slacking in some respects....

I think i quilt to avoid the real world.  I've always done this.  Developed a hobby and just kept at it and wear myself out almost.  All these times are because i feel troubled about something.

I learned to play the guitar at 15 to get over  a boy that rejected me.  LoL -I know that's funny but I swore I only loved him because i fell for his guitar playing and singing.  I remember he played "More than Words"  and needed someone to sing harmony (which i have done since 6 lol) and he chose "Becky."

Then I painted windows and glass.  It was like stained glass only paint.  They still sell it I think.  I then started making stained glass and stepping stones.  All through College I played guitar and serenaded myself...and painted...through alot of loneliness/heartache.

Quilting has been a different thing all together.  I show love to other people by making them quilts.  In some ways I want to learn things that I brushed aside as silly when i was on a "career path."

Quilting for me is like arts and crafts for mentally ill people-- a necessity.  However I get on the Learning high that doing it does for me and i can't think of anything else.  But I am on a quest to be a more dynamic person and in that respect I hope to not have a Whole lot of quilts done --not to the extent that i have been any way.  I hope to not be online all the time either.

I have other grandma pursuits.  We will be putting our garden out soon (89ers day)  which falls on Easter this year!!!  aaaacckkk!  We expanded the garden and will be figuring out a watering/drainage system soon.  Last year we did a carpet garden.  You basically throw the carpet on the  dirt around the plants.  Canning is another big one this year.  I hope i have tomatoes this year cause I have my grandma's pressure cooker!  We are becoming quite famous in the family for our salt pickles/candied jalapenos and green tomato pickles.

And the last big deal is my weight...again.  I was working out and doing spark people but I'm amazed at how $9/week makes you really work hard and stick to a plan.  I'm on the second week of weight watchers --technically.  I'm loving it.  I have about 65lbs to lose.  I've already lost around 30 or so...and i keep just going back and forth and back and forth.  My craftiness added to alittle social anxiety you might see how this may relate to being overweight...

I turn 35 in two weeks.  I have to get healthy now.  So im doing the ww thing and also training for a 5 k again...only taking it easy and slow...it's ok if i walk the 5 k.

OK here's the latest quilt...it's the little sister to the funky Brady bunch i made a few months ago.  It's for a little girl named harmony.  She has Ewing's Sarcoma...she just got over leukemia.  She is the same age as my oldest son so I've been thinking about her alot.

I've been debating in my head what i want to do for a job next year and my youngest will be 4 and i still want that one more chance to get a little girl...and then i see kids getting sick.  In one week a lady at my mops revealed in a meeting that her son is very sick and they think it's genetic.  He's 6 months old and still tiny like a newborn and won't gain weight.  Then harmony's diagnosis, then a friend had a baby and he has hypo plastic left heart syndrome.  I then think...one more kid, just one more?  I am so so so so so blessed to have two very healthy little boys.  This world isn't permanent and anyone that acts like it is hasn't had the rug pulled out from under them.  We all are guilty of this mindset.  I see my reminder every time I see my dad (who had a stroke and can't walk).

loved these colors...

Today I shipped off my Orange Modern Stair step quilt to my customer in London. She liked the green and brown quilt I had listed in my shop but wanted the orange colorway with some aqua added. My husband said it looked southwest. You know it really did especially with the aqua. It was also funny that the brown really looks different with the orange. It looks so neutral and cool with the greens and browns.

I really liked the back of this one....it really looked like a southwest quilt.

funky brady bunch quilt

 There's a story of man named brady...yeah i don't want to do that.  But I made a really cute quilt in the last few weeks.  It's a twin sized quilt and yes I did the classic meandering quilt pattern.  Michael Miller Brady Bunch fabrics were very bright and colorful...had to frame it with white...no other way around that one.  It's about the biggest quilt I can handle on my little machine.  See the random placement of the blocks?  Well it's by putting them in order...i know it's odd to talk about you want people to just think you pull the fabric out of a bag...but i have to plan random or it'll look very confusing.

And the back...not a pieced modern looking quilt back..just a back...and wow...how i love cotton batting.

This week is a busy one over here.  We have my daddy's birthday this weekend (and officially tomorrow) and enrolling my baby in prek. Wow...hopefully they'll overlook the fact that he is still not potty trained.

Mamma gotta brand new bag...

and i will never sew this one again.  It's really cute now that it's done.  There are a lot of imperfections...I'm it's mom though so I still love it.  It doesn't close completely easy, it's a little crooked on the back seam but i was worried about my other more important thing--my sewing machine.

