A year ago today...

We were at a home fellowship gather this past Friday evening and the Father led us to a time of thanksgiving.  Sometimes, we are so busy going forward that we can sometimes miss the sweet memories that led us to where we are now.

A year ago we accepted an offer on our house and put that sold sign up.  We sold almost everything, bought an RV and truck in anticipation of a journey with God to parts unknown.

Boondocking at blueberry farm in Idaho

The day we took delivery of Max Blue (Aidan named the truck)

This post from March 31, 2022 tells the back story:  Dayspring Quilter On the Move

In hindsight, the Covid years were hard and took a toll on all of us.  We endured isolation, judgment, misunderstanding, lack of community and despair.  

We took a time out.  I put my quilting business on hiatus and my long arm in storage.  I spent two solid months scanning all the family photos.  We gifted some art pieces to friends.  We lived our last days in the house minus livingroom furniture but happy on lawn chairs. We packed a storage locker with our remaining precious items. We arranged for care for our doggies.  We had a hard but sweet goodbye with our son who wanted to remain in Victoria.  He had lived with us for 30 years and he said it was time for him to find his own way.   We stepped out in faith that God was leading us, all of us, and in hindsight we can say He certainly was.

Lovely farewell picnic before we left Victoria

And here we are a year later.  We are in a wonderful Church community, living in a beautiful part of the USA (Eastern Tennessee), with a new son-in-law and a new grandchild on the way, a new quilting studio and fabric store underway (The Stitchery LLC).  We are on a two year visa which is extendable so Tennessee is now home.  We sure didn't see that coming but are very thankful for where He led us and the spiritual journey that got us here. To God by the glory!!

The Lord has done so much work in our hearts with healing, recalibration, and restoration, that it was wonderful to pause on Friday night and speak out those prayers of thanksgiving.

Wow!  What a ride it has been.

Mavis

Never too old for a big change....

If you've been following me this past year, you probably know that my quilting business is on hiatus.  I described the journey in detail on the pages of this blog and have been anxiously awaiting some news so that I could share with you the direction I'm taking. Hubby and I applied for a VISA to stay in the USA (where our daughter married the most wonderful man).  

On February 14, 2023 the approval came through and I'm happy to announce that I will be setting up a long arm business, continuing what I was doing for customers in Victoria but adding a rental program component for those that would like to quilt their own quilts but cannot afford or don't have room to buy their own long arm. I am still a representative for APQS and will be adding machines for this purpose and my shop will be a mini APQS showroom.

The machines have been ordered (Lenni, Lucey, and Freddie with QuiltPath) and my Millie with QuiltPath will be joining the fleet.  My business will be called The Stitchery LLC.  I am currently trying to find a commercial location for the venture.  The machines are ready to ship now so I'm hoping this happens this week.  It was a 'hurry up and wait' scenario until the approval for the VISA came through and now it's full steam ahead to get up and running.  SO MUCH TO DO!!!

God has been faithful to lead me this far and the plan has taken shape slowly and methodically, including having my new best friend down here want to join me.  We lunch together every Friday and besides a beautiful friendship forming we have talked about her opening a fabric shop under the same roof as The Stitchery LLC (separate but complimentary).  We got all sorts of excited at this prospect!! Dreams do come true y'all!  Since I was a little girl I've wanted a store.  It took until retirement from a stressful legal career and a radical life change to bring it to fruition. And now I have a friend to do it with. And here we are.... We don't have everything quite figured out yet.  It's still all gelling.

I will be changing this page from Dayspring Quilt Company back to my personal blog in the near future.  It has chronicled my quilting journey and I don't want to lose that.  It served my purpose as a simple website for Dayspring but I will now need a more robust website.  I plan on a blog page on the new Stitchery website for the business but that is all still in production.  Like I said...SO MUCH TO DO!!!

You can visit my new business at The Stitchery LLC in the near future.  The website is still under construction so there's nothing to see there now but hopefully soon enough!

What a wild ride!  Thanks for following along and I'll see you at The Stitchery LLC!

Mavis

It's a Mystery! (quilt)

 In my previous post here I shared my photos of my fabric choices for the Bonnie Hunter Chilhowie mystery quilt which started on Black Friday. This was my post wedding project to help me transition to the next stage of our adventure on the road.

I haven't kept up with the clues (my normal) but have been very amazed at the reveal.  This is Bonnie's quilt:

I chose her colours this year basically because my stash isn't with me and it was just easier.  And of course it wasn't a chore to actually visit quilt shops in my area of Tennessee to find a suitable array of fabric.

Look at some of these other spectacular colourways and finishes.  I'm so inspired by these variations.

I'm plugging away at the steps.

This blocks gets enlarged once I get to the next step.  I'm LOVING this quilt.  

I ended up using Triangulations software for the hourglass units (quarter square triangles).  The accuracy when using these is amazing.  I'll be using them for all my triangle units in the remaining steps.  I don't mind tearing the papers off while watching a show.  And they are so uniform!  It makes the final product so much better.  If I had my Accuquilt Go cutter and dies with me then I'd probably use those but these are a great option when you don't have your tools with you.

I am up to Step 4 which is the hourglass units.  i've finished them all and they are neatly counted and in a ziploc bag awaiting their next step. 

Next up is some half square triangles.  And yes, I've got my Triangulations papers printed out and ready to process into fabric units.

Until next time,

Mavis