meeting Joel Dewberry

In addition to creating my sewing patterns, I work for a professor in the Family & Consumer Sciences department on campus, and daily I find myself thinking I can't believe I get paid for this.  It's a quite wonderful feeling to have!

Case in point:  on Wednesday, my co-workers and I headed to Park City to assist at sewing conference.  We were fortunate enough to have Joel Dewberry as a speaker, and then we facilitated a sewing workshop creating little stuffed birds, which is a project from his latest book.

Oh. My. Goodness. SO adorable!

Of course, I cornered him after his presentation to ask him all about being a fabric designer, marketing himself, creating a brand, setting up a display at the International Quilt Market, etc.  And the great thing about all of this was that he was incredibly willing to share his knowledge, which means a lot to me as an aspiring textile designer.

So now my brain is buzzing with ideas, I'm sketching layout and presentation ideas for my booth at Quilt Market in May, and I'm finding inspiration everywhere I look.  I am headed full bore into my next round of designing, excited about the possibilities of where this all might take me :)