Creative Ways to Beat the Winter Blues, Podcast #96

We got seven straight days of rain last week and, yes, I was feeling pretty blue. I had to stop and work my way out of a dark spot and it made me think about how differently I work through sadness now than I did several years ago. See what I’m working on around the house and the huge progress I got on my new Eye of Calm goddess quilt during this podcast:

Listen to the podcast or download it to your computer using this player:

Jump ahead to time: 40:48 to get straight to the topic on beating the winter blues.

Click Here to find all of the podcast episodes I’ve shared so far!

The Eye of Calm Appliqué Adventure

This week I made a major change to my Eye of Calm goddess quilt. I carefully pulled off the two blue hair pieces and replaced them with dark purple batik fabric. This is interesting because it almost matches purple dupioni silk I’m using in the rest of her hair.

This thankfully fixed the striped look I had going on before which I didn’t like. This quilt is now only four colors and I really love this effect.

I have been getting a lot of requests for a pattern for Eye of Calm. What do you think about a master pattern?

A master pattern is a simple line drawing with no instructions on how to put it together. You could construct the quilt using wholecloth quilting techniques, No Sewing Until You Quilt It applique, any other form of appliquéd you like better, or as a base for foundation or English paper piecing.

Let me know what you think about a master pattern idea. I would be able to offer multiple sizes of the quilt pattern as a digital download for far less then it would cost than if I had to run through the full process of pattern testing, photography and writing.

I do want to create a master class on working with master quilt patterns and dig more into this. I’m really wanting to get back into teaching and sharing the techniques that are a less common in the quilting world.

I could also offer this quilt as a fabric panel from Spoonflower.com. Spoonflower is print on demand fabric and the reason I love it is the very short wait time from uploading a design to printing it on fabric or wall paper.

With a traditional fabric manufacturer, it would take two years or more to even see sample of a new fabric design. That wait time just drives me crazy!

So let me know which you would prefer for Eye of Calm – a fabric panel or a master pattern?

How to Quilt with Pantograph Designs

I finally shared my first pantograph quilting tutorial this week! Click here to find the tutorial, my first six pantograph designs, and the Pantograph Quilting Guidebook.

I wrote the guidebook after realizing just how complicated pantograph quilting can be. Rather than sharing a super long, wall of text tutorial, I just made it a 24 page booklet that you can download, print, and take with you to your machine.

Pantograph’s are very simple but that does not mean that they are easy to understand or easy to apply to your quilt. Just today I received another question about how to square up a quilt top so the pantograph goes on the surface square and straight. There’s a topic for a new tutorial coming soon!

Geeking Out with a Mally the Maker Doll

I took a break this week from working on patterns and spent a lot of time sewing in my upstairs sewing room which has more light and higher ceilings so it felt better to be in that space. I worked on my Mally the Maker doll and finally got her t-shirt almost perfect.

I also started working on her bookbag which is quite a complex accessory!

I want her bookbag to be basically a miniature real bookbag and a working zipper and back pocket and. Mally’s bookbag was practically a character in the book and I’m excited to be able to make it real.

Become My Best Quilting Friend!

Special thank you to all of the new members our Quilt Friends Club. I absolutely love seeing your beautiful quilts each week. This membership club helps to support the podcast and all of the free tutorials that I share online every week. Learn more at QuiltFriends.Club!

Creative Ways to Beat the Winter Blues

Last week it rained for five or six days straight. The combination of the rain and dark, oppressive clouds and lack of sunlight really started to get to me last Wednesday. About midway through the week I felt like I could burst into tears at any minute, which isn’t normal for me.

So my first tip for beating the winter blues is to acknowledge how you’re feeling.

I also checked in on where I didn’t want to be in the house. I absolutely didn’t want to be in the basement where I typically work on my computer and film longarm videos.

Unfortunately our basement ceilings are very low and there’s very little natural light, especially when it’s cloudy. This is a bad combination when I’m feeling blue and the idea of going downstairs to edit videos or write just made me want to cry.

Tip #2 – Talk to Someone

I talked with Josh to see what he thought. Josh instantly picked up on the fact that I was very sad and had probably been working too hard. He agreed that this wasn’t how I normally am and I wasn’t going crazy. I just needed to get out of the basement and take a break from work.

So I took time off and stitched my Mally t-shirts and worked on her bookbag design. I tried to stay out of the basement as much as possible.

This was difficult because I haven’t been posting as often as I like. Guilt was adding to my sadness and making me feel like a real loser for not getting my work done.

But there comes a time when enough is enough. I had to slow down and stop pushing so hard or I was going to break down into a total mess.

Stopping a Bad Habit

I wasn’t working much so I really didn’t want to spend money. Many times in the past I’ve just gone shopping, either for craft supplies or clothes or groceries as a way to feel better.

I’m trying to short-circuit this habit because I don’t need any more stuff! I’ve got a freezer full of food too, so I don’t even need groceries!

Instead of spending, I started baking. I baked cupcakes for James’s birthday party and then made four batches of banana nut muffins each with a different flour and sugar.

Two cookbooks I absolutely love are Comfort and Joy and Desserts for Two (yep, those are affiliate links). These are small batch recipe books that are perfect for my family so I don’t have 50 million cupcakes sitting around

Making so many banana nut muffins helped me test different gluten free flours and sugar alternatives like monk fruit sweetener and Swerve. I learn something new, I made a ton of banana nut muffins, and did something productive.

I also worked on my new rabbit hutch outside as soon as the sun came out. Wood working is fun and I’m looking forward to raising rabbits starting in May. I need something that will get me outside and active. Even if it’s nasty outside, I’ll have to pop out and take care of my bunnies and that’s a good thing!

Tip #4 – Be Sad, Be Angry, Be Whatever You Need to Be

To say it straight: to be okay being sad. It’s okay to be angry! Sometimes my emotions can flip very easily to either direction when I’m feeling blue.

I have found that any emotion, if fully expressed, does not stick around for very long. It’s when we try to suppress it, and shove it down and ignore it that it really becomes a problem.

That being said, if you have been feeling upset, sad and lonely for prolonged period of time please get help, please tell a friend, please shake up your habits and routines so you can feel better.

So that’s it for this podcast I hope you enjoyed hearing my take on beating the winter blues and seeing this goddess quilt come together in this episode.

Make sure to check out the Quilt Friends Club to join in the fun and become my best quilting friend. Click here to join in!

Let’s go quilt,
Leah Day

Find more fun podcast episodes to listen to while you quilt!

• #95 – From Fire Fighter to Fiber Artist with Brandy Maslowski
• #94 – Cleaning Up to Be Creative
• #93 – Fixing Quilting Mistakes with Beth Collins
• #92 – Rising to Unexpected Challenges
• #91 – Quilt Blogging in 2019 with Vicki Holloway
• #90 – Tracing a New Goddess Quilt
• #89 – My Word of the Year for 2019