Hey y’all!
I have not had a chance to breathe in the past week (how am I still living?) but lots of fun, exciting, and super rad things are happening over here. I am in the 2015 New Quilter Blogger group. Pretty cool because there are some amazing quilters from years past who have participated, and are now big inspirations in the quilting community! The hosts of this year are:
- Terri Ann (my “swarm mama”) of Childlike Fascination
- Stephanie of Late Night Quilter
- Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs
- Yvonne of Quilting Jetgirl
PLEASE take some time to visit these ladies! They are terribly creative and have some really good stuff on their blogs…so it would be in your best interest. 🙂
ABOUT LITTLE OL ME:
Well, my name is Shayna (people call me Shayna, Shay, or Shay-J), born and raised in the far eastern Tennessee city called Bristol. After high school, I moved around quite a bit. I have landed in a neat little town, McDonough, just south of Atlanta, GA. I like it here. After moving 7 times (I think that is accurate) in the past 10 years, I am OVER moving. My husband is in the car business and has the best work ethic I have ever seen in a human being. Because of this, I have a life of luxury. I couldn’t ask for anything more. Speaking of the hubs. We met in the 7th grade. No, we have not “been together since,” BUT we have known each other since the beginning of time and I can honestly say, he is my best friend and BIGGEST supporter. We have had the absolute WORST time in the past 5 years, but we are in a wonderful place right now….both in our marriage & life.
This was taken in Los Angeles back in November. First time in Cali and I fell in love. Of course.
Picking strawberries at the Southern Belle Farm in McDonough, GA.
This photo was taken on May 7, 2015 right outside the Atlanta temple. One of the best nights of my life. 🙂
As you can see, I LOVE tattoos. 😉
I have 3 little boys. Ages: 12, 10, and 5. They pretty much are your dream kids. This photo was taken August 2014 on our Alaska cruise.
I currently work as the social media manager at our local quilt shop, A Scarlet Thread. It is a wonderful place to be. If you are ever in the area, please make a point to stop by. We are the largest quilt shop in the state of Georgia. It is heavenly. 🙂 I have always been a SAHM, so “working” has been a little odd for me. I do shoot wedding photography occasionally, but I decided to take a break from taking wedding clients and start sewing and doing more things for myself. When I am home, I enjoy quilting and designing patterns. I have a nice little stack of drawings…I just have to actually make them. One day, I WILL be a pattern designer, with my products in quilting shops worldwide. Be on the lookout. (wink)
Quilting saved my life. Literally. Like I said before, the past few years have been INDESCRIBABLE. I found my sewing machine again after doing a church project, did a couple charity quilts, and you know the rest. I was hooked. It became my therapy. I can’t say it CURED my depression, but it has helped immensely.
How did “Wife. Mom. Creator.” come about?
So about that. It just happened. I had my wedding photography blog (which I combined with this one) and I really felt the need to have something to hold me accountable. I am:
- a wife
- a mom
- a creator
I mean, yeah, I’m a bunch of other things…but these three things are what I live for. After my Heavenly Father, my husband comes first, along with my children. After that, myself. And I have always, & will always consider myself a “creator” of things. I have a lot of “loose ends” that I am tying up in my life from saying “yes” to too many people & projects. Because of this, I have not been able to blog as much as I would like. This is about to change. Watch me.
Random favorites:
Vacation spot: Places I’ve been, Alaska. Not been, Anywhere in Europe or South America. Or Africa. Or Australia. Or anywhere tropical. Or the mountains. Can you tell I need a vacation?
Book: The Book of Mormon. Changed my life.
Movie: The Wizard of Oz, Boondock Saints, Friday
Music: Dave Matthews Band. BUT, I have a VERY extreme variety of taste. I was raised to LOVE music. From classical, to 80s Miami dance, to EDM (my brother is a killer DJ by the way), to bluegrass, to rap (my other brother is a killer rapper), to disco, to soul and R&B. I don’t really deal well with country though.
TV Show: Sons of Anarchy, Orange is the New Black (I have a LITTLE bit of a rebel in me, what can I say?)
