... happiness! A couple of days ago I was feeling a little overwhelmed ... I often find that I feel like this after Christmas. The excitement and celebration is over, and back to real life! I did a lot of longarm quilting the end of the year, but I did take three weeks of December off from longarming, and did not have any classes to teach either. I really enjoyed it; I decided to take January off from longarming as well. The middle of January is the store's open house ... a fun day where we introduce our blocks of the month for the year, and we have class sign-ups for the first four months. I am teaching a class once a month for the B.O.M., and I also have a couple of other beginning quilt classes on the schedule. That means that I have samples to design, piece and quilt, and life starts again! Then I was reading the book that I told you about the other day
The Happiness Project; I'm near the end of the book and the author is talking about how she decided that she was going to work on negativity. Rephrasing what you say and paying attention to how you speak. Well I'll be darned if that didn't really strike me ... I had already been thinking how blessed I am to have the ability to teach classes and quilt for other people. It's all in how you look at it, isn't it? I can stop all of this any time I want. I quilt and teach because I love to; not for an income. The small amount of money I make is a bonus, and keeps me in fabric! But I also know that one of the reasons I sailed through this holiday season without any financial stress (I usually spend too much money and my husband and I always get in a fight about it), was because of the money I earned from my quilting. I am grateful to all my clients and friends.
So today I feel happy ... happy that in 2011 I have a healthy family and I am healthy too ... that is the best thing! We took at least three vacations during the year, I bought a big quilting machine, and I developed a small business that is enabling me to pay for my machine more quickly than if I wasn't quilting for others. I am really looking forward to 2012 and the blessings and challenges it will bring. 2012 will hold a college graduate for us, and a high school graduate! Our son will come home from Hawaii where he attends school, and will come back to live with us. Our daughter will leave the nest and go to a four year school. Big changes for all of us!
Okay enough of the serious stuff ... I brought home the fabrics to cut the setting triangles and sashing for the B.O.M. that I'm finishing up. I knew it would be too hard to cut them at work; I kept doublechecking when I was in my sewing room this afternoon, checking to make sure I was cutting the blocks properly. I got all the pieces cut, and tomorrow I'm going to start putting the rows together. Again, I think it's a process best done at home because the blocks are set on point, and it can get a little confusing. The directions on this B.O.M. are just excellent! They are so clearly written and the illustrations, so easy to understand. How grateful I am for that! To teach a block of the month with bad instructions is no fun ... people are not very happy when they are messing their fabric up because they don't understand the directions!
All my pieces ready to start sewing; the light pieces are the setting triangles and some alternate blocks. The red and brown are the sashing pieces. The triangles started out as bigger blocks that were cut diagonally into fourths. Because then you have a bias edge, before I cut them I starched each one and pressed it so it would be more stable when it is cut and easier when it's sewn. It does take a little more time, but it also saves aggravation!
Happy weekend to all!
P.S. When I count my blessings, I am so thankful for all my blog friends! This wouldn't be any fun without you!! xoxo
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