Progress

I might even be able to cross this one off before the end of the month. . .

xoxoxox

Working. . .

on this -

I've had this really simple pinwheel quilt in my head for a while now that will be a gift for a baby girl on the way. Doesn't exactly match the things that her mom has picked for the nursery but who wants too matchy-matchy, right? And she'll need quilts for the car or stroller or other things too. Anyway, this thing has burning a hole in my brain (maybe because it's so easy I feel like I can knock it out quickly and move on to the other things that are also burning holes) so I started on it Friday night. My plan was to work on it all day yesterday but my day was sort of happily hi-jacked so today's the day. Or would be if the boy weren't dragging me off to the gym. . .

And what is churning around in my noggin while I'm piecing this little baby together? Plans, my friends. Big plans. I'm working on scheduling a trip for nine - which very happily includes me and the boy - to South Africa in July. I'm HUGELY excited, particularly since airline tickets have been booked and I'm working with the sweetest girl in Cape Town on our itinerary. So excited. Lots more to come, I'm sure.

xoxoxo

Self imposed

Self imposed sounds like a punishment to me - a deadline, a workout, a diet, a budget. All things that aren't much fun. I think this project may change that. Stephanie over at Yarn Harlot sparked this idea. She had a sock-of-the-month club of one last year where she matched up yarn from her stash (presumably) with sock patterns that she wanted to knit - one for each month. She didn't have buddies with whom she was doing a swap, no deadlines to get them done, no kits to pick up and purchase only to find out you're not in love with the end result. I liked that. I see block of the month clubs for quilting but either I don't care for the pattern or the fabric. And if I'm buying a kit, it seems pretty silly not to use the included fabric, so. . .

I bought a fat quarter of every fabric in this Anna Maria Horner collection (LOVE HER!!) but had no idea where it would end up. It was just so beautiful that I had to have it. I was perusing a new quilt book for ideas for my mother-in-law and I happened upon this block-of-the-month quilt. The quilt in the book was very traditional in red, white and blue but I started to see it with all of my lovely new fabric. So each month I get to pull it all out and make a block. It's a bit of a challenge because the book has very little in the way of instruction and suggests hand stitching everything. Which will never happen. (It is my belief that God gave us sewing machines because he loves us and wants us to finish projects. . .) So this is my January block - which I actually finished in January. It was fun like a puzzle. I had to sit and think about how everything was going to come together. How exciting when it worked and I got what I think is a great result. February's block is going to be a bit more challenging. I've been studying it since the weekend and can't see yet how it will all work but it will. Somehow.

Also, I finished this last week. It's a hand towel knit out of the most wonderful hemp yarn. Once this baby has been washed it turns butter soft. Holy moly. I wish I could live in it. Simple pattern adapted from Mason-Dixon Knitting. Love love love it. A woman in my quilt guild saw it and couldn't believe that I was going to use such a nice thing to dry my face. What a shame that she doesn't value herself more. Every girl needs lovely things like this to pamper herself, right??

Not doing as well with some of my other resolutions but I still keep plugging away. Hope springs eternal.

xoxoxoxo