Silver linings

I try to look for the good in everything. Usually, I am successful.

I learned this week that one of my quilter buddies, Judi AKA Karate Quilter, got engaged (YAY!) and is moving to China (BOO!). That makes 3 quilting buddies moving away in just 2 years. As someone who is used to being the one who moves away, not the one left behind, I am finding this difficult to deal with. So what is the silver lining, you ask? I am the beneficiary of stash reduction measures as she packs up to move - woo hoo!

I'd rather have her stay, but I'll settle for her stash scraps.

I played around a bit more with the Nickelmania blocks from this weekend's workshop. I still haven't chosen a layout, but I'm having a great time exploring my options.

Of course, I'm not sure when I'll get to play with it again. I'm off to work shortly, and I am working 12 days straight. Ugh! Sew a little extra for me, won't you?

Distractions

I should be further along hand quilting my Bright Idea quilt, but I've been distracted. First, I stumbled upon a blog of a wonderful wonky quilter, Emily at Em Celebrates, and have lost myself in enjoying her quilts and her adventures. It's funny, I've seen several of her quilts before on Judi's blog, Green Fairy Quilts, but I didn't come upon her blog through Judi. Anyway, upon going back through her entries, I found a quilt that really spoke to me, and immediately thought I could do something like that to use up some of the yo-yos I inherited a while ago (envision yo-yo flowers in urns or vases). I started putting some blocks together trying to stay within a certain color scheme - green, purple and tan/gold (don't ask me why).
I like the blocks, but I don't really like the colors. Do I continue?

Luckily, I didn't have to decide because our Guild had a Nickelmania workshop today with Ann Littleton, using up 5" charm squares that we've been trading in our Guild. Ann brought lots of samples of layouts using the 4-patches and HST that we were making:




Of course, I challenged myself to come up with a layout different from all those presented. Perhaps something on the diagonal. Here are the layouts I played with:

I'm itching to go down to the studio and whip up some more blocks so I can flesh these ideas out a bit. But first, I leave you with some photos of Jason, who sat on the bench with the team today and kept track of the score and timeouts and other basketball-y stuff. For those of you who know my husband, doesn't he look JUST LIKE HIM? Gorgeous! You'd think I had nothing to do with his creation...well, except for the poor kid's height. Mea culpa.

Mommy, can I come sleep with you?

I made a quilt for my mom a few years ago. I'm not sure if I ever took a photo of the completed top, but when my younger sister was visiting her over Thanksgiving, she took photos of it and posted them on her Facebook page. How sweet! And looking at them, I want to go climb into Mommy's bed for a nap. That's it - enough quilting for others; I need to make a quilt for MY bed!

Is it naptime yet?

Pick-me-up and Patience

Wow. The amount of work waiting for me after two weeks off was staggering! I got in bed at 7:30 PM last night - no joke. I'm trying to stay up until 9:30 or 10 tonight, just so I can feel like a grown-up. I am BEAT!


But there was a pick-me-up waiting for me when I got home yesterday - SQUISHY MAIL! Remember the giveaway I won from True Creations? Not only did she send the book, but also four fat quarters.


Aren't they YUMMY?


I should go put a load of laundry in so they will be ready to use when inspiration strikes. (Well, that and the hamper is overflowing AGAIN! How can two small children soil so many clothes?)


I'm not going to linger on here tonight. Gotta make some progress on my hand quilting. Now that I missed my self-imposed deadline, it is hard to stay motivated, but I'm trying.


Oh, and on the PATIENCE front, I didn't raise my voice at either kid all day. I'm not sure if that's because they were really good of if I am making progress, but either way, I'll take it!

Third-party validation of my frivolous purchase

At a booksale recently, I picked up a used book for a quarter, "To Be A Woman: The Experience of Womanhood in Selected Writings". I haven't read the whole book yet, but the very first essay really spoke to me. Here's an excerpt, written by Dorothy Goldberg, author of "The Creative Woman" and wife of former United States Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg:

"What I am saying is that, as we rush about, we must reserve a little energy for that other life within us, that urge to make, to do, to try to create.

