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Welcome to episode 025 of the Me Being Crafty podcast, where we explore creativity in your life.

In this episode I talk to Elizabeth Dackson of Don’t Call Me Betsy about her choice to start sewing (and what a great choice she made!) and her journey to becoming a quilt designer, teacher and author. We talk a lot about the design process for quilts – the length of time it takes her to design a quilt, finding pattern testers, and maybe most importantly: knowing your design process. We all design differently and we also need to know which computer programs we want to use to complete our files.

Elizabeth co-taught the paper piecing class that I took at the Sewing Summit (along with Lee Heinrich) and definitely made paper piecing an easy thing to learn to do. I’ve made several paper pieced projects since that class so yay me! Thanks again for being on the show Elizabeth!

I love the story that Elizabeth shares when she talks about deciding to find a hobby. I think this is a common thing for young people and also for new parents. We want something to do, something extra to stay busy or express ourselves creatively. I am glad she found sewing because I love it so much. I think everyone should learn to sew – at least the basics! Learning to sew, buying a sewing machine that day she went looking for a hobby, that changed her creative life.

Elizabeth has a lot of really great quilt patterns available in the Don’t Call Me Betsy pattern shop and her book, Becoming a Confident Quilter, came out in 2013. She is also a Craftsy instructor with two classes  Start Free-Motion Quilting and Start Foundation Paper Piecing. The foundation paper piecing class was just released a couple of months ago so definitely check that out if you are looking to learn how to do this. I admit it – I bought the paper piecing class just because it also comes with seven block patterns. If you take away the class, that is a really inexpensive price to pay for those patterns.

Have you tried paper piecing or made one of Elizabeth’s quilts? Do you have a favorite that she designed? I love the Lucky Stars BOM and encourage you to stop by her shop today.

Where you can find Elizabeth – Elizabeth on instagram – Don’t Call Me Betsy on facebook – Elizabeth on flickr - Becoming a Confident Quilter on amazon

Listen to episode 025 and let me know about a pattern that you designed!

Leave me a comment and let me know how you were creative today. Me, I’m working on my bullet journal to be sure I didn’t forget anything. I have a lot going on with the podcast and the kids and of course my own sewing! I also have a baby quilt to finish.

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Welcome to episode 024 of the Me Being Crafty podcast, where we explore creativity in your life.

In this episode I talk to Lisa Jacobs of Market Your Creativity about her start online with an etsy shop and what led her to start sharing business advice at the Market Your Creativity site. I love the planner she redesigned from 2014 for 2015, the Creative Business Planner, and as I’ve previously mentioned I did buy the PDF version because I was too impatient to wait for it to be shipped to me here.

Thanks again for being on the show Lisa!

I love hearing how people started out online. Lisa took a chance and started her jewelry business with little money because she wanted to figure out how to make money while staying at home. She really wanted to have a retreat and in the early days of her business, she organized one. She talks about the lessons learned from that early attempt at holding a retreat, something she organized when she was brand new to being online and didn’t have an audience. Through her years of working online, she was able to figure out what didn’t work and change the way she approached working online and has now organized the Movers and Makers Summit. This retreat will be held February 27-March 1 in Charleston, SC. If you are a long time reader, you’ll know that we lived in Charleston for a couple of years several years ago and we loved our time there.

I have been using the Creativity Workbook to help plan this year and I love it. It is important to look at what is working for you and keep going, what isn’t working for you and either change that or toss it to the side, and to keep moving forward with your plans. Last summer I had the brief through of wanting to have a podcast again, I had one years ago and after about a year I quit producing it. This was way before the popularity of podcasts and several that started back then are not around anymore. I jumped back into working online after being away for a few (or maybe it’s several) years away, and it’s been awesome. I went full force into producing the podcast and launched at the very end of October. I love being able to talk to my friends about what they are working on, how they are creative in their lives, what a creative business means to them and so much more.

Where you can find Lisa – Market Your Creativity shop –Lisa on twitter – Lisa on Pinterest – Market Your Creativity on facebook

Listen to episode 025 and let me know if you are on track with your 2015 plans! Do you make monthly or quarterly goals? This year I have planned far into the fall and I am right on track.

Leave me a comment and let me know how you were creative today. Me, I’m working on a couple of bee quilt blocks.

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Welcome to episode 023 of the Me Being Crafty podcast, where we explore creativity in your life.

In this episode I have a conversation with Lee Heinrich of Freshly Pieced about her creative journey with quilting. She started sewing seven years ago and quickly fell in love with quilting. Lee has a background in journalism and graphic design and has published on her blog for the past five years. She hosts the very popular WIP Wednesday and has a pattern shop where you can buy pdf or print quilt patterns. I encourage you to participate in WIP Wednesday! People are so creative and I am glad that Lee has provided such a fun way for people to share what they are working on.

I met Lee a few years ago during Sewing Summit. I took the paper pieced class that she co-taught (along with Elizabeth Dackson) and really enjoyed it. Thanks again for being on the show Lee!

Lee started her quilting journey with the want to sew a quilt for her daughter. She has taken her experience with graphic design and love of quilting and now has several quilt patterns available. She also travels to teach and lecture, and the book she co-authored, Vintage Quilt Revival was released in December, 2013. Lee designs and makes beautiful modern quilts, be sure to stop by her website and see them.

We also talked about the transition from quilting as a hobby to quilting as a business. Lee encourages people to learn the design programs that are used to do the illustrations and layout for patterns because the quilt patterns are not expensive enough to afford to pay someone over and over. I agree with her because not only would you have to pay someone to do the layout, when you want a change or an update made you would have to pay them again. It’s best to learn the program yourself.

