Snow Days and Priorities

For 16 years, I was a schoolteacher.  If you count the years prior to that when I was in college, and even dating back to kindergarten, I have spent a lot of years looking forward to snow days.  Now that I work from home, the idea of a snow day isn't quite what it used to be:)  It is a day like any other, except that, this time, my husband is actually taking a day off of work to stay home because of weather!  He never does that!  In the 20 some years we have lived here, I can't remember more than once or twice that he has stayed home from work due to bad weather.  So, what shall I do tomorrow?  I will probably spend some time working, as will he.  However, I am pretty sure that the day will include a roaring fire in the fireplace, a couple of cups of hot cocoa, and a thankful heart that this snow day will be shared with the man I love.  When your work is in the next room, sometimes it is hard to remember that work is not the most important thing in your life.  Relationships and family should always trump work.  A snow day gives me the opportunity to place my priorities in the right order:)

From Traditional to Modern

  As a machine quilter, I see a lot of different types of quilts.   They are all beautiful in their own ways.  The Dresden was a hand-pieced quilt that an elderly woman brought to me.  Her mother had made the quilt decades ago, and had drawn the quilting lines on it with a lead pencil.  There was no way that I could (or wanted to try) remove those pencil marks.  Also, the lady specifically asked that I quilt as close to what her mother had drawn as possible.  I did what she asked, and the quilt looked very pretty when it was all done.  It is hard to have my creativity restrained, but I always want to make my customer happy.  Ultimately, it is their quilt, and they are paying me for a service.
  The purple batik quilt was the opposite.  It was created just a few weeks ago from pre-cut jelly roll strips.  The quilter simply asked that I do an inexpensive E2E design using orange thread.  I have a number of E2E designs that I like to freemotion on quilts.  I stay away from a puzzle meander, unless it is requested by the client.  This flower with tendrils and loops filled the needs that I had, and the orange thread (something I would not have chosen on a purple and green quilt) looked fabulous!  The back was as pretty as the front!  That thread inspired me to take more chances with my thread choices!
  Whether the quilt is traditional or more modern, it is always a lot of fun to create a design for the finished product.  The final design is more a function of what the quilt "tells" me to do than anything else.  I am not a planner...I quilt as the mood strikes and as the quilt "whispers" to me.  If I can, I like to look at the quilt and then walk away for awhile.  My mind does the work for me.  If I can sleep on it, I wake up inspired.  The more years of experience I gain, the more ideas I have chasing around my head.  Classes, books, magazines, quilt shows, visiting quilt shops, etc. fill me will ideas and inspiration for both traditional and contemporary quilts.  Each new quilt is a journey...and I am enjoying the ride!