**Update: When I delivered this to the baby’s mama, she jumped up and down with excitement, too. I was so happy she appreciated it. Otherwise, I may have snuck over and kidnapped it (the quilt, that is) and brought it back home. hee hee**
Sometimes I am kind of like a bumble bee, flitting from one flower to the next, drawing some delicious nectar (for me, creative endeavors) from each one for just a moment before I flit off to the next pretty, shiny, sparkly whatever-it-may-be. Just ask the people in my life;, my husband especially. Gotta’ tell ya, I married a winner of a man (well, I knew that the day my four year old threw up on him and he invited me on a second date 
) who indulges my flits and flurries and usually even appreciates them. What a guy! Thanks, honey.
So in the last month Brian and I completely redid and prettied up our back patio, put in a pool (smallish above -ground), I’ve managed my huge vegetable garden, threw a graduation party complete with a weekend of guests, took a short 9 hour drive to Minnesota for the weekend, added photography lessons to my business offerings, added Home Movies for my clients, took a trip to California, put a big puzzle together with the kids and hosted three parties. Because I was just so bored I decided I should definitely start a project of some kind. After all, I was going to be home for two and a half weeks straight!
Last year I participated in a virtual quilting bee and from that I have a wonderful quilt top (almost finished) that needs to be turned into a quilt. Having it done by a professional is pretty expensive, somewhere in the neighborhood of $200. Miss I Can Do That thought, well, I can do that! Besides, if I bought a long arm sewing machine for the job it would only take three quilts to pay for itself. No-brainer, right? LOL & then sigh. Since I have NO idea what I am doing I thought I should make a testing quilt. Something smaller and more manageable, but big enough to give me good experience. Thanks to our lovely new neighbors and their just-born baby girl, I had an excuse!
So last week, the day I got home from California, I went at it. I was originally going to make a circle quilt like this one. I bought the fabrics I needed at a sweet fabric store in St. Paul on my trip to Minnesota but promptly forgot it at my brother’s house. I don’t have much patience and even less time so I just started working out what I could do with what I had on hand. As I started in on the circle quilt, I got bored. I mean, anyone can follow a pattern, right? (I still think this is an awesome pattern that I will likely still do, maybe with the fabrics I forgot at my brother’s house ). I tossed the circles aside and just started creating. An hour later, as I showed the quilt concept to my husband and son I literally jumped up and down with excitement (after telling them “I could just jump up and down with excitement.” and they told me “So do.” lol) at what was unfolding in front of me.
This is not a perfect quilt. I didn’t hand stitch anything except the owl’s eyes. I used the backing of the quilt for the binding and the lines are super messy. I didn’t fold under the appliques and decided to pretend that was on purpose, you know, to add character. It won’t win any quilting awards but man do I love it! I can’t wait to give it to them and at the same time, I hate to let it go! What joy making this brought me. I seriously love to make stuff. Anything, really, as long as it is colorful, happy and can be finished fast enough for me to flit on over to the next flower that catches my eye . . .
Honey, you rock. #thatisall
It’s so beautiful Anna!
I like the quilt so cute. Even myself I love using that one. he he. Can I bring it home?
[...] room for mistakes. I’ve kind of gone wild. I sew cute sweatshirts out of reclaimed clothes. Make baby quilts into happy trees. Whip up a skirt with a little heart and toss on a button for the fun of it. It’s a blast of [...]