Graduation Season is Over, thank goodness:)

  Is it me, or do more and more people these days seem to be making t-shirt quilts for graduation gifts?  I got my first call to be "put on the list" for graduation quilts back in January.  From then on, I was keeping my eye on deadlines and taking in lots of graduation gifts.  I finished the above, for a close friend, a week ago.  It was my last t-shirt quilt of the season.  I can't say that I was sad about that!  Sometimes, the monotony of t-shirt quilt after t-shirt quilt gets to me.  This one was a little different because we designed it together, I knew the graduate, and his school shirts were from the school where I taught social sciences and English for 16 years.  It also helped that I knew it was my last one for this May!
  Now that graduation season is over, it is time for wedding quilts.  My life used to be organized and ordered according to a school calendar.  I thought of time in terms of:  1st semester, 2nd semester, and summer.  Now, I find that I think of things in terms of:  graduation season, wedding season, fair season, and Christmas season.  Those are my busiest deadline times.  It can get stressful trying to decide exactly how much I can reasonably get finished and within what time frame I can expect to finish.  It is an inexact science, for sure.  I would welcome comments from fellow longarmers out there who have a system for figuring that out.

Quilting Outside the Box

  Several new patterns have come out lately that challenge quilters to "quilt outside the box."  Examples of what I am talking about are the above pictured "Stargello," the Spicy Spiral table runner, and Phillips Fiber Arts book Quilts Without Corners, which features all kinds of beautiful butterflies and rainbows of wedges.  All of these interesting projects use either a 9 or 10 degree wedge ruler.
  I am amazed by the creativity that led to these and many other awesome tools and patterns.  I have recently been working with tools by Deb Tucker for old-school eight pointed stars that (unlike the days of old) now can be made without y seams or set in places.  FABULOUS!  The Rapid Fire Hunters Star, Rapid Fire Lemoyne Star, etc. are marvels of engineering.  I am so glad that there are men and women out there who continue to make our quilting lives easier and, at the same time, help us make more and more beautiful works of art.

Taking on New Challenges

  So, it has been a whirlwind of a month!  We had 10 days of the annual NIFS Shop Hop in April, and I tried to keep up with quilting for customers in the middle of it.  I took a class at the beginning of the month from Jean Nolte, the editor of Fons and Porter's magazine.  She was doing a class on a quilt she designed for the magazine a few years ago called "Amish Buggy Wheels."  I consider myself a tolerably good quilter, but one thing that I have avoided all these years is curved piecing (dun, dun, dun!). 
  In my younger days as a 4-H member, and then later as a young mother, I did some clothing construction.  So, I had done "curved piecing" on sleeves and armholes.  That was enough to tell me that it wasn't much fun!  However, in the spirit of trying new things, taking on new challenges, etc. I decided to take the class.  I am so glad that I did!  It wasn't that hard!  Now, my first block did have a MAJOR hump in the middle.  I decided to take the easy way out and just iron in a nice big fold, which I planned to stitch down later.  Well, three days later,( and much obsessing about my imperfect block), I simply had to take the whole thing apart and try again.  This time, the hump was gone, but the circle didn't perfectly match up around the edge.  Dang it!  Three tries later (my official limit or retries) it is what it is.  I do have the advantage of doing my own quilting, and by the time I am done quilting it, no one will ever notice it.  Luckily, the second block looked much better.  I am guessing that by the time I finish all 12 blocks, I will be quite comfy with curves!
  The month ended with very exciting news about a humorous essay that I wrote and submitted to American Quilter magazine, published by The American Quilters Society.  The editor contacted me and they plan to publish it in the next issue.  I have always wanted to be a published author, and now I will be able to say that I am!  Hurray for taking on new challenges!  I can't wait to see what is next!

Pursuing Your Passion

 

  Isn't it funny how we grow and change throughout our lives?  Just when we get comfortable in a routine, it seems that circumstances conspire to force us out of that place into something new.  At the time, change can be daunting, perhaps terrifying.  However, I have found that in looking back we often see a divine string leading us into new territory---  territory that is rewarding and that quickly becomes "familiar."

  When I was in my 20's and 30's, teaching was my passion.  I taught high school students about history, English, and geography.  I loved going to work.  I loved them.  Sixteen years later, I had lost my passion for teaching.  I continued to go to work, but I didn't love it anymore.  My identity was so caught up in being a teacher, that I couldn't imagine myself being or doing anything else.  I spent an entire school year being miserable and questioning where God was leading me.  It was terrifying!

 Finally, because I felt like I had no choice, I quit my teaching job.  I had no firm plan for the future, but I took that step.  Each step that I took led me further into the world of quilting. 

I began by making samples and working in my mom's quilt shop.  The more time I spent there, the more I enjoyed it.  The atmosphere was wonderful, and the people I met were so much fun.  I met a machine quilter, and admired her work, secretly wishing that I could afford to buy a machine to finish all of the samples that I had made!  Eventually, with encouragement from my husband, I bought that machine.  In order to find a new career path, and to help pay for my machine, I decided to start a business.  Lone Tree Designs was born!  Again---terrifying! 

  Three years later, I love my work.  Each day, whether I go to work at the quilt shop or fire up the longarm, I love what I am doing.  I pursue my work with renewed energy and passion.  I look forward to the new quilts that customers send my way, and I "listen" to those quilts when they tell me how they want to be quilted. 

  I still have a passion for teaching, but instead of World War II or the finer points of grammar instruction, I teach women how to sew an accurate quarter inch seam.  I show them how to use exciting and innovative new tools to make heirlooms that will be around after they are gone.  If I am lucky, they trust me to put the finishing artwork on their masterpieces before they give them away to those who are very fortunate to receive them. 



Quilts, Classes, and New Techniques!

  Wow!  I can't believe how busy I have been since Christmas!  Last year, I had a bit of a slow down in February and March, and then got busy again in anticipation of graduation.  This year, I have had quilts coming in very steadily since January.  I had one customer call me in January to get her name on the list for four graduation quilts.  I have one done, and am waiting for her to finish and get the other three to me.  My business has been increasing at a very pleasing rate for the past year or so, but the more busy I get doing quilts for customers, the less time I have to work on my own projects.  In order to take a break and relax a bit, I keep my grandson every few weeks for a couple of days, sign up to take whatever classes that are offered through my quilt guild in Grand Island, and teach some classes over at the Quilters Cottage in Kearney.  I started a club using the Civil War Legacies book and new reproduction fabrics that mom has been ordering in for the shop.  We have only met once, and it was a lot of fun.  I am looking forward to the next meeting in a week.
  Yesterday, I took a class with Lynne Hagmeier from Kansas Troubles.  It was so fun!  We used techniques from her book, Loose Change, and I am excited to try some more as soon as I get the chance.  Her layered patchwork with raw edges is a fun new idea that I have never seen before, and it uses precuts, which makes it even more simple.  I highly recommend the book!  As soon as I finish my two projects, I will take pics and post them.  I finished a table round in two hours, and almost finished a table runner in the morning class!  Quick, easy, and fast!  Just what a busy woman needs!