May Musings
As I write this and sit trying to stare down the clock (some day I am going to get it to roll back, but I don’t think it is going to be tonight) I realize that there is just an hour left in May and I have no idea where the last two months have gone. Yes a good chunk got eaten up in a haze of allergy medication and migraines (fingers crossed the pollen onslaught ends soon) but it still feels like I somehow skipped a few weeks in there. So I guess that means I have a little bit of time to catch you up on a lot of happenings, so here it goes:
1. My birthday has come and gone again (it was back in April). And surprise, surprise the year didn’t go as planned, how does it go the best laid plans of mice and men. Well we should also add the best laid plans of quilters. I had some major highlights this past year:
-I saw the Northern Lights
-I went to my first QuiltCon
-Entered my first quilt show and took home a first place ribbon in my category!
-Published in two different magazines and more
So definitely some major achievements, and wonderful events, and more on the way. Of course there were also the things that didn’t go as planned. The quilt I wanted to make celebrating my 35th birthday went by the wayside. It was just too much extra design work with everything else that was going on. (I still love this idea however and plan on going back to it when I have a little more balance between quilting for work and quilting for enjoyment.) And several of the other activities I had planned never happened due to a combination of planning, finances and weather. A surprising number due to weather, but that doesn’t mean I am giving up on this idea. I just think it may have been a little overly ambitious with everything else that ended up happening so I have to rethink, regroup and rework it maybe for when I turn 40. What do you think? Who else is with me?
2. In May, Modern Art (Working Title) was in another local quilt show and again took first place in its category. Right now I have it submitted for the jurying process for another show and when I hear back about that I will give an update (probably on Instagram first, but that’s usually how that goes).
3. I have been published in two more magazines. The first one I have already been talking about like crazy, it is my Down the Shore quilt and was featured on the cover of McCall’s Quilting. But the second you are hearing about here first! My quilt Summer Starburst is being featured in Love of Quilting which hits newsstands next week and I couldn’t be happier, I loved working on that quilt, the colors and quilting design took me right back to summer breaks and days spent at the pool.
4. If you follow my Instagram account @createdesignmake365 (and you really should if you don’t because I share a lot more there because I can post smaller tidbits, a lot faster), I have been working on #The100DayProject designing a new quilt block everyday for 100 days. I will be finishing up with the designs next week, and have really loved working on all of them. It has been huge to delve into a whole new level of design, and getting to work on it every day. I really want to keep that up so next month I am going to be participating in two different design challenges so make sure to check them out and if you are interested definitely join in!
5. There is still secret sewing going on. Yes I know you probably thought that was over but it’s not some of the projects I can’t talk about at all others I can tell you are some ideas that I am working on as possible ideas for quilt show submissions but I have to see how they turn out, and if they receive the seal of approval (I swear one of my cats is pickier than any judge, so if she doesn’t want to give the quilt up I have more confidence in it). But I will definitely be sharing pieces as I can so stay tuned.
I am sure there is more that I wanted to share with you all since it has been awhile but I am losing track of everything, and hopefully this did a good job of catching you up without being too much. I am going to try next month to do one blog post on upcoming plans (since there are a few) and a fun one on choosing quilting patterns but we will see how the month and life goes. I hope you have a wonderful June, and get the chance to work on a fabulous project.
Until next time, happy sewing!
Siobhan
