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!

January Doldrums

  Usually the month of January is fairly slow moving.  It is like the cold weather just causes everyone to slow down a bit.  However, this year has been a little different.  I have been receiving quilts like crazy and now have the task of trying to figure out how many more I can take, while promising their owners that they will be finished in time for graduation.  Having only been in business for 2 1/2 years, I have spent quite a bit of that time building up a good customer base.  Now, I have that base, plus word of mouth that continues to increase the numbers of people who call me for quilting.  I would welcome advice from anyone out there as to how they figure out exactly how many they can get done.  Most of my work is semi-custom, and I would say that I am fairly fast at my work.
  I used to count on the down time in January and February to work on my own projects.  I am really looking forward to a retreat this weekend where I am taking a class called "The Log Cabin Revisited."  I can't wait.  It will be really fun to learn a new technique, and I am looking forward to it.  My most recent projects mostly became Christmas gifts, but I did finish my Hunter's Star that I had begun last fall in a class with my friends from my local quilt guild.

New Year's Resolutions? Nah!

The above pics are just some things that I needed to finish for customers before Christmas.

The black pics are the back of the peacock quilt.  It was made for a daughter who belongs to Chi Omega, and her mom wanted me to incorporate that into her quilt.

 

  It's that time of year, again, when everyone seems to think that making some New Year's Resolutions is a good idea.  Ehhhh...not so much for me!  I know myself, and here is how it goes...I start thinking..." ----- would be a really good idea.  I should work really hard on it, and make it one of my New Year's Resolutions.  Ok, I will do it."  Week One:  All is well, resolve is strong, success is assured.  Week Two:  This is starting to lose its thrill, but I am going to gut it out.  Week Three:  This sucks, and I am no longer going to do it.  Week Four:  Life is back to normal.  I ask you...does this sound like fun to you?
  Rather than making an "all or nothing" resolution, I think this year, I will make 5 goals for the new year.  Nothing that requires a daily commitment, nothing that can be measured weekly but, rather, goals that must be measured and evaluated at the end of the year, and nothing that is going to stress me out and make me feel bad about myself if I fail.  O.K.---scratch that last one.  I always feel bad when I fail.  Call it "oldest child syndrome," but it is tough for me to admit failure.  I always want to be the best at what I choose to pursue.
   I think I will talk this over with my husband and see if he has any ideas for me.  Who knows...maybe he might even want to join me in setting some mutual goals for our marriage.  This could be fun after all!
 

Learning New Things

Sometimes we really get in a rut of doing what we are comfortable doing.  It is easy to just do what we know how to do in many areas of our lives.  That holds true for quilting, as well.  I know a lot of techniques, but I also have so much to learn.  Whenever a new tool comes out, I look at it and I think,  "Is this worth my time to figure out?"  Too often, the answer is "Not right now.  Maybe later."  However, I recently took a class using Deb Tucker's Rapid Fire Hunter's Star.  I LOVE IT!  This tool really makes creating 8-pointed stars easy.  The options in the tool for several sizes and either 2, 3, or 4 colors make it well worth the price.  After a one day class, I was comfortable enough to make another project on my own, and then, ultimately, to teach the class to others.  It just goes to show that it can pay off to try new things!  My next new thing?  I am going to try the wedge ruler and the Spicy Spiral Table Runner pattern.
  P.S.  I am very busy quilting for customers that need their quilts done in time for Christmas gifts.  I am looking forward to hanging out with family and taking at least a week off from quilting at the end of the month, but for now, my nose is to the grindstone!