*GASP!*

She had seen them in the wild, the first time in North America! She texted me immediately of their location. I felt incredibly alert and knew it was time to go hunting. Not long after, there it was, among the heavy dense magazine rack at Chapters/Indigo… Love Patchwork and Quilting Issue #70! *Gasp* I had received my advanced copy in January but this?! I excitedly picked up one for you (and your friend!)! Luckily my mom lives in a different province, so we had a fighting chance (my apologies to any Albertans out there).

You read that right. I picked one up for you (and a friend)! I’ll be doing a GIVEAWAY on Instagram starting this Saturday March 16th. I wanted you to be be the first to know about it! It’s the same rules as always, you must follow me @lysaflower on Instagram and tag a friend to play… BUT you will both receive a copy! I’ll also be emailing you both one of my patterns! And it doesn’t have to be the same pattern! International entries are welcome. The winner(s) will be announced Monday, March 18th on Instagram.

I’m sure you can imagine I was stunned when I was asked to do this feature. My favourite part was being asked about my quilt-y heros. It’s an amazing community isn’t it?! We’re all in this together. I’m always floored and greatly honoured when my patterns are sewn, especially when they’re sewn for someone they love. Thank you for that! Having said that, I’d like to share with you some photos of projects people have done: @chelsealanefields’s boombox pillow (she won first place at her local fair for it!). @bespokeoutlaw made both the bag and the cassette thread catcher. @needleplusthread’s extra rad boombox. @iadorepattern’s cassette LOVE block for a quilt bee baby quilt. @reecemontgomery who combined my cassette tape with @sewsweetness Polaris bag pattern. @sterlingsewn’s B-side for her daughter’s quilt! AND @simplesewendipity’s 28 (yes 28!) cassette tape boarder of her boombox quilt!

As a tradition… RECOMMENDED FOR YOUR PLAYLIST: I love You by Said the Whale. It’s a lyric video so we can sing along together!

Keep on #sewinglikeamothertrucker!

UPDATE... and what's with Rick Springfield's suit?

Before we start I have to take a moment and give a shout out to Stephanie from @simplesewendipity who BLEW MY MIND! And then I saw her flimsy! And then I saw it all quilted up! I've made my share of cassettes in my time but Stephanie made made 28! 28 Rainbow cassettes to border her Boombox quilt! UNBELIEVABLE! Love, love, love!

...Here's the latest UPDATE: I'm not sure where the time goes. And why does everything seem to happen all at the same time? Here's my best way to organize it:

SECRET SEWING: Postponed. Do you remember a few weeks back when I told you I'd be able to reveal my secret designing at the end of the month? We're going to have to hold on just a bit longer. Oh and to really make it titillating, I've recently been working on a second secret sewing project (dream project actually!... now that I think of it they're all dream projects)! Gosh, I'm so grateful for the things that have landed in my lap. Thank you universe, I sure appreciate it!

UP COMING TRUNK SHOWS, WORKSHOPS AND SHOWS: 

• MINI TRUNK SHOW: Monday, April 16th for the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild. I'm going to do my best Brene Brown inspired talk (gosh I love her!). Do you know her work about vulnerability? I'm going to open up and be really candid about my work and my journey on how I accidentally on purpose became a sewing pattern designer. 

• WORKSHOP: HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN PAPER PIECING BLOCK. WHEN: Sunday, April 22nd hosted by the VMQG. WHERE: Croatian Cultural Centre, Vancouver. *There are still a few spots available-YAY! 

• TRUNK SHOW: Friday May 11 for the Blue Mountain Quilter's Guild. 7pm 

• WORKSHOP: Saturday May 26th for the Fraser Valley Modern Quilt Guild. WHERE: Fraser Valley University.

• SHOW: VMQG Quilt Showcase. Saturday and Sunday, August 25th and 26th at the Pipe Shop (115 Victory Ship Way, North Vancouver). They put on a show two years ago (it was my very first Newsletter post on this site. You can see it HERE). It was fresh, modern and inspired. I was thrilled to have work in it last time and I'm super excited to enter work for this one too!

UPDATES ABOUT PAST INTERVIEW SERIES PARTICIPANTS (wow, that sounds so official, doesn't?!):

NATALIE SANTINI : : from NOV 2017 INTERVIEW SERIES PART 1 / PART 2 : : Recently was on episode 158 of Modern Sewciety Podcast. You can listen to it HERE. It's the next BEST thing to hanging out with her in person! She always brightens my day! Oooh and she also has a new messenger bag pattern coming out soon too. Be on the look out!

JENNY HAYNES : : from JAN 2018 INTERVIEW SERIES PART 1 / PART 2 exhibition at @artyfactgallery is up and it's a SMASH HIT! Join me in a hip hip hooray for her!

