Summer has a way of stirring something up, doesn't it?
A little restlessness, a little I'd love to try something new — right alongside the quiet hesitation that usually follows it: but I already have a stack of unfinished projects. How can I start something new when I haven't finished those?
And underneath that, another thought: even if I did start something new, it'd take me forever to finish — and then it just becomes one more thing on the pile.
So the whole idea of trying something new starts to feel heavy before you've even begun. The unfinished projects, the time it'll take, the guilt of adding to the stack — it all builds on itself until the safest thing is to not start at all.
I want to offer you a different way through that this summer.
Because the thing standing between you and a wildly creative few months isn't talent or time. It's permission — permission to let those unfinished projects sit right where they are for now, and give yourself the freedom to bounce around and play.
Here's a principle I come back to again and again: Dream big, experiment small.
When you want to try something new — a technique you've never touched, a palette that scares you a little, a style you've admired from afar — you don't have to commit to a king-size quilt to find out if you love it.
You start with an experiment-size version. A single block. A pillow. A small wall hanging. Something small enough that you can bounce to a new one each week, or each free weekend, and often finish it in a single afternoon — see if you love it, and go from there.
And if you're traveling this summer? Choose a technique with some handwork, tuck a block into your bag, and stitch your way across the country — on the plane, in the passenger seat, on the porch of the lake house. No backlog. No guilt. No months-long commitment hanging over you.
Imagine a summer that looks like this: one weekend you're deadheading the marigolds in your garden and using them to dye a single fat quarter, just to see what color comes out.
The next, you're trying Hawaiian appliqué for the very first time.
The weekend after that, you're playing with Ralli, the Pakistani patchwork tradition.
You're not slogging through one enormous project — you're bouncing from idea to idea, building real skill and real confidence, one small, joyful experiment at a time. And somewhere in all that play, you start to notice the work beginning to look like you.
That's exactly how we've built Meander.
Each month, we focus on one new technique together — and every workshop includes an experiment-size option, so you can dive in, try it, and see what happens without overthinking it or overcommitting.
You get our full library of workshops (Scrappy Appliqué™, Portrait Quilting™, global techniques, natural dyeing, and more), my signature Color Confidence for Quilters™ curriculum, monthly live guild meetings, Sit-and-Sews, and a warm global community cheering on every experiment and breakthrough. You're never creating alone, and you're never locked into a deadline.
And here's why there's truly no reason not to try it this summer: Meander is just $24 a month, and you can cancel anytime. (If you go annual and change your mind, you're covered by a 30-day money-back guarantee.) For less than the cost of one pattern-and-fabric splurge that might sit in your closet, you get an entire summer of techniques, community, and permission to play.
So if that restless little I'd love to try something new is stirring — this is your yes. Let the unfinished stack rest for now, and come spend the summer experimenting small and dreaming big, right alongside us.
Can't wait to play alongside you, Shannon
P.S. Because every technique comes with an experiment-size option, you can start something today and have it finished before the week's out. That's the whole idea — small enough to start now, fun enough to keep going!
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