Monday, January 25, 2010

Quilt!




My latest BIG project is a queen-sized quilt for my bed. This picture doesn't really do the fabric justice--it's a mixture of peachy pinks, aquas, and cheerful purples. A tad little girl-y, but that's just how I roll. The quilt pattern is the "Ollalieberry Ice Cream Quilt Pattern", by Alicia Paulson of Posie Gets Cozy. Buying the PDF was definitely worth it--the instructions are clear and easy to follow, even for a novice quilter like me.

Sewing the quilt top together was easy-peasy, since I'm fairly experienced at garment sewing. The actual quilting, however, is another story. I've been struggling a bit to keep all the layers of the "quilt sandwich" aligned and smooth. I'm just hoping there aren't toooo many visible mistakes when I'm done! I find that putting on the local 50s & 60s oldies station helps a lot with the quilting process.

Winter Hibernation


I've had kind of a hard time getting back on my feet after the holidays this year. This isn't so much because of post-holiday letdown--I'm not a huge "Christmas" person--so much as it's just a result of the fact that I'm sort of unmoored right now. I'm floating between jobs and obligations, and have been mostly taking advantage of my copious amount of free time by reading and sleeping and baking pies.



Christmas this year was defined by a surprise blizzard on Christmas eve which left me and my family stranded at home when we should have been driving to visit family in St. Louis. We finally got there, though, after a looooong and snowy drive across Missouri. Christmas was quiet this year, if a little rushed by weird weather and such.

Now I'm trying to throw myself back into the day to day. For me 2010 has had a slow beginning. I'm going to try to hold myself accountable more, though. I might start posting book reviews to this blog, or (gasp) spending a little more time and thought on my posts. I have many New Year's resolutions, but right now the one I want to focus on the most is living more intentionally, and taking more pleasure in the quiet moments in my life.