don't pass out: I finished a quilt

It has been ages. This is actually my first quilt finish for 2014, aside from my Basic Binary mini.  This one is nothing fancy at all- basic patchwork using a sweet Parisian double gauze fabric gifted to me by Alison ages ago.  I pieced the top in about 30 minutes back at Loon Lake, along with some other tops that are all still sitting in a Tupperware, unfinished, in my messy sewing area.

But I thought it was time to complete SOMETHING, so I dug out this one, meant for a baby girl born last fall, and basted it.  I quilted it with cathedral windows.....

....and backed it with an adorable Alexander Henry Monkey Bizness fabric that had the perfect colours and style with its cute flea market scenes.  Love it.  Panicking and wishing I had stashed more ;)

I also had one of those blissful moments that only quilters can understand, when you look in you stash for binding and find the perfect match, not knowing where or when you bought it, or what the heck it even is, other than PERFECT.  See?  Stashing justified.  I hand bound it while enjoying a quiet, rainy afternoon on the deck at the cottage.

A simple quilt, just perfect for a little baby girl with a French Canadian heritage.  Baby Renee was named for her departed grandmother, who had an inspiring 4 year battle with inflammatory breast cancer, but did it all with grace.  She passed away in 2010, but had a blog about her journey, which has since had some entries by her eldest daughter.  Renee was an amazing writer.  The link is here if you would like to read it- bring a tissue. A great quote that stuck with me:

"It's like getting into a boat that is just about to sail out to sea and sink. There are no life rafts, no floats and no one gets out alive. Rather than trying to ward off the inevitable, why not accept it and enjoy the trip?"

Pema Chodron

A Buddhist nun describing life

A lovely sentiment that fits in rather well with my less stress project, I think. 

Have a great day and enjoy the trip, my friends!

K  

Week 2 of less stress project: 50/50

This week was not as stellar.

It's the sleep thing.  Normally, I was getting 6-7 hours a night, which was not enough for me. I was chronically tired.  So I vowed to bump it up to 7-8 hours.  One hour out of a 24 hour day- no problem, right?

Well, turns out that that one hour, while only 1/24th of the day, accounts for 110% of any "free time" I might have had.  Because I can't really take that hour away from work, kids activities, etc.  And I am trying to keep on top of groceries, laundry etc.  So that hour basically was taken from my reading, sewing, knitting, visiting, etc time.

This week I felt that. I was reading a good book (The Fault in Our Stars by John Green- a real tear jerker!) and I tend to get all OCD when in the middle of something that captures me, and I just wanted to stay up late and read it, darn it!  So I did, and as a result I gave up some sleep and had a couple mornings of being overtired, oversleeping, skipping exercise, snapping at the kids and feeling generally miserable.  But on the flip side- I really enjoyed reading that book :)

Food is also a problem for me- apparently I lack self discipline in that regard.  This week I will strive to fuel my body with healthier choices.

But I have to say, despite these set backs, I still had many moments of really feeling connected (especially with my kids), in the moment and that my overall stress was reduced.  I caught myself a few times when I was starting to become stress over inconsequential things, and nipped it in the bud.  I approached each day with a positive attitude- when asked "How are you?" I would reply with an enthusiastic, "Great, thanks!" and that often set the tone.

I am only human, and have learned some valuable things this week.  This is a process and perfection is unlikely, but I am getting there!  Just need to sort out the balance that allows for all the pieces to fit.

Have a GREAT week, friends!

personalized tote

My friends's daughter is a crafty little thing (and by crafty I mean likes to make crafts, not devious).  I had previously sent her the Crafty Chloe book, illustrated by Heather Ross, as a gift, and decided to make her a Crafty Chloe tote, filled will art supplies, as a birthday gift.

A band of crafty Chloe fabric across the top, and some girly echino polka dots for the body.  Lined with Crafty Chloe, too!

I personalized the tote with her first initial for added fun.  A sweet, quick gift!

soy amado blocks set sail!

