New Years Eve

I can't believe tomorrow will be the beginning of a new year!! An internet friend of mine, Shelly from Spring Texas, used to tell everyone to be sure and do something on New Years Day that you hope to be continuing to do the entire year. Sort of a way to start the year out right. As a quilter, of course I plan on spending at least part of my day at the sewing machine.

Also this time of year people make and then break New Years Resolutions. I have made the usual lose weight, get more exercise, save money etc. in the past but usually end up breaking them. This year I think the only resolutions I am going to make are sewing ones (anyone surprised by that) and make them more things that I am going to TRY and do, not hard and fast rules.

1. As a member of the yahoo group Stashbusters, I am going to try and shop my stash BEFORE shopping at a fabric store and to try and make many scrap quilts using up fabrics that I have.

2. I am going to try and piece a lot of my quilt backings using 10 1/2 squares as used by Bonnie Hunter of the quiltville.com website. This helps reduce stash, makes for more interesting backings and reduces those trips to the fabric store.

3. I am going to try and make up a number of my PIGS (projects in grocery sacks). I have numerous sets of fabric I purchased for specific projects anywhere from 1 to 4 years ago and have never made them. I either need to decide to make them in 2008, or decide I probably never will and return the fabric to my stash to use on other projects.

4. And #4 is for both the sewing room and the rest of my house, to try and "de-junk" and organize.

Hello

Welcome to my first attempt at blogging! As you can probably tell by the title of the blog, I intend to talk mostly about quilting.

I have been quilting for about 9 years and selling quilted items at local craft shows for the past six years. In 2008, I hope to be ready to take the leap and give up my day job to begin my own quilting business.

I never thought how much work it would be just setting up a small business - I have received a Federal Tax I.D., applied for a state Sales and Use Tax License, set up a PayPal account, an Etsy store, and this blog. Next comes a website and I think I will be ready to go.

It will be a one-person operation to begin with, mainly providing machine quilting services. In my down time, I will continue to make table runners, wall hangings, baby quilts and other small quilted items to sell at craft fairs.

I will try to post regularly, but do expect life to get in the way at times. With luck, I'll be so busy quilting that I won't have time to blog! I hope you'll check back from time to time to check my progress and benefit from my experiences.

Kathie