Here is just a small sampling of what I’ve been up to lately, and what I’ve been posting on InstaGram. I took a small vacation, and bought way too much fabric!

Last month around this time I had my bags all packed up and ready to go to Spring Quilt Market! It was in Minneapolis this year and I was super excited. I only had three available days, and figured I’d have about a day and half of actual Quilt Market time. I was cutting it close. I left my house at 4am on Thursday morning, so I could get to Baltimore by 5am and catch my 6:45am flight. I’ve had horrible luck, so I always make sure to get there early!

There were no non stop flights to and from my area (we have three major airports here) and Minneapolis, so I chose one where I switched flights in Milwaukee. It seemed better than Chicago, where they either always lose my luggage or I get stuck for half a day or more.

My flight was a little late, so I was worried I’d miss my transfer in Milwaukee.

We arrived on time, and I had enough time to get to my next flight…

that ended up being CANCELLED!

Not delayed…cancelled!!

I wanted to just start crying right then and there, I had no idea how I would get from Milwaukee to Minneapolis, and my funds were pretty tight, so getting a flight with another airline was out of the question. After waiting around for about an hour, Southwest told everyone that they could wait for the next flight, which would be at 8am the next day OR we could ride a shuttle bus for 6 hours through Wisconsin to Minneapolis. The second option also came with a voucher for another flight within the year.

I took the voucher and shuttle bus ride nicely, while explaining that this trip had been paid for with vouchers from the last time this exact same thing happened!!!! The dude at the counter said I was the happiest angry person he had dealt with that day. I took it as a compliment. haha.

We left Milwaukee at 10am (when I should have already been at my hotel!!!) in probably one of the worst shuttle buses I have ever been in. The seats rattled and were constantly moving and it was so loud!!

The trip ended up taking 7 hours total, with one bathroom stop in the middle.The bus shook so bad I couldn’t sleep, sew or read. Lets just say I wasn’t the happiest person ever.

I wish I could explain just how happy I was when I finally got off the second shuttle bus, got my hotel room key and laid on that bed! I really don’t understand why I have such horrible luck, maybe I’m travel cursed? Maybe this will turn in to a series? You know, since I have all these Southwest vouchers now!

I’m just happy I made it in time to get my badge and to hit up Sample Spree!!

Stay Tuned for an actual recap of Spring Quilt Market! I’m a little behind, but awesome things that I cant wait to share have been keeping me very busy!!

So I thought it would be neat to just cross post some of my favorite photos every other week! If you’re on Instagram and would like to follow me, my username is: Jessee_ArtSchoolDropout !

Last month I did a short interview with the lovely Stephanie of the podcast Modern Sewciety. It’s part of Episode #53 and it just went live two days ago!!!. It was way more fun than I expected and I sound way less nervous than I thought!

If you’d like to hear me talk about my “eclectic home”, how much I love my Silhouette CAMEO, What my future plans are or if you just want to know what I sound like, then you should go check it out!!! (or listen to the embedded player above)

 ”Around here, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening new doors and doing new things, because we’re curious… and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” – Walt Disney

So this might be the hardest blog post I’ve written to date. I’ve been writing and rewriting it in my head for weeks, no, months. Always changing it, tweaking it so it sounds right. I figured in the end the best way was just to be blunt and say it in as few words as possible…

Starting June 15th, the Art School Dropout shop will be temporarily put on the back burner. At least in my head. I will not be creating new products and I will not be taking any new custom orders. The shop will be paired down to just Home Decor and Party Supplies (minus custom listings). All orders placed will be shipped out by my husband, not me, on Saturdays. From now until June 15th, all Accessories, Jewelry / Juxtapose Necklaces and Craft Supplies will be 40% off to help clear them out. Everything else will be 25% off just because. (discount will be applied in the cart, no coupon code needed) Shipping may be slow at first while we switch over, so please have some patience with us!

Now I will explain a bit about WHY I’m doing this…

For the past 6 months or so, my mind has been going a mile a minute with ideas and things I would like to create. It usually goes fast, but lately its just out of control. At times it was getting to be a bit overwhelming and was causing me to forget important things, mess up on orders and such. I have been writing all the ideas down in hopes that I will one day have the time to try them all out. Well, when I realized Art School Dropout was turning 11, something just clicked in my head. I love creating for the shop and I love seeing my goods out in the world, however I have been doing the same thing for 11 years. I love learning new processes and I feel like I could be improving my skills. I have more unfinished personal projects than I do finished. I am my own boss, I have the power to cut back on business related stuff and work on personal stuff for once…

So that’s what i’m going to do. This may be a temporary situation, it may be permanent. I’m not sure yet. It’s scary to walk away from something that you’ve put so much of your life into. Actually it was almost my entire 20′s. Most of my adult life. The fear is what’s making me hold on just a little, and with the help from my husband (who’s been offering for years and I just never took him up on it) I think I can start chiseling away at my “Things To Try” list.

