And Sew….I Go!

All the stars are twinkling!

This was my last piecing event of 2016, and what a way to ring in the New Year!

I’m shooting up some photos here while I wait for my flight to board in Greensboro.  Phoenix awaits!  And it’s a good thing, because it was hosing rain here all night long, and I barely slept at all – tossing and turning hoping the rain didn’t turn to sleet, keeping me from reaching my destination.

When my mind is busy like that – I often start thinking of different quilt options I can try with whatever blocks are in progress to keep my mind from worrying about things I have no control over.  It’s much more productive to imagine these blocks in different layouts.  The quilter’s version of counting sheep, if you will!

The only problem with that is that I might find myself giving up on sleep completely and hopping out of bed to steal myself down to the basement, tiptoeing as I go….to sew something!

Laid out and ready to assemble!

These are my Dawn’s Early Light components, and I’m eager to see this one reach its full quilt potential but time was running out as the ball was dropping on New Year’s Eve.

And something has gone just a bit awry here!

Seam ripper time!

Nice try, but not quite!

Two left over??

Or 4 stars and 4 string blocks short??

A bit more scrambling for missing parts and making just a few more of this and that and now all of the blocks are complete!  If you are interested in the directions for this block, you’ll find the pattern in Vol 13 of 100 blocks by 100 designers by Quiltmaker Magazine – linked above!

String quilts just make my heart so happy!

This is was my afternoon and evening!

i headed to bed at 9:30pm last night –The post office was closed yesterday, so The Hubster and son Jeff are dropping these at the post office for me this morning.  We will resume when I return home on the 13th!

During my holiday time off we did a lot of planning and forecasting of how to best move forward with the calendar situation.  When I closed my calendar a few years back I was booked solid 5 years in advance with no wiggle room.  Everyone was telling me to slow down, yet it wasn’t “their” guild they wanted me to say no to!  HA!  Isn’t it funny how that goes?

I need to work smarter not harder, so this is the plan:  I have opened my Calendar of Events for booking into 2019 for large venues only as in quilt shows, festivals, retreats where I can accommodate up to 50 per class.  I want to spend my time reaching more people.  Festivals and shows don’t book more than 2 years in advance, so I as unable to accept those offers because I was already contracted elsewhere.

Once these are in place for 2019 I will open up the calendar in January of 2018 to book guilds in the remaining slots for the 2019 calendar year.  I’ll piggy back folks where we can to save on travel expenses, and as I said – work smarter not harder.

I am not booking shops at this time because they don’t have room to accommodate the student load.

And yes, thinking of all of this is what kept me from sleeping as well.  But I think this will work.

Quiltville Quote of the Day!

Photo shared by Kevin H @Photokevin74

In my case, what was going around was a common head cold, and it came around to land on me! I do believe in this statement, or as the saying goes "As you see, so shall you reap!" Keep the good vibes going so the good vibes keep coming back.

I am teaching for two guilds in Arizona: The Nimble Thimbles of Chandler, and the Thumb Butte Quilters of Prescott.  In between and on either end of these two venues I have time with family and friends, and it’s going to be a wonderful way to ease on in to 2017.

It’s nearly time to board – time to hit send and post this thing!

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

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