Out with it already

My poor, sad little blog. It kind of matches poor, sad little me. I was just asked to talk to the girls at church about how I use my blog as a journal. Super casual just for a few minutes. Still, how embarrassing. I haven't blogged in like, a decade, in blog years (what do ya think...too many commas?). Truth be told...I have three blog posts in draft mode. I keep wanting to share the sad news about how my fabric line got the ax about a week before my Grammy died (yeah, months ago). But I somehow never found the words. So there it is. bleah.

And we have been wrestling with some kinda tough decisions around here. But I think we are finally decided and clearing the air like that really makes way for life to start happening again. Tonight I'm working on this in blues and greens. I'll take a few pics of the very beginning stages tomorrow.

It feels good to be blogging again.

RIP Magnolia Westwood

the elusive number four

We are all the main character in our own life story, are we not?  Well.  Here's a bit of mine.  I know, I know...this blog is all about me.  But some subjects I have kept a little mum.  I was waiting for the moment of the big reveal.  The wow factor, you know  {Surprise!  Look what I've been doing!} and all that.  But then I wonder, if the story isn't more interesting than the end result.  Especially when the end result is taking so much longer than I thought. Aye, aye, aye.

Remember this? Of course you don't.  That was light years ago, right.  Well,  things didn't go as planned.  Not exactly.  But I did end up with a contract with Andover Fabrics!  That's right!  A signed contract.  It was in the process for so long that when it came in the mail it almost seemed normal.  Now that's weird.  But when the word was final on the phone, I did indeed celebrate.  I was by myself (except for a sleeping baby).  So there was a lot of silent jumping up and down.  

 

Here I am gripping my contract tightly in my best accidental Rosie the Riveter pose.  

That gets you pretty much up to date.  The word now is that my collection has gotten mixed reviews (I don't blame them, I'm before my time).  And it's being taken around to some of Andover's best clients to see what they say.  I wonder who their best clients are?  I wonder if their best clients would be my best clients?  I would describe my work as...girly/modern (so not traditional).  But I definitely adhere to traditional values of quilting when it comes to scale and contrast.  Although I do have larger prints and one huge print.  Oh, how I wish I could really show you.  It's so pretty you guys!  

And here is the stack of designs I sent them.

I'm told it's harder for me because I don't have a name out there yet.  No patterns, etc. Hmmm.  I keep thinking that all things are possible.  That's what my husband keeps telling me.  So it surprises me that things don't just happen perfectly.  But then again it still surprises me when they do.  I know one thing for sure.  I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing.  But it feels right so I'm just going to keep plugging along.  Wish me luck.  

As for my post title.  Have I mentioned this book before?  Finding Your Own North Star.  I love it.  She's so funny.  And I think she has a lot of wisdom.  So according to Martha Beck...our hero's saga consists of four steps.  

1. Protagonist sets out to achieve goal. Check

2. Protagonist runs into a mess of trouble.  Check

3. Protagonist struggles through adverse conditions.  Check, check, check.

4. Protagonist achieves the goal.  (the elusive number four!)

In the mean time I know I can do some things differently to help myself along.  I still have a lot to learn.  I just figured it's time to come clean.   Especially since I've been pulling out my portfolio for anyone to take a gander at who is nice enough to ask.  

I'm so thankful for this opportunity.  I'm so thankful for the team at Andover taking a chance on me.  I grateful for their enthusiasm for my designs and I can't wait for everyone to see them!  So next time you are talking with your rep from Andover Fabrics make sure to ask when Andrea Larsen's first line is going to come out!  Tell them you hear it's going to be fabulous!  They would be so confused. That makes me laugh just thinking of it.  That's a good happy laugh, not evil and sinister...FYI.

here's to hard work!

OK  I hope you guys are going to be really excited. 

 I meant to give some sort of heads up.  But once again it looks like this may be coming out of left field.  And I appologize in advance for hardly taking any interesting pictures!!  If you look really closely at the picture above you will see me in the reflection.  Yeah, I was super lazy in the photography dept the past couple of days.

