State of the Studio – 2025

On December 31st, I like to review the past year as a way to encourage myself about what has been accomplished.

When I sat down this year, I wasn’t sure that there would be much to share. It has been a challenging year creatively for me. I have struggled to feel creative, to be motivated, and to be innovative. I have been generally discouraged.

But, as I looked through the “highs” of 2025, there were many to be thankful for!

The first big event of 2025 was my guild quilt show, where I was awarded the Best of Show ribbon….

Next, I traveled to the AQS Show in Paducah to sign copies of the AQS Calendar featuring my quilt…

I still can’t believe that it will be almost another year before “MY” week comes up!!

It was also wonderful to attend the Paducah show for the first time!

After these two amazing events, things got a little quiet!!

As I worked on my Cherrywood challenge, my full creative malaise set in, and I finally finished the quilt, calling it “Dots Down The Drain”. An appropriate name for how I was feeling…..

Needless to say, it was NOT accepted into the challenge!

I had planned AND CUT a scrap quilt to work on at my guild retreat. Unfortunately, I cut it out completely wrong and ended up just sewing all of the pieces end to end and turning it into two “jelly race” quilt tops. More to come about that!

At that retreat in May, I realized that I was exhausted, so I took a break from the blog. It was the perfect decision, allowing me to become more energized later in the year.

After our trip to Africa in May and June, it was time to put together my course “Let’s Get Scrappy”.

I had fun creating a banner for the course…..

And then the two samples….

In November, I pieced a scrappy top that I will tell you about soon….

In December, I made two small pieces that I am excited about.

My Mosaic Sunflower…..

….and my appliqued snowman…..

I look forward to working on a larger applique piece in the new year!

I was DETERMINED not to take the two disastrous scrap quilts into the new year, so today (the 30th), I spent time quilting and finishing them…

I am thrilled to have those off my “to-do” list.

I think part of my creative deficit was caused by the high that I experienced at the end of 2024 (2 quilts in Houston show) and into the first few months of 2025 (Best of Show)

I got into my head that I had to make something SPECIAL, when in fact, I simply needed to create something…..anything!!

So, here’s to a CREATIVE 2026, for ALL of us!

If you enjoy this blog, please share it with your friends!!!

Thank you…….

Happy New Year…

Last year, I shared my favorite quote about the New Year…..

Creator Unknown

May you find ALL of those opportunities!!!

2023….What will it bring?

Yesterday I posted about the “State of my Studio”, talking about the work I finished in 2022.

While that was fun, I thought you should see the photo of the actual “STATE OF THE STUDIO”…….

Normally it isn’t quite this bad, but this is just a reflection of the fun things that are going on here at the end of the year and, hopefully, an indication of what is to come in the new year!!

What are those new and fun things? (I am SURE that I heard you ask that question)!!

Well, let me tell you!!!

First of all, I am working on an online course that will be released soon…..

It is a series of videos designed to help you MASTER the use of a Straight Edge Quilting ruler. I think that you will be amazed at what you can do with such a simple tool!!

February is a crazy month, starting with the judging days for our local guild quilt show. I LOVE to be involved in this and especially enjoy hearing the judge’s comments as they work. It will be a tiring and exciting two days!!

Later in that same week, I will be attending QuiltCon!! I am looking forward to taking two classes while I am there. The first is a precision piecing class and the second is using different threads and doing matchstick quilting!!

BUT, the big attraction will be to see my quilt, “Star Explosion” hang at the show!! I spent an inordinate amount of time clipping and trimming stray threads and shipped it off…..

I do hope that the judges like it!!

The week following QuiltCon is my local guild show and I am the Show Chairman. I know that it will be hectic but the show setup day is one of my favorite times in our guild. Everyone comes together and works hard and we have SO much fun!!

Back in October, I signed up for the Modern Quilt Guild Mini Swap…..

I “met” by swap-mate…..Christine from Moruya, New South Wales, AUSTRALIA!!!” She doesn’t live very far from where Michael and I lived when we were there in the 1980’s.

Her quilt is supposed to be finished by February 15th, so I better get started. I have one weekend in January set aside for doing NOTHING but that quilt. If only I had an idea of what I was going to do!!

Other projects for 2023 include the Monarch Challenge from Cherrywood Fabrics, due on June 15th…..

Currently, the only thought that I have is to use some of the green fabrics to make a “Bargello” type background.

Then there is the carpet challenge that I have set for myself……

AND, as always, I am excited about attending my guild’s two retreats and finally the International Quilt Festival in November.

On the quilt guild speaking front…..I already have four guild presentations booked for 2023 and am hoping that those continue to multiply!!

Michael and I did not do a lot of traveling in 2022, but 2023 looks to change that.

Michael is working on another conservation book and we currently have trips booked to South Africa in June and Pakistan in October!! Among other things, we will get to work with Black and White Rhinos on the first trip and will be seeing some amazing sites in the mountains of Pakistan as well.

COLOR ME EXCITED!!!

I can’t wait to get to next December 31st and be able to reminisce about everything that happened this year!!!

I hope that you all have a wonderful New Year’s day and a GREAT 2023……

Welcome to 2022

I found this cartoon to be a great reminder to make the most of this year…..

What creative opportunities will you explore in 2022??

It’s a new year!!

I love the start of a new year because there seem to be SO many possibilities, and I am super excited about the possibilities of 2022!! I have been thinking about this a lot over the last few weeks.