Becky’s Adventures in Quilting and Travel

In life we all have those friends we can go months without talking and pick up right where we left off.  My friend Amber is one of those friends for me, we've been friends since junior high and lived together when I first started teaching.  All three of the roommates got married within 6 months and life gets in the way so even though we live pretty close we don't always keep in real contact as well as we should.  Last year Amber and I were walking together pretty regularly but then the weather kept getting in the way and next thing I know it's been months since I saw her in person and I got an invitation to her baby shower.  I hadn't even known they were expecting, but I knew right away that I needed to make a quilt. The only problem was that the invitation arrived just after the quilt shops were closed as being non-essential.  Fortunately someone had asked about the theme for the nursery on the Facebook invitation so I had something to narrow my search down, I knew the

After last week’s failure to accomplish any goals, I must have been more motivated this week.  I was able to find a little more sewing time and felt much better about the way things were going.  I also made progress on some landscaping goals and had some time by the fire.   So how did I do with my list 1. Photograph my mom’s quilt-the days I felt like I would be able to go to the location I wanted for photos weren’t nice weather predictions.  So I decided when my mom had to come get equipment to set her office up to give her the quilt so she could enjoy it until it was easier to photograph it 2. Quilt the baby quilt I have started and hopefully do a porch delivery-done and the mom was so happy with it 3. Finish at least one charm pack quilt-I finished 2 tops and have two more in progress  I think I may need to shorten this one. 4. Start the next memory quilt-I did a very small amount on this 5. Pick a pattern for another baby quilt.  (I have a few ideas)-I know

Some days I think I’m amazing and can accomplish anything.  Last Sunday must have been one of those days.  I literally did not finish anything on my list, but I have my classroom nearly packed up and made some real progress on with landscaping, so as long as my fiends baby stays out for a little longer it’s okay!  So this week is just a repeat of last week’s list.  I’m really hoping to have some posts on finished quilts soon. 1. Photograph my mom’s quilt 2. Quilt the baby quilt I have started and hopefully do a porch delivery 3. Finish at least one charm pack quilt 4. Start the next memory quilt 5. Pick a pattern for another baby quilt.  (I have a few ideas)  6. Finish at least the appliqué on my block swap.

Last week when I was planning I knew I’d still be doing my online teaching, although I didn’t know I’d definitely be out of my classroom for the rest of the year.  I knew I needed to make some changes in how I was approaching things to take care of myself and one was lowering my expectations of what I could do with the evenings while I adjust to this new way of doing things.  So how did I do? 1. Continue working on the Hospital Sketches-I’m slowly making progress.  However, this quilt is for me, so it’s not as high of a priority. 2. Get the baby quilt at least basted-I basted and started quilting and then Sirius destroyed my thread...I immediately contacted my local quilt shop owner, she is currently only able to ship but she had a spool in stock, so thread should arrive tomorrow.  Needless to say I ordered more than just a spool of thread.  3. Finish at least one of the charm pack quilts-I didn’t quite finish, but I’m close 4. Order supplies for the memory quilts.-done and

Last week when I made my list I was feeling pretty optimistic.  I guess with this being my 13th year teaching I’ve forgotten how challenging that first year was and with distance learning being our current situation I feel as though I’m back in year one some days. I will certainly appreciate being back in my classroom when that time comes! Needless to say I wasn’t as able to finish other things as I’d hoped, but hopefully I can find my new routine and get back to things soon. So how did badly I do last week. 1. Continue working on the Hospital Sketches quilt-I didn’t make much progress  2. Get batting and piece the backing for my mom’s quilt-I thought I’d be going to a store where they’d have batting but that didn’t happen 3. Decide how to quilt the baby quilt-I decided to hand quilt, but that’s as far as I got 4. Finish the traffic jam quilt top 5. Organize my next memory quilt.-I started a different charm pack quilt instead because I needed something that wasn’t going to