Starting earlier this year, Alison at Little Island Quilting started a quilt charity to benefit street children in Mexico, inspired by a recent visit she had taken to their group home.  She started making and collecting quilted blocks to assemble into quilts to gift to these children, to add a little colour and something special in their lives, something just their own.  To date, she has made 23 (!!) quilts to send!

I decided I wanted to contribute, and Alison and I both blogged that I would collect blocks from other Canadian quilters who wished to as well, and I would relay the blocks to her.

The response was wonderful!  Today, I am mailing out a huge box, containing ONE HUNDRED blocks!!!  Enough for 5 more quilts.

(and a wee little moustached gift on top for the puppet master for all her hard work!) 

Thank you to those who contributed: Michele, Suzy, Becky, Felicity, Janet, Christine, Joy and the members of her Thunder Bay quilt group!  You guys are super stars!!

If you would like to contribute to Soy Amado, you can check out the project here and can still send blocks to Alison directly in the UK.

Week 1 of the less stress project: Everything is Awesome!

Happy Monday, everyone!

So, last Monday I rambled on a bit about some realizations I had made and some changes I wanted to introduce to help reduce the daily feeling of stress I had in my life.  Not Big Event Catastrophe Stress (which, fortunately, I do not have at the moment), but just the daily grind stuff that slowly eats at you and makes you miserable, even though on the whole, all the "big stuff" of life is safely in place. And thanks to all of you for your support about this!!  Your comments and encouragement were so great.

I took this endeavour pretty seriously this week, really tried to adhere to the spirit and main principles of the project.  And it paid off.  I feel great :)

The hardest- getting enough sleep.  Getting up early was not so bad, but I found it hard to GO to bed at a decent time, with things left "undone".  Or without time to unwind.   And though I didn't perfect this, I did feel the benefits of the extra sleep I did get.

Getting up early in the mornings had to be my biggest benefit.  Oh, to not feel rushed!!  I was pleasant!  I hardly yelled at all!  Things ran smoothly!  It was brilliant.

Being outside and exercising was also SO good for my psyche.  I didn't get to it as much as I had planned, but every bit it a bonus.  I took in fresh air, listened to birds sing, noticed the buds on the trees.  Medicine for the soul.

I also relieved some stress by ticking some annoying things off my to-do list. Put some things in order.  Cleaned house a bit.  And yes, even did the laundry to completion one day. Did a good grocery shop and used one of my afternoons off work to do the prep work for my work night dinners.  So nice to come home to meals that were quick to assemble!

Did LOTS of cuddling and focusing on my kids.  They made me laugh.  Best therapy.

Exercised Rule 10, where moderation was abandoned for a night of debauchery with friends involving too much food and drink and staying out too late.  It was spectacular :)

And all these things in the same 24 hour days I have always had!!

Imagine that!?!?

All in all, I feel like I am on my way to a better quality of life.  One step at a time!  

How did your week go?  I hope you all had a great one!  Enjoy a less-stress week ahead!

Liberty fun

While in Toronto I visited one of my besets friends, Samantha, who has a wee thing for Liberty of London fabric.  She is heading to London in a week's time, and is visiting the Mothership itself.  She mentioned she bought a new iPad mini to take on her trip, so I thought I would put something together.

I started by using scraps and neutrals and put them together to look a bit like flying birds...

Then brought it all together to make a cover for her mini, with birds on front and back.

Did some accent stitching around the birds.

And lined it with Liberty, too!

And easy project and so much fun.  I think I need to make a mini quilt with some Liberty birds for me!

mother's day make

I hope all you moms out there had a fabulous day Sunday!  I started the day sleeping in at a hotel in Toronto after a fabulous weekend away and ended it being welcomed home at the airport by 3 sweet kids (and their Daddy) waving signs and giving me lots of hugs and kisses.  It was perfect.

I made a wee something for my own mom, who recently got a Kindle.  Just a slip case with a button enclosure to keep it protected in her purse.  I was pretty psyched about my Victoria and Albert books fabric choice ;)

And some green text inside.

Big hugs to all the moms out there, who have the hardest and best job there is!