Time Flies When You're Quilting

Would someone like to tell me how it got to be February already?  One minute I was putting away Christmas decorations, and all of a sudden, January is history.  I'm pretty sure that one reason is that everything takes about twice as long to accomplish as I think it should.  Take, for instance, just a couple of errands. Let's get gas, pick up a couple of things at Target (across the street from the gas station with "reasonably" priced diesel) and a half dozen things at Safeway (on the way home).  Forty-five minutes should do it, but let's get real and schedule an hour.  Two hours later, I'm home.  I didn't do anything I wasn't planning to do with the possible exception of checking out some new sweaters at Target and thinking of a couple of grocery items I hadn't put on the list.  This, my friends, is real life.

And in that same vein, it's currently 20 degrees and snowing here.  Now this would be about SOP if I were writing from Chicago, Boston or Portland, Maine.  However, in Portland, Oregon, this is big news.  It's breezy, so the snow is doing more blowing around than piling up, and with a quarter of an INCH on the ground, the local schools are letting the kids out early.

  For those of you falling on the floor with laughter, I have to say that it's pretty hilly around here and the thought of a school bus sliding around would make any mother's blood run cold.  Also, while we have some snow-clearing equipment,  snow is rare enough here to make having enough plows, etc. for a serious storm unrealistic.  So we'll make a pot of tea and hunker down with the sewing machine for a few days and dream of leaves and bright colored flowers.

Ella and Toby like to go out about every five minutes when it's snowing.  They stay out about 30 seconds and then want back in.

We like to call this "snow face."  As soon as it melts, she wants to go do it again.

I've decided to add a second block option to my "Mother Goes Mod" pattern.  I was inspired when I was cleaning out a drawer with patterns in it and found a couple of old garment patterns.  They always had multiple views of the same basic dress (or pants, or skirt) so that the seamstress could make it hers.

Seems to me that quilters should have the same opportunity.  So I'm giving it a shot and this quilt seemed like the perfect place to start.

Also putting in some time everyday on "The Wedding Quilt."  I do NOT want to be in a hurry at the end.  Making 194 of these.

And then a couple  million of some other pieces.


The cool thing about quilters is they're never bored.  If they can't decide what to do next, they can always look at patterns or quilt magazines or rearrange the stash.  And sometimes even clean up the studio.  Okay, the cleaning up part isn't always that fun.  The good part is that I always find a UFO or a piece of fabric that I've forgotten about that inspires me again.

Candy