Saturday Update

I didn't even walk into my sewing room yesterday. Usually not a good indicator of my mental health status for the day. But yesterday turned out alright. In the morning we did some shopping around town and at the Farmer's Market. We even splurged and bought a mixed berry pie from the Mennonite booth. Can you believe that we got a day old pie for just $5! Regular price it was only $9. Wow, was it good. In the afternoon I helped Parker clean his room. Actually I bribed him with a new Hot Wheels car if he did a good job, with my help. He had an entire tall kitchen garbage bag full of trash and junk in his room, mostly on the floor! Most of it he didn't even know he had. I had to be sneaky though to throw so much stuff away. I would make a pile and tell him to take this to the playroom, then while he was gone I stuffed things in the trash bag. He did pull out one item later, a tamborine made in school last year out of two paper plates and some beans. We'll see how long his room stays clean. In my seven years as a parent, I have learned that you can not force your organizational style on your child. (You can't force it on your husband either)

I did get to do a little cross stitch in the evening while watching a bit of TV. For the past few years I have been making ornaments for my nieces, nephews and close friends of the family kids. This year I have 12 to make, including Parker.

Let me give you a little background on this practice. Growing up my Aunt Sue would send my sister and me an ornament every year for Christmas. Usually we got to open them on Christmas Eve which is certainly one of the reasons I looked forward to getting one every year. Now that I'm old, every Christmas I love pulling out all the ornaments and remembering when I got them, who gave them to me, etc... For the past couple years Parker has been old enough to help me decorate the tree. While we do this I tell him about the ornaments and who gave them to me or where I got them. It has been so much fun that I want him to have that opportunity someday, as well as the other children I make ornaments for.

I guess the most important thing though is that I enjoy making them. I've just started so their isn't much to show yet. When I get one done, I'll post a photo. For now I'll post a photo of my most recent favorite quilt. I finished it in April 2008. I actually never planned to finish the quilt. I took a class at my local quilt shop to learn a new paper piecing technique. The worst part of paper piecing is pulling all the paper off afterwards. With this technique, you don't actually sew to the paper but you get the same level of accuracy. I had such a great time doing it that I went ahead and made all the blocks for the pattern we were using but I set them in a different way. Usually, my favorite quilt is the one I am currently working on. This one will be a favorite for a while though. Originally, I thought I'd give it away, but after I was done I couldn't part with it.
Here's a couple detail shots. I always love to see the quilting up close so I thought you might too.