If you've been with me for the past few years, you know that the January Quilt of the Month is always the Broken Dishes Quilt. It is so symbolic to me of what the beginning of a new year feels like. The taking down and packing up of the previous year and the sorting all the experiences into patterns that resemble something with order and beauty from fragments and broken pieces. I wrote a blog post about it earlier in the month that you can scroll down to.
Our moto for Tweetle Dee is Celebrate + Dream + Create. When I began this company, it came at a big transition time in my work. I had dabbled in design for embroidery and quilting for a few years, worked in a couple of quilt shops, but had spent years working in finance and real estate. I had a dream that someday I would be able to leave that steady work and make a living sharing and creating with people who loved to paint and sew.
I had been to the International Quilt Market and had 30 wholesale embroidery accounts with shops in the US and set a goal that I would walk away from my 9 to 5 job when the wholesale monthly profits equaled my paychecks. It took awhile, but that day came and it was a moment where I took all the pieces of a long journey and puzzle pieced them into the "pattern" I call Tweetle Dee.
My first International Quilt Market in 2008
(yes...Tweetle Dee used to be Gigglee Designs)
There has been so much growth and so many experiences we've had since then. If you look at the corner of the picture above in the pink frame you will see my original Celebrate Dream Create embroidery sample. It was published in a few magazines and sold like crazy in many shops.
The meaning of Celebrate Dream Create is set to remind me that everyday there is something we can celebrate, even if it's that we are alive and got our feet to move int he morning. That we should always have a dream or a simpler explanation is something we are working towards. Something we want to learn, grow through, a place to be. And, the gift of creating has been what helped me survive in my toughest times and truly helped me to find joy in moments where I struggled to have a dream.
Celebrate + Dream + Create has been with me my whole like and I love that I get to share it with you here. In a way, Broken Dishes comes from the celebrating what was, the hope that there is something beautiful that can be made from the broken, and that in creating or moving our lives, our hands, our minds...we can find the patterns and beauty-joy in our own life.
So keep at it! January is January. The beginning of a new year. The Broken Dishes Mini Barn Quilt Kit is a small creative project that is so calming to paint. The kits comes with the brush, pre-scored design board, paints and a color guide. I love being able to have a small project I can do with my hands. I hope you find these as fun to paint as I do.
This month you can save 15% on your Tweetle Dee orders in our shop with code Lovey15. Sending you a big hug! Have a wonderful week.