In a nutshell, I want to see what I’m capable of when I’m not tied down to a brand.

In the coming months I will be prepping for BlytheCon. I am scheduled to learn how to quilt using a longarm machine (and be certified to rent one). I will finally finish all of those quilts I’ve been working on for years. I am signed up to properly learn Illustrator. After that I would like to learn more about customizing wordpress properly. I would like to finally write patterns for all of those quilts I made. I want to paint CT’s room. I’d like to finally decorate our bedroom and bathroom. I want to build some furniture… and so so so much more.

I plan on sharing all of it here on the blog. So I won’t be disappearing into the mist, but possibly instead I’ll be around MORE!

I feel like I forgot so much that I wanted to say, but I also feel like this is good! I know it will be good for me, and that really is all that matters, making myself and my family happy.

To start I have to share everyone’s favorite, the first line from Cotton & Steel. They have a great story and are all very talented, so you should read up on them more to see what i’m talking about.

Every single design from them is brilliant, and it all coordinates perfectly. So there loads of mixing and matching. It’s all very playful and vibrant and a few designs incorporate metallic colors which I’m loving right now.

Though, I won’t lie, I’m most excited about their basics line. The dashes, cross hatches, lines and more are totally on my “must buy” list. I always prefer the basics, but they aren’t usually this perfect. I’ve already sketched out a quilt that would showcase these all perfectly.

Next on my list of absolutely perfect was everything in Carolyn Friedlander’s booth. I was in love with her last line Architextures, and I’m even more in love with her newest line Botanics. I also had the pleasure of meeting her and chatting a bit. She’s even sweeter in person than she is online!

I left her booth with a few mini charm packs that showcased her line, plus some of Robert Kaufmans basics. I’ve already cut into them all and can’t wait to share the piece I’m making, it’s just taking me a bit to finish.

I also was a fan of everything else Robert Kaufman put their name on! Their Kona Cottons are a staples in all my projects, plus I picked up a bunch of polka dotted fabrics which will probably be used a lot soon. Check out that diamond fabric garland in the Blueprint Basics booth! I so badly want to recreate it.

The last of my ultimate favorites was the awesome American Made Fabrics solids. They were gorgeous and person and I’m always a sucker for pretty solids. Plus look at those ottomans!!! I know a very cute little girl who would love one of those.

Ok, so that’s a wrap on the Quilt Market photos. I still have more to say about some of the things I brought home with me, but I promise this is the last photos from the actual event.

Like I said yesterday, I was inspired so much by just walking around this event. Then add all the conversations I had and I am set. It really made me 100%, fully realize, how much I love sewing, quilting and everything involved. It’s how Art School Dropout started actually, I was hand painting SEWN bags! I came home realizing that I want to be a part of this industry MORE, and I have sat here all week trying to figure out how to balance all my goals with all the stuff I’m already doing. I haven’t figured it out yet, and I’m not sure when I will, but I do know change is coming and it makes me really happy!

I figured it would be awesome just to see some online friends in person along with seeing all the new fabrics coming out. Little did I know just how much was there. Every type of tool of the trade was featured, from sewing machines to interfacing to thread and more! It was very inspiring and totally awesome. I left with so many ideas swirling around in my head, and a little anxiety trying to think of how I would make the time to try them all out. I’ll talk about all that at another time…

I didn’t bring my nice camera, but luckily there was a lot of natural light in the convention center. I took SO MANY photos, and decided I’d share a few (or a bunch, all depends on what you think a few is. haha) of my favorite fabrics coming out soon.

I’ll warn you now, theres so many, they take up two posts!!

One of the first booths I saw walking around was the Irome Collection by Kokka. I absolutely love the large scalloped pattern!

Actually, most of the stuff Kokka had was awesome! Check out that calendar/numbers print and ALL the Hello Kitty Prints! I wish I had looked at the proper names for the collections. I was just a bit overwhelmed! I so badly want to recreate that gray bag, so if you know what line this is, please tell me!!!

Alexander Henry Fabrics is putting out more of their “the Ghastlies” line. It’s just as awesome as the last ones!

Tula Pink has a new EPP hexagon kit coming out. I love the look of the warped hexies and I love how the box comes with everything you need. Also, as always her quilting is gorgeous.

I have some pieces from the Riley Blake Geekly Chic line, and love them. The pieces from the new Geekly Chic 2 line are just as cool. I’m already picturing a dress out of the camera fabrics.

