THIS IS MY LIFE . . .

Mark Lipinski was kind enough to allow me to use his quote over here at the Pond.

It was years before I learned that I was fine the way I was as long as I was happy with me.  I spent way too many years trying to please too many people who really did not want to be pleased by me.

In the last ten years I have been on my own creative path to happiness and fulfillment.

I am my happiest when I am teaching and when I am producing.  I make lots of quilts and quilt projects.  I have often been asked "who are you making that quilt for?"  My answer, "No One".  Making a quilt is how my life is lived.

Each day is planned around how I will spend my creative time in the studio.  It has made me calmer and more tolerant in times of stress.

Sometimes a project is chosen to encourage me to trust my instincts of being an artist.  I used to think I was creative, but not artistic.  As the years are going by, I am finding myself a bit more artistic.

Stepping out of my box has been very liberating.  It has given me self confidence in the person I truly am.  I know I am not like some of my friends, but I like me and I like them.

Some things I am working on are making me set my goals and aims much higher.  It is even changing the level of my benchmark.

I was invited to be a pattern tester for a quilt pattern designer.  At first, I was flattered.  I think most people would be. As I worked that year testing the patterns of someone else, I began to see how her work evolved.  It gave me a new perspective on my work.

Life for me has taken so many twists and turns over the years and I have loved the journey.  I have been saddened, disappointed, and sometimes devastated.  HOWEVER,  from those experiences I have received some of the greatest joys I have ever known;  I have been uplifted in my own faith; and I have found amazing strength to carry on with my life. 

I often tell my quilting students that making a quilt is not about the quilt that you have when you are finished.  It is about the journey you took getting to the finish line.

Thank you, Mark Lipinski, for setting my thoughts in motion today to share some things I have had on my heart for a while.

I have truly embraced what makes me happy!!  I create quilts every day.  I love my family dearly.  I live each day.  I believe my "happily ever after" is happening at this very moment.

                                   -sandi