Giant star block quilt

Several years back I bought an entire kit to make a gorgeous multi-block quilt.  By "kit", I mean it included the pattern and all the fabric. And that sucker sat on my shelf for years.  Years it sat there staring at me.  Mocking me. It had the potential to make a gorgeous quilt. (Duh. I wouldn't have bought it otherwise.) But, any time I took it out of the box and thought about making it, I just didn't want to. I always packed it all away and put it back on the shelf.  Well, enough of that madness. I made the very first block and then made three more of that same first block but in different fabric combinations. Over on instagram I referred to it as my #ilikebigblocksandicannotlie quilt (thanks @trudi_wood for that hashtag!) 

I learned not to buy kits. And I absolutely love this quilt.

-dana

The spring break thing

As luck would have it, both girls had the same week for spring break. With one in college, and missing her so, Razor and I spent many hours planning trips in our head. Out west to hike in the Grand Canyon. Moab. NYC. Or Florida. But as the week drew near, we piled into cars and drove the familiar roads to my parent's house. The weather in March is perfect there. My brother and family live there too. It's far enough to feel like we get away, but close enough to make it only a day's drive. Plus, the situation is such where having the four of us on hand was helpful to them both.

I never made it out to the beach but looking at the photos that Razor took, perhaps I should have. Truth be told, I'm just not a beach person. The salty surf and air blown sand certainly have their place but given a list of options, the beach will always be last in line for me I think. Weird. I know.

Anyway. Being together as a larger family unit felt good. And though Razor and I have been married for almost 22 years, I always notice how seamlessly he fits in with my extended family. Every time we are all together I pause and am grateful that they all accept him and love him as their own. And our kids of course...but you know what I mean. My brother and husband spent many hours tending a burn pile. They joked and laughed and carried on in the dirt, smoke and manual labor of it all. I love that they are friends.

Now I'm feeling the constant push and pull of getting my hands into the dirt, creating new fabric combinations in quilt form and running here and there for high school sporting events. I've got lots of seeds started in the greenhouse. I'm making a new king sized quilt for our bed. And I've been to three soccer games and two track meets in the last two weeks.

Reading back these words. I really, truly, deeply love my life.

-dana

And yet another new quilt

You know that I like to scour thrift shops for unique finds and vintage treasures. One thing I always keep my eye out for is vintage sheets with bright colors and fun prints. I often use vintage sheets for the backing fabric for my quilts. In my years of thrifting, I've found lots of great sheets and have been hording saving bits of my favorites. I finally used all those bits and made a quilt. I love how the stars are hidden and yet pop out and become visible depending on how you look at it. I love how soft to the touch and drapey this quilt it.  I love the colors. I just flat out love it.  Hard.

-dana

Another new quilt - Rob Pete or Orange Peel Quilt

If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I started this one in December. I used a mix of tiny floral prints on a mixed background of gray and white. I've given it to my parents because I love them and hadn't given them a quilt in awhile. Quilts are love.  And I really love them.  They are the best.

-dana

X Plus Quilt

I started this quilt last June. I made all the blocks and even assembled the quilt top but it wasn't until December that I finally basted it up and got 'er done!  One thing that this quilt taught me . . . well, just reinforced yet again . . . is that I love scrappy quilts. I love a billion different fabrics and colors together in one quilt. I love making the riot of color come together. This quilt has me fired up and committed to making ALL THE SCRAPPY QUILTS!  All scrappy, all the time!   (all caps, jazz hands and bug eyes too!!)

-dana

Proper thanks and new things

A thank you is in order.  Last post I waxed poetic about the state of my blog and whether my time here was done or not.  The outpouring of support and love I felt from you caused my heart to leap into my throat and my eyes to get all misty. I've never been a journal keeper but one day in 2007, I started one here. I can type faster than I can write with a pen. And I can include photos with the click of a mouse. So, for over ten years I've been writing of my days, thoughts, makes, travels and motherhood. And the knowledge that you're here with me makes me feel all sorts of feels.... encouraged, supported, accountable, understood, safe to share opposing opinions and just warm and fuzzy.

Thank you.

Last summer my neighbor and I spotted a leucistic cardinal at our feeders.  (We immediately thought it was albino but are pretty sure it's more accurately leucistic. You can click here to learn more.) We saw him a few times and then he was gone. However, last week I spotted this guy at my house. I wonder if it's the same one or maybe an offspring.

I also recently found these old, metal, two sided signs. There are 24 of them in total and they are currently leaning against a wall in my mudroom while I decide what to do with them. Suggestions welcome.

-dana

Tap. Tap. Tap. . . Is this thing on?

Here it is the end of January 2018. That went fast, didn't it? We rounded out 2017 with our oldest home from college, a ski trip with extended family, cold weather temperatures, and quilt making. Lots of things have been happening which has my attention elsewhere. And the longer that time goes by, the easier it is to not sit down and click at the keyboard to write something here. I've considered not blogging any longer. My children are older and I feel like their stories are their stories to tell. They have been so gracious with allowing me to share things about their lives here but it just feels like the natural stopping point for that. And so does that leave this space merely a place to catalogue the quilts that I make? Maybe. But I've been blogging here for nearly 10 years and though it really has served as a way to chronicle our lives and be a record for my family to look back on, it has been a space where I work out lots of thoughts rolling around in my head. Thoughts of motherhood.  Marriage. Travel. Aging. Time and how I want to spend it. Politics.... not really, though I have lots of thoughts on that topic.

I don't know.

I guess I don't really feel done with this space just yet even  though my posting habits will undoubtedly be even less consistent. It's just the stage of life that I'm in where my children are older and my parents are older and it all makes the everyday things feel so fleeting.

So, I'll still share my quilt making with you. And gardening. And probably baking or cooking or canning. And occasionally those thoughts about it all that are rolling around in my head.

I'm still here. Are you?

-dana