It has been an extremely exhausting couple of weeks, but we got a little breather this weekend where the toughest items on the list were things like “buy new shower curtain” and “pick up keys.” I have to tell you that any day where the list does not include “prime apartment walls” is a good one in my book. (And I’m pretty sure my Dad who almost single-handedly re-painted our living room would second that.)

I had hoped to document this whole process better, but pretty quickly I had to lower my expectations to things like “locate and wear shoes today.” I know those of you who have moved understand. Geez, moving is hard! My heart goes out to the people who do this with kids and pets.

So here are the 2 photos I did take of the move. The top one is of my sewing room/office all packed up. My husband calls this photo “Hoarding: Buried Alive.”

Oh my gosh, I have a problem. That room was ridiculous. The fabric. Paper. Yarn. Thread. Christmas decorations. I tried to get a better shot, but the boxes were blocking the window! (There is no way this stuff is fitting in the new place, but neither of us wants to bring this up yet. I suppose you can ask me about it in a week.)

I told my husband that he needed to accept the fact that this is not going to be a spacious, functional apartment — but more like the end of a Hoarders episode where the hoarder has successfully found and cleared the kitchen table. Everyone is so excited just to have a chair to sit in while they eat dinner that no one mentions the tower of boxes stacked up ominously around them.

I will try to post an update after we’re in, but I think we’re entering the phase where we have moved in, but can’t find anything. I am very much looking forward to phase III in which I plan to “explore my hometown in between naps, quiet mornings sipping coffee, making new friends, and shopping.” All in good time!

Hope you are all doing well.

Hi everyone!  Thank you so much for all of the nice comments about the gift tags and the move.  In the midst of this big transition, I have been trying to be very diligent about writing down 5 things I am thankful for each day.  Without fail, each week I find myself writing down a thoughtful email or funny thing that you have said here.  Thanks for that.  It means a lot.

We got home late last night from our trip to Seattle.  It was exhausting, but successful!  We found an apartment and turned in our application.  The new place is in walking distance to (drum roll, please)… the library.  That sort of sealed the deal for me.  I’ll have a nice place to work during the transition while we wait for our stuff to arrive.

We realized on this trip that we have some fairly large furniture, so it’s going to take some creativity to fit everything in the new place.  I am relieved that we decided to go for the sensible option with the most storage.  I am already thinking about how to cozy it up a bit.  We will finally have a use for our hardly-ever-used flannel sheets and all of those soup recipes I have been saving up for the cold weather which never seems to arrive in LA.

We stopped by Lake Washington on our way to the airport yesterday and snapped a few photos.  The water, the trees, they are all calling to me now — making it ever so slightly easier to unwind the cords that are tethering us here.  We are one foot in each location now, doing that funny in-between dance.  Now we gather our strength for our next big number.  January is going to be gone in a flash.  I can tell.

Shortly before Quilt Market — and I mean like 3 days before Quilt Market — when I was in an absolute panic trying to get my samples sewn up and mailed off to the Andover sales meeting, my husband asks “So what do you think about moving to Seattle?”

As with many things in life — it’s a wonderful opportunity and really challenging timing all at the same time.

We will be packing up and moving at the end of January right smack dab in the middle of a major deadline for me.  We are having lots of conversations around here about whether or not you can bring a sewing machine on the airplane as your carry on and how best to organize the studio so I will actually be able to find all of those urgent projects when we land on the other side.

Also, how do you build a booth and make all of your samples for Quilt Market when you are in a temporary living situation?  I plan to make a beeline for the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild as soon as I arrive.  If I have any hope of pulling this off, I am going to need friends.  Friends who sew.  I am SO grateful for this blog, because I get to take all of you with me.  (And pretty soon I’m going to be looking for pattern testers so if you have thoughts/advice on pattern testing, I’d love to hear them!)

Fears and anxiety aside, I am really thrilled that it’s Seattle.  I used to travel there on business regularly, and I still remember standing in that office building and staring out the windows into the forest.  I knew immediately I could live there.  I brought my husband along with me on one of my trips, and he fell in love with the city, too.  I feel like we were being given a special preview of our life up there — since God knows if I had to do it blindly, I’d really be freaking out.

I look forward to sharing all of our adventures (and I know there will be adventures!) as we explore our new home, try to get settled in, and get ready for the launch of my fabrics and patterns.  And if I seem more frazzled than usual, well, you’ll know why.

Thank you for all of the wonderful comments and re-tweets on the designer interviews!  I am so happy that you are enjoying them.  It was a bit outside my comfort zone, but I think it’s great to be able to mix things up here a bit and share some other points of view.  And there are quite a few more to share!

I think sometimes reading these types of posts can seem like everyone is one big clique, but in my experience, it really is just meeting people one at a time.  I try my best not to be afraid to say hello and not to take it personally if someone doesn’t click with me.

Anyway, what I meant to say is hello!  I just got back from vacation where I was celebrating my 5 year anniversary.  I hate telling other people that I’m going on vacation — especially somewhere nice like Hawaii.  Am I the only one with major vacation guilt? The flip side is that if you don’t tell people you’re leaving then they think you’ve disappeared or died or something.  So I apologize.

We had a wonderful time, and I will share more about the trip soon.  (There happen to be plenty of photos of chickens if you’re interested.)  I came home with a bad cold which I’m still fighting off.

I just realized that the clock I’ve been referring to all day long is still wrong, and I am too tired to decide if it’s good that I have an extra hour today or if it’s going to push me over the edge.  If I owe you a note, I’m sorry!  I hope to be caught up soon.

Hi guys!  I thought I would pop in really quick just to say hello.

I think as I get ready to head to Quilt Market at the end of this month, I’m going to aim to be here just once a week.  I know as soon as I type this I’ll have a million post ideas, but I am trying my best to stay focused.  The good news is that when I come back full time, I’ll have a bunch of pretty booth photos from the show so hopefully that will make up for a slim month.  There are still so many fun things I have planned for this space, but as always, we can only do one thing at a time.

Today, my one thing at a time is working on my doll pattern.  I used to spend a lot of time sewing up stuffed animals and other soft toys, so in some ways, I feel like I’m going back to my roots.  However, when we’re talking about dolls (which are basically miniature people, right?), it all seems a lot harder.  I think my husband is getting tired of commenting on the length of doll arms and the proportion to the body and whether it makes the doll charming or just freakish.  The other side effect of running a doll factory in your house is that you end up surrounded by abandoned body parts.  For some reason, this bothers me a lot more when it’s dolls and not little stuffed bears.  The whole thing makes me want to finish up — fast! –  and get some cute faces and clothes on these people, which I guess is a good thing since I’m running out of time anyway.

And by the way — I promise that there are lots more patterns and projects in the works besides dolls.  However, if you like to sew for kids or if you’re like me and collect happy-cute kid-like things, then this line’s for you.  I can’t wait to hear what you think.