Building the Empire

One Step at a Time

Rob said to me last month,

"Elle, I'm so busy I'm not

going to be around much."

I said, "Well, if that has to

happen it is a great time for

it because this is crunch time.

I'll see you in May!"  He made

a sad face and said," I'll see you

in Asia."  Ohhhh, that's in mid-June.

But OK, that's our life.

I read a piece by Paulo Coelho this week

that talked about viewing life as a grand

adventure vs. asking little of life.  The

piece was about dreams.  It said some

people think they have matured and are

at peace by asking for nothing grand

from life but really they have just settled.

He said your dead dreams can rot and

infect you and then you become cruel

to others and then cruel to yourself.

I'm a dreamer...

After two years of designing,

making, writing, testing, proofing

and printing, the new line of

American Homestead patterns

is out.  When the printer confirmed

a first run of 43,000 pages it made

me feel somewhere between

exhilaration and scared silly.

But that was the dream...

My friend who owns

The Quilt Shoppe in Anderson, IN

is busy getting ready for the

American Quilter's Society extravaganza

in Paducah, Kentucky next week.

The patterns will make their debut there.

If anyone is going to Paducah next

week stop by and say hello to Dawn

at Quilts & More, located at 104 Broadway

in downtown Paducah.  It's near the cow!

I think she's taking half the shop with her.

Including that little Lori Smith quilt

that I made, I've won a lot of ribbons

with that quilt including a Best in Show.

I was in the shop this morning

and autographed one of my patterns.

I walked into my bank and someone

said, hey I just bought some of

your patterns.  Yeah!

Keep Dreaming!