Sport: MMA! I am a huge fan of the UFC and my favorite fighter is Conor McGregor. Have you seen this dude fight? Seriously though…best. ever. Plus, he’s super hot & ridiculously funny. He talks a lot of smack, but he backs it up.
Random fact about me: I sleep with a “security” blankie. Weirdo.
So, about quilting.
Favorite part:
Seeing a project come together. It doesn’t have to be the entire project, but just the block, or section…oh man, that will give a sista chills.
Least favorite part:
Trying to decipher a pattern that is poorly written. (A big reason why I want to create patterns) This just really irks me to no end. Especially when the designer is very well-known and there are mistakes in the pattern. Hello? Pattern testers? I am willing to test. Anytime.
Traditional or modern?
Modern all the way. I highly respect traditional quilts and quilters though. We do have a beautiful history.
Started quilting:
1 year and 2 months ago. Yay!
Favorite designers/companies:
Tula Pink, Alexander Henry, Amy Butler, Cotton & Steel, Jaybird Quilts, Bonnie & Camille (I really admire them on many levels), Katy Jones, Elizabeth Hartman, Jen Kingwell, Alison Glass, Heather Ross. Oh man, I could go on forever.
Some of my favorite personal projects:
Tula Pink pattern I got out of a magazine. I believe this was my 3rd quilt. Still an UFO.
Rachel Griffith “Reverie” design. This was an early one too. Still an UFO.
A quilt I made for my husband, Zed. Straight out of half square triangles. Loved making this one!
This is a postcard I made for the Postcard Party Swap.
I’m blessed to have the time & talents to do something I absolutely LOVE & CHERISH. I’ve learned so many things in my short little time of quilting.
My question for my readers is this:
If you are a quilter, what is the one piece of advice you would give to someone new in the community?
And if you are not a quilter, what is the best advice you would give to someone on reaching their goals & dreams….especially when there have been many stumps in the road.
One stipulation, it can’t be: “DON’T GIVE UP!” Because that’s my advice, and you can’t take it. Ha!
There are other quilters in my little “swarm” that are also new to this blogging shenanigans. Go show some love!
- Jayne of Twiggy and Opal (Instagram @twiggyandopal)
- Robyn of Hoops & Thimbles
- Francine of MochaWildChild (Instagram @mochawildchild)
Thanks for stopping by! I hope to see you back soon!
Much love,
Shay
Shayna!!! I love your blog and your intro post for the 2015 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop was perfect. I love your writing style. Regarding your questions, 1. advice for new quilters… don’t buy a ton of fabric before you even finished your first quilt, figure out if you like it first and what is that you do like about it. I know that’s hard advice to follow. 2. advice regarding goals and dreams… it’s never too late. you have to keep the dream in sight, it may have to be put on hold for a bit due to life, but continue to look at it, reassess and change the path if need be, but not the dream.
Thank you so much Stephanie! I love that advice! It’s so true! I think a lot of us get caught up buying tons of fabric and patterns (ahem, speaking from the soul here)….and many times I’ve been so overwhelmed not knowing where to start JUST BECAUSE I have too much in front of me! It’s kind of like I went in reverse! I’m working on downsizing my stash though! I’ll let ya know how that goes! Ha!
I loved your blog post on so many levels!
One of my dream jobs is to work in a quilt shop…your sounds amazing! Being their social media guru isn’t too shabby!
Glad to meet you.
Deb
Ps. I really want to get a tattoo
I will go with you to get a tattoo! C’mon girl!
Welcome to the bloghop Shayna. First off, I love the look of your blog! I’ve been toying with the idea of getting my own domain name but am clueless about supporting it and am computer code illiterate so it’s something that’s intimidated me. I guess the best quilting advice I could give to you is not really quilting advice at all – it’s remember to maintain a work-life balance while still enjoying quilting. Sounds to me like you’re doing a pretty good balancing act to me!
Don’t worry…the beginning is very overwhelming! There is a LOT of help out there. Hopefully we can help each other through the process. 🙂
And I love your advice. This is SO true!
