On my first day as director of an after-school program, one of the kindergarteners was making an absolute mess during snack. I looked at her and told her that she should only make as much of a mess as she's willing to clean up. She looked right back at me, and without skipping a beat said, "My mom says, 'If you didn't get messy, you didn't have fun." In the last five years, or so, I have completely embraced that phrase as a life philosophy.

In order to embrace that kind of philosophy, though, you have to be willing to make certain changes in your life. The first and probably most obvious is that you have to be willing to clean UP the mess. I tend to know just how much fun we've had in an activity at the shop, or in life, by how long it takes me to clean up. My best dinner parties aren't fully cleaned up for days. If I have no clean-up, people must have been bored out of their minds.

I have also, though, learned to love certain products that make my messy life easier and slightly faster to clean up. One of those is laminated fabric. Last week we showed you some great bags that you can make out of laminated cotton. This week, though, we're going to talk getting messy. Laminated fabric protects you, your children, your furniture, your car, and so much more! It's also easy to clean. It can be wiped clean, or it can be thrown in the washing machine. Laminated fabric couldn't possibly make your life any easier unless it grew legs to walk itself to the washing machine.

When people see the rolls of laminate, they often think of making little rain jackets. But, what about something even simpler? Mary has whipped up a couple of rain poncho samples for the shop, one for the kiddos, and one for the adults--because why should only the kiddos get to jump in the rain puddles?

Our young friend Rin is modeling Fig Tree Quilts' Raindrops Rain Cape made in Wildflower laminated fabric by Dear Stella. Aren't the cape (and Rin) darling?

And don't you wish you had your very own rain poncho, modeled here by Jeanne? It's made using the Partly Cloudy Poncho pattern by Indygo Junction and Kaffe Fassett's Plink laminated fabric.

We also have a sample laminate table cloth (made with Teardrops laminated fabric by Dear Stella) in the shop right now. These are so easy to stitch up for both indoor and outdoor use, and they really brighten up any table. And for quick spills? Just wipe them up! No need to throw in the wash each time!

Be sure to check out all of the messy-repellent laminate tutorials we found. Now the tough part: which project should you start with?

• Rainy Day Wellie Liners 
• Laminate Baby Bib Tutorial 
• Laminated Fabric Placemats Tutorial 
• Reversible Laminate Coasters 
• Kids Laminate Umbrella 
• Laminate Art Smock Tutorial 
• Laminate High Chair Make-over 
• Laminate Shower Curtain
• Laminate Scalloped Tablecloth 
• Laminate Changing Pad 
• Laminated Strawberry Placemat Set 
• Laminated Tabletop Tutorial 
• Laminated Mommy and Me Apron Tutorial 
• Laminate Easy-Clean Baby Bib

Because quilting is not enough of an addiction, we at Quilter's Way have become big fans of Pinterest. We're finding, though, that many of our customers don't know what Pinterest is, so I'm going to take a few minutes and tell you all about the wonders that are Pinterest.

Pinterest is a virtual cork board where people from all over the world can share pictures of things they found on the Internet that interest them. As a Pinterest member, you have different Boards, which are essentially categories where you can post "pins," or the pictures of what you have pinned. You can download a widget on your toolbar that allows you to pin from any website. So, as you surf the web, you can collect inspiration in one place for later viewing.

You can also go to Pinterest, though, and follow other members--your friends or people who seem to have similar interests. You can also just check out any category to see what people are pinning related to that. It really is a giant inspiration board. Be careful, though, once you get started, you can't stop!

Quilter's Way has a Pinterest board. We're collecting pins on boards of topics that probably wouldn't surprise you much--color and design, quilts, quilt blocks, quilting, sewing, and crafting. We also, though, have a fun board right now that we think you might really enjoy checking out. There has been a wave of Ryan Gosling "Hey, Girl" photographs popping up all over the web for a few months now. They take many different forms, but they always have Ryan Gosling offering to do something surprising to please the female reader. Our Ryan Gosling board has a collection of some of our favorite sewing and quilting-related "Hey, Girls." In honor of the debut of our new Kit Designer, I created two Quilter's Way Kit Designer-Specific "Hey, Girls." Enjoy!