The end of the years is advancing at a rapid pace.
As a young person I never understood how adults could talk about how fast time was speeding by, to me it dragged endlessly even though I was a very busy and engaged child. And yet it now flies for me, and I suspect that this is the true hallmark of being adult. If time is flying you have earned your adult wings… and I sure have them now if the whizzing noise of the days passing me is any indication.
Each year I take some time to think about the direction I am moving. Am I moving with purpose or is life just dragging me along a path of least resistance? Am I am making a positive difference in the lives of others?
Is the work I am doing meaningful enough that you would miss me if I were gone?
If on Dec 31st I made my last BadAss post and locked the door of SPOOL never to open again would it matter?
Given all the noise “out-there” I guess I am not sure and that is something to think about since the work I do takes amazing amounts of energy, time away from my family as well as a level of personal openness and sharing that at times can be daunting.
I ask you this:
Does BadAss Quilters Society mean anything to you? Â If so, what?
p.s. Please note that I am not depressed, in danger or even upset. What I am is evaluating my place in the quilting world and and the further conversations about what it means to make this my living.
I’ve only just found your blog – a few months ago – and love your posts – I’d say please don’t go – but I do understand the time factor in keep up a blog so definitely understand the need to consider your priorities !
While I can certainly commiserate with your sentiment, all I can say is…. PLEASE DON’T LEAVE!!! *clings to your hem* Ahem, sorry. 😉 As president of a modern quilt guild, I follow a *lot* of blogs and businesses in order to ‘stay in the loop’, and lemme tell ya that yours is one of the _very_ few that I read every single post from. I appreciate the time and effort (and personality) you put into your presence here and would greatly miss you if you left!
BadAss Quilters is important! It’s a group that is not afraid to break the old quilt police rules and do new fun stuff. We are imperfect. We swear. We laugh and we love.
If you need a break, invite some BadAss friends to do guest posts or offer ideas of what they want to hear about from you. Shoot take a vacation. Stay with a BadAss friend. Or let’s all go on a retreat. Though pj’s are optional.
I have let this question resonate in my mind for a bit because such a deep question requires a thoughtful response. I would absolutely miss you, and all that you have introduced us to via Spool and BAQS. You continually challenge each of us to be true to our own calling and dream; and completely accept all who enter your world ~ ~however they get there.
You ask questions that make me think and present concepts to help me grow. You are a wonderful cheerleader for those around you and a generous spirit to all who know you personally.
But most of all, I would hope that you will continue to bloom and grow and develop and enrich ~ ~ and, of course, CREATE that which speaks deepest to your heart. I would not hesitate to encourage and support you as you take the steps that need to be taken.
But if you were not a part of our quilting community, there would be a definite hole. A big deep empty hole. For we have grown to love and value you as a friend and companion.
I would miss you. I’m pretty new to quilting and it’s busting my mind wide open. I want to see all the contemporary quilting out there that I can get. That includes you!
That being said, you gotta do what you gotta do and if blogging isn’t the best way for you to do that, I completely understand.
You send your voice along whatever channels work best, we’ll be listening.
I’ve only recently discovered you. Your blog is cool, especially “you can have sex on my quilt”. Your products are grand especially the Bad ass swag. Truthfully, there are a lot of shops. It’s your voice and perspective that’s eloquent, unique, and wonderfully bad-ass. Cheers and best wishes, Gail
Hey Maddie,
To quote Willie Nelson, “Gee, Ain’t if funny how time slips away” And like
you said the older we get the more we HEAR that! I’m recently wondering the
same things as you. I left my “real, paycheck every two weeks, job” to grow
my longarm business, and to begin traveling and teaching quilting. I have
to have faith that yes, we are doing important work and reaching those who
are in need and grateful. For me there is nothing more fulfilling than
being in the class room and sharing my passion with others.
Yes, I would miss you, & your posts, and shopping online, (I’m in Ohio,
with those damn Yankees….LOL) at Spool. I remember how excited I was when
I first came across your FB page! Wow, someone had the “balls” to do what
you’re doing! I get asked all the time about the BadAss button I’m wearing.