Anyway here are the pics


The inside is extra fun...just like me :)














Two Raves!!!  Some people ask where I get my fabric.  Fabric.com and Connecting Threads and Etsy.  Etsy retailers are great.  They usually offer really good prices on fabrics and are really fast shippers!  Fabric.com has the best customer service I've ever had.  Seriously.  They always offer free shipping over 35 dollars and a lot of times they send little free gifts and coupons.  They have great sales and often have coupon codes if you type in Fabric.com coupon codes in your search engine.  Recently I found the line of fabrics that I ordered on Etsy on Fabric.com.  The 1/2 hard is the smallest cut you can get with Fabric.com so I ordered a few extra that weren't in my pack.  I hit enter to buy and saw out of the corner of my eye MY MOM'S ADDRESS!!!
I immediately emailed them the correction and the lady misunderstood my correction emailed me the next day that she changed the city only.  That would be crazy if I had the same street address as my mom but alas no.  However I called and they corrected it.  Fabric.com  yards are 37" and sometimes you get another little bit.

Connecting Threads has raised their prices on their solid fabric.  It used to be 3.95/yd now it's 4.95/yd.  I was  feeling a little slighted and just figured I can buy Kona and use my 1/2 off coupon at Jo-Ann's.  I did order some for the current project I am working on.  I washed and dried my fabric and seriously folks it was the softest thing ever!  I have since made a point to order from them.  Their solids really are beautiful and they offer lots of options and fabric lines.  You can order as little as a charm from them.  They sell Hobbs Batting and have a great collection of threads/tools.  Their Quilter's Pro Cones are awesome and last forever (with the adapter).  I ordered a little something for myself the last time I got fabric and i was so surprised when I opened it up.  A fat eighths sampler in cool and warm colors.  It was like the new box of crayons.

anticipation

Anticipation is making me wait...keeping me waay ya ya ya yating...

I've been waiting on my fabric.  I have so much to do...so many quilts to make....but i am waiting on UPS/USPS etc.  while I'm waiting I finally finished my little girl quilt.  It's really pretty and soft.  The backing was so forgiving!  I had to go in and sew my little girls on better and the back you can't even see the seams.

All i can say about my upcoming quilts is "i can't believe i'm being paid to make these beauties!"  I love both fabric lines so much.  All I can hope is that i have a few squares left over when all is said and done.

rhythms

Here I am at 12:50 am on a Sunday still awake. These snow days have allowed me to sleep in and in turn stay up late where my mind gets all busy and creative.  Sleeping in I've realized I dream a lot more later in the morning.

I am working on a quilt this weekend.  I ordered a whole "lotta" pink and realized white is the best thing to tone down some really far out prints.  It's really going to be beautiful and I'm excited to be making it.  

The main thing I've been pondering lately is my life and what i'm going to be when i grow up.  I got my SSI info the other day and that is really depressing.  Not having money (of my own) is depressing.  Having my stay at home status be such an issue in my marriage is depressing (and more than a little frustrating).  I am making quilts to try to get a little spending money for myself.  This in no way can support me and I know this.  But I want to do something that I love and I want to get out of the house.

But this is why i do it...and i'll never regret it...not once...

wheels and being stranded

Since Mother nature has intervened in my life we have been hibernating.  We got around 16 inches and it was fun the first day...now it's enough.  It's like summer vacation EXCEPT the inability to leave the house or send my boys outside without a crazy amount of clothing/covering.  All outings end with crying over hands that are too cold.  We are Oklahomans we don't make a priority of buying snow boots and snow gear!  Oh and did you notice my yard stick?  That's what happens when you have little boys.  You will be sewing away and one runs in and grabs the stick and starts playing swords.  This always ends in a broken yard stick.  I'm cheap though and just tape it back.

I did make a small quilt in my spare time using Riley Blake Wheels.  This is the quilt I would have made my youngest son if i was a quilter when he was born.  Can you believe that???  he's 3 and a half and i just finished my first quilt when he was a baby.  As it is it will be a nice cuddle quilt and decoration for my living room .  I had some tension problems with this quilting design.  I used a pattern in my "Mindful Meandering"  book.  I like it but i couldn't get into a rhythm and it didn't look very even and pretty in my opinion.  With a long arm quilter and perhaps turned upside down where you could see the pattern perhaps.

How good does that look???

I am also tackling my scrap stash.  Anything ugly or less than a yard I am slashing .  Making things manageable, that's what this does.  I am cutting all scraps into 10", 5"  and 2.5" strips.  After I'm done I will sort into color groups and either sew up some scrap quilts or donate the scraps to the quilting guild in town that makes charity quilts.