Living, Loving, Learning

I finished another quilt! I am so happy with it. Some of the squares may be familiar to you, they are the squares I received for my first year in the block swap, '08 travel theme. The brown squares that are all similar are the ones I made. The whole thing is hand quilted by me, and bound in a dark brown solid fabric. I made a pieced back to add extra interest. The last 2 weeks, Griffin has told me "I sure wish I had my new quilt to cuddle with" before going to bed. Man, that kid is good, he knows the quickest way to my heart! So Thursday when he came home from school, I surprised him with it. He was soooooo happy. In the last photo he was trying to help me get a photo of it. I decided I needed someone a little taller to hold it, but I still think it's such a cute photo!

These are my last few quilt blocks for the '09 block swap. I will not being doing the swap next year so these might be my last individual blocks for a while. Joining the club was such a great thing for a newbie. It really helped me increase my stash and learn to make a ton of different patterns. At this point though, I have enough of my own projects going, I don't really have time for the swap anymore. This is for July, Spring showers brings May flowers, in blues and purples, any pattern. This is the most difficult block I have pieced to date, but I really enjoyed the challenge. This was for August, a butterfly design in bright colors on a sky background. This was super hard for me because there were no clear patterns available for this butterfly. All options required some form of applique. That is a type of sewing where one cuts a shape and goes around the edge ironing a 1/4 inch or less of fabric under. Then you sew it on, patch style, but it requires an exacting stitch for

This one was fun to do for two reasons. First, we could use any pattern we wanted to and second, any fabric in the pink and purple family. I did the same pattern that I was doing that month for my local quilting club and I was able to use fabric from my stash. This block was super hard for me, a real challenge. I love the way it turned out though! This month the pattern, Snail's Trail, was provided and the requested color was blue. A couple of month's ago, Bruce staged a quilt block intervention for me. I have been making quilt blocks for a year and a half now and still don't have a finished quilt to show for it!!! He is so right, time to get to it. I am now working hard on putting together the blocks from last years swap, theme "travel", for Griffin's bed. I actually have to make 7 more blocks to have enough for a full quilt so it won't happen overnight, but I am hoping to have it done for winter!

Theme: "Log Cabin" pattern in beige and red.

I have made a point of focusing on Me lately. As a Mama, I am constantly fighting the guilt for this even though I know that is totally INSANE! In my mind I know I need and deserve to spend time on myself and that in the end this will make me a better Mama, wife and friend. So in honor of my, Ugh is it really???, 33rd birthday which is quickly approaching I have decided to gift myself with some time and attention. The first goal is to pay attention to my body everyday. I have done this by adding a short workout followed by a short yoga session into my schedule everyday (I have only missed one day in almost a month) and when time and weather permits, a nice long walk. Next, my spirit. I have started reading a few books discussing connecting with your spiritual side and I have added a few minutes for meditation after yoga each day. Also, my creative side. I have embraced my new favorite hobby, sewing, and after the kids are in bed I sew for an hour or two 5 or 6 nights a week.

Quilting is becoming such an outlet for me. I love fabric; the colors, the textures, the moods they inspire and quilting is a natural extension of that. I love the peaceful feeling I get when creating, the satisfied feeling watching something useful start to come together. I have joined a block of the month club at our local quilting store. The instructor will be choosing the fabric and block patterns each month (the theme being 1930's reproduction fabrics - so pretty!) I figure it will be a great chance to learn proper techniques as I have just been figuring it out as I go along up until now. Our first meeting was a long one, but so good. We were talking about what type of thread to use and the instructor was talking in terms of a 100 years...like, which will hold up and look the best in a hundred years. I thought that was such an interesting perspective. In has made me think about what I am doing/leaving that will be here in a hundred years: my gene pool and legacy through my chi

So, firstly, I have to brag on my sister, Jessica a bit. Look at this gorgeous quilt she made for Lucy. She even embroidered the names and birth dates for all the "Christinas" that we have info. about. What a sweet, sweet treasure to gift my daughter with. It is almost to special to use, but what a shame that would be if Lucy never cuddled up with it! I am so thankful to all the women that took their time and put their hearts into handmade gifts for Griffin and now Lucy. Jessica has really been an inspiration to me in recent months. With her encouragement, I have been getting back into creating - something that is so vitally important for my soul. I always feel truly me, truly happy in my skin when I am using my hands to create something. The quilt block club has been so fun. The themes have been interesting and the monthly commitment forces me to take the time that I might otherwise miss. I don't think I have posted any of my squares since March - here is what I've d

Soooo, this is my quilt block for February. Honestly, it was much harder to aquire the materials than to actually make it. I searched through a bunch of little antique/gift stores to find this lace piece and then I just appliqued it onto a 12 1/2" square. The theme for February is Victorian/Crazy quilt. She wanted lavenders, whites, rose and ecru and for each square to contain some type of lace. March is acutally my month where they will be sending me a square so you will have to wait till I make the quilt to see those photos. It will be the end of April until I post another one (although I have worked ahead through June!! YEAH ME!!!) Happy Leap Year Day!

This was the view from the backdoor as I was letting Sunshine out first thing this morning and get this...it was enough snow to warrant cancelling school for today!! The Michigander in me laughs at these thin-skinned Southerners!! In totally unrelated news...I know some of you have expressed interest in the quilting club that I'm in so I thought I would post the block I do each month. Hopefully, we will all watch me improve over the year! January's theme was Southwest. I chose the brown fabric because it reminded me of earth...sand, dust, rock. The green fabric reminded me of the wavy patterned flesh of succulent plants found in that part of the country. The pattern is called "Anvil" which, I am told, is a common pattern used in Southwest style art. This was my second try, as my first came out at 11 1/2" (supposed to be 12 1/2").