50 is Nifty and Other Reflections

I recently turned 50 and one of my girlfriends did the most wonderful thing — she contacted the members of my small quilt group (the DIVAS), and a bunch of my friends and acquaintances from around the country and asked them to send me fiber art postcards. Fetching the mail was never so fun as the week of my birthday! Here are just a few of the cards and a some details from the address side of the postcards. (And a special thanks to everyone who sent a card!)

Deb Mohr sent quite a cake with one of her cards. We have an inside joke about being sisters since she is forever mistaken for me when she is at quilting related events. We’re not quite sure why, but she’s a welcome addition to my family!

Here is the other card Deb sent. This is a bit of the fabric she made in the “graffiti tote bags”  Make It U session that a bunch of us went to at the Chicago Quilt Festival last spring. Now that was a fun trip!

Mary Ritter put a photo of the DIVAS group on her card.

And I have to give Mary extra credit for her birthday greeting on the back of the card. She swiped a photo from an old blog post and crafted some paintstiks for her greeting, a nod to one of our other inside jokes – they call me the Shiva DIVA. Cute!

Becky Albright sent me a birthday angel – and who doesn’t need one at this age!

Jean Back must have been chasing bugs around her amazing gardens when she made this card…

I even got a card from Liz Berg. I “met” Liz several years ago when I was invited to be a member of the Art2Mail postcard exchange group. I took part in their exchanges for a couple of years and have the most amazing collection of small works of art to show for it.

And finally, here’s a lovely card from my good friend and paintstik fan Laura Murray. Laura made this card with those incredible Silk Radiance fabrics embellished with paintstiks – what else???

A Few Reflections

Big birthdays are also a great time for reflection and for giving thanks for all the good things that have happened in recent years. As I look back, I am simply amazed.

Jack and I celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary this year. Given that he is 28 years my senior, that is a huge accomplishment. We are planning a nice trip this winter to celebrate my birthday. As he told me one day, he was confident that I would see my 50th birthday – but not so sure he would still be here to celebrate with me. I am truly blessed by all the years we have spent together and look forward to many more.

My adventures here at Cedar Canyon Textiles have been no less amazing. When I consider that I jumped into the Paintstik business without really knowing what I was getting myself into, the results have been pretty spectacular. At last tally, I’ve sold over 28,000 copies of Paintstiks on Fabric and shipped more than 80,000 sets of rubbing plates. (Not bad for a business rookie!)  Over all, we’ve shipped almost $2.5 million in paintstiks and accessories since Cedar Canyon Textiles morphed into The Paintstik Place in 2005. Wow!

I’m sharing this with you, not to brag, but to show you what can happen when you grab an opportunity instead of letting it pass. When I dropped out of the corporate world at 35, I had no big plans for the future except sharing a lot of time with my recently-retired husband. I certainly had no big ambitions of running my own business. But here I am – and I’m thrilled to be here. I’m so glad that I took a chance and made the most of the opportunity when it came along.

My special thanks for everyone who has been a part of my paintstik adventure. I couldn’t have done it without you And believe me, as I look back after my “big” birthday, I appreciate you all more than you will ever know. Thank you all – you’re the best!