New Month, New Goals

It’s Wednesday and time to check in with what’s really stitchin’ in the studio!

This is the new version of Express Your Love I’ve started with a Spoonflower fabric panel. We’ll be getting started working on her tomorrow, but I figured you might like a sneak peak at what we will be learning this month!

Because this is the first day of the month, I’ve also been working on my new resolution chart. Yep, I’m still very much obsessed with the Happiness Project! I’ve made more connections and realizations in the last month than I have in three years and I truly feel like I understand what makes me happy and how to increase the happiness of my family every day.

This month I’ve decided to focus on pleasure, how to make any task more fun and enjoyable simply by asking “What will make this even better? How can I feel RIGHT right NOW?” I’ve definitely learned over the last month that I behave better, with less anger or irritation, and with more compassion and kindness when I feel good.

Feeling good is also a theme I’m pulling into my sewing room. While I’m loving my progress with Express Your Love and feeling super happy about everything going on with that quilt, I’m less happy with the progress, or I should say NO progress made lately on Duchess Reigns:

I’ve actually had to put working on this quilt on my monthly chart. Every day I will have to give myself a check if I’ve worked on her at least a few minutes, or an x if I haven’t touched her. I’m trying to incorporate a new idea into my quilting routine – even 5 minutes is enough time to quilt.

So often I consider hopping on the machine to work on this quilt, but I get bogged down by the enormity of this project. I haven’t even finished the center medallion yet! How many more hours, bobbins, and whole spools of thread will it take to finish her?! What is five measly minutes going to do in the face of so much work to be done?

Well…I’m definitely NOT going to get her done any sooner by not working on her! I have to lose this idea that I need hours and hours to work. I need to gain a new perspective that any amount of time is the perfect amount of time.

And I need to get over the fact that this is my life now. I’m busy! There’s always a million balls in the air! There’s always going to be 10 things to focus on at once. Get used to it already!

So this month I want to focus on enjoying the process, not the finished result. More enjoyment, less irritation. More fun, less frustration.

I think this is also going to benefit the process of quilting Express Your Love. By finding more pleasure in my day, I will have more pleasure to share with my family. As they say – If mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy! But the truth is, it’s MY responsibility to find this happiness and lighten up! 

Let’s go quilt,

Leah Day