Just a Peck

While most Sunday mornings find me worshiping from the pews of the cathedral we attend, yesterday morning was spent at the sewing machine.  Intermixed with smiles as I listened to my hubby and son run around and play upstairs were prayers of thanks for the gifts of family, friends and the inspirations of the world around me.  Then came the prayers of "please Lord, not another thread break" and "Lord give me patience to not rush this project".  I was promptly reminded to be very careful when praying for patience, as it often comes with times of trying that "newly acquired" patience (read:  more thread breaks, a burr on the brand-new sewing needle, empty bobbins and more lint packed into the feed-dogs than I thought could fit in that space). 

However, I was able to finish up the sample quilt for my "Bargello for Everyone" class being offered at the Saskatoon Quilters' Guild Spring Retreat.  My husband was rather amazed at how quickly this quilt came together and went from:

To this:

Then I finished doing this:

And last, but not least:  "Just a Peck" (c) Balanced Needles Knitting & Quilting

The details are not clear, but it was machine quilted using an all-over large "stipple-like" pattern (my stippling skills are still a work in progress).

While finishing up the quilting and binding it occured to me that this would become the smaller version of a charity pattern I have been working on and a silent prayer of thanks for the friendship of the family that inspired this pattern was said.  I will be finishing up the written instructions for this pattern and the full-size version over the next week.  Which means I will be looking for a few pattern testers.  If you're interested, please e-mail me and I will be in touch shortly.

Until next time,
Desirae

Quilter's Blog Hop Party!

Quilter's Blog Hop Party with Give-AwaysWelcome quilters, fabric-addicts, and friends.

I'm very excited to be participating in this week's Blog Hop Party and hope you visit everyone's blogs!  Click on the picture to see the list of participants in this year's party.


This is the first year I am participating with a Give-Away: a Batik charm pack could be yours! 

There are two ways to enter, with up-to two entries available per person:

1.  Follow this blog using the "join this site" button on the right side of the page, and leave a comment on this post saying that you have.  This will get you one entry.

2.  "Like" my Facebook page Balanced Needles Knitting & Quilting, and leave a comment on this post saying that you have.  This will also get you one entry.

The draw will be made at 12 noon (CST) on March 15.  The winner will be announced in a new post that day, and will be asked to contact me with mailing details at that time.

Thanks for stopping by, and good luck!


Happy Family Day!

First off... 

If you didn't see it on the Balanced Needles Knitting & Quilting Facebook page, we didn't make the Top 10 for the MOMpreneur Award of Excellence 2013.  However, the experience was still amazing, and we are so grateful for all the great support shown by everyone.  Best wishes to all of the business women who participated in this year's competition.

And now for something completely different...

Happy belated Valentine's Day too. I'm so glad it's Friday, and that this is the Family Day long weekend, which means next week is February break!

I realize that not everyone gets the week off, I'm just lucky to work in an industry that does take the break.  The discussion around the staff room this morning was all about how many weeks until the next break, which really made me wonder if it has been an unusually busy six-week stint since we came back from Christmas, or if we're all just tired of winter and looking forward to the short break at Easter means we're looking forward to spring?

Plans around our household for the upcoming week include a lot of studying, Russ is working on his Masters and is taking a few distance classes from University of Tasmania, and sewing, I need to finish my sample quilt(s) for the "Bargello for Everyone" class I'm teaching at the Saskatoon Quilters' Guild Inc. Spring Retreat (May 10-12, 2013).  Unfortunately, this means that our 'tit nounours will still need to go to daycare for part of the week, but we should get in some good "mommy and me" time in later in the week.

Busy times, but all for the greater good.  Right?

Until next time,
Dez

And now we wait...

The voting period of the MOMpreneur Award of Excellence 2013 closed on January 31, and I'm beginning to realize that every time I wanted something as a kid and my parents said "ask again later" may have helped me to get through the next few days.  Every time I check the website, which has been 5 times this morning (and I'm at work) the front page looks like this:



 

 

So, what started on Friday as every hour or so of me going back to the site to "ask again later" now has me resigned to waiting until today before I check again.  Nothing so far...

I don't know if no news is good news, but I'm choosing to believe it could be in this case.  I'm not holding my breath, but a Top 10 finish would be amazing! 

On another note, my brother and sister-in-law head back to Australia this week.  I'm excited for them, that they are embarking on the next chapter in their life together.  I'm nervous that Ian might suddenly realize they are gone when he goes looking for them and their space is empty, anyone with suggestions on how to explain this to a toddler who just started to say "un-da" (which we think means Uncle Derk)?  I know that everything will work out in the end, it has been a blessing to have them living with us these past few months and now I have a reason to collect the ill-fated penny:  save 'em for a trip Down Under!

