Whimsicals Threads

:: breaking the cycle ::

 Has it been a long time since I have written a blog post? 

Oh yea.

Do I have a good excuse or reason?

Um, no.

But I have to be honest and say that blogging is one of the easiest parts of my "job" to ignore and let slide.  And really I have no good excuse other than the fact that there is always something else that needs to be done, where blogging falls somewhere between a want and I-know-I-really-should-do-this.

So several weeks go by without a posting, which then drags into a month..... or several months..... and I find that the longer I put it off, the harder it is to get started again. 

But I'm going to try my best to break the cycle.  Starting right now.

Just look at it as a fresh start. 

So, what have I been up to?  I've been working on new fabric lines, getting the new patterns written and ready, and to be completely honest, I've been missing my sewing machine.  I've spent very little time with it since May and feel like I'm going through withdrawal, which is something that I plan to remedy this week.

The summer has sped by, the kids have come home from and gone back to college, and I'm finding once again that there just isn't enough time between Quilt Market in May and Quilt Market in October to get everything done.  The summers are always hard for me because it's the time of year that I want to spend my time outside, on vacation, or just hanging by the pool with friends, not inside in front of a computer screen or even the sewing machine....  Just sayin'!

But, I have taken a few fun trips, as you can see here.....

In July I took my first trip in a hot air balloon.... Yes, that is me waving from the basket of the balloon.  I can now cross a balloon ride off of my bucket list! Then the following week I spent a few days in New York City visiting Red Rooster Fabrics, working with the girls there.  While there and walking back to the hotel one evening, I spotted these silly ladies along the street and just had to pose with them!  I'm sure I'm not the first one to do it, but I thought that they were too much fun!

So, those were my two big adventures for the summer, and now I am buckling down, trying to adjust to the quiet house since my kids went back to school (wow, I never thought I would hear myself saying that!) and gearing up for the arrival of another fabric line and preparing for Quilt Market in October.

And now, I leave you with this.....

I have heard that my Simply Imagine fabric is starting to appear in the quilt shops, and I have added the newest patterns to the website.  Be sure to check them out!

Until next time.....

 

having some fun now....

Do you ever go through phases where you just can't seem to get motivated?  Well, I've been in one this summer.  So, you want to know what I did about it?  I did something that I haven't done in many years. 

I took a vacation.

Yep.  A real vacation. 

I had no projects in the works that I could take.  Nowhere to plug in a sewing machine, (much less be able to fit it into the rental car we took.)  Very limited access to the internet.

And you know what?  I enjoyed myself.  I sat on the beach; took a ride on a sailboat; enjoyed the company of my husband and two boys; visited with family; swam in the ocean; took a walk on the beach at night; and just took it easy for several days.

 

Considering that it's been 4 years since we've taken a family vacation and the fact that the "kids" are no longer kids, it may end up being the last "real" vacation for us. Yes, there were a few times when I had to ask myself why I insisted that the kids go with us (who wouldn't when there is a 17 year old involved?) but all in all, I'm grateful that we could do it and that we had such a wonderful time.

Now, I'll let you in on another secret about me.....

I'm terrible when it comes to riding in the car.  I can't sleep unless I'm driving (yes, you read that right.) so I always take something to keep me busy and entertained.  And since I didn't have any hand work projects to take, I finished something that my mom asked me to do a while ago that I had to get finished. 

Yes, my parents are celebrating 50 years of marriage!  And If you notice the date, you'll understand why I had to get it finished.  I mean, really, mom should know that no matter how much time she gives me to get something done, I'll always wait until the last minute to do it!  I made the backgrounds myself and purchased the crinkled paper image.  And although I'm pretty much a newbie at this digital scrapbooking type of thing, I had fun making this and was pretty pleased with the way it turned out. 

So, now that I've had my happy-fun-play time, it's back to work.  Because even though I may have been pretty slack in my postings this summer, I haven't been just sitting around doing nothing.  Nope, nope, nope.  I've been busy.  You'll just have to wait a few days longer to see glimpses of a few things that I've been working on.....