Happy Monday Y'all!! 

The shop is bursting at the seams with new things! Every day is a new shipment it seems! 

This weekend I was thinking about all of the newness that the coming season brings. New flora and fauna, new longer days and maybe this year, new (yet familiar) freedoms again!!

Use this time to stretch yourself! Try a new block, dabble in some free motion quilting, try some applique (I'm gonna!). And save up your questions to ask on our lives. We have some really talented piecers, and quilters who are always happy to help!

This warm season also brings new outdoor activities and fun in the sun!

In that vein, we will have a new Warm Seasons Live Schedule until Fall. 

Every Thursday will be Sip 'n Shop Notions Night Live @7PM EST where we will get to see all the new gadgets and quilting/sewing accessories in the shop. 

Every other Sunday @2PM EST we will see all the new fabrics that have found a home here! 

Be sure to join us and share the times with your crafty, quilty, sew-y friends! We look forward to meeting you all!

The new season is also bringing us new friends here at Seaside! Welcome to all of you! 

One of our newest friends is a talented sewist named Carol! Please visit her on her lovely site: 

Sew Many Memories Embroidery  

Move a little slower and go a little further.....

 Some weeks are just longer than others...You know what I mean? 

This has been one of them for me. I am always "doing". Always. 

And I am reminded today, as I am forced to "do" a little less this week that sometimes our quilts try to slow us down too. When things don't seem to be working with a pattern or a design. Perhaps a day or two off would offer a new view. 

The struggle to push through the "to-do"  list is not always the most productive path forward.

 Occasionally, that push forces things that then have to get ripped out with either the figurative or the literal seam ripper. 

I am learning, even at this stage of life, that a forced slow down can be a good thing. 

In that vein, remember to slow down when things get hard-when that pattern gets frustrating, when the tension is fighting you. Take a breath, step back, make a cup of tea. Then try again. 

All of this talk of slowing down has turned my thoughts to my free motion quilting skills, which I am  in a hurry to learn. 

But there are so many reasons to do the opposite of that. To practice a little bit at a time, to let the fabric and the thread and the music (I quilt to music) move me. To play with the threads and the tension and not fight them all the time in my effort to hurry up and master a task. 

So, I'm gonna play with some new thread later. These gorgeous new Cosmo Lecien colors that just arrived!!