Quilt Show Mania- You can't go to just one!

I was at a retail quilt show last week and I taught two classes along with having a booth! Phew

It's a crazy process where you spend tons of time preparing and printing and sewing to show off your wears in hopes that someone buys in the midst of other vendors hoping the same thing.

 But, it's also a magical place where people with the same passion gather and share. Some come to show their accomplishments and others come to admire. Some come for tips and classes while others come for fabric and patterns. There seems to be something for everyone at these shows. It creates a magic, where the love for something creates an energy that lights up a whole hall in the convention center.

 For those few magical days the vendors live in close knit neighborhoods and we all greet each other and visit like I only imagine it was like in the old days. We share information and travel woes as well as travel tips and eating and hotel revues. Then there are the customers walking by, some stopping in to visit and chat and purchase.

It becomes a wild few days of making new connections, forging new friendships and being a part of something bigger than ourselves. I hope if your in Palm Springs October 2-4 you will stop by my booth #430 and chat awhile, spend some money, make some new friends and join in on all the fun!

I would love you to share the one thing you love most about attending these shows!! Share with us, please, leave your comment below!

Lauretta, Ann and I in San Diego

Tip #2. Eat your Biggest Frogs Early!

Tip #2 Eat your Biggest Frogs Early!

Do you recognize yourself when I say procrastinator? People ask me all the time how I get so much done in my life. Well by knowing that I am a procrastinator by nature I know I will find ways to avoid projects that I am not enjoying by creating distractions. Creative people are great with distractions! My mind is full of ideas so its easy for me to get derailed. I can be emails, Facebook, phone calls, FOOD- sometimes I just think I'm hungry and want to eat. Any excuse to eat!!

I now know that this is all the ways my mind is trying to NOT do the work, to avoid my frogs. So I have to "eat my frogs" early.



That means I take the thing on my list that I am avoiding the most and eat it first! If its is a big project I deal with it one bite at a time, chipping away, a little each day until I am finished. When it is done I feel so much better and the rest of my day goes so much smoother.

 Lets look at it this way. Picture the frogs on your "to do" list as big rocks and the other things on your list as smaller rocks and sand. Now picture the time in your day as a large jar. Your day will be filled with something! If you take the large frogs or rocks and put them in your jar, first, then all the other, little rocks and sand will fill in around those big things and you will finish or get a good jump on everything on your list. If you fill your jar with all the small things first like email, Facebook, tv, phone  calls etc., your jar fills up with those small rocks and you can not fit the large rocks or frogs into the jar, its already full of all those little, busy things.

SO eat your biggest frogs first then all the little things will fill up around them and your day be so much more productive.

So whether I am in the mood or not, I show up in my studio or at my art table to do the work, and often those first few things I tackle are my dreaded big frogs, but they taste so good when they are conquered, one bite at a time!!