Summer is for Sewing!

Its been a couple of weeks since my last post. Our family survived five straight days of soccer tryouts at three different local clubs. The Sunday following tryouts is "call day" and families wait by the phone starting at 2 PM to find out what offer their child will get. My little one made the U10G Premier Team, she will be returning with five of her previous teammates and has a phenomenal coach who played for his European national team. We can't wait to get started with training. 

For the Memorial Day holiday weekend, we headed back to our hometown to visit and decorate graves of family members.  When we visit, we always stay with my mom's brother and his wife.  The quilt you see above was made by me as a Christmas gift for them about eleven years ago. They have used it regularly ever since and it still looks pretty good for it's age. It brings a smile to me to see that this thing I made still makes them think of me and all the quilts or gifts I make, even for non-family members, carry a piece of me.  There aren't too many things we do in this life that allows us to say that--many of us spend most of our lives pursuing things that don't really matter at all. 

My inaugural boot campers completed their table toppers.  My second class is knee deep in piecing and I have another class starting this Tuesday. I've launched a new product, a reversible tote in time for the summer pool and beach season.  I've actually swiped a pattern from a Craftsy class for this one just because it was a great project that was simple and practical. Love it! 

So now our family kicks off our summer with the first of three planned vacations. We have always kept up a pretty fast-paced lifestyle so our vacations mean a lot to us.  It's our way (especially for me) to be forced to slow down and just be together. 

Summer 2013 will bring more classes, (hopefully) more custom made products, and work beginning on my home-based quilt shop.  The plan now is to kick off my grand opening with a crafters/consultants open house at summer's end and I've already got a couple of independent business owners registered for booths. Riding the waves and excited to see where they take me....thanks for riding along.