Determining my WHY and our October Donation
Figuring out my WHY for starting this business
In everything you read and hear, they talk about to be successful you need to know your “WHY”. This past year or so in making the decision to start this business I have thought a lot about my why.
When I first tried quilting a project with stencils I was blown away by how much I loved it. Being able to easily sew an edge-to-edge pattern on my home machine was awesome. I had really gotten into custom free motion quilting and was inspired by so many amazing quilters but I found that I was pressuring myself to come up with something creative and new for each block in a quilt. It took me forever to finish each project.
When I was on a roll and had a plan I was really enjoying FMQ and I love each of the projects I have made, however, my stack of unfinished quilt tops kept growing. And I found that I didn’t have the energy to custom quilt each project.
Enter the stencils. Marking the pattern and then just sitting down and enjoying the process was incredible! I could easily finish my projects and I was loving the process. It took the stress out of deciding what to quilt. I feel like it gives such a clean professional look with the edge-to-edge patterns and the quilts are much softer without all of the dense custom quilting.
After scouring the internet for more modern stencils and coming up short I was determined to make my own. I knew that if other quilters could try stencils they were sure to love the outcomes as much as I did! It was so easy to follow the line with your needle with quilting. It took the fear out of starting and it was helping improve my free motion quilting skills. There are so many benefits!
Community has been a lifeline
But I also knew that if I was starting a business I would need to have a pretty big WHY to make this a success. Helping quilters finish their projects is definitely a huge part of my why, but I also wanted to see if I could use my business to make a difference. My hope is to bring and build others up with me.
I am working on my first official newsletter and one of the topics I hope to bring to my audience each month is to highlight a pattern writer or another individual in the crafting community who I am inspired by. Sharing about others and helping to spread their message is also part of my why. Already in the short time I have launched my business I can tell this community is going to be such a blessing to my life. Sharing and learning from others as well as supporting each other in our creative projects is giving me such life! It’s another essential part of my WHY.
Extending the reach of my help
October was the first month that I officially sold our stencils. What a great way to start off this journey! One of the last major parts of my WHY is to use my business to help others financially as well. So each month I plan to donate 10% to a different charity. With everything that has been happening with the recent hurricanes and the torrential rain recently in Spain I am so happy to be able to send my donation this month to World Central Kitchen. I know that they will utilize these funds to continue to support our friends, family and neighbors in such a crucial way. For more information about this fantastic organization please visit: wck.org
With some pretty big reasons for my WHY I am excited to continue to grow this business! I’m determined to keep educating and reaching out to help give quilters the confidence and tools to finish their quilts on their home machines. Not only is this easy, but fast and so rewarding! Plus I look forward to meeting and connecting with more people in this awesome community! What a blessing to be part of such a creative and support group of crafters. And I hope too to continue my reach and support financially with monthly donations to a worthy cause. Thanks for joining me! I can’t wait to see what the future holds!