Clean Sheet Sunday

Man, Blair Peter just gets me (and she doesn't even know me!)  As in her house, each Sunday I put the clean sheets on the bed as the sun is setting and immediately climb in.  There's just something about clean sheets that make the week start right.  Fresh sheets, fresh week.  It's kinda my motto.  It's nice to start fresh.

Quilting

Recently, I decided to take the next step in my sewing life and try out quilting.  If you know me well, you know that when I decide to do something like this, I kinda go whole hog and do tons of research and read lots of books and scour the internet for ideas and patterns.  Oh, and I think I can handle big time projects that require years of practice and experience in order to attempt.  Let's just say I get excited.  So I did some dreaming....

Check out this Circle Quilt by Bijou Lovely

This incredible Zig Zag Quilt by Kristin La Flamme

And then some sound advice that speaks to my green tendancies - quilting with thrifted pillow cases and sheets!

So, my first attempt will be a baby quilt.  It's for a friend, it's small, and if I screw up the baby won't notice or probably even care.  And now to find the perfect fabrics.... this could take a while!  Wish me luck!

Sacrifices

I grew up in a Christian household.  We went to church every Sunday, participated in the youth choir, collected offering, and went to Sunday school.  We honored the holidays and kept them holy (well, as holy as four children can keep anything).  One of my favorite holidays growing up was Easter.  It wasn't the chocolate bunnies or basket of jelly beans or Easter egg hunts, however.  What I loved the most was the story - a story of love and sacrifice, of putting others before yourself, of true selflessness.  Since heading out into the world on my own, I have not connected with the divine as much as I did in my formidable years.  Was it the lack of structure or the lack of awareness?  My early twenties were very selfish years and I did not consider, well, anything.  I tried out different churches, different services, but never really found that certain something, that thing that makes people go "Yeah, that's what I know to be true." 

Today is the beginning of the Lenten Season, according to the Christian calendar.  As the stories go, Lent begins fourty days prior to Easter.  The fourty days represents the time Christ spent in the desert before his ministry - his sacrifice and difficult times before he came to serve the people and eventually give his life for theirs.  During the time of Lent, Christians offer a sacrifice of their own, often fasting or giving up a vice.  This is meant as a way to connect with the divine, to give a minor offering for one that was so much greater.

It is on this day that I am choosing to reconnect.  I don't yet know what this means to me.  I do know that I believe in love and I have a great deal of faith in the world.  One way to begin reconnecting is to offer a sacrifice, to give up something as a means to climb the mountain, to get to where I want to be one day.  After much consideration of what I can give up for this time period to accomplish my goal, I have chosen to give up television.  I could give up any number of things (cursing, desserts, Facebook) but none of these will allow me the time and space to reconnect with myself, my life, and my divinity.  Without television in my life, I will find time to read, to meditate, to pray, to think, to just be.  My evenings will open up with hours of time to spend with my loved ones, my Sunday mornings will be spent reading the paper over brunch instead of watching yet another home improvement show. 

Will this be easy?  Probably not.  But it is not meant to be easy.  A sacrifice ought to be a bit of a challenge, otherwise it is not a sacrifice at all.  Am I saying that my television set will never turn on?  Nope.  I do intend to watch movies when it means I will be making a conscience choice to do so and I will learn and grow from that action.  I also intend to spend time with my family and friends playing our Wii because, well, that's just plain fun.  What will I learn from this?  How will I grow?  Well, that is yet to be discovered.  And I have faith that there is a plan out there for all of this, for my life.  Perhaps all of this non-television-watching time will help that plan unfold.

What are you sacrificing?  How do you celebrate your holidays?

Organization is Key

For anyone who knows me, it will not come as a shock to hear that I like things to be organized.  I have Sharpies in every color available, I worship the P-Touch Label Maker, and I really love finding new ways to organize all of my things.  Needless to say, I was thrilled to come across this handy tutorial on fabric folding that, quite literally changed my fabric storage life.

My fabric shelf (yes, it's just one shelf for now) went from this:

To this:

*Hallelujah!*  Now I bet I can relocate some of those books to a new location and get some more fabrics to make the magic happen again!  Love love love it!!!!

Round 2

Snow is falling once again on this little house.  And even more to the north of us and more and more and more... my brother was expecting 18-24" last night.  I sure do hope he had a shovel ready.

Snow is a pretty miraculous thing, right?  It is simply frozen water, falling from the sky just as rain falls, but it has a surprisingly different impact in it's frozen state.  Drivers are more cautious (or out of control), children (and kids at heart) run outside to make a snow angel or snowman or to have a snow ball fight.  Snow falls down and, on a good day, sticks to the ground and to itself and to everything it touches, turning the whole world white and wonderful.  Snow makes us stop in our tracks and it provides a place to leave tracks behind when we head out into the world.  We help our neighbors, shoveling sidewalks and driveways for each other, getting cars un-stuck from the snow the night before, assisting the elderly as they walk across the slick ground.  Each snowflake is different, we know, but they all look so much the same.  Snow has the power to cancel schools, close businesses, eliminate power lines and television.  Snow also encourages lighting a fire in the fireplace, snuggling up with a mug of hot cocoa, tucking in to a warm cup of soup, and grabbing that favorite quilt your grandmother made.  The dichotomy of snow is incredible ~ it truly is a wonder to behold and consider.  What else can make us stop, look up, and stick out our tongues in glee?  

As I ponder the snow, I have gathered a stack of books from the library to snuggle up with.  Enjoy your day....

Snowy Weekend Project

It snowed here in Southeastern Virginia!  I know that seems like no big deal to those of you who have had snow for several months now but let me tell you, this snow is a big deal!  Look at how much accumulation we got:

That is a major amount of snow that came overnight (the first 3-4 inches) and through the next day (the rest of the probably 8 inches in total!)  So, needless to say, in a city that doesn't do snow, we were shut it.  And, maybe just to ruin all of my fun, I had a sinus infection all weekend.  Ugh!  So, inside, low engery level activities were needed after the first three hours of staring at each other.  I took half a day doing some light house-cleaning (to which my darling husband said "You don't have to do that if you are sick." Um, the house isn't going to clean itself, dear) and then layed around watching movies for the rest of Saturday.  Sunday started with the man of the house clearing off my car and the walk in the front and a path in the back for the puppies (how cold their feet were!)

After some warm oatmeal and hot tea, I needed some me time and my sewing machine was calling.  I have been pondering the idea of quilting and wondering what my first project would be.  And so I found myself digging through my starred items on Google Reader and was inspired by a post from Coyote Craft for tiny little pieced and quilted coasters.  With the right amount of inspiration, quiet alone time, and scraps in my bin, I set off to make some coasters all my own!

What do you think?  Pretty cute if you ask me.  And soooo functional!  I always struggle with the wooden coasters we have at home- the drinks slip around and one little spill makes it all the more slippery.  These coasters soak up any spills, provide a little cushioning for the mug or cup, and are washable- how great!  I was pretty pleased with myself and went on the spend the rest of the day kicking butt in Wii Resort Disc Golf.  Disc Golf with 8 inches of snow on the ground?  Alright day, if I say so myself!