Blog Hop

Greetings all! Welcome to our stop on the Blog Hop! For those of you who aren't familiar with our little fabric team, I'm Lauren and I design fabric with my mom, Jessi.

A while back, there was talk about this blog hop being a tour of our design studios...

And while our instructions have since changed, we couldn't resist showing you a few pictures of where we spend LOTS of time each day. Not to mention the fact that it's newly redecorated too...which we're still pretty pumped about. The following photos will serve as the tour.

In the photo above you can see our Ikea bookshelf that's been put to good use with some of our recent fabric stashes, books, and various other nick nacks. Below is a zoomed out view of the studio. We wanted this room to remain comfortable, while still being extremely useful.

Here's some storage that we have beside the computer. Some of the little pales are suspended from the wall... others are made up vintage tins that my mom has been collecting for some time now. Below that, is a picture of two of the x-large, gridded sketch books that my sister and I make for my mom. We've made one out of each of our previous lines.

Here's a colorful collection of thread that we have displayed in an old type tray. We also have a row of ribbon that has been threaded onto a wire above our tv.

And last but not least, our favorite boy in the whole world, Rudy. He's so cute that he makes an adorable addition to almost any decor. We also have a wall of dog drawings that I drew a few years back in which he makes a few appearances as well.

And now for our block...

We're number 27! You can download the pattern here... My mom added a little applique in the center too, but that's optional. We like to think it adds a little something extra to the block.

We're going to draw two winners (next Monday) for this blog hop, who will receive a charm pack and a jelly roll from our most recent line, Birds and Berries.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the line, scroll down to my previous entry where I walk through the line in detail. It's super cute! ALSO, we've got a free pattern (shown in the picture below) that features this line, and you can download it online here. We think its especially awesome because you can make the entire thing with two charm packs (plus some backing). And if you're a quilt store owner who wants some glossy printouts of this pattern, just shoot me an email at LaurenJung1@gmail.com, we'd love to send you a few.

So how do you win...

Just post a comment!. AND If you want to be entered a second time, then like us on Facebook, and let us know that you did so with a second comment. :)

Whew, ok, I think that's everything. Next on the Blog Hop are: Primitive Gatherings, Malka Dubrawsky, and Me & My Sister. Also, the other bloggers going today are: Kathy Schmitz and Laundry Basket.

Good luck and happy quilting!

Birds & Berries

As with most things, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. And that has been the fate of my "I'm going to start blogging" declaration that I made a few months back.

We just got our strikeoffs in the mail for our NEXT fabric line, and I still have yet to put up a post about our current line, Birds & Berries. I've mentioned it in some of my other posts, but as many of you know... I'm long winded and I like to have at least one post that goes over our inspiration... and the little hidden secrets that reside within the prints. So I'm doing that now.

(I actually have a whole list of posts that have never seen the light of day. Carrie's wedding being one of them. Her wedding came and went, and as usual, I was not on the ball... and when I was finally ready to put it up... she'd been married 6 months. So I vowed to do it on her 1st wedding anniversary. And then her 2nd anniversary. The 3rd time is typically the charm though, and I'm dead serious when I say, on her 3rd anniversary, her wedding post will go live.)

The Birds & Berries line originally started out as the Birds & the Bees. Then I googled that name and was surprised to find that it is still a somewhat risqué term alluding to grownup activities. Then Tula Pink actually came out with a line called the Birds & the Bees that very same Market. So we were glad that we went with our backup name. (She's a little edgier than us and pulled the name off nicely. :) So kudos to her for being cool!)

Anyway... we have three (sorta four) colorways. Blue, Berry, Green (with a little Yellow). See below.

As we usually do, we went with a garden/nature theme. This one has some slight ethnic influences though. Which was fun. I'm dating an Indian guy who I'm crazy about... and when we first started dating he brought me back some clothes from his trip to India. The fabrics were incredible. And so some of those served as inspiration for our newest line.

The main print has 10 different species of birds in it! Which is impressive, if I do say so myself. There are also snails, bees, inch worms, and spider webs... plus a variety of berries and flowers. The whole thing took FOREVER to draw... AND it was the very last print to be added to this series. I was working on it right up until the deadline (as usual)... and when I finally got to it, Hurricane Irene hit (last year), and our power went out, and I was forced to work on it in my car with my computer plugged into the cigarette lighter. Not a fun time.