If we have one child, then our inner life becomes our second child. If we already have two children, then the life within us must be our third child. Even four, five, six. Even if there are six children to be helped toward their own lauchings, the inner life must be her seventh child. If that inner life is built around art, then that is the child, and it must be given all the attention, concern and money we would somehow find if it were a child in the flesh."

OK, are there any other quilters out there who read this as "take time, energy and money to pursue your quilting passion"? I sure do! So on a recent trip to the thrift store with my sister, I bought this dress, not because I need it (I don't), and not because it fits (it doesn't), but because it speaks to the quilter in me. I'm thinking I'll wear it as a nightgown, particularly if I have any Pajama Quilting Days.

I'm back at work this morning, in body anyway. It is so hard to switch gears and be a productive worker bee again. Particularly because, when I got to my office, it had been completely rearranged because others had been using my office during my absence, so I first had to spend time moving furniture. However, I have a new setup for the new year.

Oh, and I should probably put a new avatar photo up at some point, too. Many of you have asked if I cut my hair, and I did, sometime around Labor Day, I think. I do a home bathroom job with my husband's clippers and just shave my whole head to a pretty short length, short enough that it looks exactly the same when I wake up in the morning as when I lay down at night. I'm saving time and money, baby, more time and more money for my quilting passion!

Two outta three ain't bad

Remember my New Year's Eve Challenge to finish off three of my flannel quilts in progress? I didn't quite make it. I finished the binding on #2 today. Here it is, the least square quilt I have ever made.

Oh well. I learned a lesson from this one - never, EVER, use such high loft batting in a quilt. I wrestled with this thing all the way from pinning it, through hand quilting it, and on every inch of the binding. Ugh! But it is done. The flannel buzzsaw quilt was the third project, but I've been helping others sew on my machine lately, and haven't had time to do for myself. First my twin, then Jason, and today, after Jason worked on his quilt some more, Donald made his first quilt top. We choose BIG (12") squares, and went with something super simple, but I'm proud of the little guy (he's four).

He chose the tractor fabric himself, and we were both so tickled when, as we he was sewing on the last border, Jason Aldeen's BIG GREEN TRACTOR song came on the radio, one of Donald's favorites!

Here's the tractor he has chosen to put on the back.

Piecing the back will have to wait for another day. My one and only resolution this year, is to work on becoming more patient. Well, my patience has worn out for today. I need to reboot with some sewing for myself. Of course, it will have to be at the gym, as my husband has a basketball game this afternoon. Gotta love hand quilting - you can do it almost anywhere!

Renaissance Family Day

I woke at 4:30 AM to take my sister and her family to the airport to go back home. :(

When I got back home at 7:45 AM, I went back to sleep until 11:00 AM. :)

When I finally got up, I played dominoes with the boys, and then forgave Jason for beating me so badly (little twerp! Shouldn't we parents get to win for at least a little while after we teach them a new game? It is hard on the ego to consistently lose to a 7 year old!) and agreed to help him work on his quilt for a while. He has been pestering me for some time now - he is hoping to get another ribbon at the fair this year - and after helping my sister all day yesterday, I couldn't really say "no" now, could I?

He already had the fabric picked out from before, so he ironed **Angela - do you see the placemat you sent me for Pay It Forward? I keep in on my cutting table when I am not cutting and I LOVE it - thanks!**


and I cut (see my new self-healing cutting mat I got for Xmas? It is so big it doesn't fit on my cutting table! I am absolutely thrilled, because my last mat is nearly shredded at this point),

and he sewed,

and sewed,

and sewed.

I couldn't be more proud! We need to buy more black flannel, but I think you can tell from the design wall what he is doing. One side of the quilt has hunting and fishing fabrics, and the other side has wild animal (African? Jungle?) prints. It's going to be pretty cool! And we decided that it will be the perfect size for a car blanket. (After all, I don't want him making this just for a ribbon at the fair, I want him to make it to be functional, too.) **Cheryl - do you see some of the fabrics you sent me in there? He snapped up the bits I didn't need for my buzzsaw quilt faster than you can say "please"!**

Once we did all we could do without the extra black flannel, we practiced our karate. Now he and Donald are watching BOLT while I catch up on blogs. Happy New Year, everyone! Mine has started out GREAT! I hope yours is, too!