Week of Thankfulness Giveaway!
This past year has been a whirlwind of personal and professional challenges. All of it has given me a lot of opportunity to sit back, reflect, and evaluate how far TCQ has come, and where we are going. The one thing I keep coming back to is how thankful I am to all of those people, both in my professional and personal worlds, who have supported me in this adventure. Rather than keep all that to myself, I’m taking this opportunity to say out loud how much I appreciate all of you. And just in case that’s not enough, we are hosting an epic giveaway as well!
Because I know the casual visitor is probably interested in the details of the giveaway, I’ll cover those first. But I do encourage those of you who know me personally to read on a bit. Between the sneak peeks, hopefully, I manage to say something that speaks directly to you.
Giveaway Details
Each day of the week, Monday Nov 21st - Friday Nov 25th, on Instagram only, Trace Creek Quilting will be giving away a bundle of prizes to one lucky winner. Entry details are within each post, but basically participants follow all the contributors from the day they wish to win, and they like/comment/tag/share to gain entries. Participants can enter each individual day, entries are open from the time of the post through Sunday, Nov 27th. Winners for each day will be drawn, announced, and notified on Monday, Nov 28th. Check each post for fine print and details!
Fabric Shops: This summer I reached out to a handful of my favorite online shops and asked if they would be interested in partnering up with me to help each other out. They hand out some coupons, I quilt some quilts, we all win! I was so delighted when they said yes and now I’m blow over at how much fun I’m having working with them. It’s a joy to get closer to them as people and as industry collaborators. It’s still fairly new and I’m excited to see how we grow together!
Longarm League and Panto Designers: Over the spring and summer of 2022, I’ve gotten much closer to Jess Z from the Longarm League as well as a handful of other longarmers across the country. Rather than being in competition with each other, I’ve found the most supportive and uplifting community who truly want to see me succeed. Along with them come the panto designers who’ve worked with me on copyright complications, longarming woes, and so much more. This community is endlessly embracing, supportive, and just beautiful all the way around. Thank you, everyone!
Pattern Designers: I truly believe that TCQ has grown so rapidly because of the relationships we have with our pattern designers. These folks let my work be attached to some of their most successful patterns, cover quilts, and IG posts. That credibility takes me right into the feeds of the everyday quilter and let’s them know it is okay to try a longarmer, particularly this longarmer. I couldn’t be more grateful. Each of them is special to me in their own way - Donna for jumping in with both feet and letting me be a part of some really exciting projects; Taylor for giving me the opportunity to work on some of her cutting edge quilt designs; Amber for including me in her very prestigious group of go-to longarmers; Megan for letting me have a tiny role in the pattern building process itself, Joy and Jennifer for their reflex of sending absolutely everything my way; and the list goes on. I want to give an extra special shout out to Suzy. Our business has exploded since Suzy let me in her door and I’m truly making a living, and supporting several other part time workers, because of her trust and exposure. But more than that, there is a quilting community around her that has helped me grow professionally and truly dream bigger. Thanks so much to you, Suzy. And to ALL OF YOU! You know who you are and how much I love you and your work!
Local Quilting Community: Second only to my family, I have the most gratitude to my immediate quilting community. Kristy, Jess, Sarah - you three stand out above all the rest as my go to supporters in all things business, sewing, and snarky related. I count you as some of my most favorite people and I’m so grateful that I’ve found you! Christine, Gina, Leila, Pam, Tess, Octavia…. you all have become dear friends. I never imagined making some of my best friends in my late 30s and I feel so fortunate. It’s a lovely reminder that there is still so much to come in life! To my guild, Kim and other local quilt shops, and fellow longarmers here in the STL - thank you for your love and support!
Customers: There are so many of you now - it’s amazing! I can’t believe so many people around the country (and the world!) are trusting me with their quilts. I’m so honored and grateful for you! Without you there would be no TCQ, no flexibility for my family, no extra support for my employees, and no reason to go down into my studio every day and find ways to express my creativity. Some of you have been with me from the start. Remember when you used to come into my tiny basement space and we would spread your quilt out on the floor and discuss? Oh man. Those days. And some of you are brand new, just sending me your first quilt! How honored I am to get to work with you, too! It’s been a joy to get to know each and every one of you through your work and I’m so grateful to have your business. From the bottom of my heart, thank you!
Family: Last, but by no means least, to my two families; the Whitener/Feys and the TCQ family. There is a decent amount of crossover here as my mom has the titles of investor, consultant, cheerleader, and doer of all things no one else wants to do. My husband pulls a weekly shift as shipping manager. My kiddos sometimes vacuum and bag up scraps, and other times create messes with the scraps that I then have to vacuum. My father-in-law is my business financial advisor and tax man, my SIL is my website/social media genius and virtual assistant, and my brother is my business idea guy, reminding me regularly that I can do hard things.
Gayle and Heather - I’m actually fairly serious when I say that if either of you move on to something else I think I’ll just shut it down. I can’t remember the days of TCQ before you and I don’t really want to. I appreciate the two of you more than I can truly express. Julia - watching you get through life has been a journey in itself but I see so much growth happening, even in the hard times. Remember, you can do hard things! Angie - giiiiirl. I love you. Thanks for elevating this business to a whole new level and for spending much needed adult time with me on a regular basis. It saves me week after week.
There are a million other people out there to thank who don’t necessarily fit a category. I may not have named you but I see you and am just as thankful to have you in my life as all of the others.
To you all, thank you. For you all, I am truly grateful.