Last Thursday I headed out for Houston, by myself, to International Quilt Market!!! I was doing research for a possible little online shop.  I had the cutest idea ever.  Really.  I did.

 

 I also brought along with me my finished portfolio!  I know, I've stopped talking about it.  But I never stopped working on it.  I kicked it into high gear back in August.  I was obsessed.  A woman with a mission. 

 I shopped it around to different fabric companies. I got a lot of positive feedback.  People loved my use of color and I kept hearing again and again how original it is.  That was huge for me.  The best compliment I could get for sure!  Originality is golden.  And sometimes it's so hard to even know if you are or not.  So out with the good news already right?!! I got a couple of offers on my line!    Actually, my first offer just felt like home. I LOVED them and was very excited.  I had to leave immediately and go cry.  

My new friends, designers Tula Pink and Holly from Urban Chicks insisted I keep showing it and I'm glad I did.  It was great to get so much positive feedback from other companies even if many of them didn't have room for anyone new.  I have heard that it can be pretty brutal.  Overall it was a great experience.  I met the cutest girl Bari of Bari J designs.  She was also pitching a line.  I just checked out her website! Wow!  If she made the same decision as I did it looks like we both may be at spring market together!  I have a lot of editing to do.  I over designed for sure!  We all want options right!  I had 17 different designs and 6 color ways!  I will be cutting and editing that down to about 6 and 3 respectively.  And something totally new may even emerge in the mean time.  

So between that and Lindsay Jane Photography, I've decided to hold off on my shop idea for now.  I know I'll be super busy for a while.

I have to leave you with this quote that I heard at Market.  "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is often dressed in overalls and looks a lot like work."  Thomas Edison

I'm grateful for these opportunities and for all the hard work that lies ahead!

Yay! I'm tagged...

I actually think I've been tagged before, but usually too lazy to do it.  This one is pretty short.

3Joys:

-Conference issues of the Ensign (me and conference are BFF)

-My marriage

-Life

3Fears:

-Having fears

-Not doing the things that really scare me

-I'll think of something later I'm sure....

3 Current Goals:

-Getting my fabric design portfolio ready by the end of Oct!!!

-Mastering 4 open American Smooth routines (Foxtrot, Waltz, Tango Viennese Waltz) to compete again soon in a more challenging category.

-Upping my photography skills.

3 Current Obsessions:

-Patricia Ahn (Rose always introduces me to the best music--so inspiring!)

-Food Allergy Detective Work!

-Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop

3 Random Facts about myself:

-I like to draw on tracing paper.

-My most used kitchen utensil is the vegetable peeler.

-When I'm running I like to leap if nobody is around....although, I leaped while running on the beach and there were a bunch of onlookers.  I didn't notice them until all of the heads turned. I reenacted it later for Lindsay to capture my embarrassing moment for posterity.

I tag everyone who reads this!  And when you post it leave a comment so we can read yours, too.

BFF

FYI

Adobe Illustrator is my new best friend. I love it even more than I love Edward Cullen (hehe).

Currently reading Jane Eyre as my penance for liking the Twilight books a little too much.  

But unfortunately it is turning out to be equally addictive.  I need to forgo real books in exchange for audio and maybe I could get my bathrooms clean.

As for the progress on the fabric design...it is going so slowly it is making me crazy.  I sat for a few hours and cried in front of my  monitor yesterday.  Which in turn prompted an embarrassing plea for help.  Hmm, really wish I had installed Illustrator first thing instead of last thing.  I think it will be invaluable in getting my drawings into a workable digital format.

I'm thankful for progress however small it may be.  It's better than being stuck!

coming clean and going without a pattern

Does anyone else have a major case for spring cleaning?  I have been organizing everything. Thank goodness.  Some closets were getting dangerous! But it's not only physically cleaning that I feel myself driven to do.  I feel the need to come clean about a few other things.  And since this is just ranting and revealing, I am going to post some pics of the presents I talked about here just for prettiness.  These projects are from this book.  It's nice having a pattern, knowing that you have the materials you need, the steps you need to take, and a pretty picture of what it will look like in the end.  But more on that later.

