Stay Home and Sew!

I have some big travel coming up.

Saturday I am flying to California to teach at two back to back sessions of Empty Spools Seminars at Asilomar.

I am a lucky girl!  I am happy to be going back for a second time – and with the opening of Quiltville Inn, this is likely the last time I will be going that far to teach for that length of time -

Because of this trip, booked more than 2 years ago, the Inn is closed for the next 3 weekends.  

We are in the midst of a life change, and if you could simply put yourself in my shoes, you’d see and feel how torn I feel.

2020 is the year of seeing more clearly what I want to do with my own life, rather than let the industry carry me as to what it wants, expects and demands me to do.

(Okay, that said - if you read this far I am a bit worried about Asilomar - This just in. That quarantined cruise ship?  They are moving the exposed passengers to ASILOMAR where I will be for nearly 2 weeks.  Am I worried? A bit. Am I panicking? No.  But I am under contract and an email to the people in charge states that as long as Asilomar is open to the public, we are moving forward and my classes are full.)

As I folded the last load of towels yesterday hot and fluffy from the dryer, and refilled the towel baskets that go on each guest’s bed - I realized that although running a retreat house is a lot of work, it’s a different kind of work. One that allows me to be home to my own dinner, to my husband and family, to my own bed at night – and feet up hours of stitching in my own chair.

I’ve been called a “die hard” over the past several decades of my quilting career. I've always been go go go go go.

I am making a change.

Beautiful foot pedal  grips made by the Original Quiltvillians this weekend!

Different sizes – because pedals come in different sizes, just like quilters do!

These foot pedal grips will be available for future guests to use to keep their foot pedals from creeping on the wood floors.  Thank you ladies!

And yes, this does tie in to what I was talking about above -

This weekend was my first retreat workshop, and not having to fly across country (which equals losing two days of home time both coming and going) to get to where I’m teaching, and having a full class of TWELVE instead of 40 to 50 was just so so so nice. Only a 7 mile drive. I look forward to doing more of this.

My travel is scaling way back in the future.  I am teaching more “local” (within driving distance) events – but even those are fewer and further between.  I just want to be welcoming groups to retreat at Quiltville Inn.

I will keep a few “international” travel trips going each year – because I DO need a break from time to time, and I love to explore far away places where I’m not lugging 100 lbs of quilts and seeing nothing but the airport, the inside of a hotel room, a classroom, a conference center and then back to the airport and then home. 

International travel allows me the ability to spend 10 days with a group of folks and really get to know them and explore the world with them as just one of the group….not during forced sewing machine time!  It’s different.  So I’ll keep doing that.

One on one time allows me to do THIS!

Lucy brought her Craftoptics to retreat – and I had mine with me for working on a binding while in the Hen Den.  (We had told each other we needed to do a selfie with both of us wearing them at the same time, but it never happened.  We were BUSY!) 

Because there were only 13 of us including me, we were able to let folks flip our glasses part with the prescription in them out of the way, and just let people rest the magnifiers on top of their own glasses and see what they could see.

We could talk about them, share our experiences – because there was time to do so at a retreat pace, where there wouldn’t be at a lecture or large class space with a 6 hour class deadline to fit it all in.

And yes, we love them.  And can’t live without them when it comes to close stitching.

If you want to know more, visit Craftoptics and send them a mail – let them know you read about it here.

And because I was able to send this photo to them with some questions that someone had asked, the answers came back with a special offer for my readers.  

You can save $100 off the original price of the the WOW Package (glasses and light)  by using coupon code QUILTVILLE100.  And you will also get one free future prescription update the next time your eyes need a new correction.

That’s right – the glasses the magnifiers are attached to are fitted with your OWN prescription.  And as your eyes and prescription change, you just send in your Craftoptics and they will put your new prescription in the glasses for you – that goes for bifocals and all.

I just did this with my last prescription change.  It was quick and easy.

Truly.  I can’t do all the hand stitching I do without these.

Okay – this post has gone on a bit of a tangent – but all of this is because I was home and able to spend time with a small group of retreat ladies, not lecturing to an audience of 300 and needing to pack up that 100 lbs of quilts and be out of the building by 9:00 p.m. with no time to connect with people.

Another reason to stay -

The cattle are roaming and mooing and saying good morning!

Photo off the back porch.

The are grazing close to the fence -

And the daffies are smiling!

And the birdsong – lovely!

I am hoping that our first April group will enjoy the porch – As the weather warms the porch will become more and more of a gathering place.

I am still in need of another patio table and 6 chairs to get seating for 12 out there.  It will come!  I keep checking facebook marketplace to see what is available.

So to wrap this bit of train of thought back together – I will enjoy Asilomar and the other events that have been scheduled for this year, but don’t be surprised if more and more I am not traveling for shows, workshops, etc.  

I just know where I want to be. Where I need to be. It’s time.

Today I’m not leaving the cabin.

THIS is coming together.

I don’t know why I thought I could get it all laid out and start the assembly process last evening.  This girl is not as flexible as she once was!

Why here at the cabin?  Because I want to sew on my 301 in the cabinet, which is better than table top sewing at the retreat house when it comes to the assembling of big things.

Because I plan on binge watching a whole series of something on the wall mounted TV in my basement studio at the cabin while I web this top together.

Because there are no QPO cats here to undo my layout!

Blocks first, sashings second.

Cornerstones third! 

I have set my quilt 12 x 16 blocks. My blocks finish at 4''.

The sashings are 1 1/2’’ x 4 1/2’’ cut from strips in the 1 1/2’’ bin of my Scrap User’s System.

The cornerstones were gleaned from the 1 1/2’’ square box – always full of an amazing variety of various things – the tail end of the Scrap User’s System, and I am in to this box all of the time.  It never disappoints.

If you don’t know about webbing the top, check the Tips & Techniques tab at the top of the blog for more info.

It promises to be a day of much up down up down, but once webbed it will be off the floor.

How is your own Shoo Fly Shoo Leader & Ender challenge coming together?

Quiltville Quote of the Day -

It's time do decide if that thing holding you back is bigger than you are.

Take the leap!

Have a lovely Wednesday, everyone!