Loved reading your blog and I really look forward to following you. Thanks for sharing with us 🙂 My advice for a new quilter would be to take a deep breath and embrace imperfections. Life will not end if a seam doesn’t match up or if you quilt outside a line. Life isn’t perfect and it’s those imperfections that ultimately make us unique and beautiful.
“Embrace imperfections” – LOVE THIS! I have always been fond of life’s little imperfections.
Loved reading your post! Love your tattoos, if I were 30 years younger…There were so many little things that we have in common!
Quilting advice…Don’t give up! Seriously, same advice I put in my post!! There is a big quilting world out there and after time, you will find your path!
Pick yourself up, take a deep breath. Everyone has curve balls thrown at them, some more than others. You may not reach your goal on the first try, again…don’t give up!
That’s so awesome! Hey, you’re never too old to get a tattoo. 😉
Hi Shay. I am a member of the Sew Fabulous Hive! My advice for new quilters is make sure your 1/4 inch foot is accurate! My advice for goals is to learn how to make goals. Some people (I mean Me!) have a hard time setting goals, so my real advice is to think really hard about what you want to achieve and why because the “what” will fail without the “why”. Looking forward to more posts and original patterns!
Hi Adrian! Thanks for stopping by! Oooooh girl, I love that quilting advice. That 1/4″ will make or break your sanity. When I first started, I could never figure out why my ENTIRE quilt was off. I was like, “I followed the pattern exactly!” And you put that goal setting advice PERFECTLY. Love it.
I really enjoy the blog hop and getting to know so many passionate quilters. I guess I would have 2 pieces of advice to a new sewer: 1) have fun! and 2) learning to sew a consistent 1/4″ seam takes practice and is worth learning how to do! Thanks for joining along this year.
You are so right Yvonne! It is SO worth it! Thank you for hosting! 🙂
My advise would be give yourself a break. Perfect is over-rated. If you like and/or had fun making it, then look past the small flaws. I had a teacher tell me those flaws are what make it art. 🙂
And I couldn’t agree more Shauna! Thanks for stopping by!
Hi Shayna, thanks for an honest introduction post. Your little boys are super cute and I love your “Reverie” quilt (I also love Amy Butler!) The quilting advice I have is only buy fabric you really love and NOT because it’s on sale! And most recently -the world won’t stop turning if you can’t finish a project on time!
Oh my goodness!!!! I was just thinking about this! I am SO bad about buying fabric on sale. BAAAAAD! And now I’m ready for a destash. ARGH!
And I love that last comment. I needed to hear that. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
Hi Shayna! It was lovely getting to know you a little bit. I very much enjoyed this post.
I think quilting saved my life too. It hasn’t cured any of my underlying problems, but having something so positive that allows me to express myself creatively has really helped.
Hmm… advice for quilters: know that there will never be enough time to make all the patterns you love and use all the fabrics you lust after. That said, I don’t think that buying a pattern is ever a waste of money. I have many that I just read from time to time, but don’t think I’ll ever make the quilt from. It’s a really neat way of learning. Sometimes, I might just make one block if it’s something fiddly or involves a new technique, and usually individual blocks make lovely decorations (I’m such a fan of quilts as wall art) or table toppers.
General advice on reaching goals and dreams: seek out people who can help you. It’s almost impossible to much on your own (particularly if you want to get your quilting patterns out there! It’s a topic I’ve been discussing with many of friends over the past few months, and as you’ve probably gathered from the Facebook conversations we’ve all been having, it can be difficult to build a following) and a lot of people are very willing to share their advice and their connections. It can be scary to ask, but don’t let that stop you.
Do you have any plans for your orphan quilt tops? I’d love to see them finished up.
I completely forgot to add my little tip for managing project aspirations. I keep a note in my reminders app on my phone, with the names of all the quilts I want to make on it. That way, it’s backed up on my computer, and always accessible. I can tick off projects that I’ve completed, and add or remove projects as my tastes change. It’s been very useful. It’s also how I manage my to-do lists when I’m sewing, as I nearly always have several projects going at once.