Next weekend I hope to get the basement space re-organized and back in use as my sewing studio.  Which may also mean getting some partial walls in place to keep the wee one out of the utility room, as the current state allows for free movement from one to the other "through" the wall.  I'm hoping that with a little training on which parts of the studio are "nos," that Ian will be able to enjoy spending time downstairs with me while I finish the prep work on the quilts I need for the Saskatoon Quilters' Guild Spring Retreat class I'm teaching in May.  Could be an interesting lesson for both of us.

Until next time,
Dez

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



MOMpreneur Award of Excellence--Last Week!

We're in the home-stretch for the voting period in the contest.  Clicking on the picture below will take you to our nomination page:



It has been an interesting journey so far, and we stand a really good chance of being in the top 10 at the end of the voting period.  Up until a few weeks ago it appeared that our location on the site was moving around based on how we were doing in the contest, then everyone stopped moving.  The response from the contest organizers was that to keep things fair, no one should know who was in which position until after the voting was done.  Seems fair enough, though slightly confusing based on what had been happening earlier.

Anyway, after the voting period is done at midnight EST on January 31, we sit back with fingers crossed that the phone rings with an invitation to the conference in March--which is part of the Grand Prize--or that somethign equally wonderful arrives in the mail, indicating a secondary prize for us!

Things I am learning from this contest:

• I really need to learn more about how to use social media better,
• Should have joined the "twitterverse" much earlier in the game, though I am having a riot following some of my favourite people and seeing the inspiring pictures that some have posted,
• There are a lot more people who will come out of the woodwork as potential supporters (and hopefully future customers) when you're involved in something like this, if I haven't said Thank You to you directly:  THANK YOU!

Once everything is settled, I think I'm going to need to lock myself in the basement for a few days with my sewing machine and fabric stash.  New ideas keep popping into my head, and the random papers with them sketched need to be collected and organized.  Please send snacks...

~Dez

Creativity and the Life-Work Balance

I think I may have set a pretty lofty goal for myself with the title of this post.  Let me be clear, I don't proclaim to be an expert on life-work balance, or even to be the most creative person in the world.  However, I like to think I'm getting better at the balancing act and my sketch pad (read:  the random papers floating around my studio, my desk at work, and in my bookbag) would indicate that my creativity is still flowing.

The last few months have been a bit of a whirl-wind experience.  We moved into our beautiful new home, and it really did feel like home right from the beginning, and shortly after welcomed my brother and sister-in-law to live with us.  While I'm looking forward to reclaiming a larger studio space in a few short weeks, I know our "roomates" will be missed--especially by the mischievious toddler who smiles and calls after them every time they cross his path.  The lightbulb moment occured in the middle of the night a few days ago that I need to get producing more in my studio so that we can save up for a trip to visit the Land Down Under--preferably before Ian hits school age--to visit his favourite Uncle Derk and favourite Auntie Ksashar (see what I did there, still room for favourite Auntie Teaghan). 

I digress, and seem to be a bit off-topic...

New opportunities are always on the horizon, and we've been looking at how to market our products in the most effective way.  Looking at local shops and other vendors' markets.  Then I came across a few posts on Marketing Creativity that really got the gears turning on how to approach the new year, and how to Build a Better Creative Business:  http://www.marketyourcreativity.com/2013/01/build-a-better-business-give-away/#comment-2967

I hope this can be helpful to anyone else looking for ways to improve on their business.

~Dez

Welcome 2013

Happy New Year to everyone.  I hope you were able to enjoy time with friends and family over the last few weeks, and if you celebrate in Ukranian then "Z Rizdvom Khrystovym !"

2013 is shaping up to be a great year full of exciting challenges.  The first challenge is getting Balanced Needles Knitting & Quilting back in the Top 10 of the MOMpreneur Award of Excellence.  At the end of the voting period, January 31, the judges will decide this year's winner from the Top 10 finalists.  Please share the contest with everyone you know, and thank you in advance for your continued support.

I've been pondering over designs for awhile, and am almost ready to go from paper sketch to EQ7 pattern for the charity quilt I'm working on in support of the Huntington Society of Canada.  The initial quilt will be done using a custom fabric featuring the Hunting Society's amaryllis logo, and both the pattern and fabric will be available for sale once everything is finalized.  Proceeds from the pattern sales will go to the Huntington Society of Canada.

I've also been working on finishing up two mystery quilts.  Both were designed and organized by Heather Spence, and were organized in support of two worthy causes:  1) a family going through cancer treatments with one of their young sons, and 2) Gospel for Asia's sewing machine projects to provide a source of income for women in Asia and their families.  My thoughts on getting involved with both "I may not be able to change the world, but I can help impact the lives of a few people."

I'm still sorting through the bag of tartan remnants that arrived just before Christmas.  It's proving very interesting to see what I will have available for customers to choose from, though it is a bit of a daunting task to determine which tartan each of them is.

Until next time,
 Desirae