Cinderella Syndrome

I’ve been quilting for 13 or 14 years, and it’s not an exaggeration to say that I’ve been dreaming of making this my business for almost that entire time. There are a lot of reasons that I didn’t sincerely try before now – I needed to work other jobs to pay bills, I didn’t have the time to dedicate, I didn’t have the money, the timing wasn’t right. What all those excuses (and they are excuses) boil down to is my own insecurities and indecision.

I blame Disney. Specifically Cinderella.

I’ve just been waiting for my fairy godmother to come along and transform me into a quilt designer/fabric designer/successful business owner. With the wave of her wand, I’d magically be successful, without all the hardwork and hustle that’s usually required. It seems silly, looking back now, and I’ve known all along what I need to do – get out there on social media, build a following, show off my work – but I was sorta waiting for someone to just call me up, out of the blue, and say, “I want you to design quilts for me/my company.”

I’m not saying that life never works that way, but of all the successful people I’ve known, it’s been a lot of hard work and long hours behind their success. It’s never been a fairy godmother, there’s no magic wands, and I’m still not a princess. My husband does treat me like a queen, but that’s not what this post is about.

I’m getting ready to release my first pattern, because honestly, it feels like everything in the universe is telling me this is what I’m meant to do. I can find a few magic wand moments – Moda Bake Shop publishing my projects, Pat Sloan inviting me to be a guest on her podcast – and it just seems to me that now is the time to put myself out there.

It’s terrifying. Cinderella never faced the possibility of failure. She had a terrible life, for sure, but she didn’t set out to become a princess. She just wanted to wear a pretty dress and go to the ball. That the prince fell in love with her was icing on the cake.

Since I lack a magic wand, I’ve been quilting like mad. I’ve been trying to figure out all this computer stuff as far as the business side of things goes (I’m an LLC now! I think – if I filed everthing correctly). There may be some changes to the design of Coffee and Quilts in the future as I learn more. But this is all good stuff – more quilts, more blogging, and more happiness. (In six months, I’m sure I’ll look back and consider Pat Sloan my quilting fairy godmother).

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