What the Heck is GDPR?

What the heck is GDPR and how does it affect me?

GDPR stands for the General Data Protection Regulation.  It is a new law that adds to the European Union's privacy laws.  Compliance goes into effect on 5/25/2018. You will see and probably have seen a lot of pop-ups as you visit different websites informing you that they will be collecting info from you.  Altho it is an EU law, many US based websites, blogs, etc have European visitors and so it affects us all.  The fines for non-compliance are hefty.

There is a lot of debate as to what we small time bloggers and businesses need to do.I am trying to comply the best that I know how.  I will send an email to my newsletter readers reminding them they can  unsubscribe.  My blog and Bloglovin' are Google products. Google has published this:

You can count on the fact that Google is committed to GDPR compliance across products, including Blogger. We are always working to stay compliant, which helps make compliance easier for your blog. We are also committed to providing robust privacy and security protections built into our services. We know security and privacy are important to you, and they are important to us, too. For Google, it’s a priority that your private information is safe. 

I will also have a privacy statement in my Etsy Shop.

Please know that I have never collected or kept any data from you.  If you have purchased anything from me via a credit card, I do not keep that information.  My website/blog does not collect information.  My privacy is as important to me as it is to you.

And to satisfy the right side of your brain:

"Primitive Seasons"

I'll be vending at The Quilter's Unlimited show in Chantilly, VA the weekend after Memorial Day (6/1-6/3).  Booth #100.  It's a great show with a ton of quilts.  Hope to see you there.

A Day with Victoria Findlay Wolfe

In my last post I promised I would share lots of photos from my day with Victoria Findlay Wolfe.  I am on her e-mail list and when I saw she was offering workshops in her loft in NYC, I started to drool.  What a fun day that would be - to learn from her and to see a NYC loft.  I told a bunch of my friends and they thought it would be fun too!

As soon as she posted the workshops and the dates, we signed up.  There were only 8 spots.  Our workshop was from her new book, Modern Quilt Magic.  The day that worked for us, she was offering "Cascade". 

WE walked off the elevator and into this huge room.  About half of it had tables and sewing machines.  Each of our work stations included a Juki sewing machine, mat, our own table and a design wall and a box full of notions including a rotary cutter, seam ripper, pencil, etc.  The only thing we needed to bring was fabric and our lunch.

These are 2 of my good friends Helen and Denise.
(Did I tell you that Victoria's husband is a gallerist and there was art everywhere?)

 After a lengthy talk about the magic behind her quilts and her design process, she shared a few quilts that she just had "hanging around".

Believe it or not, this is a T-shirt quilt that Victoria made using her star pattern from Harley Davidson t's.

Her dogs.

Cindy, Kathy and Terry working on their quilts.

And a great group photo at the end of the day.  (Victoria has the longest arms, perfect for selfies.)

When the workshop was over, we headed to Victoria's shop in the  building next door.

I couldn't get a great picture, because we were all busy shopping!

Then she was gracious enough to show us her studio.  It was in the same building on a different floor.  There were lots of design walls with all different projects.  Since there was a soon to be released project, NO PHOTOS.

What a great way to spend the day.  We took the Bolt Bus up and back from Philly.  Everyone enjoyed themselves and for me it was an opportunity to do some sewing since I haven't touched my machine in weeks.

A Bit Of Quilty Gossip

Let's face it.  Most of us enjoy a bit of gossip from time to time.  I'm not talking about malicious gossip.  I'm not a fan of that.  The quilt industry is going through a lot of changes now, so lots of interesting things are happening.  Some seem good and some seem not so good. These past 2 weeks have been full of goings on.

Keepsake Quilting - Have you been?  It used to be a destination for summer travel up in NH.  I haven't heard much about it lately, other than receiving their catalogs.  I think Missouri Star has become the quilting destination.  I guess Keepsake has been in need of a facelift and one of my favorite fabric vendors is going to be doing it.  Pineapple Fabrics has bought Keepsake!

I first saw the gang from Pineapple Fabrics when I was vending at the AQS show in Syracuse a few years ago.  It was a bunch of young guys with a decorated food type truck decked out with fabric.  I heard it was a redecorated stripper truck from Vegas.  I'm not really sure if that's true or not, but you can't miss it.

The people who own Pineapple Fabrics have a very interesting history that I didn' know about until I read the article about the takeover.  They have been in the fabric business for generations and have been in the pre-cut business and do it for lots of the big name fabric companies.  They plan on bringing Keepsake back to its former glory and then some.  You can read  more about it HERE and visit Pineapple Fabrics website HERE.

