At the beginning of 2020 I chose a vision word. In my cleverness, I felt that Clarity would be my perfect guiding word. 2019 was “Growth”, and I did grow, but more like a patch of weeds than a flourishing garden. This year I’m pruning what I don’t love, and focusing on where I want to go, both personally and in business.
My first step actually started back in November. I signed up for Noom, the trendy weight loss app. A friend recommended it highly, and I woke up one morning feeling completely sick of myself. I was waking up tired, having low energy, in a bad mood, and I decided to change myself. I did it for four months. The pitch is good – just 10 minutes a day to a healthier lifestyle. That isn’t exactly accurate. Some days I only spent 10 minutes, but to do all the things I wanted, like change my eating habits and activity levels took way more than ten minutes. I definitely recommend the program, but maybe just for the first two months. I felt like I got the most out of the first two – I changed how I eat, and I have lost 20 pounds, and the weight is still coming off. They were not able to motivate me to move more, but that’s okay. My biggest changes have been soda no more than once per week, and adding lots of produce to my diet. I also don’t eat cheese and bread with every meal anymore. I have more energy, and my pants are falling off. It’s nice.
Last week I took my next leap of faith, and I’m a little worried, but mostly excited. I signed up for the Bonnie Christine Surface Design Immersion Class. I was tempted last year, but I didn’t think I had the art chops to justify making this kind of financial investment in myself.
Well, a year has gone by, and I’ve done more research on becoming a fabric designer. I’ve also dealt with some serious struggles in producing patterns for sale. I am deeply dissatisfied with my inability to create professional looking diagrams. I kept hearing about Adobe Illustrator, but that software is expensive!
Last year I designed maybe 10 quilts that I would be proud to release a pattern with. I struggled to produce two patterns, and there is plenty of room for improvement in those layouts. With all three of the patterns I’ve released, I have sold a total of four copies. I’m not sharing this for sympathy or anything. More to show a baseline for comparison for next year.
Today is just the second day, so I’m still in the honeymoon phase. Right now, my goal is to spend at least an hour a day on the course, until it is finished. That gives me time to do the work, do it well, and also spend a bit of time developing my style. I’ll be working on a portfolio of surface designs based on my style as a quilter. I know what I want to work with, and if I can’t sell it to a company, I can sell it myself on Spoonflower. I feel pretty empowered.
I’ll also be figuring out how to create diagrams I am proud of. I need to maintain focus and not get frustrated during this process. I HATE taking time away from being productive to learn. My solution right now is that I will start right away with putting together a portfolio of fabric designs. I want to have clean, geometric blenders to start. Those are my favorites to work with, and within my drawing ability.
I’ll keep you updated on my progress. When stuff starts looking fancy around here, you will know it’s working.
Oh, and the funniest part of the whole “Clarity” thing is this. I didn’t tell anyone, because sometimes I feel a little goofy. I’m a 70’s kid, so peer pressure and the fear of being a dork is very strong with me. Well, I woke up one morning and found this in the shower. My husband and I laugh, because after 26 years together, we share a brain. Sometimes, though, it’s a little creepy.
I totally get the creepy part of sharing a brain! Good for you and all you are doing. Congrats on the loss….it is hard to do and harder in a house of men – I grew up with 4 brothers, and only female in my own house is me – even the dog is male. I can’t wait to see what you do in the design course. I thought about it but really want to focus like you are on what I need, and right now it is a bit of space. Good luck with it and I hope you find (I should say work) your way to your dream!
Thanks! To be honest, figuring out what my dream was has been the hardest part.
Good for you for taking the space you need. It is so easy to make ourselves crazy, for very little in return. It took me a while to see that.
I hope that the honeymoon phase of the course moves straight on into motivation and then admiration for the skills you are acquiring. It’s amazing how much hard work it takes to be “creative”; if I would have known how much computer time (just for bookkeeping) a small business takes, I may never have taken the leap. I’m glad you are investing in yourself and I look forward to seeing the fruits of your hard work.
Thanks so much for your support. One thing I heard today was that we need to outsource things we can to make room for our creativity. I have a housekeeper to maintain my home and keep my husband content. It makes me happy, too, and is a better use of my time. Maybe you are ready for a bookkeeper.
Jen, this is so wonderful! It took me 2 days to read past your 20-lb loss since I have gained since leaving your area. You adventures are inspiring. Can’t wait to see what happens for you out of your new training. Wishing you all the best!!!
I understand your issues with selling patterns, but keep trying. I’ve sold a few in person, and a few on Etsy. I wanted my “booklet” to look like the Quilt in a Day ones, and although I don’t do illustrations on the computer, I do lots of photos and some hand drawn. I think once I get someone to help create the drawings on a computer, I can edit and use them again, changing the colors, etc. But I also use EQ8 illustrations to help. I’ve had a few patterns ordered through IB when they were doing it, too, so that was awesome. I wish we could take our ideas and deal with a company that would help with the graphic part, and print. My print shop went out of business, so I have to find another. They helped me with some of the editing to make the booklet look professional, but it also is a lot of time on the computer to write them. Maybe we could figure out a solution together. Good luck with the designs, and have fun with the process. Glad you and DH have so much in common, that’s great, too.