously supportive emails about my book, Mastering the Art of Fabric Printing and Design. It was such fun to follow along on the book tour the last 2 weeks and I hope you were able to catch a few of the posts! (And if you missed any of the tour, here's a list...) Writing the book was such a labor of love and its been so heart warming that the book has been well received! Thank you so much again for all of your support. 

As promised, I'm bringing up the rear for the book tour and hosting a giveaway! This coming Friday 3/30,  I'll be drawing three names from the comments on this post and sending off signed copies to the winners. To be entered to win, just leave me a comment here and let me know why you'd like the book and if there's anything specific you're hoping to learn from it. Good luck!

Lloving these llamas... and the llama quilt too!

Eeeee!!! Squeal!!! That's what I did this morning when I hopped online and spied the pictures of the finished llama quilt that Ashley over at Film in the Fridge posted today. She let me know that I would be excited when I saw the pictures, but I don't think she really fully prepared me. How totally perfect are these pictures?! I mean, come on!!

Thank you so much Ashley for showcasing your lovely llama quilt with such an adorable bunch of onlookers. I just love the finished quilt and it looks like the llamas do too :)

The llama fabric is available in my store here.

All photography by Film in the Fridge

Well, hello llovely llama quilt!

I simply cannot stop laughing at this shot. 

Hey lady... Who are you? What are you doing? What is that?!?

I think the one with its ears back is less than pleased!

And the back of the quilt is just as awesome as the front isn't it? 

Peek a boo!

New in the shop | Accordion Books!

Yea! New goodies in the shop! I've been wanting to have some fabric covered Accordion Books made to add to the shop for a while, so I'm super excited to get them listed today.

There are 2 patterns from my Modern Whimsy collection (the blue bunnies and the green lambs) and they'd be perfect for Easter or Spring. I worked with the amazing team at Rag and Bone Bindery, so they're top of the line and the most beautiful quality.

Suggested uses:
*a mini scrapbook
*love letter
*baby announcement
*photos for grandparents
*mini albums for special occasions (Easter is coming!!)
*combine photos, drawings and written notes to make your own unique creation
They're only available in my shop here.

Clara dog on the Brooklyn Bridge! :)

Each book is hand bound and contains a single sheet of heavy weight acid-free paper, folded and feature a silk cord and button closure. Can be displayed as a standing set of frames or as a two-sided book.

Book size: 8 inches high x 6 inches wide
10 folded pages (holds up to 10 4x6" or 5x7" photos)
Page size: 7.5 inches by 5.5 inches

I've only produced a small number of these books and I'm not sure if/when I will have anymore.

Book Blog Tour!

I am so excited that its finally here! Yipee! The blog tour for my book, Mastering the Art of Fabric Printing and Design is starting on Monday! I can hardly believe it! There are some folks who I really, really admire from blogland who will be part of the tour and I'm just tickled beyond belief and so thankful for their participation. Some of them will even have copies of the book to giveaway so mark your calendars and make sure you visit them over the next 2 weeks :)

US version of the book here

UK version of the book here

Here's the Blog Tour line up! I'll also be posting reminders on Facebook.

Monday, March 12 – A Creative Mint
Tuesday, March 13 – Lena Corwin and Handmade Charlotte
Wednesday, March 14 – Spoonflower and; Print and Pattern
Thursday, March 15 – Centsational Girl
Friday, March 16 – A Stitch in Dye

Monday, March 19 – The Long Thread
Tuesday, March 20 – Fat Quarterly
Wednesday, March 21 – papernstitch
Thursday, March 22 – Julia Rothman
Friday, March 23 – Simply Grove

And I'll be bringing up the rear with a giveaway here on my blog on Monday, March 26 when I'll be giving away a few signed copies!

