Constant Change

Last night I took this picture as I was walking in from the shop.

I decided to go into the house and get the Nikon in hopes of getting a better picture, even though I still haven’t found my tripod.  It took only a couple of minutes to go in and get the other camera and come out and this is what it looked like.

Have you ever thought about how much things change in such a short time?  Things are constantly growing and changing.  My hair doesn’t grow fast enough.  Speck’s toenails grow too fast!  If you’re a gardener, think of those first tomatoes.  They’re just blooms, then they’re tiny little tomatoes.  Then, hopefully they will be fat, juicy tomatoes!  We don’t see them grow but they’re constantly growing.

Then I think back to my beginning quilting days.  I only hand pieced and hand quilted.  I thought anything done by machine was cheating.  Then I decided if I pieced by machine but still hand quilted, no one would know I was “cheating”.   I guess I cheat every day now!  :)

As I’m unpacking and re-folding fabric, I keep saying “what was I thinking?” but I know my tastes have changed.  I remember in probably 1996 or 1997 discovering Moda marbles and thinking how nice it would be to have one yard of every one of them.  That was the beginning of my love affair with tone on tone fabrics.

Seems like some things change too quickly and some things never change.  I’m reminded how quickly life passes and how important it is to enjoy as many moments as possible.  There are going to be times it may seem impossible to find joy in a particular situation but hopefully, as we look back, we can at least see that we learned something positive from even the hardest trials through which we pass.  Please find joy and share it!  If you’re someone who has to look for joy, then get busy looking!  It’s no fun to be a sad and negative person and it’s certainly no fun to be around a sad and negative person.

By the time you read this, most of today will have passed.  I hope it was a good day for you and I hope when the day draws to an end, and you lay your head on the pillow, that you’re able to thank God for the blessings you have and that you’re able to look forward to tomorrow.

The End is Near!

The movers met Vince at the rental at 8 this morning and will make the final move.  Did any of you ever think this day would come?  I didn’t!  It’s amazing how many things that you never think about as being a hassle have been a hassle.  I’m not complaining . . the final result is great but goodness . . it’s been a rough ride.

When we made the first little move here, we had a friend with a trailer move a few things – the small fridge and our beds.  We’ve been using the small fridge since then as the big fridge is still at the rental (which also means I’ve been dumping ice trays for almost two months!)  Over the weekend, when we went to the rental, we took everything out of the big freezer and brought as much here as we could fit in the little fridge and put eveything else in the fridge freezer so we could turn off the big freezer and defrost it before the move (didn’t want it to have water in it while moving it since it isn’t frostfree).

Yesterday I started thinking . . when the movers get here, I’ll have to take everything out of the little fridge so it can be moved out to the sewing room, and then the big fridge will be put into the kitchen and I’ll have to put everything from the ice chests into the fridge and freezer and . . it was sounding a bit overwhelming so Vince decided that while the carpet guys were here installing some trim work around the tile, that he’d get them to help him move the little fridge.  They were happy to help so I hurried up and got everything out of the fridge and they moved it over to the sewing room.

It will be so nice to have my big fridge, and an ice maker and to have the freezer on the bottom so I can stop having to bend over to find things in the bottom of the fridge.  I never thought I’d love that French door fridge but I sure do and will be so glad to have it back.

Very soon . . maybe by the time you’re reading this, I will have my longarm and my sewing machine cabinets and . . everything here!  I still have to go back and clean the rental and do some touch up painting but the end is very near.  Life is as close to normal as it’s been for us in a year!

January QOV Quiltalong

This is the quilt we’ll be making:

It will be 61″ x 81″ finished.  The fabric requirements . . kinda roughly are:

Ecru/Background – 3-1/2 yards (and several background fabrics could be used if you want to make it scrappy
Red – 3/4 yard
Navy – 1-1/2 yards
Binding – 5/8 yards

For the colored parts of the star blocks, we should be able to get at least 2 blocks out of a fat quarter.

Note:  The instructions will say “Make half square triangles and/or flying geese according to your preferred method.”  If you like to make yours oversized and trim them down to the perfect size, add a little more yardage for the Navy and Ecru/Background fabrics.

Monday morning . . very early so as not to be posted after the Design Wall link box, the first instructions will be posted.