2014... bring it on! I'm ready.

My quilt buddy recently labeled 2013 as "my year." I love that positive vibe... but I actually think that 2014 will truly be "The Year of Me Doing Exactly What I am Supposed to Be Doing."  More on that below.

But first, one last pic of the year - I finished quilting the dog part of my dog art quilt. Working on the background.

And this shows the back of the quilt. Loving it.

I have been blogging about this quilt for the past two months - so you can see more in my archives. More to come on the dog quilt journey.  Although you'll have to be patient... because 2014 is THE most exciting year ever!

You see, 2013 was a year of ups and downs - first, a big "up"... we moved back into the "city." Love that! But shortly thereafter ... my big fat corporate job was eliminated and I found myself dealing with the shock and awe (not to mention some anger) over it all. But then I got over it... and I eventually realized that that job was sucking all of the life out of me... and at the end of the day there wasn't much left for my family or my quilts... or me.

When all this unpleasantness started, my quilt buddy said to me... "in a few months you're going to be sending that company a thank you note." Seriously? I thought she was crazy. Turns out she was so right.

If you had a choice to re-invent yourself and focus on what you're passionate about and do what you love, do you know what that would be? For me, the answers came super quick... something like 2-by-4's "hittin' me upside the head" as we say here in Texas. {A 2-by-4, by the way for my international friends, is a thick board that is 2 inches by 4 inches.} Start a consulting business. Start a quilt blog. Be an art quilter. Sew everyday. Create original work. Be happy.

But the biggest... and most exciting of all of those ideas literally hit me all at once in a fully formed notion. Are you ready for it? Picture Kevin Costner hearing the voice in "Field of Dreams"... only instead of corn, it's me standing in a quilt studio : GO TO JAPAN AND WRITE A BOOK ABOUT QUILTS!

So, I'm going! In January! Just like that! I am making it happen.

Writing a book has been a dream of mine since I was 10. The fascination with Japan and Japanese art quilting has been growing for the past 5 or 6 years.  I have a contract with a publisher and this is really happening. I'm not able to share more details about the content of the book yet until things are more definitive and the date for publication has been set, etc.  But eventually, I promise full disclosure. I also hope to share parts of this journey with you... and eventually, I will be the author of a book that I hope will be appealing to quilters and art lovers everywhere.

Clearly, 2014 is going to be an awesome year. I'm free from the obligations of going to some office everyday. I work from home and quilt when I want.  I've built a successful business to support my passions... and I'm living the dream.

What's so interesting is after all those years in a corporate environment, where everything is done for and with a team, not to mention with the full support of administrative assistants and staff members, now I'm completely on my own. The professional things that I do will either fail or succeed wholly based on my own effort. And I can't wait.

Bring it on! I am so ready.



Comments

  1. Oh my! I am sew excited for you Teresa! I could not agree more... We should all do what we love and love what we do. Thanks for sharing your plans with us and giving us a little more inspiration. You write the book and we will buy it!!!

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    1. Lorna: Thank you for that! I love how quilters support each other. Hopefully this will be a book that you will find interesting... this is a fairly long process, will take about a year. But will be worth it in the end. More to come. Thanks!

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