3 quilt finishes, the beach and a random deep moment.

Wow, it's been a while.

The past few weeks have been a crazy whirlwind of finishing up school, scurrying to get quilts finished for gifts (two graduation and one baby!), making end-of-the-year teacher gifts, waiting for my brother-in-law to return from Europe with my camera, a little bit of medical drama, packing, and heading to the beach for one (long, long) week of family time (30 people in one house from 2 countries and 3 states). Sheesh.

It's all over now and I can officially say it's SUMMER (I wish someone would have made me this sign) and we're home and ready for it!

Remember these plans?

They became reality just in time!

(I hand-sewed the binding in the car on the way down to the beach!)

I warned Sarah and Abi that I was totally about to be that person who gives you a gift and is then like "HOLD ON! I have to take a picture of you holding it!". I wish I could have been able to get some more pics of the awesome quilting (can you believe that a friend quilted those two quilts and the baby quilt below and only charged me... wait for it... $40?! Insane!).

The 3rd quilt I finished at the beach is for a dear friend that I met in embroidery class. After having a terrible time getting pregnant, losing babies, debating IVF, and finally turning to accupuncture, she is expecting their first child:

I made this one using the Moda Bake Shop recipe for "Random Reflections", but only made one row of blocks, and the rest white. The fabric is from that random Robert Kauffman jelly roll that I just couldn't figure out and the font for the name is Smiley Monster.

and in the spirit of tradition, I obviously had to take a pic on the porch at the beach house.

Though I am ecstatic to be home, we did have a lot of fun at the beach. Noah is getting to be so much fun and it just blabbering on and on to anyone who will listen. His new favorite thing is telling everyone "hey" all the time. He's been saying it for a while now, but it's just funny to watch him walk into a room and wave and scream "HAAAY!".
Man. I sure love that kid.

It's becoming more and more clear to me that God sent Noah to us for a reason. After a terrible pregnancy with him (and no luck with subsequent pregnancies so far), Noah's sweet spirit and loving heart comfort me when I'm fretting about the future. He has always been the easiest baby and the happiest kid and I know that God entrusted us with his care because we would need that sweetness and love to get us through times of heartache and uncertainty.

I find it hilarious and ironic that Noah's name means "rest" (if you've ever been around him, you know why), but that reminds me of a verse about peace that I cling to when nothing makes sense:

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.

Not as the world gives, do I give to you.

Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid."

1 John 14:27

That verse is helping me out a lot lately, and I hope that you're finding at least a little peace in your life as well!

I'm linking up to Fabric Tuesday- check out all the awesome projects!

Blogger's Quilt Festival

(or "Didn't She Just Write This Post?")

Amy's Creative Side is once again hosting the Blogger's Quilt Festival and I'm entering Noah's Doggy Park Quilt in it! So, I'm sorry that this is basically a repeat of my excited post a couple weeks ago when I just finished it!

This is the first quilt I have made for my son, Noah. I've only been quilting about a year, and have managed to make multiple baby quilts, a twin sized quilt and tons of table toppers/runners, yet nothing for my boy! This quilt is a modified Hexigon park, the sashing is Kona white, the back is brown minky (drool...) and I bound it (binded it?) with Robert Kauffman's quilter's linen in chocolate which is so lovely.

I quilted it 1/4" inside each white sashing strip and through each hexigon which made an awesome argyle-ish effect (which is super cute on the back). The finished quilt is about 50" x 60"- perfect for Noah to sleep with or for me to steal and snuggle with on the couch.

Just sayin'....

mmm... chocolate (Homer Simpson voice)
early morning pictures before school = akward shadows, sorry.

Here's the label and a peek at the snuggly back.

This quilt is so special to me because it's for Noah. I know that sounds cliche, but there's a reason- the whole time I was cutting, sewing, quilting and binding it, I was thinking about and praying for Noah (ok, so I was watching a movie while I was binding it, but still, the little Beans was on my mind!). I know most of us pray for our children on a regular basis, but once you get past the intial "please watch over him, protect him, help him to grow in Your word", etc. you start really thinking about his future. At one point I found myself praying for his education and future wife- someone who may not even be born yet! My parents have always told my brothers and I that they have prayed for our spouses since birth, but it's weird when you actually do it for your own baby!

