On the Move

 Once again we are on the move to a new area and home.  We are leaving Southern California to return to Northern California in the greater Bay Area.

We are making an effort to purge a lot this time.  It is hard work both physically and emotionally but it feels good.  I'm looking forward to setting up house with a bit less baggage.

GOOD NEWS!!  The Michigan Fall Quilting Retreat is on for October 3-6, 2021.  You can find information on the retreat page of this blog.  I'm so looking forward to reconnecting with these ladies and meeting new friends.

Have a safe and blessed 4th of July!

Dee

Change

 So many things in life change whether we want them to or not.   I sometimes find myself wishing I could stop change from happening and to some extent I could do something about changes that I have control of.  But this is really about change that happens that I don't have control of, like getting older.

My husband has decided to retire.  We are at that age!  We have been very busy learning what that means and doing all the necessary paperwork to make that happen and asking a million questions and searching to find the right answers.  It's exhausting.

We will be making a move and so the search began and that is a full time job itself.  With the help of a dear friend we have that covered for now.

I have made some changes in my own career pursuits.  I will be ending my teaching at the college with this spring semester and will miss my students immensely.  I started teaching on Facebook Live in January and will continue to do for The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims. This has been a lot of fun and am so glad I don't have to change that right now.  Once settled in our new home I will pursue other options that might be available.  The retreats will continue when the Covid restrictions end and am looking forward to that.

My hope is that as changes come into your life you will find the good in them, rejoice in the new and continue to pursue your dreams no matter where you are or what circumstances life brings you.  

Blessings to you all,

Dee

Building a Quilt

 I think we all want the finished product.  That quilt that knocked our socks off and made us buy the pattern or take the class is what we want and we really don't think a whole lot initially about the steps it will take to wrap the finished product around us and give us warmth.

For me it is like reading a well written and engaging book.  Do you roll your eyes at those readers who read the last chapter first and know that's not how you read a book.  Roll your eyes at me then because I can be one of those-here's why.  Sometimes, I engage in a book and the characters are being developed along with the plot and I don't get them and so an inkling of frustration sets in and to alleviate that I read the last chapter and I get it.  Now I can go back and delve into the characters and understand what is happening as a result of their personality, circumstance, etc. and the book is now more enjoyable for me because I can get lost in the characters and plot without being frustrated.  When the ending comes sometimes I am still surprised by how it all wrapped up.  

A beautiful quilt can do that for me too.  Sometimes I jump right in before I have a good handle on the steps involved in creating the masterpiece.  The seam ripper gets used, blocks end up in the trash and thread and scraps are all over the floor. Authors have an ending in mind or where they want the book to go and they create the scenarios and emotions to get you there.  They have to pay attention to all the nuts and bolts of being a good writer, like grammar and sentence structure and so on.  We as quilters need to do the same thing.  We need to know about how to get an accurate 1/4" seam, pressing, cutting, etc. but the creation and the end result is all you.  It's yours and yours alone.

Read your pattern all the way through.  Every last word and picture.

Ask yourself how you can make it your own.

Do I have techniques I'd rather use than how they did it.

Gather your equipment in one place

Create your masterpiece

Steep the tea, wrap yourself in your masterpiece and read a good book.  No judgement if you read the ending first.😀

What has always been is not necessarily always best.

Blessings,

Dee