Indulge me while I get gushy for a second will you? I want to send out so many heartfelt thank yous to all of my blog readers for all of your support and encouragement. You all are just simply the best-est. Its been such an amazing journey for me. I can hardly believe that its only been a few years since this first blog post to having my designs licensed and actually getting a book published. Your support has been so inspiring and unwavering. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. xoxo

And now for a bit of eye candy! Not sure if you spied the phenomenal quilt top over at Film in the Fridge last week? I sent Ashley some of my Llook! Llamas! fabrics (which I self produce and print using Spoonflower) and she created the most outstanding quilt. One of the things that I just adore about Ashley's work is the way she pairs fabric and colors. From these 3 Llook! Llamas! prints:

She created this! Never in a million years would my mind have gone towards that pairing but I think it's genius. So rich a lovely and just perfect for the Llamas, Flapdoodle Hats and the Peruvian Blanekt don't you think?? And I got such a kick out of seeing some of my Circles print in yellow that is produced by Robert Kaufman included in there too! (Such a simple print but so much fun!!)

 Photo by Film in the Fridge

Photo by Film in the Fridge

Photo by Film in the Fridge

The 3 Llook! Llamas! prints are available in my store here. And the coordinating DIY pillow panels are available as well :)

Sneak peek | Next Stop London

Who's ready for a sneak peek of Next Stop London?! I designed these two patterns about a year ago after a super fun trip to Greece and London. It was my first time to visit London and I had such a wonderful time. I'd love to get back and visit again soon.

It was such a thrill when the team at Robert Kaufman decided to pick up the London-themed designs that I created after my return. Its a small collection of 2 designs each in two bright and cheery colors which I hope you will love. I have so many projects planned for it! Top of the list is a picnic quilt that will remind me of my afternoon sitting next to the Thames River and enjoying the sunshine (and perhaps there was an adult beverage or two involved!) And with the Olympics looming, who knows what fun projects might spring to mind. Any suggestions?

Next Stop London will start shipping this coming April and I'll have some FQs to giveaway as we get closer to the ship date. Can't wait to hear what you think!

And look at the super cute cars on the selvage!! Beep beep!!

My very own Brrr! Rocket Ship

I'm not sure how many of you spied this phenomenally creative and cute pillow out in Flickr/Pinterest/Blog land this past month...But I simply fell in love with it. I mean, seriously? Is this not one of the most adorable things you have ever seen. Ever??

Brrr! quilt and pillow by Alex of Teaginny Designs

A few months ago, Robert Kaufman and I sent Alex over at Teaginny Designs some advance cuts of Brrr! to play with and giveaway to one of her blog readers.  And when she sent me a picture of what she had created, I just nearly fell out of my chair. I've been following Alex's work on Flickr for a long time and her creativity is really just boundless. But this was over-the-top amazing as far as I was concerned.

When I posted a peek at her project on my Facebook page and on my Pinterest boards, I think everyone I ran into that week here in Austin commented on how cute the rocket ship was. I'm still not sure why on earth she agreed, but the amazingly sweet and talented Alex agreed to make me a rocket ship of my very own. Eeee!!!! It arrived here last week and I've been impatiently waiting for a sunny day so I could snap some pictures of it living in my studio.

Look at the pebble quilting!

The way she used the selvage simply slays me. And the hand work on the windows! So cute!

And the thank you note she made me. As if I needed a thank you!? 

The rocket ship happily living in my studio :)  

Do you spy Dexter kitty under the step stool under my cutting table?

Alex: Thank you so much for such an amazing gift. I'm inspired by your creativity and kindness! I just love it beyond measure. Thank you!!

Brrr! will start shipping this coming June which will be here before we know it!

Sneak peek | Perfectly Perched

So... Are you ready for little sneaky peaky of Perfectly Perched?? It starts shipping this summer and there are 3 yummy color palettes that I cannot wait to start sewing with. I designed it as a follow up to Tufted Tweets and I hope you all love it as much as I do!

AND stay tuned over the next week for my next collection with Robert Kaufman which will start shipping later this spring... What's that you say? Another collection? I know!!... I can hardly believe it myself. It's a brand new collection that's been under wraps and I simply cannot wait to share it with you! So stick close by and I'll post a few snaps of Next Stop London soon!

Have a wonderful rest of your weekend!!