Friday, September 23, 2011

The Fab Market Tote Sip & Stich





Last night I held my first in a series of Sip & Stitch classes offered at the Beehive!  The Fab Market Tote Sip & Stitch was such a blast.  A great big thank you to the ladies who came to sip, stitch & chat.  Everyone came away with a fabulous unique tote.  What a great girly evening!  The tutorial for this will be up soon!

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Don't Box Me In

I came to a detour recently while traveling on this particular path I've chosen these past few years. My dad who is 86 and suffering from Parkinsons was diagnosed with dimentia as well.  Since July, I have been one of his caretakers.  I thought I could do it all!  Take care of my family, my home, my business, and him, while being creative all the while! Without being verbose, I must say I have NOT been able to do it all. What has suffered most has been my business, my creativity and my health. No (creative) Work and No Play has made Anna a very tired, stressed and anxious girl.  I tried too hard to make myself fit into the various situations and boxes of my life--but there is only so much of me. So I'm making some serious changes to the boxes!

One of the most productive and long-needed changes was the location of my studio.  In my home was fine for a while, but there are too many distractions and too many reasons not to focus on sewing.  Kids, husband, father, homework, meals, cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping..... I felt like the proverbial headless chicken! I could hear all the lovely fabric bolts that recently came from Free Spirit, Michael Miller and Art Gallery calling me, yet I was not able to tear into their plastic wrapping.  I have had ZERO motivation--I have been so pooped!

So I packed up and moved my sewing "box"--thanks to Malene, my ever-supportive friend and owner of the Beehive--who invited me to share her studio.  The act of moving, starting something fresh, literally changing my (work) station in life, to a beautiful white space has been the most freeing, calming and inspiring thing I've done in a long while.