Hello!

Simplicity #2274 bag made in my Curiosities fabrics.
 
Hello there! Hope you have all been well. Sometimes I am absent from this space because I have nothing of interest to share, but sometimes it is because I am too busy working on other things. This time it was the latter. I showed my new collection, Curiosities, at International Quilt Market in Minneapolis, MN this month. This meant lots of last minute preparations as well as traveling. Thankfully, I was able to drive. It's so nice to drive to these events because I can bring furniture with me, and not have to worry about flying or getting my projects there and back. Minneapolis was a short 4 1/2 hours from Madison, and an easy drive.


Craft studio for APQ and Quilts & More.

After spending 5 days at Quilt Market, I packed up the car and headed to the Meredith Corporation headquarters for a small retreat. Meredith is responsible for publishing many, many magazines including American Patchwork & Quilting, Quilts & More, and Better Homes & Gardens. It was geared towards exploring creativity for the sake of creativity, not for production. We were able to see a behind the scenes look at the facilities, including doing some cupcake testing in the BH&G test kitchen (!!), plus seeing the photo studios and prop rooms used for all their publications. The whole experience really pushed me to consider slowing down more, and creating things simply because. It was really fun, but after traveling for eight days, I was totally exhausted when I got home.


Adorable Quilt Market takeaway from Penguin & Fish.

One of the activities at the retreat was to create a mood board from magazine clippings to describe what we wanted out of the rest of the year. I had a lot of fun making mine, and I hung it up in my sewing room right away. I want to focus on having a relaxing summer and re-evaluating my priorities. As a small business owner, I have the luxury to choose what kind of work I want to do. It can be easy to take on too much, or take on projects that I don't enjoy when I don't know when the next opportunity will come along. I'm not saying I'm in a place where I turn down a lot of things, but I am starting to think more about whether or not something is a great fit for my talents, interests, schedule, and also whether or not it's worth it financially. I want to be more conscious of that, and really listen to my gut when it comes to deciding what to do and what not to do.


Violets in our front yard.

Not sure if that's a particularly interesting conversation for you all, but it's been on my mind a lot this past month. I'd like to change the direction of this space a bit too. I think I'll feel more inclined to post here if I write a little more. When I first started this blog, I wrote in a more journalistic way, and I miss that. Sometimes it feels silly just popping in to share a project or two, but not really saying what's going on in my regular life. We'll see. I'm constantly changing my mind about what to post, so you never know, it might not stick! I do have a decent backlog of projects to share, I will try to post some of those soon. I'll also have a recap of my Quilt Market booth, as well as coordinates for Curiosities (shipping next month already!).


Double Chocolate Banana Bread recipe from SmittenKitchen.com.

I haven't too done much since getting home, primarily putting everything away and getting the apartment back in working order. I've played a decent amount of my favorite app game, Disney Tsum Tsum (Warning: it's addicting!) in between sending and answering emails. I'm hoping to hit the ground running on regular work today. We got lucky and had a perfect day Saturday. It was mid-70s and sunny with a light breeze. We barbequed and generally relaxed, which was great. I'm so glad that summer is here!

Have a great week!