Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Tip Tuesday! Resolutions and Perfection and It's Baby Time

Happy St. Patrick's Day



On a personal note:

It's BABY TIME!

We've been anxiously awaiting the birth of Lynn and Ty's baby and today's the day. I'll update this post later with details. 
Any last minute guesses on whether it's a girl or boy?

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"Tip Tuesday!" - Resolutions and Perfection

I love learning new things and then sharing that knowledge with my quilting friends. So, every Tuesday I'll provide some tips, hints, tricks, tutorials, shortcuts, etc. that I've learned over the years and share them here on the blog. 

"Tip Tuesday" will be a collection of information about a wide variety of subjects garnered from a large variety of sources.  I am not an expert by any means and do not take credit for being the great wizard behind all of these hints and tips. I will gladly give due credit whenever possible.

These tips will be archived and accessible to you just by clicking on the "Tip Tuesday" tab above. 

Read, enjoy, and be inspired! 

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I know it may seem a little late to be discussing resolutions, but who says we have to make them just on New Year's? 

I started 2015 with a few resolutions regarding my sewing and quilting and I would like to share them with you. (I shared these with one of my quilt guilds and would like to think that they've had an impact on at least one person.)  

It’s a New Year
Time for Reflection and Renewal
Thanks for joining me on this great creative journey. I love the adventure and hope you do as well!

1. Properly clean and oil your machine after every major project, or at least every six months if you are not using the machine often.

2. Accept all sewing compliments. Say "Thank you" and do NOT point out mistakes.  (See note below.)

3. Sew and quilt how YOU want. Work on what makes YOU happy and don't listen to the Quilt Police.

4. SEW HAPPY! Breathe and smile as you quilt. Play happy music or have a movie showing. Or, be like me and sew in the quiet. Of course I do like to sing as if no one can hear me.  :-)

5. Think outside the box and challenge yourself a little. You may find something new that you really love and are very good at doing. This may also help you finish a UFO or two.

6. Make some time EVERY DAY for you to enjoy your hobby - even if it's just to sit down with a magazine for a few minutes, spend a little time planning a project, or sewing one seam. You will be amazed at how much progress you can make when you spend as little as 15 minutes a day working on something.

7. Love your fabric, what you have and what you buy. If you're worried about your stash, you can jump on the NO BUY train, but don't beat yourself up if you jump off every once in while. If you don't love the fabric in your stash, find someone who will. Whether you sell it or give it away, do something with it. Don't let it gnaw at you. 

8. Take a class or ask advice from another quilter and give yourself time and patience to really learn the new skill. You can repay the favor and be a teacher or mentor to someone else. 

9. Accept and relish your SPECIAL TALENT. Remember, the sewing machine is a power tool and not everyone can handle that responsibility.

10. Disregard everything written above and make your own resolutions!  

Note about Resolution #2

A couple of weeks ago, Angela Walters, over at Quilting is My Therapy wrote a wonderful post about some things quilters should not do. Included in that list is pointing out mistakes. I think it would be worth your time to check out the entire post and/or video HERE.

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