Phew! It’s been one CrAZy summer! Beth’s kids have been back to school for a few weeks now, but mine just started this week. I always feel that back-to-school is a little bittersweet. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the aisles of brand new pencils and pristine notebooks in the stores, colorful back-to-school clothes, the anticipation of waiting for the letter from the school to find out your teachers and who’s in your classes. And I LOVE the quiet house to myself for a few hours each day during the school year. But I also love hanging out with my kids and enjoying the lazy days of summer! It’s almost like they hop on that yellow and black school bus and you wave goodbye until the next school break….sigh.
But enough of the nostalgia!!! I have some FUN things to report on. And a blog post to answer to! In July, Beth and I went to Long Beach for Quilt Festival. We had a blast setting up Whimsyland again and meeting quilters face to face. We LOVE working with quilt shop owners too, but getting to “meet the people” so to speak is just so much fun. That’s when we get REAL feedback on our patterns and more importantly our new book! I loved that one woman came on “preview night” and bought Whimsyland. The next day she came back and said she had read the WHOLE book cover to cover while sitting on the tub in the bathroom so as not to awaken her friends in the hotel room!!! She gave us a raving review and made us smile. I gotta tell ya, the toughest part of our job is figuring out whether or not anyone besides OURSELVES will enjoy what we do. So we love getting feedback like that, I mean really, who wouldn’t???
So here is where we lived for the Long Beach show. We always think if you have to spend days on end in a little 10×10 space, you might as well make it a place you like to be! Another FUN thing about doing shows is the chance to connect with other friends in the quilty world and even, make new friends. As we were busily setting up our booth, our soon-to-be new BFF stopped and introduced herself. It was PAT SLOAN! We were friends with Pat on Facebook, but had never met in person. But you know how it is when you meet someone and you just KNOW you were meant to be friends. First of all, if you read Pat’s blog then you already know that she had two places on her desk reserved for coffee. And even though we’re not coffee drinkers, the Lizzie B girls DO travel with these, usually filled with Diet Coke!
When we met Pat, I think we started laughing together and continued laughing through the weekend! It was so fun. Partly due to a certain vendor near our booth who shared a crazy idea with us that nearly had us wetting our pants! Well, this idea planted a little seed in Pat’s brain that turned into a very hilarious gag gift. All the while she was making these gifts, she was laughing and putting teasers on facebook to see if we could guess what in the world she was doing. Now Pat has to be about the busiest quilter I know! If you could figure out how to package up her energy and sell it, you’d be sittin’ on easy street. So we felt truly honored (and, okay, a little apprehensive!) that she took time out of her busy life to stitch up a couple of gag gifts for her new friends and we eagerly awaited the postman to deliver our little packages. We got them on the same day! A cute little package wrapped in zebra striped tissue paper. Wanna see what was inside???
Yep! A handmade little pouch with…..disposal feminine products!!! Why you say? You are thinking Pat has gone off her rocker, right? That she’s been staring at quilt shapes a little too long and has turned a little loony, no? Well I could let you continue to think that, because truly, she is one crazy gal, but this story is just too funny NOT to share! While we were at Long Beach being neighborly and visiting the booths around us, we made a new friend (besides Pat!) who was a salesman for a certain company which will remain anonymous (although we DO share a rather blatant similarity!) He was saying that sometimes when he does these shows and he’s throwing pitches on his product he suddenly starts to sweat like mad! He said it was becoming a real problem in fact. Embarrassing even, because of the rings that would show under his arms on his nicely pressed dress shirt. So he got an idea. He stuck a couple of maxi pads right under his arms on his shirt!!! Maxis! (I asked him if they had wings and he agreed, they’re the best.) He said it worked like a charm. Forget the prescription strength Anti-P’s….maxis are a miracle in underarm protection! When we posed the question, did they really soak up the sweat he replied, “Shoot honey, I could ring those babies out and irrigate a small country!” Now you think I’m lying. But truly, it was a direct quote! Why we inspire such candid conversation from strangers, I will never know, but there you have it. Pat just HAD to make us our very own travel packs of Underarm Protection. THANKS PAT!!!! I’ll never leave home without it, promise!
So on Pat’s blog today, she declared it “Silly Friday” and decided to share our silly story. I told Pat that when it comes to silliness, the Lizzie B girls know how to outdo ourselves. Because while we were at Long Beach, again, we decided we needed to bake cookies in our teeny tiny hotel room for our customers. We just like to go the extra mile, you know. Mostly because it is HIGHLY entertaining just for US! Off we went to the local Walmart to find a little toaster oven and everything we’d need to whip up our special cookie recipe featured in Whimsyland.
Here it is sitting on the nice marble countertop in our hotel bathroom!
But here is where the true silliness begins. When we’re extremely tired and in our pj’s! Click on the link to see us in action, and get ready to laugh a good laugh! ENJOY!