As far as sewing/quilting go, I learned that minky isn't nearly as hard to deal with as I thought. I had ZERO puckering on the back and only a couple tucks on the front (but I blame that on taking the pins out after I quilted all the left-to-right diagonals- I probably should have left them in until I came to them quilting right-to left). Also, I learned that hexagons (especially half-hexagons) aren't scary at all! I also learned that I am in love with quilter's linen. It's so pretty!

That's about it! If you're stopping by from the BQF, thanks for dropping in!

I've got a plan...

Which is good, because my goal is to have these quilt tops finished by next week, since they have to be quilted (not by me, thank goodness), bound and ready to give as gifts on June 4th.
I can do that... right?
Right?!

Oh, and if you've ever wondered what teachers do during their lunch, this is one possible answer. Draw and color little shapes with colored pencils.

wordless wednesday.

who needs a vacuum when you have a Noah and a Rufio?

Well isn't that snazzy!

(disclaimer: my brother-in-law is in Europe (unfair!) with my Nikon so get pumped up for some Droid pics!)

This past weekend I finally found the kind of office chair I was looking for (no arms, adjustable height, fits under my sewing table) at the price that I was looking for ($12!). I headed home to find- as luck would have it- this month's Hancock flyer had arrived in the mail and this charming yellow and white chevron zig zag upholstry fabric was featured on the front page.
SCORE!

A couple hours later I have an awesome new (to me) sewing chair!

I still want to get in there and fix a couple things- namely staple down and trim up the bottom side of the seat and force the two halves of the back of the chair together a little more- but it's usable! Hooray!

I linked this up to Fabric Tuesday- button in sidebar!

Lookie there! I'm on gen X quilters today!

If you're coming over from gen X quilters today- hi! I looove that blog - Annemarie is so awesome! I just got my fat quarters in the mail from the Kona Your World swap and love them. I can't imagine how much work that was, so thanks, Annemarie!

In other news, I have 16 and 2 half days of school left (SCORE!)

.... & I finally finished Noah's quilt!

It's a modified Hexigon park, the sashing is Kona white, the back is brown minky (drool...) and I bound it (binded it?) with Robert Kauffman's quilter's linen in chocolate.
I quilted it 1/4" inside each white sashing strip and through each hexigon which made an awesome argyle-ish effect (which is super cute on the back). The finished quilt is about 50" x 60"- perfect for Noah to sleep with or for me to steal and snuggle with on the couch.

Just sayin'....

mmm... chocolate (Homer Simpson voice)
early morning pictures before school = akward shadows, sorry.


It also equals running out the door as soon as you upload the pics, so I didn't get a pic of my favorite part- the label on the back! It's a hexigon and I did a smidgen of hand stitching around the edges with embroidery floss. (I'll have Joe email me a pic to upload!)

ta-daaaa! Here's the label and a peek at the snuggly back.

So what do you think?

chasing my tail

Do you ever feel like you just can't catch up?

Like, for instance, I usually have a list of 5 or so things to do at home after work in the 2 hours I have from the time I leave work to the time Joe and Noah get home from work/Grandmama's. I feel like every day lately I am ready to do stuff immediately after school, but then I realize that I have to run by my church office/go to the grocery store/have a rehearsal and 9 times out of 10, Joe and Noah beat me home and I get ZERO things on that to-do list done... nor do I have dinner even figured out.

Which makes no sense because I just had spring break, which I should have spent checking things off the to-do list and planning for the weeks to come, but instead my dad came to visit from Nashville (only his 3rd or 4th visit since Noah was born) and we just hung out and then did Easter things.

... and ate banana bread my dad made.

we worked on our letters a little,

blew bubbles,

and hunted Easter eggs.

So now I'm a week past spring break, having still not finished projects I started then and making lists of new projects to do (like these Mothers Day corsages or this beach bag)... or spending time on ye old pinterest. Did I mention that those quilts that I agonized over fabric selection are still just stacks of fabric? Or that I need to have them finished the first week of June?

Eh, you can't win 'em all.

Happy (2 weeks after) Easter!

... and hey teachers (and those of us moonlighting as "real" teachers)- summer's not so far off. 19 and 2 half days left in this school year. I pray that summer will bring the ability to get back into my regular at-home routine quickly and I will feel more organized and in control of everything around me- because right now I'm just hanging on.