Over That Hurdle — Janet Szabo

Releasing a pattern is nervewracking. It’s worse than sending a child off to college. I am pleased with the positive response that Noon and Night got, however, and I am motivated to get the other patterns finished and added to the store. Thank you, especially, to everyone who helped spread the word!

I’m aware that by social media standards, I didn’t do my pattern launch correctly. I should have had a coordinated release across Facebook, MeWe, Instagram, and Twitter. I should have had a giveaway. I should have lined up people to help create buzz. I should have created technique videos to accompany the pattern and posted them on YouTube. I should have used the right hashtags.

If I had had to do all of that in order for Noon and Night to be launched “properly,” it never would have seen the light of day.

[I unfollowed someone on Instagram a couple of weeks ago because of the unrelenting perfection of her feed—her house was always spotless and decorated properly for the season, her beautiful, talented children dressed in coordinating outfits, her projects never had any hiccups, she had dozens of hashtags on each of her posts, and it’s always sunny where she lives. I didn’t find it inspiring at all. I found it unrealistic.]

I’m not in this to become rich or famous. I don’t want to design two fabric lines every year and a dozen quilts to go with each one. I don’t want a YouTube channel. The universe has gifted me with an unexpected and unasked-for journey, and I plan to enjoy every bit of it. I am going to make the kind of quilts I like to make, share them with the world, and if other people want to walk along with me, I’ll do my best to make it fun and worthwhile. And I might remember to put hashtags on my Instagram posts, if I actually remember to post to Instagram.

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I put the Big Top quilt top together Thursday:

I still want to add a couple of borders. Right now, the top measures 56” x 68”. I took yesterday off from sewing and ran some errands in town for the husband. To be honest, I am a bit quilted out. I need to do something else for a few days. Tera texted me that she is also going to do the Sandhill Sling sewalong. The first set of instructions came out this week, for the strap, so I think I will work on that. And next week is going to be devoted to pattern writing.

The husband has been busy moving snow, because it is not always sunny where we live:

He plows, but then the snow piles have to be moved with the backhoe so they aren’t blocking access or lines of sight.

Several of the piles are 12’ tall. I look at them and think that I should invite the little boys over to go sledding with me, but then I remember that I am 55 years old and sledding is probably a bad idea.

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One of my guilty pleasures is Haagen-Dazs ice cream. I am particularly fond of the Whiskey Hazelnut Latte. I went to get myself some the other night and as I was opening the freezer, the husband said, “It’s all gone. I ate it.”

I buy him his own H-D ice cream—usually Vanilla or Coffee in the large containers because one of the small containers is a single serving in his world—but he had eaten all of that so he finished off mine. The number of calories he consumes in a day is astonishing, even to me who has been feeding him for 30+ years. My food is supposed to be off-limits, but sometimes he needs a reminder. I did a big ice cream resupply for both of us this week and then got out the sharpie marker.

He doesn’t even like whiskey, LOL.

It’s the little things that keep the romance alive! He usually asks before he hoovers down the last of something, but I think I had already gone to bed.