A Domestic Life

I don't have tons to report but I thought I'd touch bases and say hi!  I managed to finish block 2 of Stars in Her Crown.  I matched my corners better on this one.  The outer edges are still a bit funky but I'm getting better.

 I survived my first class at Jackman's and here are my lovely students with their fun projects!  Such a great class!  Couldn't have asked for more enthusiastic and kind students for my entrance into the world of Jackman's.

I did some more baking as well.  This is a smash cake for a little girl that is turning 1 with a mermaid party.  Bethany's first birthday was Little Mermaid and this really brought back memories.  My cake skills weren't the same 22 years ago but what I lacked in finesse, I made up for in effort.  At least that's what I tell myself.

The inside of the cake.  She's got a photographer coming this weekend to do the smash cake and the party is next weekend.  Not something I'd have ever considered 22 years ago.  I'll be doing cupcakes for the actual party with some fondant mermaid tails!  I'll share pics of that whether I'm successful or not!  Full disclosure!

 My boys have been busy little domestic bees as well.  Hunter made this awesome sofa table for me.  It's absolutely perfect for holding my snacks and stitching debris while I watch tv.  Love it!!  Rich actually used it as a dinner table one night.  If you knew Rich, you'd know that he REFUSES to eat anywhere but the dining room table.

 I think I mentioned last month that Rich tore up one of the upstairs bathrooms while he was "convalescing" after his seizures.  We were just going to replace the tile... he had to tear out 3 layers of flooring which uncovered a leaking pipe we'd been looking for for years.  So after he re-plumbed, he had to replace the lower half of the dry wall so the bead board would go on correctly.  Put in a new medicine cabinet.  Replaced the lighting fixture.  Then the toilet broke when he but it back in place, so that got fixed.  Hunter did all the trim and floor boards and basically cleaned up his father's GIANT mess.  Then he put in that gorgeous tin ceiling!  I can't leave out  that Bethany painted the walls grey on Christmas Eve!!  What a girl!

 When it was all said and done, Rich decided to replace the faucet as well so he could just be finished!  How lucky am I to have such AMAZING men in my life?  I LOVE the new bathroom!  It's only 3' by 7', so I can't get better pics.  Sorry.  Just know it's fantastic!

 The man himself enjoying an early birthday lunch at Crown Candy in STL.  So happy to say it looks like he's gonna make it to 49 after all!

 Me, shocked that after all these years, I'm still just a domestic girl, trying to make a fabulous home for my family... All I ever wanted!

Get It Together, Woman!

I think I mentioned last time that I've made a HUGE effort to get my life in order.  I don't know if it's the peri-menopause or the partial empty nesting or the grey hair I found.  Maybe it was the seizing husband...I just have an overwhelming need to get my act together.  I really wish I'd taken before and after pics so you could get the full scope of my situation.  But, you couldn't open this cupboard without stuff falling out and causing bodily harm.  Now, my beads are grouped together by color.  I'm totally geeking out over it!

 I put my lace and rick rack on cards, as you do.  Disaster 2 controlled.

Disaster 3 was so bad, we couldn't open the drawers anymore.  Anyone need a Flash patch?  I have an extra.  Bethany came in and said, "This NEEDED to happen, girl."

I paper pieced the first installment of Stars in Her Crown with Barbara Brachman.  I did it in between appointments and think I should have taken more time.  My points don't match.  I don't know if I printed them correctly.  She sends out a picture and we're supposed to add the 1/4" around a triangle.  I skipped it by cutting the square in half and trying to make that work.  It didn't.

Our Crazy Quilt group decided on our 2019 project and I'm pretty excited about it.  We settled on bird blocks for each month of the year.  A list was made but I've decided to go rogue and do a flamingo instead of a pheasant.  Wild, I know.  Another bonus from cleaning out my studio was to sort through all my cool stuff.  It really sparked my desire to work on crazy quilting again, so I can't wait.

We're actually working on Lovebirds first.  We'll bring the block to the next meeting and work on them at the meeting.  We chose to work on our own projects this time instead of doing a round robin.  That is partially my fault, I think.  I couldn't manage to do my portion on time each month this last year...  Sorry guys.

Doves are actually for January but I may roll it over for next January.  I think we have the option to do 2 this month or roll it over.

Good thing I cleaned out my bead cupboard because I'm about to load up on some random bird paraphernalia!  As you do.

Here's the table runner I made for Jackman's a few weeks ago.  I just got a new bag of things last night to work on for them as well.

Here's a picture of Birthday Girl Carmen in front of the cake I made for her.  These were my first butter cream roses.  Incidentally, Hunter told me the other night that it's the best cake I'd ever made.  Crazy.  It was a Mayonnaise Cake made with a dark chocolate cocoa.  Those WW2 women knew what they were doing!

We also went to a holistic doctor to re-assess our (Rich and my) health.  The dude thinks Rich is healthier than I am!  I call bullshit!  He just had 2 seizures.  I, sir, am seizure free.  He then gave me a new list of foods that my body can't process correctly.  Bleh!  If I only ate what I was supposed to, I'd be as skinny as our Carmen!  That being said, I cut out rice, beans & milk and I do feel better already.  Dammit.

Talk to you soon!

One Monthly Goal

One thing became clear to me in 2018.  I am a space cadet.  Seriously, I can't stay focused on anything.  It seems to be getting so much worse the older I get.  Driving Rich around for the last month it became clear, I miss my turn, forget which store we were headed to first, why did I walk into a room?  Where did I leave my tea this time?  I've determined that I spread myself too thin.  So, nothing gets my full attention.

I've tried to focus my quilting by joining quilt a longs and challenges...  Only to spread myself thinner and then feel bad that I couldn't follow through.  I can be a crazily fervent participator.  So this year I've decided to declutter my life!  Bought myself a big calendar so I stop double booking myself!  And only chose one challenge and one quilt a long to start this year.

I figured OMG One Monthly Goal was the best for my current life goals.  This month's goal will be to work on Melissa's quilt, Dazzle and Shine.  She doesn't have one of her own that isn't falling apart, so that one gets first priority.  I did say "work on" rather than "finish" because my other goal is to be a more complete human being.  Perhaps not every waking moment needs to be stitching...  I could be wrong about that though, so don't quote me!  My quilt a long is going to be Barbara Brackman's Stars in Her Crown.  Because... I have to.  I can't stop myself.  I did stop myself from doing Lori Holt's vintage block quilt a long... so far...

You guys have any goals?  Personal growth you'd like to work on?