I just thought I would put this picture in here. This is my Grandpa Joe and I at my first graduation. He's on my mind alot. He was a new year's baby. He would have been 83, but how blessed I was to share 35 years with him. He left us mentally before he left us physically and that's where my joy comes from, to think of him complete and whole. He was known as Frito Joe in my hometown because he was the Frito Lay man. Do you realize how many chip commercials and how many times you see a bag of Frito's or a Frito Lay product in a day? After the funeral my aunt talked about getting stuck behind a Frito truck. I think he'll be sending us reminders every day like that. I'm taking it alittle hard because I've been so blessed not having any loss of loved ones except my cousin who i think of all the time too...esp once a month if i remember my self breast exam. I can't help thinking it will only get worse and worse. I have had all my grandparents with me this far in my life. It's amazing.
I will not have much time in the new year for alot of crafting because I will have my nose in a book. I'm going to grad school starting January 9th, and I'm excited. I'm alittle bummed because I won't get to see my quilting gals at the guild but who's kidding who? I won't be sewing too much.
Some finished/and semi finished crafts.
So I have gone through my box of WIP's and churned out some this week on break/and this weekend. This Riley Blake quilt is a testament to finishing your mistakes. I didn't mean to make this quilt. I was trying something else and got cutter happy and ended up with the wrong sides cut... This quilt was supposed to look like bamboo. But I finished it and it's actually better than I thought.
My foray into the memory quilt. This has been a difficult quilt to make. I realized it wasn't about the pattern or the design as much as it was about the memories and the baby clothes. To make this quilt match or be symmetrical, would involve cutting up these clothes and perhaps losing some of it. I really like how it's turning out. Some of these clothes are so tiny and had so many snaps the only option was sewing on whole. I hope to have this baby quilted and on it's way this week....BUT....
My mind and creativity always gets ahead of my shoulder. Any hours spent at my machine and my back seizes and then my neck is sore and frozen...it's a vicious cycle. So while I want and need to finish all my WIP's I still need to pace myself.
I started the new years in the best way, going to my new church home. I can't tell you how much i love this place. Worship alone, I am fed completely. Perhaps I have alittle depression or am extra sensitive these days. I have been so emotional lately. Not with sadness but with Joy and amazement. I have such a renewal of spirit and of life lately. Perhaps being home for 7 years wasn't good for my depression problems. I tend to have problems every winter with the blues. It's wonderful for creativity by the way. I am a melancholy person and being home with crybabies has made me a cry baby. Seeing myself as an intelligent person with more to give than my effort at cleaning and cooking and child care has helped especially since one of those skills I am terribly lacking. What my children and my husband expect or believe about me isn't all there is. I love them with my whole heart but I get resentful when I am not feeling appreciated, however it's unfair to place all your self-esteem on your husband and children's attitudes. They are irrational crazy people most of the time.
I'm going into 2012 thankful for my salvation that is unwarranted, unmerited, and undeserved. Nothing I do can ever give it away and I'm so thankful for his grace that I can be a human, and sin and fail over and over again and I know that i have "unmerited favor."
