Wednesday, March 19, 2014

The only journey is the one within. -Rainer Maria Rilke

Hey y'all! So, it's been awhile. The past few months have been a little rough for me, but I'm jumping back in with both feet! I've felt for the last little while that the quilting world is moving on without me and like I had lost my footing. Some things have happened (or not happened) that have made me feel a bit invisible and I have struggled with what exactly my place is now. I have thought long and hard over the past few months, had many chats with quilty friends (including with the master of dissection and perspective, Thomas Knauer, while I visited his family in Cambridge), and have come to the conclusion that, while my place in the quilting world has shifted, there still is a place for me. I need to always be grateful for the opportunities that come my way, take rejection less to heart, and be prepared to aim high even if it means that I might fall and fail sometimes (if not most of the time). To that end, I will be attending Quilt Market once again this spring in Pittsburgh. I'll be rooming with the ever-awesome Jeni, and I am going to try extraordinarily hard to not let my anxieties and insecurities get in the way. Wow, I just got all kinds of introspective there for a minute.

As you may have noticed, I now have my own domain (check it out, woot!); as far as I know right now, this should in no way affect how you view this blog or see it in a reader (such as Bloglovin). If that is not the case (i.e. if your link from the old blog no longer works or if new posts are not showing in your reader), please let me know and I will do my best to figure out where I went wrong. I'm also working on a whole new design for the site and I'm hoping to have that up and running soon. I feel like I need a fresh new look as I move forward with my quilting/sewing and my pattern business.

So that this post is not completely devoid of pictures (and to prove that while I may not have been blogging, I have managed to fit in some sewing time), let's talk about the Boxy Pouch I made using Bonnie's tutorial.


I made this last month just before heading to LA for two weeks for work (see, that's the other thing, work. It does have a tendency to get in the way). These cute boxy pouches kept popping up all over Instagram and I just had to make one to carry my extra knitting project to LA with me.


My idea was to use lots of low volume/neutral prints and then throw in a few brighter colours for a little pop. As you can see, most of the colour pops are Lizzy House Pearl Bracelets.


For the interior I used some of my most favourite print from Heather Ross' Briar Rose. That little mama bee just makes me so happy every time I see her!

Just in case you wanted to get a better look, here are the quilted panels I made for the pouch. I have a tendency to take lots of Instagram pictures to document process (generally late at night) so please forgive the not-so-great colour action going on here.



If I had thought about it a little more, I would have made sure that the aqua-green prints from both panels weren't at the top, but oh well.

Okay, I think that's it for today, but you can expect to see me around these parts very soon! If you have any ideas, or something you'd specifically like to see when I redesign the site, please let me know and I'll take it into consideration. Much love peeps!

7 comments:

  1. Glad you're feeling better! You're one of the first bloggers I started following 4+ years ago, and I always love your posts! Great little boxy pouch you made! and thanks for the link to Bonnie's tute.

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  2. I think all of us struggle to find our niche' in this community. I wrote a post about this a few days ago myself : http://stlouisfolkvictorian.blogspot.com/2014/03/do-i-need-master-plan.html

    I'm glad to hear that you will be jumping back in and doing your thing again. Great boxed pouch, those are so much fun to make.

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  3. It sounds like you hit a few rough patches in the road. Don't let anyone keep you from your dreams and ideas!

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  4. Oh I just made one of these pouches using Bonnie's tutorial too! Aren't they fab? I love yours!

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  5. Welcome back, Kaye! I am glad you feel better. Sometimes our disappointments lead to great things. Who knows what He has foreseen for us next!

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  6. I've missed you!! Don't fret about not blogging. It's soooo 2013. ;) Welcome back, sweet girl! Guess what? I'll be at Q.M. too! (this is the first place I've said that out loud, because I still can't believe it myself) EEK! I'll be helping out Amanda Herring (The Quilted Fish) in her booth, so I hope you'll stop by and say hi. You'll recognize me, I'll be the one looking like a deer in headlights!

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  7. So happy to hear from you again. My suggestion for your new blog design is to still keep that picture of yourself hugging the fabric bundle. I just love that picture! I can just imagine your quilty dreams :)

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