I’m only too delighted to share with them what it means and Spool as well.
I think we all, at some point question what it is that we’re doing….
Wishing you all the badass best!!
p.s. I am patiently waiting for Christmas to open my beautifully wrapped
sewing bird……that I bought for myself! Can’t wait to see it! wanted one
for years!
Merry Christmas Maddie!
No soldier forgotten…Quilts of Valor
Maddie, You would be missed! I have yet to go to your shop, but so look forward to reading, looking at your writings and buying fabric on line! love you! By the way, my daughter has been to your shop, purchased fabric and loved it! and have participated in your challenges which have challenged me to think outside of the box!
You, Flaun, and your shop would all be missed tremendously if you were gone. You have been an inspiration to everyone and at times empowering. In a world where there is always someone quick to criticize, you and your shop are making the effort to be positive and encouraging. Thank you.
Your posts are incredibly funny and so thought provoking. I love the edginess, your blog is the one that made me realize it’s ok to be “bad ass” and be a maker of things. I find a lot of quilters are too goody two shoes, especially the younger, less hardened ones! I like the gritty reality you present! Wish I lived closer, as I would be a regular customer at Spool! I do order online! I proudly display the bad ass quilter sticker on my car!
I love the “coolness” that you bring to quilting! In the quilting world, there are not enough badass representation, and you are needed!
KEEP GOING! I just found you, dammit.
Don’t stop. So much of the quilting world is older, conservative, Christian, Republican. You are a VERY important voice that says that alternichicks can like quilting too.
I would definitely miss you if you left. Please don’t. You encourage me to be more adventurous with quilting.
Given my current schedule, keeping up with you and all that is happening at Spool is sometimes pushed to the back burner. I do read your posts, even if a week after you’ve posted. Come the new year, I will be more active. You have been warnedl
Stay strong and keep helping us make quilting a place that everyone is welcomed. You have created a place that we can wear our weird ?
You were the first to assure me that whatever and however I quilted was ok. I am happy and content with bad-ass feathers and feel more confident in my quilting because whatever I quilt is mine. And it’s getting better because you freed me from the curse of perfection. Bad ass is good…striving fir perfection isn’t. Striving for better is always good, but worrying over perfect isn’t. Thanks for teaching me that.
REZOUNDING YESYESYES! You befriended me almost immediately when I found BadAssQuiltersville and I have thoroughly enjoyed (not to mention reaped the benefits of…) our friendship ever since. In the sometimes stagnant world, your outlook on your posts have kept me laughing, thinking, and exploring. I have felt your support for what I do AND WANT to do across all the mile between AZ and TN, and for that alone, thank you
Yes, I would miss your offbeat, cheerful, in your face, wonderful sass!! Thank you, for giving up what you do to give us so much of yourself!
In a world of older quilters you make quilting cool!
I am stuck between young and senior citizen and need someone (you) to show me the way and to quilt the way I see my world.
Maddie..you have created a shop with a unique, inviting energy.. When I stop in..it feels like home..cozy, colorful and comfortable. The fabrics are beautiful..but it is you that inspire.
This is one of the few blogs I still follow. I used to love quilting blogs but most of my old faithfuls have changed from inspiring into fabric and book PR machines. I enjoy your posts and always learn a thing or two. Thanks for the effort you put into it!
Gotta say- I’m older than you, a Northerner 😉 and we have VERY little physically in common (also 😉 ) but I felt the sisterhood immediately the moment I first saw your site. I WOULD miss your posts! There is so much that is judgemental the quilting world- but you embrace the joy in our differences, and acceptance of each other’s skills, tastes, and badassery.
Maddie, you would be missed very much. It is refreshing to hear what you have to say about things like it being o.k. to operate outside the traditional quilting box. And that everyone, no matter their skill level, has something to say in their quilts. It must be daunting to do it all day after day. We all get it. You would be sincerely missed because yours is a voice that needs to be heard. But we would all understand it if you paused to take care of your family and yourself. We all have to do that sometimes.
