On your journey...leave tracks.

A girlfriend sent me a birthday card this month that read,

     "On your journey through the sands of time...leave tracks."

As quilters, we are always leaving tracks, aren't we.  Tracks.  Did I say tracks?  I meant threads.  What if it read, 'On your journey, leave threads.'  We leave our tracks on the minds of the people that see our quilts hanging in shows.  We leave our tracks as we wrap our loved ones in our three dimensional creations.  We leave our tracks on the hearts of the people that receive our donation quilts - for auction, for a ride along, for camp, for a chemo treatment chair...we leave our tracks on the hearts and minds of people we touch with our quilts.

Which is why I have posted this shining doorway pic.  Do not be afraid of going through.  Make tracks.  Take the class.  Make the quilt.  Make a mistake.  Make the successful ribbon winner.  But go through.  Because when you are done with the quilt, the mistake, the class, when you have pushed through, you will find on the other side....yet another door.  (now you are wondering why you read this blog, right?)  No, really.  And thank God for that!!  Because if we had only one door to push through, one class to take, only ONE quilt to make...well, you understand now.  Oh.  ONE quilt to make?  What would it be?  I can't pick just one, can you?  Make tracks.

I will, however, give you my list of ONE's here today, tho.  The things you can find at www.beyondthereefpatterns.com .  The things I really do use.  The things I can count on for great projects.  Which is why I carry them - to pass them on to you!!

• Jeana Kimble Needles
• Weeks Dye Works threads
• SOAK soap
• Bamboo Batting
• Amy Butler books
• Denyse Schmidt papers and journals

But just ONE quilt?  No way to make tracks, thank you.

I remember one day my 9 year old friend Kendra came through the garden gate and stood in the doorway of the cottage - just as I was tasting a quilt top.  "Natalie, are you making ANOTHER quilt?!?????," she asked.  And then she smiled.  If I knew Kendra's smile was the glow on the other side of that door, of course I would go through!!! And of course, I AM making ANOTHER quilt.  This time Kendra, it is a series of quilts.  And I am pushing through that doorway on my journey.  Hanalei Bay and Diamond Head.  Then Big Island and Maui.  The same size as the honu quilt (you can find this quilt kit on our website).  18 x 22 ish.  A journey.  Tracks.  

Won't you join me?

be.do.create

2008

Thanks for thinking of

b e y o n d   t h e   r e e f

Natalie.

natalie@beyondthereefpatterns.com

www.beyondthereefpatterns.com

www.beyondthereefpatterns.blogspot.com

Road to California - the gift of friendship

Road to California is a California Quilt Show.  Quilts are juried in to be exhibited and vendors are juried in to be a 'show shop' during the show.  There are classes and hotel rooms and restaurants, and taxis and airplanes and all the things needed to get this many people into one place for one thing. 

Quilting.

beyond the reef is pleased to be chosen as a vendor for this show.  We are happy.  Playful.  Joyful.  But I am a sole proprietor and you notice I use the word 'we'.

I must take a moment to thank my customers.  Who come and stand in the aisle and smile, looking at my new set and the booth.  Or comment on the new layout.  I must take a moment to thank my suppliers.  Who greet me once or twice a year as a friend, but who make, pack and ship their fabulous things to me in time to bring them to you.  Who make the bamboo batting - who bring us Amy Butler's new fragrance Sola.  Who year after year come up with great ideas for our industry.  

And I must take a moment to thank my friends - Suzanne who leaves her home in Arizona to come be a part of my home for a while.  Lisa, who cuts straight, folds well and is always of good counsel.  Jill, who made this - the largest show in southern california - her first quilt show.  John who drafted for moondoggie & gidget and who loaded bins and boxes.  Patrick who continues to push chain.  Jeff for my little red wagon, for the painting, and for the loading.  Greg, for his incredible talent, and for sharing it with me.  I am the sum of all of their parts, and I thank them for that.  

Recognize the gift of friendship - of sharing between each other.

And smile.

With our friends, we truly can be. do. create.

Thanks for thinking of 

b e y o n d   t h e   r e e f

Natalie.