That’s a really good idea! When I first started, I had saved all my pdf patterns/eBooks on iBooks…and one day, I lost them all. I didn’t have THOUSANDS of patterns, but for a beginner, I had accumulated a LOT..several paid ones (which I was able to recover) and SO MANY free ones. I was SO upset! So now I save EVERYTHING to DropBox. It has been the best thing that ever happened to my sanity. I have folders all organized nicely. I really love it. I went ahead and did the monthly subscription, so I pay to get 1TB of space, but it is SO worth it. I think it’s like $13/mth. But I have all my files easily accessible from anywhere at anytime. And I use it daily.
I also use the app To-Doist. LOVE LOVE LOVE! It has been a LIFE-SAVER. I’m still on the hunt for a good planner. I’ve been thinking of making a planner geared towards quilters…but I mean, that’s just another project…like I need that, right? Future goals…
Jane, I love your advice on so many levels! Im really trying to not be “supermom” and do it all! And I wonder why Im so frustrated all the time. Ha! But yes, I really do think that delegating is important along with just asking for help. I’m one of those that will walk into a store and look for the item I need for an hour, instead of saving 45 min and asking where it is. Yeah, I know.
Love the idea about just reading patterns! That’s a great practice for creating your own! In the short time I have quilted, I have found a couple patterns that either 1. have errors or 2. I can’t understand/follow. It’s very frustrating…especially from someone that LOVED English/grammar in school. UGGGGGH! It’s like fingernails down a chalkboard.
I know that one day I’ll finish my orphan tops…I just don’t know when. I’ve been thinking about who I would like to give them to, just to have motivation to finish them. And I’m practicing on my FMQ as we speak, so I think when I feel a bit more confident, I will finish them. 🙂 Sometime’s it’s just fun to piece together a top and call it a day! 😉
Thanks for stopping by, I look forward to talking again soon! I think we have a lot in common, just from our discussions on FB. <3
hello Shay, nice to meet you! I enjoyed reading your post and seeing some of your quilts (WIPs)! I have a daily battle with the dreaded depression so know where you’re coming from on that. Glad to hear quilting helps you. It helps me too but unfortunately it stops me doing it very often, I need to learn to fight that more. Good luck with becoming a pattern designer, I think you already have my dream job so that would be the icing on your cake!
Wendy, hang in there! I really think I’m going to post on depression throughout the year. It is just one of those things, either you support it and its realness, or you don’t. And that breaks my heart. There should be more support, just like any other disease. I can tell you this, if I wasn’t regularly seeing a Dr., I would not be quilting. It’s been a team effort on his part & mine to find the things that help me to function like a normal person. I’m here if you ever need to talk about it. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
Great post, Shayna. I feel like I know you a little better now. I love your Tula Pink stripe quilt. I think my best advice for a new quilter is to make a quilt with fabrics you LOVE; you will like the finished product that much more.
Hi Sarah! This is SO true! If I’m working with fabrics I only “like,” I’ll wind up procrastinating it. But the ones I LOVE…they are the ones that have gotten finished. 🙂 Talk to ya soon!
Beautiful work Shayna! My advice is to have fun, because why else would you be quilting if not to enjoy the process. Mistakes happen and most of the times all it takes is to use the seam ripper for a little and done! It’s fixed. No one will notice the imperfections. 🙂
Hi Silvia! I really do adore this advice because I am currently ripping out seams from a mini quilt I just quilted. The front looked BEAUTIFUL & the back was a hot mess! BUT, I told my husband last night, “I bet I’ll never do that again” (quilt without checking on the back). This is such a fun hobby that it would be so pointless to do without loving the process! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
The quilt you made for your husband is awesome! The advice I would give to a new quilter (because I’m so seasoned with 8 months quilting under my belt!) is to stop sewing before you get too tired. I tend to push myself to do one more seam, and I often regret it.
Hahaha! It’s amazing what you can learn in 8 months! It’s just way too fun to stop, right?
