It Seams To Be Sew...Taking a leap of faith

To say this is a change of plans....

is an understatement.

A simple decision to leave the corporate world

and open an online shop was the plan.

Then in a couple of years, after the house 

in the Hill Country was finished, we were 

going to move and open a brick and mortar shop.

That was the plan.

Then Quilt Market happened and it's been 

a blur since then!

At Market, I found myself dreaming of owning

a longarm quilting machine...so I stopped by the 

Handi Quilter booth to take a look.

I left that booth, phone to my ear,

asking my sweet man if we could attend

the Handi Quilter dinner that night.

We went. We talked to other shop owners.

We talked about the machines.

We talked about a LOT of things.

We left that night, (in the pouring and flooding rain)

and drove around at midnight looking at

available retail rental space.

Two weeks ago, we signed the lease on a 

former Cupcake shop.

We wondered if we had lost our minds...

But, we haven't. We are just too excited to

go back now...

There is a lot of work to do removing the former

tenants equipment and oh my, cleaning and repairing

that floor...but we are not easily dismayed and plans

are already in the works!

We were able to start a little cleaning up before we left

to attend the Handi Quilter training in Utah last week.

However, this morning, we are back at it! 

Balancing this and those Christmas quilts that I have in my

studio at home is going to be tricky, but I KNOW if nothing 

else, I will find the time to fit it all in.

My friend said to me this morning to not over-do it

and try to find some "me" time in this process.

I love her optimism! I assume I won't have any of that

until after the new year and frankly, I couldn't be more happy!

Have a great weekend all!

And when life changes...

A few weeks ago, I started working on 

this little quilt for my friend Patty's 

son and soon-to-be bride.

Actually, this was my third try.

There had been two others in different 

colorways, but I just wasn't happy...

I wanted the kids to just love IT.

Finally, I had to decide that 

I was making it for the right reasons and that

it would be OK...

Because I really just loved THEM.

This pattern is one I fell in love with 

designed by Ashley over at Film In The Fridge.

It's called Converging Corners...

I thought it was appropriate for the newlyweds

because their two corners of the world were

converging into one.

This quilt also represented to me all the different

scraps we pull together in our lives to make a future.

The colors, the textures, the stitches...all things

that make our lives rich, unique, personal.

How we arrange them is up to us.

And then we bind them together...in this case

not only with lovely fabric, but with a vow.

These two young people are vowing to love,

cherish and join all the corners of their 

lives together - forever.

Just a like a quilt, this couple will experience

many days of warmth, trials, messes, and 

washes with clean starts. They might even

suffer some tatters and tears...

Ultimately mended and loved once again

to become even softer as the years go by.

So much goes into every quilt we make in our

lives...but when they are finished, hopefully

they convey beauty.

Hopefully, we can look back and see all

the memories of our lives in our quilts.

As this one went out to the new couple,

My prayer for them was simple.

When life changes, and it will...

remember the scraps you started out with

that are now faithfully stitched together,

mended in love, washed in your vows to

one another and bound with strength and grace.

Congratulations Garrett and Lauren...

May you walk in this lifetime together, forever...