Laura and her Dad at RB’s in Shem Creek

Mr Laura here. We are back from our brief but excellent trip to Charleston. We had a great time showing Laura’s Dad the city and eating a lot of really great low country seafood. We love Shem’s Creek for lunch so we can watch the kayaks, paddle-boards, and boats come and go. We toured the Yorktown at Patriots point and Laura’s dad Dan and I flew a simulated combat mission from the carrier. Thanks to the intrepid (we only screamed like little girls once, OK maybe twice) pilots, we made it back to the carrier, damaged but unbroken in spirit.

I think I mentioned on Facebook that Laura will be teaching at Sew Inspired in Simsbury CT on June 20-21. Laura loves to teach and it shows in her classes and also in her patterns. Recently she was teaching a quilt guild group (I won’t mention where). The class was scheduled to go to 4:00PM, and the organizer spent some time warning her that these ladies usually started packing up at 2:30PM and were always out of there by 3:00PM and not to get alarmed as it was always that way. When Laura was picked up the following morning at the hotel she said, “Well maybe I will be back early today”. and I replied, “No way, they have never had YOU teach here before.” At 5:45 that evening the organizer dropped her off saying ,”Wow, they have NEVER had such a good class” , and she “could not believe that every one of them wanted to stay late”. I have not actually attended any of her classes but I have picked her up after a lot of them and it is always the same, the ladies are laughing and showing off their stuff to each other (and even me).

It also shows in her patterns. Since she does teach a lot, she is aware of areas that need more explanation (you got a lot’a ‘splainin’ to do Laura). She puts in a lot of work before publishing first editions. After she has all the instructions and diagrams the way she likes it, she has a friend, Kathy Hefner, who is a sewer and a magazine editor, proofread and edit the copy for completeness of instructions and  of course grammar and spelling. Once the corrected draft is done she has several of her friends make the bag using just the pattern (no instruction from her) and also incorporates that feedback into the first edition printing. As she teaches the bag, she notes classroom questions/concerns and incorporates those into the website for current editions and then makes the changes in later editions. She takes a great deal of pride in the quality of the instructions.