What a Crafty Year!

2011 has been a bit of a crazy year! Full of swaps, bees, quilts, and tons of craftiness.

I cannot explain how much flickr, blogs, and my online peeps have brought to my life.  It has provided me with inspiration, creativity, new skills, new friends, and more crafty loves!

2011 was full of quilts and swap items.

2011 was full of bee blocks.

In 2011 I even learned that needles are in fact sharp....oops.



2011 proved to be a year of creative growth thanks to all your crafty people and your impact on my life! And I can't wait for 2012! I am even breaking my normal rule about making goals or resolutions.

In 2012 I want to do so much!

• Sew using my "special fabrics", i.e. my Tula Pink, my Heather Ross, my Anna Maria Horner - regardless of the fact that I can't get any more without paying an arm or a leg.
• Just say no thank you!  As others have pointed out I completely overloaded myself this past year with swaps and bees.  I found myself stressed out trying to make deadlines (made worse by my CRAZY work schedule), stressing when I just couldn't make a block as well as I thought I should since it was techniques I hadn't done before (I''m looking at you starburst block!), and just stressed in general that people wouldn't like what I made them.  The worst part though was because I had committed myself to so many other things I never got to sew as much for my family.  I was supposed to make a quilt for one of my grandmothers, a tree skirt for my mom, and a bunch of other things.  So next year I really want to focus on sewing for my family. 
• Make a quilt for myself! 
• Attend Sewing Summit!  I didn't get to go last year because I was already going to my Jane Austen conference, and this year they are on different weekends so I AM GOING! 
• Keep up with my blog a bit better!  Sometimes I go a little longer than I would like without blogging and sometimes I make things and give them away without remembering to take photos of them so I can blog about them! 
• PAPER PIECING!!! I want to practice, practice, practice!!!
• HAND PIECING!!! I love doing this but don't have a lot of time for it, but I want to make it a priority this year!
• Make 1 honest to god wearable garment!  Just 1!  (I am trying to make these goals attainable! LOL!)

So hopefully I can actually work on these things, and 2012 will be even craftier that this year! I am pretty sure making a quilt for myself though will be accomplished quite soon since I am moving to such a cold place!

Happy new years everyone and may your 2012's be beautiful and creative!

Goodbye Houston - Hello Boston

Well guys it is going to get pretty quiet around here for a while because I have big news.



I got a new job!!

Only it's on the other side of the country in Boston, MA.  So I am in the process of turning my entire life upside down and move almost 2,000 miles away from my home in Texas.  And holy cow y'all moving is the most expensive thing ever.  I have moved a couple of times before but always for school - always with set time limits.  So I could leave things at home and only take what I needed in a dorm or an apartment.  Now I am taking everything - or actually it seems like nothing as I am getting rid of almost everything I own, which is a lot harder than I thought.  Although when I get there I am going to buy a whole new wardrobe as it apparently gets a lot colder in the north east than it does in the south!



In moving I am leaving a lot behind more important that just stuff - namely my entire family.  My immediate family though is very close.  Especially my little sister who is who I made this quilt for back in 2008.  Even as I type this I am questioning my decisions like crazy.  In taking this opportunity I am giving up my life here, my possessions, and precious time with my family.  I know they want me to be happy and do what I need to do for my career, but damn its really hard especially since this inst like school and I will be around again in 2 or 4 years.



To date this is my favorite quilt I have ever made.  I used Heather Ross's mendocino line because the Little Mermaid is her favorite movie, and those mermaids were just to die for.  So even though I am going to be almost 2,000 miles away I hope my sister will continue to love her quilt, which she uses everyday now, and I get to come home and visit them all often. 



I quilted it really heavily by following the piecing and following my previous quilting line, so they are about the width of the walking foot apart.  As a result of all of the crazy time consuming quilting and the softness of the mendocino fabric it has the most lovely drape ever. Plus I am a total sucker for white bindings.  I love them because they just totally pop.  You can especially see the denseness of the quilting and the brightness of the binding on the back side. 



So as I prepare to cross the Mason Dixon and head up north (geeze I am going to miss BBQ and Tex Mex) I am trying to stay strong, keep breathing, STAY WARM, and spend wisely (no crazy fabric purchases for me anytime soon) as I start a new life. 

Addiction

It's a terrible thing.

It takes up your valuable time.  It distracts you from work.  It keeps you from other tasks.

And I love every minute of it!

OMG YES PLZ

Tula, how I love thee let me count the ways!

Preorder??

You bet your sweet ass!