Here's our Blue Colorway.

And the Berry Colorway.

And the Green (with a little bit of Yellow) Colorway.

And that covers most of the high points. If anyone uses this line to make something super cool, please send me pictures!! We love to blog about that kinda stuff!

Ya'll Are a Crafty Bunch

You know how we relentlessly ask you to send us photos of the projects you've made with our fabric...

Well, it turns out that many of you have actually done so. Some pretty cool stuff has been showing up in our inboxes recently, and we're really exited to share some of them with you today.

The first set of photos was sent to us by Corinna Hyde of Corinna Couture.

Corinna's name may sound familiar to many of you, as we have mentioned her on our blog before. Corinna is awesome because not only does she make and sell these adorable dresses and skirts, (check out her etsy shop) she was also kind enough to whip up some sample dresses for us out of our Birds and Berries line for use in our market booth.

I totally want one of these dresses, and I don't even have kids yet.

But the craftiness doesn't stop there. Feast your eyes on these little gems...er eggs...sent to us by Amanda Murphy of Amanda Murphy Designs.

Amanda used our Flora line to make her Easter Egg Table Topper come to life, which I think was a great decision...for obvious reasons.

You can view the whole table topper here...but wait there's more! This pattern is actually a free tutorial that she's posted on her website. She shared the directions in multiple posts, which can be found here, here, here, and here.

I love this pattern for a variety of reasons, but the most important is the fact that you can use your sewing machine to appliqué the eggs onto the background. I think this table topper may have to make an appearance on my next Easter table scape.

And last, but most certainly not least, we've got Laura Piland's "Bloom" quilt.

I love the vintage chic feel of this quilt. In fact it almost looks like something you could buy from Anthropologie. And the story behind this quilt is equally cool. Laura is new to the wonderful world of quilting, and by the looks of it, she's a natural. Anyway, she made this quilt for a friend who was moving to a new...very far away town as a reminder to always bloom where you are planted.

I know...it melts your heart doesn't it. What a great friend!

Thanks again Corinna, Amanda, and Laura for sending us your awesome projects! We love seeing pictures of all the amazing and creative things that people are doing with the L+J fabrics.

I'll finish off the post with one last plea...Please send us photos of your projects! We know you're out there...and we know you're crafty. You can either e-mail us via our contact page on the website, or post it to our Facebook Fan Page. Thanks!

Six Awesome Winners

First I want to go over the big news from last week...
which is...
I've co-founded a startup called Shelf.
And it's going to be the coolest thing since Facebook! :)

Last week, for the very first time, we released this project to all of you blog-hoppers... Yay!

And for everyone who participated, let me just say, that we couldn't have asked for a nicer group of testers! Even those of you who had issues getting the site to work... you all still provided feedback that was upbeat, constructive, and friendly. So thank you very much for helping us out... and for telling your friends!!!

For those of you who missed that blog entry (and the 3 giveaways that went along with it), no big deal... we've got a 3 month long plan for getting this website up to par before doing a big public launch. And during that time, we plan on doing A LOT more giveaways!

Essentially, Shelf is a better way to shop! And you can watch a demo video here.

As we scale up, we'll be doing huge chunks of improvements, like... adding stores, incorporating kids clothes, expanding into home goods, putting together a phone version, adding in "gift shelves", implementing a Pinterest Plugin, etc. And while we're doing all that, we want to make sure that we keep getting feedback.

You all did such a GREAT job with this first mini-release, that we've decided to do mini-releases every week, at which time, we'll be giving away a few $50 Visa Gift Cards. (These are a little more generic than quilt store gift certificates... so please, invite anyone you know to participate (preferably people who do a lot of online shopping.)) Oh, and for all the quilters that decide to follow along, we'll be putting up free patterns from time to time! Which should be fun! (Because they're 9 bucks in stores. :))

Anyway, to stay involved, you can check back here on our blog every Monday morning. We'll keep you posted about what the next giveaways are... and how to get involved. If you "Like Us" on Facebook, you can also check there for updates on the next giveaway. We'll make sure to put up a post a few days in advance.

So here's an overview of how Shelf did on it's first week...