I love the jewel tones featured in Katarina Roccella’s line Indelible for Art Gallery fabrics.

Dear Stella‘s entire booth was super cute! Plus I’ve already had an eye on their Wee Gallery line ever since I discovered Nicole of Modern Handcraft (who made the adorable little dress up piece above). I had the pleasure of meeting her at the event! It’s awesome to meet someone with similar style who just happens to be super nice too.

I also had the pleasure of meeting and briefly speaking to Thomas Knauer the author of Modern Quilt Perspectives. He was super energetic, nice and spoke freely when I asked him questions (rare these days). I absolutely loved the way he made his sign and I wish i could have taken all of his quilts home with me!

I also had the pleasure of meeting a few other friends and such while wandering around. Plus I was able to talk to a handful of industry experts and ask loads of questions and trade some business cards. It all makes me wish I could just play with fabric all day, every day!

Like I said before, I have more photos to share tomorrow. More specifically my four favorites. So if it doesn’t bore you, you should come back and check it out!

Saturday was Free Comic Book day and CT Dressed up as Robin, with a tutu. Sunday was Scouting for Bricks in Leesburg, VA. I DID remember my camera for this event.

CT has really been getting into LEGO’s lately. Mostly the LEGO friends and Disney Princess sets, but hey, it’s a start. I absolutely LOVE LEGOS, LOVE! I was the kid who only asked for LEGO’s as a kid. I had buckets full and would build towns, cars and sometimes race tracks for my hamsters. I am about to turn 32 this year and I STILL get LEGO sets as gifts. I prefer the houses mostly, but am happy with anything intricate.

This lifelong love of LEGO’s helped me talk my husband into heading to this event. It was put together by local Boy Scout Troop 39. This was their second year and I was super impressed. There were loads of vendors, a few large town set ups, a play area for the kids and more.

There were a bunch of people, but not so many that we felt nervous having CT walk around. She seamed like she was having fun the entire time and loved looking at all the sets. However on the way home she told us it was a little boring, which is CT talk means “I’m upset I couldn’t play with more LEGOs”. My husband told her it was more a day for Momma anyway.

As you can tell from the photos, I really did enjoy myself!

I ended up leaving with a few awesome custom pieces. One was a minotaur head and extra deer antlers by Brick Warriors (that I plan to turn into a mounted deer head), and the other was a miniature Serenity (from Firefly) kit with working light by Adrian Blake of brickfrenzy.com . CT and my husband left with some custom minifigs too, of course!

I loved looking at all the amazing sets and totally plan on heading back next year!! If you live anywhere near Leesburg, Virginia I suggest you check it out too. Also, if you can’t wait until next year there’s also the Brick Fair LEGO convention in Chantilly, VA. Apparently it’s HUGE! We would go if it weren’t the same weekend as BlytheCon.

(haha, I can’t go to one convention because of another? what life do I live now? an AWESOME ONE!)

My sweet husband help me set up and put all the food together, since I’m moving a little slower these days. Didn’t he do a great job?!? All simple snacks that don’t require a plate. One guest just used the table (I won’t name names) which was exactly why I used Kraft paper, instead of a real tablecloth. Messes were welcome!

I had been trying to figure out something super simple we could do while hanging out, and I seriously could not think of a thing for TWO MONTHS! Then, of course, I had an idea the night before. I quickly stitched up a few knit hats that we could embellish with beads and plastic flowers from my craft stash. It was super easy and all the hats ended up really cute!

My sister Cori (who a few of you have possibly met if you’ve ever seen me at a craft show) has been experimenting with making Blythe clothes and accessories lately. I just had to share this adorable dress and skirt she made!! How cute are they? She’ll be attending BlytheCon with me in August, and I’m urging her to bring a bunch of these!

You guys also get the privilege of seeing the aftermath! This was me thinking “oh no, I forgot to take photos today!!!” and quickly snapping this before putting everything away.

I had a lot of fun and am so glad to see the girls who came!! Maybe I’ll host one again?

I’m also super excited about the fact that my house is pretty clean and kinda tidy right now. Having parties is a great way to keep your house presentable. Ha, my husband says it’s one of the reasons he’s cool with having so many.

I hope the week has been a great adventure that surpasses the one these guys had (though motorcycling cross-country on a batcycle seems pretty adventurous, so it might be hard to compete).

I have decided to spend the day rewatching Ugly Betty and drawing objects from my kitchen. So far I’m having a perfectly calm day. Though I can’t wait for tomorrow when the rest of my supplies get here and I can start casting a new piece I’ve been thinking about.