Hey there friends!

It’s been a long wait and we are just now getting to where we can see a light at the end of the tunnel!

We’re finally flying out at the end of December!

So… What’s been going on in the 4 months we’ve been working toward this goal?

My entire studio was packaged in a week’s time and all the pieces and parts sat in one of our bedrooms for a month. By that time, nearly all of our house was in boxes and stacked in our dining room and bedrooms.

Suddenly, there was a huge rush to get everything out of the house. Because there was a bathroom upgrade, a yard upgrade, a kitchen upgrade, also flooring upgrade and painting.

Next, there was A LOT of cleaning, and more cleaning, and some scrubbing, then a whole lot more scrubbing. And packing, then more packing. Then more cleaning and packing.

I think this view was one of the hardest. With so many things going at one time, I walked out to our garage (previously quilting studio) and there was a huge empty area where my longarm machine sat for 6 years. I suddenly wasn’t sure what I was going to do with myself for the next few months.

Sure, there’s the day to day going to work thing, but what about the at home time? I was at the end of the cleaning and packing and I was at a loss as to what should come next.

At first I decided that just sitting with my husband and watching TV shows was going to do the trick. So I pulled out some hand applique work that was my ‘on-the-plane’ plan. What else is one to do on a 5 1/2 hour flight?

While Waiting

These adorable buggers are what I’m talking about. BUT, these also have to be my ‘while-waiting-for-container-to-arrive’ project.

You see, we’re going to be in our place and getting things in order, but the bulk of our items will still be in a container floating on the ocean. So….I need to have something to do with my hands while waiting.

Don’t get me wrong, I have already shipped one of my sewing machines to my brother’s house and one of my client's quilt materials went with it. That will be some of my work, but I always need just a bit of something else to keep my hands a-going. These butterflies are just the ticket for that!

Please note that I’m not entirely opposed to being idle. It just doesn’t seem that I’m not able to do it for long. AND I don’t have a chair to be entirely comfortable in. The one and only chair that we kept (with a buyer that has been kind enough to let us keep using it while we’re still here) is being used by the Hubs. He has enough to deal with with the side effect from his cancer treatment. Him sitting comfortably keeps me more comfortable.

These couple of items was keeping me from actually doing the applique regularly. And this nagging sensation in the back of my head that kept saying there was something else in store.

Planning for the future

I’ve been thinking and planning what opening up our business in Alaska would be like and wondering if a change in focus was in order.

I know that quilting quilts is definitely a continued part of my repertoire. It’s the custom quilt making that has me in a quandary.

I have to say that for the most part, I’ve had rather nice clients in that aspect of my work. There have been a couple that caused some extreme distress, but that is to be expected.

Mostly, I think my difficulty is that some of the projects I’ve done have had to be grossly underestimated. Thus, much of my time and effort had to be given away for free. Creating and building a quilt is expected to be cheap work.

Ooops! Did I say that?

Really, though, consumers want to have high-quality materials in their purchases, but they want the labor to be done for free.

It’s really hard to keep going when the labor is so undervalued for a highly creative process. Not to mention, that as an artist, we aren’t allowed to have lives. Every living moment is expected to be working on a client’s project. No illness or any kind of life catastrophe is allowed to happen!

Needless to say, it’s hard to put the energy into such an endeavor. So, I’m thinking that it’s going to be more like - Take me for what I’m worth or don’t. I’m not going to overly stress myself out any longer. And I’m going to seriously cut back on what I take in, if I take any at all.

How it’s looking

Option 1

So, what am I going to do? I know I have to do something to bring in some kind of income. Well, I don’t really, but I want to.

I think I’m going to delve further into making quilt patterns. I have so many ideas and while cutting back in one area, I believe that will afford me the time to grow in this new area. I would like to create the patterns, test them and market them. Perhaps even run some classes for these patterns.

Yep! I think that is one avenue to go down. Maybe you remember these couple I’ve done so far. These can be found here on my website. They are even on the front page!

Option 2

Along with all of these ideas spinning in my brain, I’ve also decided that creating easy quilting designs is in my future. This is going to take some research and I will likely have to start small.

Here are a few of the designs I’ve worked up so far.

I also decided to take a deep dive into my digital painting abilities. I’ve performed some drawing on and off in my life. Now I would like to take the digital experience and see where I can go with these plans.

Here’s a bit of what I’ve done so far…

So, there you have it! I thought I would have some slow days in the last couple of weeks we were still in our old home.

Then I discovered a bit of talent in digital painting and Oh! There is so much to learn! I now dream about shading instead of un-sewing. LOL!

Thanks so much for reading - until next time…

Much love,

Carolyn