Hello Shayna! I love your tattoos (I am in the process of designing my first one right now, very exciting) and your upbeat attitude.
My advice is that when you’re stuck on a project, try and think about what part of it was most important to you and drew you in to begin with. Were you looking forward to donating it to a charity? Do your best, but relax and view any imperfect seams you’re struggling with as a learning process – someone will be very happy to just have it, and it has to be finished for that! Were you excited about the fabric, but the pattern isn’t working for you? See if you can use what you have so far and add borders in a style that you’re more keen on, or use the blocks you’ve made on the back. And so on~
I’d love to see your tattoo designs! I can appreciate the fact you are creating your own…too cool! And I love your advice! I think we sometimes get a moment of “blah” with the projects we work on. I really like the idea to just stop and remember WHY you started that project in the first place. I think it is a wonderful idea to switch it up if you feel stuck. Thanks for stopping by!
Sorry it took me so long to get here Shayna. My life has been pretty hectic as well. You are an amazing photographer! I loved your post it is so full of energy. My quilting advice is to follow your heart and make what you want to make…also you don’t have to take other people suggestions (this is actually advice I need to take but it might be helpful to you too.) The two things that help me are taking the time to quiet my mind and keeping a happiness journal.
No apology needed girl! Thank you so much! I do love photography, always have.
Oooh! I LOVE that you said this! “You don’t have to take other people’s suggestions!” THIS IS SO TRUE! I see this happening all the time! I could tell someone this Kansas Troubles looks GREAT with that Tula Pink…and they’d be like “OK!” I think it is SO important to have your own creativity. If you are in this industry, you have somewhat of an eye for creativity! USE IT! 🙂
I am also working on “happiness” in general. Have you read “The Happiness Project”? It is a wonderful book, and Gretchen Rubin is an inspiration to me. Life is busy, but meditation/time alone/praying/whateveritisyoudoforyourself is crucial for true happiness.
Shay, I could not relate to you more about saying ‘yes’ to too many things, people and projects and tieing those all up is what I am currently in the process of doing. Lesson learned for sure. Doing so made me unreliable and not accountable because everything has been so delayed by this or that. I couldn’t imagine doing it and having 3 wonderful boys to tend to also! You’re a super mom, don’t forget that. I am very happy to hear and see things are better on the up with your husband, yourself and family as well as life around you. I hope you are able to gain more strength to weather the storms in the future, together, united! You have plenty of people here behind you for support and I hope you always remind yourself of that! I love your tattoos and I love your sense of style, your work is amazing and I say it is about time you and I finish up those WIPs! I may have to pop up on your SKYPE and keep my EYE ON YOU and make sure you are SEWING SEWING SEWING! hehe Keep smiling, because your smile is beautiful!
Girl, you ain’t telling me anything! I’m STILL playing catch up from months ago! NOT FUN. Look at me, replying 9 days after your comment. I’m the worst. 😉 Thank you for the encouragement. It’s so good to hear. Skype me anytime! I’m glad we’ve become FB friends. I know we have a lot in common. <3 Don't be a stranger!
Shayna! I am LDS too! I read a blog post of your conversion about a month ago! So glad we r in this group together! I had no idea! I am also a convert and live in Salt Lake City, Utah now with my second husband of 12 years. I love quilting and use it to motivate myself and have seen so many people have it be therapeutic for them. I owned my own shoppe in Arizona before I married my husband and moved to Utah. My advise is to never ever give up on anything and you have no idea the strength that is truly in you! God has mysterious ways of teaching us how to grow and create strengths and talents we had no idea we would ever have! Can’t wait to learn more! Deanna
How cool is this? I LOVE LOVE LOVE meeting other creative LDS folks. LOVE IT! I feel like we are connected. 🙂 God is so good, right? I think as long as you do what’s right, karma will be amazing to you. Thanks for stopping by!
Aw, your little guys are so handsome! I’m a mom of 3 boys myself, 14, 8 and 6 and we went on our first cruise this year to the Bahamas on Disney cruiseline. So fun! Paying a visit from Blogging on Your Own Terms group.