Goal Setting and Quilting

When I’m not quilting, I’m a skin care consultant for L’Bri Pure n’ Natural. From my training with L’Bri I’ve been setting goals and working towards them regularly for the last two years.

When I want something, I’ve found that if I think about it enough and work towards it hard enough, I usually get it.

But for some reason, I’ve not been doing this with quilting.  Not regularly at least.

Last October, I did create the goal to become an award winning quilter, and did with the creation of The Duchess.  But after this goal was reached, I didn’t sit down and plan out a new strategy.

Upon realizing this today, I’ve added 2 more lists to the 3 lists I write each day in my journal:

1. Love list – Write a list of 10 things you love about yourself.  This was a really hard list for me to write at first.  I’ve struggled with low self esteem and a monstrous negative voice for much of my life. Starting each day with a clear focus and love in my heart is making a HUGE difference.

2. 5 Reasons I work L’Bri – There’s no point in working a job or owning a business if you don’t know WHY you do it.  Every single day I write down the top reasons I work my skin care business.  These reasons change on a daily basis because my needs change constantly too.

3. 3 Goals for L’Bri – Continually working towards a goal is extremely important.  If you aren’t working forward, you’re either standing still or going backwards.  Three goals work better than just one because again, needs and desires change on a daily basis.

4. 5 reasons I work Day Style Designs – Today is the first day I put this list on paper and I was delighted with the results.  I like skin care, but I LOVE quilting.  Understanding why I work this business on a daily basis will make a huge difference in what I accomplish each week and month.

5. 3 goals for Day Style Designs – Just like with skin care, having a focus is extremely important.  I’m realizing that setting goals with quilting is just as important as setting goals in skin care.

Many times I get distracted and unfocused, unclear what I really want from any of my businesses or my life for that matter.  Starting the day with a list of what I want is the first step to actually getting it.

Before I learned about business training I thought that my inability to finish even the smallest projects was my fault.  Now I realize that to finish a big project like The Duchess or Light in Me or even How to Piece Perfect Quilts requires more than just tools and materials.  It requires dedicated thought, planning, and determination to see the project through from start to finish.

Writing a list might not seem like the first step to finishing a quilt, but I’m going to see if it makes a difference for my life and my quilting business for the next few weeks.

After all, what do I have to lose?

Happy quilting,

Leah

Quilted Jewelry???

I’ve had an idea bouncing around in my head for the last 2 months fighting to get out.  The idea is quilted jewelry, specifically bracelets and cuffs.

I was a jewelry and beadwork buff for 8 years before I got into quilting.  Though I collected beads, made jewelry, and even worked in a bead store, after getting into quilting I realized just how much beadwork was a struggle for me.

For some strange reason I also had a very firm view of what “beadwork” was and somewhere in my limited teenage mind I convinced myself that beading on fabric was “cheating”.

Of course The Duchess has completely destroyed that silly view and I’m interested to see how I can incorporate beads into more quilts.  I plan on beading large sections of Light in Me, but what about smaller projects?  What about quilted jewelry?

So after 2 hours of playing with fabric, batting, and my machine I produced 2 cuffs.  The first was so terrible I’ve already thrown it out.  My mistakes don’t usually last long enough to photograph, a tendency that I’m working on.

The second was much better.  I haven’t yet embellished it with beads, but plan to add a border of black or dark red beads around the edges.

The thing I love most about this cuff is the fit and shape of it.  It fits my wrist absolutely perfectly and even though I’m only using a hook clasp, it’s never fallen off even with heavy use.

Of course, now that I’ve made one cuff, I really want to make a thousand of them.  I keep thinking of doing a cuff with quilted circles and dense micro stippling and then to showcase a bead within each circle.

I’m off this weekend to quilt symposium and will hopefully have some time to play in Asheboro with more quilted jewelry!

Piece,

Leah