On The Cutting Table Today ....

What a crazy few months we have had! Weeks upon weeks of stressful days has finally gotten us to where we are today ... our brick-and-mortar shop is open and we are having such a blast! {huge sigh of relief}So if you happen to be in the Lafayette, Louisiana area or maybe want to plan a special trip down, we would love for you to stop in and say "hello".

Even though there's still a bunch of little things left to do, we decided to take a break today and do something fun. I chose to grab one of Amy Butler's Barcelona Skirt patterns and picked out some fabric. I've been wanting to make this skirt for quite some time and we finally got the pattern in stock (though we still need to get it online). Actually we have a whole bunch of new patterns to get online ... hmmm maybe I should be doing that instead of cutting out a skirt and blogging about it. Guilt is setting in but I must push through ... the skirt is going to be so cute!!

So what's on your cutting table today or is everyone out enjoying the holiday weekend? Don't know about where y'all are but it is hot and dry here. Good weather for either being out on the water or inside sewing. Might just get to do a bit of both if I'm lucky! :)

Have a great weekend!!

Our Big, Huge Announcement (and Giveaway) ...

Thank you to all who entered our giveaway and gave us so many wonderful ideas on how to make our new shop a success! So who's the lucky winner ........ #17 Margie C! Congrats, Margie! We will be in touch shortly.

Even though the giveaway is now closed, we'd love to hear more suggestions. Our goal is to make Lola Pink Fabrics fabulous and we could use your help! The comments received so far have been great and are definitely making us think about how we want the shop set up. Keep them coming!!

I cannot believe we are finally able to make our announcement!! It has been a LONG few months for us filled with stress, worry, excitement, fear, hopefulness, you name it .. we've probably felt it. And now the deal is done, papers have been signed, money paid ... oh my ... did we really just do this?? What in the world were we thinking?? I think I might throw up ........ OK ... don't pass out ... still have the announcement to make .......

LOLA PINK IS GOING BRICK AND MORTAR!!

We could not be more excited to finally, FINALLY be able to say those words out loud for the whole world to hear or read as the case may be. For all the Lafayette, LA locals, we will be setting up shop in the On The Boulevard shopping center with the likes of Brother's, Caroline & Company, and Jason's Deli. Here ... 

Yeah, definitely needs a bit (or lot) of work! LOL We will be in there busting our butts for the next few weeks and hope to open the doors somewhere around the first of May. Yay!!

So what exactly does this mean for our non-local friends? In a word ... MORE ... more fabric, more patterns, more bundles, more kits, more blog posts (OK, don't laugh ... I know the blog has been severely lacking in the last few months but please refer back to paragraph 1), more projects, more features, all-in-all just more of us. And hopefully we won't scare y'all away.

To get the party started, we've decided to have a little giveaway. Based on the overwhelmingly great response to the new Sugar & Spice collection by The Quilted Fish, we are giving away a fat quarter bundle in your choice of colorways ... either the pink/green, blue, or red ... 7 fat quarters in all. We just love this collection!

To enter our Sugar & Spice giveaway, just comment below and we'd love if you'd share a bit of advice or tell us what you love most about your local fabric shop. A winner will be chosen Tuesday, April 5th around 8pm. (One entry per person please.)

So that's it ... our big announcement.Whew! Thank you to all our kind friends who offered up support during the trying and often comical process that led us to this point. We will be working hard to make our Lola Pink shop a place that people love and hope you all can come visit us!

Much love and big thanks!

Knock, Knock ...

... anyone home? If you've visited our blog lately, you've obviously realized we've been M.I.A for quite sometime. It's like a ghost town around here LOL. For that we are truly sorry. That will change soon one way or another very soon. I promise!

Have y'all ever been so excited about something but so stressed out about it at the same time that you just basically become paralyzed waiting for it to happen? We've had an idea of where we want Lola Pink to go and finally put things in to motion in the last month or so. We should know within a week whether or not our dreams our going to come true. And to say I'm stressed out about it is an understatement. In one moment, I'm so confident and sure and then the next, I just think there's no way. The waiting and not knowing may possibly do me in before we get the final answer. For the most part though, I'm just paralyzed holding my breath until we hear something ... anything! We would really appreciate your good thoughts this week. Your good thoughts definitely help get us through the moments of doubt.

In the meantime, we've done a bit of sewing but not too much. We had a very nice wholesale order come in for our Pretty & Preppy baby items ~ yay! And we've both been working on getting caught up on Quilt Dad's Bloggers Block-a-palooza. Although all of my blocks are on the wonky side, it has been so much fun working on them. This is my very first quilt block ever ...

I definitely wouldn't win any quilting awards for it but I love it still. More of the blocks can be found here and some gorgeous block from others can be found on the Block-a-palooza Flickr page. I've got more to upload but need to fix a couple of "issues" with them first. LOL

I will finally be working on the blog in the next week updating all that is outdated. Including updating the coming soon collections. We've got some AMAZING fabric collections coming our way and can't wait to get my grubby little hands on them.

So please, if you haven't given up on us yet, hold tight. Good things are coming!

Oh and if you are around tonight and on Twitter ... be sure to check out Talkin' Tuesdays! We are sponsoring tonight's #talknt and will be giving away a couple of prizes! Woohoo!

Pat Bravo Giveaway

Congratulations to our winners!! #19 Sara gets her pick of either the Lace and Pure Elements bundles and #67 Janessa gets the other. Thank you to everyone who entered!!

Please forgive me for the lack of posting lately. We have been incredibly busy behind the scenes making some life-changing decisions that we will soon be talking all about. Until then, the incredibly talented and super sweet Pat Bravo wants to share some of her fabulous new fabrics with you!

If you're not familiar with Pat's fabrics, you absolutely must check them out! I am so in love with the Modern Affair and Paradise collections. Check out a couple of pictures we took at market:

Gorgeous, right?!

Pat's got some great new collections coming out which we will be ordering soon. You can check out the new collections plus a whole lot more on her website, www.patbravo.com.To hold you over, Pat is generously offering up two fabulous bundles of her new solids and lace elements collections!

How fabulous are these bundles?!

Two winners will be chose with the first winner receiving their choice of either 8 half yards of the new Lace Elements collection or 10 fat quarters of the new Pure Elements collection. The second winner will receive the other. 

To enter, just simply leave a comment below. Just one entry per person this time and all duplicates will be deleted. I really, really wish I could enter this one but will love passing them along to one of our fans!

Winners will be chosen Saturday, February 5th at 7pm CST.

Applique Attempt ...

So this is my first "real" attempt at applique. While I certainly won't be winning any Applique Masters awards, I think it turned out OK .. if you can look passed the wonky antler bits that is.

Now that I'm looking at it ... I probably should have chosen something with a few less tight turns. But honestly, that's just kinda how I do things. I'm not one to get skilled in the basics and progressing naturally. I'm more of a jump-right-into-the-fire kinda girl and learn as I go. Although usually at that point, I go back and try to figure out what I could have done better.

One of my resolutions for this year was to start trying things. I'm still fairly new to sewing and there is so much for me to learn but I tend to hold back for fear of failure. I've let that fear hold me back from so much in my life not just in sewing and this is my year to live boldly. Yes, I agree ... applique is a pretty mild step but at least it's a step in the right direction right?!

So here's to living boldly in 2011 and breaking out of my safe, little shell! I hope 2011 is just as life-changing for you as well.

By the way ... any tips my Applique Queen friends have to offer would be GREATLY appreciated!

What's next on my sewing scary list you ask .... making my own bias tape. EEK!

Happy 2011, friends!