I'm obsessed with pink and yellow right now. Obsessed. After making this moodboard, I pulled out all of the pink and yellow fabrics from my past collections. Maybe I should make another pink and yellow quilt??

The pandemic has made me nostalgic for the blogs of the early 2000s (RIP Design Sponge). Not the completely sponsored or annoying-backstory-before-the-recipe or click bait "10 _ you need right now" kind of blog articles. The genuine and thoughtful ones, people sharing real stories, providing good inspiration or teaching me something new. I personally liked blogging as a way to process my thoughts and express myself creatively through writing. (There's a few bloggers who still get it right. I love Adam Kleon, Emily Henderson, and Tom Froese. I'm currently reading a fascinating one on why the Renaissance was worse than the Middle Ages.) So I'm thinking about starting the habit again, just for my own amusement (not saying it will be any good, or inspirational, or regularly written). One of the serial blog ideas I have is to put together and explore color combinations, mostly for me to gather inspiration for fabric collections and quilt pattern designs. 

I cycle through color obsessions and right now it's bright yellow. I *think* I've bought 5 yellow dresses during the pandemic and at least 2 yellow shirts (but only kept...most of them).  Both of the two fabric collections I designed during COVID lockdowns heavily feature yellow. Maybe I am looking for more joy and sunshine? My first super-poor-newlywed purchase at Pottery Barn was a yellow lamp on  sale that currently sits on my sewing table. I also went with a yellow kitchen aid in 2007 and never regretted it. I always say my favorite color is red-orange, but yellow is a close second.

I posted on Instagram last week that I was struggling (read it here). I read this article by Adam Grant and it felt good to have a name for what I was feeling, and a small solution. I quit all social media, work, and my to do list for several days. Two days into it, I was smiling again. I felt fulfilled. Empowered. I was still living pretty much the same life, what actually changed?

In college I had a boyfriend who was all wrong for me. We fought all the time and I didn't even like him, but for some reason I stuck with him. Then during one of my classes, I had an epiphany while reading a scripture (verses 26-28 here if you are curious). I have free will! I have a choice. I am in charge. I broke up with him that night and felt so relieved. It sounds stupid, like, yes College Rachel, of course you should have known that was a choice, but I didn't see it. 

This has actually happened to me so often it's sad that I'm not getting it yet. I get this list of things I have to do or this person I have to be and start to feel stuck and out of control, not realizing that I'm creating my own limits. I have a choice! This is especially true when it comes to my business. As a creative small business, I rely heavily on social media, but also feel enslaved by it and other small business tasks. I don't have set work hours, so I end up thinking about it and planning it constantly. This endless "multitasking" takes away from being fully present in the moment and keeps me living in autopilot.

At first I thought I needed a break. Like stopping everything, but that was limiting in it's own way. I don't like being unproductive--it's boring and stressful. Instead, I tried adding activities to find flow like Grant suggested in the languishing article. It worked! I realized that I was enjoying life again because I was choosing it, not dreading it because it was something I had to or should do.  Here's some things I chose to do:

1. I spent a day making bad art. I love to paint, but I'm really not good at it. I feel all this pressure as a creative in one area to be perfect in all other creative areas. I haven't painted in over a year because of this pressure. It helped to go in with the goal to make something bad. It was fun. No pictures of it, lol.
2. Five months after subscribing to a year of Skillshare classes, I finally took a class--Drawing Toward Illustration by Tom Froese. I'm hoping to keep up the daily blind contour drawing practice. Low pressure and fulfilling. 
3. I sat and watched a movie by myself, without doing anything else. No checking emails, reading the news, looking a social media, binding a quilt, cutting out a project, etc. Map of Tiny Perfect Things on Amazon Prime was pretty cute.
4. I practiced the piano every day and started learning this Amelie song (inspired by this COVID story about it)
5. Finally did some activities in our family scratch off book. 
6. I read my Uppercase Magazine (I'm behind two issues) and discovered these two amazing bead artists (Poppy Peak and Rubinski Works).  I really want some of their earrings! 

I've even started to reframe normal daily activities in my mind. Instead of having to make dinner, I choose to make dinner, or choose to get take out instead. It seems like a small or even stupid change, but I promise, it's working.  I think exerting control over this small part of uncontrollable life will help alleviate the languishing feeling. 

My kids will testify that I squealed and jumped all around for an hour after I opened this package from my friend Cindy (garment seamstress extraordinaire). She made short sleeve button up shirts for my boys with Riptide fabric! This was the one project I envisioned when illustrating the fabric--these prints just had to be made into little surfer shirts! 

