Keeping it Real on Independence Day

Hi friends!

I have been trying to put together a plan for my blog posts. Because if I know what I am going to blog about, I am more likely to share something with you. If I have to think too hard about it, well, then I often just give up.

And I love sharing on the blog! I just want to make it worth your while to read it. Collaborating with my fellow designer friend Tammy Silvers of Tamarinis with our Adventure posts once a month has been one of my new blog ventures. And we have some new things planned, but I can’t share that yet!

But, I am excited to share some other fun stuff coming up here on the blog and over on Instagram over the next couple of months.

Starting next week, I am part of the Creative Spaces Blog Hop. There are a whole bunch of designers who are going to share with you photos of their quilt studio (a very fancy name for where I sew!), maybe even some before and after shots, tips and suggestions on things like storage for fabric, thread, buttons, etc. There will be giveaways along the way. It starts July 9th and goes thru Aug 19th. My day each week will be Wednesdays and I will post links to all the other blogs.

Then, starting on July 18th, I will be part of another blog hop that is more of a quilt-a-long. Jen Shaffer of patternsbyjen (PBJ- very clever!) has a quilt called The Border Quilt. I will be making her pattern using fabrics from my stash. It will be a lot of fun. Here is a sneak peek of some of the fabrics pulled from my stash! The quilt-a-long will go thru Nov. 7th.

 

And starting this week, I will be participating in the #100days100blocks2018 event on Instagram using the City Sampler book by Tula Pink and sponsored by Angie from gnomeangel. Each day (I HOPE!) I will be posting a picture on Instagram of a block from the book. Given all the other things I have going on, it is a big commitment but I hope I can see it thru. It starts July 7th and goes thru Oct 14th. I would love it if you followed me on Instagram and liked my posts there. My Instagram name is @seamslikeadreamquilts.  Thanks Susan for reminding me to add my Instagram name and link!

 

But back to keeping it real. This week I read 2 posts from quilt artists that I respect; one about how and why she was avoiding quilting and one about how trying to make the quilting industry a viable day job is hard. Maybe not possible. The links to the 2 posts are here for Amy Gibson’s and here for Carrie Bloomston’s.  

I love what I am doing right now. I LOVE being home during the day and able to design, piece, play with fabric and all that fun stuff that is part of being in a quilt business.  I LOVE going to quilt guilds and speaking and teaching. It is super fun! I love meeting other quilters, collaborating with fellow designers and getting to see and play with new fabric.

It’s a tough business.  For some, it’s lucrative. But for many of us, it is not a big money-maker. I’m not looking to get rich – some months I break even, some months I am in the red and some I am in the black. By year end, things usually shake out OK. I am very lucky; hubby’s day job provides for most of our needs. When we moved to Colorado, we scaled back our lifestyle to allow me to do this business full time instead of going back to working as a nurse.

I  work 7 days a week. I work long hours. And let’s be honest, for many quilters, while they are willing to spend money on the fabric, the thread, the tools and the quilting done by the long arm quilter, they balk at the price of a pattern. They search for free ones. Which just makes it harder for those of us who try to make a living by selling quilt patterns.

I am not whining. It is the reality of what I do. Still, I love it. Some days the deadlines are tough and some days I wonder if I should get a day job. But for now, I am going to keep plugging along designing, making quilts, lecturing and teaching. I will try to build a little more balance in my schedule and get back out on the trails and hike. Being an independent business owner means being able to set my own schedule; I need to work on that!

 

Miss Kira is good for providing balance; she lets me know if she has been neglected too long and is ready for a romp outside!

Thank you to everyone who has been so supportive of me and my business. And a Happy 4th of July to all you who live here in the USA; being independent is a good thing but comes with challenges and responsibilities. A toast to being independent!

And, as a thank you to all who read all the way to end of this blog post, here is a 4th of July FLASH SALE! Get $4 off any order of $10 or more good thru the end of the day July 5th. Use the code: 4off. 

happy quilting,

Kate