My last post was a little odd.  If I don't blog for a while I feel the need to prove that I have indeed been doing something. So I list it all.  

And the thought just occurred to me that maybe it's a bad idea to post pictures of other people's children without asking. I usually feel free to talk about anything I've done with Mandee because it's all her fault I'm blogging in the first place. And she has a blog of her own.  So beware friends, if you have a blog you are fair game! Hmmm, is there a blogging ettiquet class out there? If so I need to take it.

Well, at least some of this is about to stop anyway.  One little last post of "look, I promise I've been busy."  And then we can all go on under the assumption that if I'm not posting, it's not because I'm lazy but the exact opposite. 

I think I may be the only person who uses blogging as my own personal "do something" police.  I'm one of those people who really, really loved school. I loved having projects with rules, deadlines, and of course, the almighty grade. 

 I have had issues with being productive in the world ruled by myself.  Until now. Now I have all of you to report to.  I'll admit that it is a little confusing at times. Not really knowing who my audience is. It's mostly friends and family who really don't care about what I'm making.  But I secretly aspire to the likes of other craft blogs.  At the same time, I really like to talk about church and other personal things like ballroom dancing and random antics about my friends looking like cartoon characters.  These subjects may annoy serious artsy craftsy types. So I guess my best bet is just to let myself be my most important audience.  Isn't that always true?  Aren't we the ones who ultimately give ourselves our own grade.  And aren't we probably our own most critical judge?

And while I'm at it I want to come clean about something else that I have hinted about before.  I finally have a serious art goal again that I'm very excited about.  All year I have been working on designing my own fabric line!  It is so fun. I'm really enjoying it. I've been taking it relatively slow, working two hours 6 days a week.  But now I've got what I think are my final drawings and I'm working on color and fretting about doing repeats.  Today I talked to a real live human being from a company that I'm interested in working with.  I wanted to get a clearer idea of what point I need to get my work to in order to send it in for consideration.  That alone made me very exited. At this point I'm ready to work a little more and push just a teensy bit harder.  This means that I probably won't have a lot of evening time left for my little sewing projects for the next little bit. Hence, less reporting, but more working.  

This past week I have been making color wheels out the wa-zoo. If that's even a thing.  It made me feel like I was bettering my paint mixing skills, but at this point I'm really anxious just to dig in deeper regardless of my current skill set. I want to get Adobe Photoshop and a good textile book to go with it.  Neither of which come cheap.  And I'm anti-credit card debt, so I'm considering a yard sale. Last year we cleaned house! So to speak.  But we did have a much better location and all that stuff from our old dance studio.  In retrospect we probably sold things for too cheap.  I keep thinking, maybe I could sell hotdogs, and pincushions, and try to convince my whole neighborhood to do it, too.  But maybe that's a bit much.  I don't want to get distracted by things that seem like they are helping with my goal, but are in reality doing the opposite.  It is difficult not having "the rules" because there are none for this.  It's difficult not having anyone with experience to talk to.  It's a little scary not having a pattern, because when I don't have a pattern things turn out a little iffy.  See here and here.  But I guess when I think about it do things with out a pattern quite often.

But I cannot tell you how exciting it is to have drawings on my desk right now with post it's stuck to them.  I never take my artwork to this level of completion. I finish a painting and there are parts that didn't turn out so well. But my usual reaction would be, "Oh well, at least it's done!"  So it's very exciting to think I am going to work and work and work on these 15 or so drawings until they are perfect. And then after that I'm going to do them again in a few more colors!  In all honesty. I feel like myself again. I love having a big creative goal. I love being a mom and I don't want to ignore my kids. But I need this too. And luckily, there is time for both of these in my life. Just less down time is all.  But it's worth the sacrifice!

hmmm, all this talk about cleaning reminds me of this and this and this. Who was I kidding we all know I love to clean.  (I just happen to equally love making a mess!)  Right now I'm doing a little of both.  That's why unchartered territories are so exciting.  I'm thankful for not having directions, but having a definite path. I'm thankful that this weekend is going to rock, spiritually speaking!