Check out Lee’s teaching schedule and don’t miss out on taking a class or hearing her speak if you are close enough to attend.

Where you can find Lee – Lee on instagram – Freshly Pieced on facebook – Lee on twitter

Listen to episode 023 and let me know what was the first quilt project that you made, Lee shares a funny story of washing the charm squares in a quilt kit she bought, which made the squares not usable.

Leave me a comment and let me know how you were creative today. Me, I’m working on an applique project.

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Welcome to episode 022 of the Me Being Crafty podcast, where we explore creativity in your life.

In this episode I talk to Diane Stanley of Random Thoughts Do or Di. I loved visiting with Diane because I am all about family history and passing on stories. Diane and I both attended Sewing Summit, a retreat that is no longer held. I only went to one though and Diane was lucky enough to go to all three of them. I really enjoyed that Sewing Summit and I am glad that Diane is able to attend retreats yearly. Thanks again for being on the show Diane!

Diane started sewing because she moved and made a new friend. How many of us can say the same? I think a lot! I certainly have found new hobbies over the years because of moving from place to place. And even better, Diane is still friends with that girl she met so long ago. She has enjoyed many craft hobbies over the years and for the past few years she has shown her love of quilting. Her website is full of beautiful pictures of what she is working on if it is a quilt, something she’s knitting, something she grew in the garden, and so much more. Diane started her website because she and her husband wanted their children to see a vacation they took overseas. Keeping track of what we are making so our families have that story is so important.

Another way that Diane keeps track of her quilts specifically is by keeping a quilt journal. She wrote about the first journal she used and it carries the photos and a little about each quilt for sixty quilts she has made. This is a great way to pass along the story of what you are making. Diane also mentions the importance of labeling your quilts. This is so true! I only recently started labeling my quilts and I just sent a pack of my labels to my Mom so she can label the quilts of mine that she has at her house.

We all have a story to tell, don’t get yours lost. Your kids might not think of what to ask so do them a favor and use a scrapbook, journal, or website to keep track.

Where you can find Diane – Diane on instagram – Diane on pinterest – Diane on flickr

Listen to episode 022 and let me know how you keep track of what you are making, do you keep a scrapbook or take a lot of pictures?

Leave me a comment and let me know how you were creative today. Me, I’m working on a pincushion for a swap.

Head over to iTunes and subscribe to Me Being Crafty so you don’t miss an episode! You can also subscribe on stitcher.

Welcome to episode 021 of the Me Being Crafty podcast, where we explore creativity in your life.

In this episode I talk to Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood of CraftSanity. We had a really great conversation about her creative journey, her transition from being a staff writer for a local newspaper in Michigan to writing a freelance column on art and craft, her podcast, craft magazine, and so much more.

This picture is a recent shot of Jennifer working on screen printing.

I’ve listened to Craft Sanity since the beginning (she began in early 2006!), back then there were not many crafty podcasts and I had my other one for about a year so it was really great to connect with people during that time. I was happy to see Jennifer back and producing shows again after a short break, she was missed. Thanks again for being on my new podcast Jennifer!

Jennifer has tried a wide variety of crafts over the years, starting with coloring books as a child and falling in love with weaving in middle school. She learned to crochet as a child because of regular family visits during which the men, women, and children were all separated to each do their own thing. Not wanting to miss out, and wanting to be like her Mom, Great Aunt’s, and Great Grandma, to be like the other women in her family, made her want to learn to crochet as a five year old.

Jennifer is a story collector and her formal training in Journalism is a wonderful profession to be in with that strong interest. She was an apprentice to a master weaver for a year when she was in her early 20s and says one thing that drives her is knowing she doesn’t have to only do one thing.

“My level of happiness in life overall improved once I figured out that you don’t have to pick one thing. Just because you are a professional writer or a firefighter or a nurse, it doesn’t mean that you can’t do other things.”

She is so right. We all have other interests and being able to pursue those interests and connect with people in person and online is really a fun thing. She also talked about daily practice and how that really improves whatever you are learning or working on. She is currently carving a block a day and also talked about testing screen printing on two t-shirts knowing she only had those two shirts at the time. It can be scary to realize that if you make a mistake that’s it, but she went forward anyway. Jennifer and her husband have two children who are also crafty kids, which is a given considering they have grown up in a house with looms and access to many craft supplies and interests.

I love getting kids involved in whatever I am making and I am glad that my kids have shown interest in different crafts over the years. The screenprinted tea towels that are in the CraftSanity etsy shop were designed by one of Jennifer’s daughters and I think that is so amazing. It is fantastic when we can share what we love with the people that we love.

The CraftSanity Magazine is available right now in the etsy shop and if you have an idea, pattern, or recipe to share, send Jennifer an email. If you haven’t seen the magazine, it is a must see. This is a full magazine with recipes, patterns,

Jennifer also mentioned ArtPrize, visit the site to find more information about this international art competition.

Where you can find Jennifer – CraftSanity podcast archive – CraftSanity etsy shop – Jennifer on twitter – CraftSanity on instagram – CraftSanity Patreon page – CraftSanity facebook page

Listen to episode 021 and let me know about the last new thing you tried. I admit it’s been a while for me for trying something new. My daughter has paints and we have a bunch of canvases for her and I was thinking that I should try painting. I’ve never done that and I’m sure it would be a fun thing to try. I have tried screen printing before and I think I want to do that again too. I need to check on my supplies and figure out where I can get more.

Leave me a comment and let me know how you were creative today. Me, I’m working on a mini quilt swap.