Saturday, November 21, 2015

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!


Saturday, November 14, 2015

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...

A few years back...3 maybe?

 A little over 3 years ago, our little quilt shop grew up. We moved to a larger space and hired more employees. So much has happened in thos...