Exposure is a word that I have come to detest. We deserve to be paid for our work, just as everyone else.  It has value.  Exposure does not pay the bills or feed your family.   DMC, the premier embroidery floss company has not been receiving much popular press lately.  They have been running a design contest.  Their goal is to offer 1,000 free stitching designs on their website.  What's the problem? They are offering no compensation to the designers.  Not only is there to be no payment, DMC retains all the rights to the designs. The designs were to be posted to DMC's contest Instagram account (DMCxstitchcontest). So what are designers to do?  They revolted and posted rebellious embroidery designs.  Some of them I can't repeat  here, but one of my favorites that I can share is:"If I wanted exposure, I'd become a Nudist! Pay Artists".  There was such an uproar that DMC is now offering a pittance of compensation - one $500 prize.

If you're a Bonnie Hunter fan, you have probably hear this.  She is expanding her Quiltville empire to include a retreat center.

Bonnie has to be one of the most generous authors/designers and she deserves all good things.  She has an inordinate amount of energy and travels non-stop.  This will be a wonderful place for her to "hang her hat" when she's ready to slow down on travel.  I can't wait to watch it take place.  You can read about it HERE.  Definitely sign up for her email list if you want to follow along.

And finally, there are big changes at Cotton & Steel.  There was so much excitement at RJR Fabrics in 2013 when they formed a division with  a group of  5 designers to capture the modern quilt fabric market. Not only was the fabric innovative, but their means of marketing was too.  Sadly,  it was just announced that the original designers are moving on. There will be new designers and new concepts. Let's hope for the best.  They really had some wonderful fabric.

Now that I've been a gossip columnist for the day, it's time to get back to work! Just kidding.  I have lots of fabric to iron and cut, because.....tomorrow I am taking a busman's holiday.  I'm heading back to NYC with some friends to take a workshop with Victoria Findlay Wolfe in her loft!!!! I hope to take lots of photos to share.

Paint By Number

My Mom would do paint by number paintings when I was a kid.  It was her creative outlet and it wasn't messy. I remember Gainsborough's Blue Boy hanging in the dining room for many years.

A few years ago there was a piece on 60 Minutes about how these vintage paint by number paintings have become collector's items.  You can read about it HERE.

Recently, I came across an article about the museum where the original Blue Boy is hanging.  It really brought back that memory - something I haven't thought about in years.  It's the Huntington Museum in California.  They are currently in the process of refurbishing and doing  it in full view of the public.  What a great road trip that would be.  You can read about it HERE.

Do you remember doing paint by numbers or a relative that did? I wonder what happened to my Mom's.

The Life of an Itinerant Quilt Designer

I cannot believe that it has been over a month since I wrote a blog post.  What the heck have I been doing???  The Lynch household has been turned into an order fulfillment center.  Mini Mosaic quilts have taken off and have become in great demand.  It started with my episode on The Quilt Show and it just snowballed from there.  They sold out in 2 days, and then people went to their local quilt shop who then went to their distributors OR they came to my Etsy shop.  We are finally seeing the light.  I know everyone at the Post Office by name and they know me at FedEx too. There are no more boxes in my foyer, well almost none.
We did head to Kentucky for the AQS Paducah quilt show.  Although I brought Curvalicious, I focused on my Mini Mosaics.  I just can't get enough.

 I was by myself in the booth (while my husband was filling orders st the house where we were staying) and not able to do many demos, so I brought a virtual assistant!The good news about a VA is they don't talk back, they don't need a potty break and they work tirelessly.  My VA was a video I created demoing Curvalicious and the Mini Mosaics.  I brought a TV and ran the video  in my booth on a loop. (Thanks Rich and Dina.)

Because I was tied to my booth, I really didn't get to see any of the quilts or the vendors. I was located in what they call The Pavillion, aka the bubble that kind of looks like an enclosed tennis court. I did get to see the Van Gogh Cherrywood challenge, because it was located in the Pavillion.  There were lots of quilts and it still amazes me the amount of creativity inside quilters's brains .  The challenge for next year is based on the singer Prince.  I think you can guess the fabric color.

I made sure that I had some extra time after setting up my booth to visit Hancock's of Paducah. This is the largest quilt shop that I have ever visited.  Since I was there the day before the quilt show started, it was not super crowded. Based on experience, I know that you need to go there with a plan.  My plan was to load up on batiks for my Mini Mosaic kits.  SUCCESS!!!!

There is a story that I have to share.  Last year a group of quilters who met each other all over the world, stopped by my booth.  They decided to do a challenge using Curvalicious.  They showed up at my booth on the first day.  Three of them had finished their challenge. I only had a chance to photo one of them and she surprised me overwhelmingly. Her challenge was gift wrapped and I was warned to be very careful.

She didn't make a fabric Curvalicious quilt, but she made one out of glass!! She was so excited to gift it to me and I couldn't believe my eyes.  It was a votive candle holder.  

She spent hours and hours learning how to work with glass and to make it into a Curvalicious shape.  I have never received anything like this.....ever.  The two other challenges were quilts that were so unique, but no photos!

It did take me 2 days to unpack the car once we got home and five more days to bring everything down to the basement.  Now that we have caught up filling orders, I can return to what I really love to do.  I have a couple of Mini Mosaics waiting to be quilted.