Thank you Sandy, you were our very first user ever! And Katie Y, you are our most active user! :) And we love you! Total unique visitors : 360 Total pages viewed : 2456 Total participating countries : 13 Total participating cities : 253

As far as the feedback goes,
we've incorporated almost all of it! Yay!
It's been a VERY busy week... :)
Our biggest feat being: iPad compatibility!!!

We've: 1. added ANTHROPOLOGIE to our list of supported stores 2. fixed login issues 3. completely redesigned the login experience (hopefully it's not still confusing) 4. fixed a whole BUNCH of bugs that you guys helped us find! (Thank you for that!) 5. added the ability to filter deals by store on the Promo Dashboard 6. iPad compatibility

If you all could check it out again, that would be awesome, and let us know if things are working better! And for those of you who requested iPad compatibility, it would be great if you could try it out now, and then let us know what you think. (Installing the bookmarklet on an iPad is a little bit of a pain because apple doesn't support "dragging-and-dropping"... but we've given pretty concise instructions. They're a little ugly at the moment though because we're tired. :))

Lastly, I want to mention two super big chores that Shelf takes care of.
The first is email clutter.
Every single day, people receive an average of THIRTY-THREE retail emails!
Which is too darn much in our opinion!

We provide users with the promo dashboard. An aggregate view of ALL running promotions (that you would usually have to search for in your inbox). Now, they're all in one place. They have a uniform format for easy scanning. AND you can now filter them based off of the stores that you care about.

Wouldn't it be fun to unsubscribe from all of those daily emails. And then, just come here whenever you want to see current deals. We'll have them all, and within the next week, we'll be adding ALL of the stores that you guys suggested during the blog hop! So keep the suggestions coming!

Secondly, you can set up price alerts. So if you like a pair of boots that cost $200. But you only want to pay $125. You can set up a notification, and we'll watch the price for you!

And now for the giveaways!
We had three fabric giveaways that are going to the following people...

Great story! Your dad sounds like a character! Thanks for the pattern! (1 Birds & Berries jelly roll)

I love the story about your Father, so sorry he spent the night in Jail. Love your fabrics. (1 Birds & Berries layer cake)

I love these bow ties! Thanks for the chance to win!! (1 Birds & Berries layer cake)

And we have three FAT QUARTER SHOP gift certificates (each for $75) for three of our new Shelf users!

Sweet I am totally looking up shelf! I do the same thing about deal shopping… and it is a HUGE pain, but worth the savings in the end.

I loved your idea of Shelf.. My daughter is the real shopper.. she just moved to Denver in May. I will turn her on to the idea… I know she will love it and try it and join… I bet. I will also give the info to my grand daughter. Love your story! best of Luck in San Francisco! Thanks for the pattern… Sherry

I love the concept and the site tutorial was fabulous... I’m sure smart and thrifty shoppers are going to love this tool. I agree that Anthropologie, and department stores like Macy’s and Nordstroms would be great additions.

Thank you to everyone who participated, and please keep up with us and our new project, Shelf!

Our Stop on the Blog Hop

Today is our stop on the blog hop, yay!! This entry is for three fabric giveaways from our new line, Birds and Berries (see above). We'll be accepting comments through the 14th, and we'll announce the winner on the 15th! So stay tuned!

(Usually, on our blog hop posts... all three of us participate, but it just so happens that my sister, Carrie, is in Spain right now (jealous)... and my mom is frantically trying to put together the patterns that we need to turn in for our book that's coming out sometime next year. :) ) Anyway, it's just going to be me today...

And so without further ado, I'm now going to talk about my hometown of Spartanburg SC. That I fondly refer to as "The Burg".

1. My absolute favorite restaurant in the whole world is Wade's Southern Cooking

It's a "meat and three" restaurant that has been around since 1947. EVERY SINGLE TIME that I go out to eat there, I order 2 fried chicken legs, 2 orders of macaroni & cheese, and 1 order of string beans with a sweet tea and corn bread.

No matter what time of day that you go, there is a line that goes out the door because its awesome!

Now that I've moved away, I only get to eat there maybe once every six months or so which is sad... so my mom usually buys me a t-shirt to get me through the months that I'm away. :) See above.

Anyway, Wade's has these really funny billboards that are all over town... all of which, focus on their tagline, "Have you eaten your veggies?" They crack me up.

