Sunday, August 26, 2018



On a much cheerier note..... Too Cute to Spook has been in stock for a few weeks, but this weekend I sold a ton of it. If you are still looking for a GORGEOUS halloween fabric, check this out. I have some free patterns to give away for orders over $75.00 too!




Epic Failure! How many days did I skip?? Ok, well, I did go to my moms for almost a week to help with some chores, so I get a little bit of a pass.

Back at it.  I started a project this week that was born out of love too. But unlike the last one that just melted together with ease unimaginable, this one is trying me. My little Pfaff workhorse is being difficult. She'll sew any layers of a sample piece I put in with no effort, but put this quilt in and she rears up like a mad horse.

And I press on. I have ripped out, resewn, ripped out and resewn. With little progress. So I stepped away for a day or two. And it's had me pondering why some are easy and some are hard. And that thought applies to so many things. Quilts, work, relationships. Sometimes it all just falls into place and other times, even the simplest piece is fraught with angst. I have a relationship like this quilt in my world. It is one born out of love, but often so challenging. And it's  not the other person's "fault". It is my own. It is the way I approach this relationship. With expectation of ease when I know that has not been the path with this person. The parts that are "easy" are so precious, but we have this long history that has been full of love and yet,  complicated all at once. We have ripped stitches out and resewn ourselves a thousand times. And I keep expecting this resewing to be the one that holds and makes it all come together. And much like this quilt, it seems to not be the case. But I am expecting things that are likely not to be. This relationship is just as it is. Complicated, rich, maddening, sweet...If it were not for  my applying my expectations to the situation, I would be content with it as it is. You know, you be you and I'll be me sort of thing. But I keep wanting them to be like me...So unfair of me.

Makes my love so conditional just like my love for this quilt. So I will continue ripping out and resewing until the pieces come together as I know they will. And I will do so without the hope that it is today, this hour.  Rather, when the moment is right and the attempts I make to correct the issues are done with patience and love instead of demanding and frustrated.

Wishing you easy stitches in all you do,

barb

Wednesday, August 1, 2018

Focused day #2.......

You know that fabric that just doesn't quite "fit" the quilt but you feel like you have to use it. You bought it, it was supposed to be in the quilt. The manufacturer had it in the collection and yet it still seems "off" to you. 

Often times we get hung up on the way the quilt was "supposed" to be. Just like the picture, just like the vision in our head. When in reality, the light may be a little different, the flow may not be just as pictured. And I, like you, can get stuck on that. And generally it creates nothing but unrest. In me and by transference, in the quilt. I once did a quilt for a fireman. He had worked at many stations in his young life and had MANY t-shirts from different stations. He wanted a t-shirt quilt that would use all the varying patches on the t-shirts from all the fire stations. And I diligently went about putting this quilt together, having never done a t-shirt quilt before. And NOTHING about it seemed right. I couldn't get the frames around the patches the way I wanted. Couldn't find the perfect frame for each patch. Couldn't get the frames to look good next to each other.  Couldn't stop the quilt from growing into a monster size. I fretted and fretted. 

And then...One morning I came down to the sewing room/quilt shop and it was laying there on the cutting table with all it's pieces laying there waiting for me to start playing rearrange the puzzle again. I stood there looking lovingly on this mess, which represented a lifetime of memories to this young man. I wondered why am I fighting with this quilt so much? I wondered this aloud. Then I stood there just waiting for an answer.  And after an eternity it seemed, the quilt said to me, "This is so hard because you are fighting what I want to be. A big, complicated, busy quilt. Just let me be what I am." 

(Now before you get all worked up that quilts talk to me, it didn't actually say words lol. But I'll bet some of you know what I mean about a quilt talking to you.)

And in that instant, I understood why I was struggling so.  I wanted this quilt to be other than it was. Other than it was trying to show me. I wanted it to be my way. And I knew to stop fighting and let the quilt be who it was. 

So it is in life I have found. Often we wish things were other than they are. And in the wishing is suffering. Sometimes the acceptance is difficult too, but far less so than wishing something that wasn't.  So let your quilts teach you. They will if you listen. So will life. Sometimes the thing just needs to be as it is. The "solution" to your dilemma isn't in the thing causing the trouble, but in our unwillingess to sit with what is in front of us. 

Happy Sitting and Sewing Today,

barb

 Ok...I'm not big on resolutions at all.  But I do love to write. I just need more hours in the day. If anyone has a secret method to cr...