I would miss you terribly. I look to you for inspiration, for support as fellow quiltshop owners, and your progress reports gave me the nudge I needed to finally have my hysterectomy! You encouraged me to participate in Row by Row, which was a huge success for my little shop.
You would be missed, your inclusive voice of reason would be missed, and I’m glad to count you as a friend. 🙂
I look forward to your posts, your blog, your store!!!! I agree with everyone else. So glad to have awesome people like you to inspire us all to reach for our best.
I would definitely miss my “Maddie Connection” times. Those times you were so open to answer my questions and present other questions as I was trying to make my way on the quilts highway. I would also miss your openness and your optimism on life and being inclusive in building our BadAss Society of quilters where everyone has worth and value. In my humble opinion, you are definitely making a difference and your absence would certainly make a significant void in my life.
Yes, BadAss Quilters Society truly does mean something to me – but more importantly it’s you Maddie. I just “found” you this past September while at the Chattanooga AQS show, but already you’ve SO inspired me. I’ve been working on my jean jacket, I’ve entered my first ever quilt challenge with the Steampunk theme you just did, I watch every video you do, I’ve loved the blog posts you’ve been doing, etc.. But my favorite part – meeting your family the night of the Game of Quilts party. You didn’t have to invite me and my husband, but you did and I’m thankful. It’s hard in this world and particularly in this industry to be different, and even harder to be different and strong. You do both beautifully.
Carrie, I am tickled pink that you are now part of my life and were so kind as to come to our party on YOUR birthday!.. One of the best part of doing what I do is to meet people like you!
As a fellow shop owner, I would miss you. You give me inspiration in marketing and managing my own business. I also have been following you for years and it would definitely leave a void in my daily cyber reading. I see how you have grown and continue to do so. I know you set a healthy competitive standard local shops and cyber shops in your “real” presentation of your self and hobby. I have enjoyed the few conversations we have had (via cyber world) to help my own business – you are a leader and mentor. I think it’s very important to stop for a minute and evaluate our life paths and engaging those who it effects helps us to define or refine that path. I know you will continue to grow and refine your path with the coming year. I hope to again reach out to you for guidance and support if I need it.
I would totally miss you! We’ve never met, but you are the inspiration I want to help me on the path to quilting through my retirement. Do I wish I could jump off & quit my job to focus on a quilt/sewing related path at this time in my life? YES! Sadly, the finances don’t allow it. So I turn to the BAQS to live vicariously through you. Is there something else calling to you now, that you need to focus on? Please follow your heart, but keep us updated because you are definitely a part of all of our lives & I’m sure we all want what’s best for you. ?
Your blog and Facebook updates would be missed! How else would I have realized that it’s ok to use skulls and the like in quilts??? Your inclusive take on who we are as quilters is refreshing. Your tips on how you do things have given me much inspiration to try different things. When I open bloglovin’ and there are 20 unread blog posts in my quilting feed, yours is one of the few that I actually make sure I read…many others just get marked as read. I was led to your site by Erika n. – who knew I would find a badass quilt site by following some as cool as Erika??
YES!! What BJ said!! Maddie, you will never know what your refreshing take on life has meant to those of us who aren’t nearly as brave! I am so glad that I live close to Maddieville!
Big hugs to your and all of yours!
We love you and what you are doing for us quilters. That said, we also love you for your openness and your freakin’ ability to pull us into your world – and we didn’t even know that we needed to be there. But, since we’re smack dab in the middle of Maddieville, we’re glad that your version of GPS helped us find your sweet slice of happy. If you left the quilting world we would be so much the better for having you here among us. You have left your fingerprints all over our quilty brains and your footprints on our paths. We love you, Dear Maddie, because you are you.
Yes, I would miss you and your shop. It is a “must stop” when I go to Chattanooga or even through Chattanooga. Love the new fresh ideas that you share.
Even though I live in Kansas, I would miss you!!! I love nontraditional quilting ideas and I survive on you and Tula Pink!!! But, we gotta do what our hearts tell us.