Deadlines, Design Wall issue and Mistakes

Hi friends!

I am sitting here trying to decide what part of this topic to start with, the deadlines, the design wall or the mistakes!

Deadlines

Let’s start with deadlines. When most people learn that I left my nursing career for a quilt design career, they (wrongly!) assume that I have an easy job.

Now, I love what I do! I love designing quilts, I love making quilts, I LOVE going to guilds and doing lectures and classes… but make no mistake, it is work! And sometimes the deadlines are tough.

 

Right now, I am working on about 14 quilts and at least 12 Pack It UP! bags that all need to be done by either Quilt Market in October or in November for a fabric company deadline. That’s a lot of quits and bags in a short period of time! I like making quilts, so if I can just remind myself to be in the moment with each quilt, focus on that one and not worry about the next one, it should be a very busy but very fun fall!

 

I wish I could show you images of what I am working on because some of them are pretty cool. But right now, they are all super secret until the fabric comes out! 

 

Design Wall Issue

What I can show you is my design wall dilemma! I have shown images of my studio before in this post and in this post. (Studio makes it sound so official! And large! Which it is not.) I have a lovely window looking west towards the mountains, a large opening with a short wall that overlooks the living room so I get a lot of light, a nook that I have turned into a storage closet and one wall. Yup. One wall.

On that wall, I have my cutting table and a bookcase that holds some books, projects, rulers and my tv for the days when I need some distraction while I sew. I also have a small design wall- great for putting up a couple of blocks to see how they look. But too small for an entire quilt.

 

But sometimes you really need to see the whole quilt top done so you can check for errors! I don’t have room for a large design wall, but I have this wood beam running down the hallway.  So I hung some curtain hooks from it so I can hang a quilt there. That way I can see the whole top and make sure there are no mistakes before I send it along to the long arm quilter. 

 

Hmmm… I have found it only works if I actually use it. Which brings me to the next subject of this email…

Mistakes

Yup. In my rush last spring with my many deadlines for spring Quilt Market, I made a mistake in one of my quilts. Funny thing is, I had made a mistake, caught it and “fixed” it. What I didn’t do is check to see if I fixed it correctly! Oops!

Don’t you hate it when there is an error? Do you feel the quilt is ruined? Do you see the error every time you look at the quilt?

Want to see my error?

It is in my quilt Foothills. 

Here is the crib version. No mistake.

 

Here is the lap version. Do you see the mistake?

 

I bet some of you found it right away and and others had to search. And guess what? It is still a pretty quilt. Yes, I made an error but if I were to gift this quilt to someone, I bet they wouldn’t care. 

And luckily for me, I put both quilts on the cover and the crib quilt covers the “oops” in the lap quilt! 

 

Moral of the story- I should slow down, even when facing multiple tight deadlines and make sure I got the piecing right.  And when I do make a mistake, I should not beat myself up about it. It happens. It is still a pretty quilt!

 

Facebook Live

In other news, I am starting to do some Facebook Live sessions. I did a few back in the spring for the Adventure Quilt quilt along, but it is time for me to start doing them on a more regular basis to share things with all my quilty friends on Facebook. My first FB Live of the new series will be tomorrow, Thursday August 22 at 10am MT. 

 

So if you are on FB, please come check it out! And if you can’t see it live, you can always check it out later on. 

 

Instagram

There are a few fun things happening on Instagram right now!

First, I have a project in the Quilter’s Planner 2020 and tomorrow on the QP feed, they are going to feature my projects! So if you don’t already follow QP on Instagram, they are @quiltersplanner.

 

Second, I am doing an Instagram takeover over on the American Patchwork and Quilting magazine Instagram feed starting on Friday thru Sunday! I have a quilt in their latest issue and so they asked me to post some images! They are @allpeoplequilt! Please check out my posts on their feed and leave comments.

 USED WITH PERMISSION FROM AMERICAN PATCHWORK & QUILTING®. ©2019 MEREDITH CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

 

Third, Jessica VanDenburgh of Sew Many Creations is hosting and Instagram hop showing off her new fabric line with Windham fabrics called Juniper. Such a cute line! Here are some of the fabrics I am using in my project.

 

The hop started August 18th and my day on the hop is next Wednesday August 28th. Jessica is @sewmanycreations  on Instagram and here is the entire list of quilters who are posting. (I was going to call them “posters” but somehow it didn’t sound right!)