2. Andie MacDowell is from Gaffney South Carolina.

Gaffney is spitting-distance away from Spartanburg, so I'm going to lump her into this blog entry... because Spartanburg doesn't have much else. :)

3. And now... a funny story about my family (more specifically my dad), who was famous here in Spartanburg for about a week after he was ARRESTED.

So it all started with a neighbor who lived up the road from us (hmmm, let's call him Mr. Cailey). Well Mr. Cailey was annoyed by the fact that the traffic passing in front of his house, didn't abide by the stop sign at the end of the road. Well... eventually, this was just too much for him to bear, so one morning... after everyone left for school and work... bulldozers and dump trucks arrived to close the road off at the stop sign. Thus dividing the neighborhood into two parts.

When residents returned home that evening and drove down this road (same as always)... they hit a dead end... complete with newly planted grass, shrubbery, and a split rail fence.

Everyone was up in arms about it. School buses had to be rerouted. Fender benders occurred when residents realized (a little too late) that their street was missing. Meetings were held. Petitions signed... Etc. This is a picture of where the street dead-ends. The previously connected road is sitting just beyond the trees.

Well, my dad had a walking route on our street that he took every night. And, street or no street, he REFUSED to be rerouted. He went on his merry way... and when he'd come to this newly landscaped yard (that used to be the street), he walked right across it and continued on to the other half of the neighborhood.

One night Mr. Cailey had the nerve to accuse him of trespassing. To which my dad responded, "Sue me". (My dad lives by no one's rules. And so he was not deterred by this confrontation. He continued his nightly trek.)

The next night, while he was walking across this yard, he tripped and fell over a drainage rock that was sitting in the middle of the path. (He swears that this was strategically placed.) In order to avoid tripping over it in the future, he tossed the rock into the bushes.

...And... at that very moment, Mr. Cailey lept out of the bush and snapped a photo.

The next afternoon, two policemen came to our door to arrest my dad for throwing the rock. He wasn't home at the time, so my mom was instructed to tell her husband to turn himself in at the courthouse after he came home. At which point, they would arrest him. Can you believe this? So that night after dinner, my dad (being the hardened criminal that he was) picked up his Scientific American Magazine, and headed downtown to pay his debt to society. He actually DID spend the night in jail (which he was less than happy about). In the end, he was let go because the grounds for the arrest were downright dumb.

Anyway, to finish up the story, things wound up OK... My Dad took Mr. Cailey to court and won. His record was expunged, and the neighborhood association was granted the right to pave a "scenic walkway" through Mr. Cailey's landscaped street (for walkers like my dad to use).

The funny thing is... this whole story was written up in the Spartanburg Herald Journal. And so, years later, when one of us recounts the story... many listeners will jump up and say... "I SAW that in the paper....that was YOUR husband????...or that was YOUR father???"

Yep, the Jungs were the "buzz" of Spartanburg for a week. True story!!!

And that about wraps up Spartanburg.
Now for the free pattern!

You can download it here. This is a traditional bow-tie pattern with a little something special. The centers of the bow ties stand up off the quilt 3-dimensionally. Super cool, right?

Also, make sure to check out the other two blog hop stops today... Pieces From My Heart   /   Fig Tree & Co.

Hmmm, I think that's it. Am I forgetting something?

Oh! Yes! The giveaway. We have three giveaways on this blog entry! And then THREE MORE giveaways on the next blog entry entitled My New Adventure!

First, to win one of our 3 fabric give-aways (1 jelly roll and 2 layer cakes), simply write us a comment on this blog entry. ...(And if you could "Like Us" on Facebook too, that would be awesome... but not required to enter this first giveaway!)

Then for the SECOND giveaway... I'm working on a really special project right now that I want to share with you. So, if you read the entry right below this, entitled "My New Adventure"... you'll get a chance to win one of 3 FAT-QUARTER-SHOP GIFT CERTIFICATES for $75 each! Yay! Who doesn't like free fabric right?

For those of you who can't find the comments... at the bottom of this entry is a little blue link that tells you how many comments we've gotten. Click on that link, and it will take you to the comment section. :)

We'll be announcing the winners on the 15th!

Thanks for stopping by and happy quilting!