Come Stitch With Me

My great-nephew arrived December 30th – some 14 weeks early. Fortunately, little man was “big” for a preemie and entered this world hollering up a storm. It’s a good thing he’s a fighter because he has some major hurdles to overcome before he can be released to go home. My niece informed us that he’d probably be in the NICU for about 3 months. Not sure when I’ll get to meet him in person, but I certainly look forward to the daily updates on little man’s progress. And yes, his quilt has been moved up in the queue!

Quilty travel is back on the schedule. I’ve booked my class for Quilt Fest in Greenville, SC and have the time off from work to go. Hopefully, a couple of friends will be able to join me, but I’m totally fine with a solo quilty retreat weekend.

Until then, my plan is to hunker down in my studio to complete assorted UFOs, a donation quilt and continue de-stashing.

Stay quilting, my friends!

Read.the.topic.AGAIN – and one more time for good measure.

One of my recent professional learning session leaders highly recommended the book, The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. Intrigued, I borrowed a copy from the public library. It’s not a long book, but it is a bit on the dry side. I have to be in a certain frame of mind to read this type of book. The important takeaway, however, is that you MUST learn to not take things so personally. The universe is not conspiring against you and people aren’t generally out to get you. Things just happen. (That said, there are some folks in certain segments in our current society who take pleasure in going after people they don’t know for the dumbest of reasons. Ignore them.)

This has been invaluable advice. It has helped me to dissociate myself from my day job. I’m much happier. My value as a person is no longer tied to my role as a school librarian. Sure, I don’t like it when they close the library for testing, reassign my paraprofessional or pull me to cover a 2nd grade class because the teacher is out. I’ve advocated to the best of my ability for them not do those things (as have many of my colleagues!). The difference is I no longer take these actions personally. Testing and class coverage are their priorities, not the library program. I do what library work I can in the time I have available. I no longer stay late or worry incessantly about library stuff not getting done when we’re pulled to do other things. That’s on administration, not me.

Learning to not take things personally is harder when it comes to personal relationships. Yesterday’s table runner club got a bit awkward when several of the attendees began discussing plans for the weekend retreat happening at the shop and they realized I hadn’t been invited. (I’d actually attended the same retreat last year and was wondering when this year’s retreat would be held. Guess I got my answer!). Anyway, I kept working on my table runner blocks and left when others started to depart. I acknowledged my disappointment and hurt feelings at not being included, but went about my day. In the past, I would have stewed for 2 days over the perceived injustice at not being included. Now, it doesn’t really matter. They didn’t deliberately set out to exclude me. It’s obvious (to me anyway) that I fall into the “B” category of quilty friends for the leader of this particular group. That’s fine. It merely means I need to go re-establish my own A team of sewing/quilting buddies post-COVID. I’ll continue to attend table runner club and enjoy spending time with friends on those days. What will change is that I will now deliberately look for groups meeting at other shops in the area – or start my own group.

If you’re like most quilters, you buy a pattern/book and then set it aside to make later.

Before you start pulling fabrics and cutting, take 2 minutes to look on the designer or publisher’s website to see if any changes have been made to the pattern. Most of the time, you will find any updates under the ERRATA or PATTERN CORRECTIONS links. If you are taking a class, the teacher should be aware of any pattern corrections and advise students accordingly.

Case in point: Trendy Table 3 from Anka’s Treasures is a popular book used by many quilt shops for their monthly table runner clubs. I participate in such a club at my LQS. Instead of buying a precut kit for each project, I prefer to make my own kits. I am grateful to the group leader who told me to check the website for corrections and write them directly in my book using a Sharpie marker.

Sure enough, when I went to cut February and March project kits during Christmas break, I found a correction on the website for the March project. I needed pieces cut 1/2″ wider than what was published in the book. You can always trim down large pieces, but it’s much harder to make too small pieces larger!

Mistakes happen. We’re all human. Many pattern designers utilize testers, proofreaders, tech editors, publishers, graphic artists, illustrators, etc. The more hands in the project, the more opportunities there are for boo-boos to happen. Here’s a shout-out to the designers, publishers and companies who point out the errors and publish corrections so we can find them. Thank you.