I've always wanted to make an ocean waves quilt and the arrival of Riptide seemed like the perfect opportunity! Riley Blake Designs is hosting a block challenge this spring where each week they release a new *free* block tutorial. At the end you will have a beautiful mystery quilt! This week I'm demonstrating how to make a traditional ocean waves block. Find the PDF pattern HERE on their blog and a video tutorial HERE on my instagram IGTV. 

I loved the block so much that I had to make a scrappy version using all the Riptide fabric prints! 

Introducing the Shorebreak Quilt Pattern! One month ago I told my husband that I was swearing off writing quilt patterns. They are so much work! But then I woke up one night with this quilt top layout image in my head and I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

I’m always looking for patterns that have a modern aesthetic and are easy to sew. I also love showing off ALL the prints in a collection. I can’t bear to leave one out! This pattern takes care of all that. I designed it to mimic the ocean tide and shark fins and complement the Riptide fabric collection coming out any day now (whenever the COVID decides to stop messing with cargo shipments).

There are two sizes--baby (40"x50") and throw (60"x72") and two layout options--with or without the shark fins. Find it for sale in my shop through this Friday, February 5th, 2021. 

The Riptide fabric collection is almost here! It should ship to stores any day now. Today I wanted to highlight the panel in the collection. This panel has 4 projects for you to do all on one yard of fabric! With instructions and everything! I designed the projects with kids in mind; I sewed the pillows with my son and he loved it! There are four plushie/pillow projects: a sting ray, two sharks, and a shark tooth pillow (with an optional tooth fairy pocket). I even cut out the great white shark to appliqué to the back of my Shorebreak quilt pattern that I'm releasing next week. The possibilities are endless!

Time has been moving so slow during 2020! Thankfully August is finally here so we can find a little spot of happiness with the New Dawn fabric collection and TWO new quilt patterns to go with it. The first is the Rose Terrace quilt pattern. I hate cutting up pretty fabric into small pieces, so I created a quilt that shows off all the art! This fat quarter friendly pattern is a quick sew and good for skilled beginners.

Rose Terrace Quilt Pattern PDF Download

Rose Terrace Quilt Pattern Booklet

​All patterns in my shop are 15% through Sunday August 9th. Use code NEWDAWN15 at checkout.

I've made two versions of this quilt pattern so far. The first Rose Terrace quilt pictured is made using New Dawn fabric by me through Riley Blake Designs. It is a smaller size because it was made quickly for Quilt Market. The pattern includes directions on which fabric to use to make this exact version with New Dawn fabric. The fabric is shipping to stores in the next few weeks and some stores will have the fabric and pattern available as a kit. The fabulous custom quilting was done by Chelsea of Cuddle Up Quilts. 

The second version I made was purely selfish. I've wanted a "citrus and mint" themed quilt for a long time so I've been hoarding orange fabric for that purpose. I absolutely love how this quilt turned out.  You'll have to check out pictures on instagram to see the back. It's so cute! I went with a scrappy binding for the edge since I didn't have enough of one fabric to make it all the way around. The orange peel quilting was done by Farm Fresh Stitches. 

Tag me in all the quilts that you make using this pattern! I can't wait to see! Tune in later this week to see the fun versions made by my quilt testers.

Lucky ducks! You get not only one, but TWO quilt patterns released today. The second pattern is Strawberry Fields, an idea that came to me when drawing the cute strawberry print for the New Dawn fabric collection. I wanted that print, but in a quilt! The Strawberry Fields quilt is 48"x48" and available as a PDF download or a printed booklet in the shop. This quilt pattern includes a regular and scrappy version, or you can mix it up with a little of both. It's fat quarter friendly, a beginning pattern, and a quick sew--all my favorite quilts are these things. 

Strawberry Fields Quilt Pattern PDF Download

​Strawberry Fields Quilt Pattern Booklet

All patterns in my shop are 15% through Sunday August 9th. Use code NEWDAWN15 at checkout.

I made two versions of the Strawberry Fields quilt, one scrappy and one regular, and both versions are included in the pattern. I even specify which fabrics to use from New Dawn to make the version above. The regular version uses all New Dawn fabric. Some stores will be selling kits with this pattern and the New Dawn fabric. My scrappy version is made with pinks and greens from my past fabric collections, but scraps from New Dawn would work equally as well.