... and lastly...RECOMMENCED FOR YOUR PLAYLIST: Two song this week. A call and response if you will. Ready?... Rick Springfield's JESSIE'S GIRL (quick question Rick, why the suit?! and isn't smashing the mirror a bit extreme? It does crack me up though!) and the Car's MY BEST FRIENDS GIRLFRIEND with a lovely intro appearance by Alice Cooper! 

THE COUNTDOWN IS ON!

Ten days until Quiltcon! That's nine sleeps! It seems like it's coming up fast. Maybe that's because I decided in December to go. I don't have any workshops or lectures booked. I don't even have tickets to get in. I'm just going to wing it! I'll figure it out when I get there. At least I have a place to stay... phew! And because I'm off to Quiltcon I also decided that I needed a new bag (perhaps for some fabric purchases? Maybe, just maybe).  It was also the perfect excuse to go for an idea I've been sitting on for a while, a Boombox bag! I bought a Metallic Fat Quarter Bundle from the Fat Quarter shop. It has ALL the sparkly fabric I could ever need. The bottom half of the Boombox is done, now I'm on to the top... and making the bag part. That too.

RECOMMENDED PRODUCTS: For just winging it, one thing I have locked and loaded are cards for Quiltcon. I picked them up this week and I'm pretty tickled with them! I'm teaching some workshops this year so I thought I should have some to hand out. That and MOO Cards had a 25% off sale, wink! I also decided to get some greeting cards printed up. I missed sending out Christmas cards by a country mile so my new plan is to send out a few cards every month throughout the year instead of trying to do it all in the month of December. I was very pleased with Social Print Studio's speed and quality. I had never tried them before but I will be ordering from them again. They've got some really unique services and a killer sense of humour! 

RECOMMENDED PATTERNS: One of my favourite designers is Berene Campbell @happysewlucky. Have you been following her tattoo quilt? It's amazing! It's full of love, wisdom and hope. Literately! She's mostly active on Instagram but she also blogs HERE. And if you love her work as much as I do you'll want to check out her Etsy shop HERE. I highly recommend her patterns! I've got big plans for mine but I'm still in the hoarding fabric phase. Keep an eye on this lady, she's amaze-balls.

RECOMMENDED FOR YOUR PLAYLIST: Okay, I'm going to go out on a limb here. My youngest son has introduced me to Kendrick Lamar and I'm absolutely in love with this SONG, "i".  Turn it up loud and have a wonderful Valentines Day this week, much love to you! xo

OH WAIT! I almost forgot! This past week I discovered my Roller-skate surface pattern designed was posted on Print & Pattern's website, for Make it in Design's graduation round up. The discovery was well worth an all out happy dance! 

BOOMBOX SEW-A-LONG! HERE WE GO!...

Y'all want this party started, right? Y'all want this party started quickly, right? Get this weeks BOOMBOX sew-a-long PDF instructions... HERE.

In it you will find the schedule, how to figure out the dimensions for your sewing machine cover, a list of extra supplies, fabric AND instructions for the first block: the radio (the top band). Lots of things to decide this week and a little bit of sewing. Next week there will be more sewing, so if you feel behind, there'll be time to catch up. Oh and if you've never heard of Bosal foam and are wondering what's the difference is, I found this link for you.  

I'd like to add that the Boombox pattern is a leaping off point, either keep it exactly the same or change it up. Don't want to make the equalizer, no problem, make more knobs. See easy! Also, if making the tape open makes your head spin, just sew the front all together as one piece. It's allowed. It'll still look awesome! 

I can't wait to see your fabric selections and progress! Remember to post on Instagram under #lysaflowerpatterns, #boomboxsewalong or #sewinglikeamothertrucker. If you're not on Instagram, feel free to post on the Lysa Flower FACEBOOK page. That's also a great place to post if you have a question. 

RECOMMENDED TOOL: Love it or hate it, hello seam ripper (again)! We spend a lot of time with this tool, don't we? I don't mind ripping any more but I've become quite fussy about which seam ripper I use. My favourite seam ripper is a Seam-Fix by Dritz. I LOVE how skinny the poky thing is (highly technical term). The rubbery ball on the end, I CAN NOT live without it! It's great for pulling out those straggler threads. And yes I decorated them with poop emoji stickers. HA!

Warning there are 1/4" pieces in the pattern. Hang in there, you can DO IT!  Oh did I mention I'm a TED TALK junkie?

RECOMMENDED PEP TALK: TED TALK, Grit: the power of passion and perseverance by Angela Lee Duckworth.

RECOMMENDED FOR YOUR PLAYLIST: NEW 80's sounding DREAMCAR! Dare I call them a super group?! It's a mash up between No Doubt's band and the singer from AFI. Totally RAD!