Things I've Been Up To...

Lately I've just gotten tired of seeing all my unfinished projects. I've been working with Granny Joy on a quilt I started like 6 years ago. I guess I didn't officially start it 6 years ago, but that's when the idea came to fruition. Of course, I have had huge gaps of time between working on it, but it's in the quilt frame now and we've finished one section hand-quilting. I learn so much from Granny Joy and I'm so grateful she's willing to help me do this. I couldn't have done it without all her help and expertise, and I'm also glad she convinced me to hand quilt it. It's a lot of time, but it's a good thing for me to slow down and do something quiet to just reflect. I'm such a busy body that just doing something so basic and simple is very relaxing for me as well as rejuvenating. It's a generations quilt of my own design and my plan is to finish it before it gets cold again so it can actually be useful. No pics until completion though.

Another thing I got taken care of was hanging all the stuff I've had sitting around in the kid's bathroom and guest room for the last year. I seem to think often that TJ has to help me do it to get it right, but none of this was heavy enough to need to use the drill so I finished all of it in just 30 minutes. I just can't stand things just laying around - if it's not good for something I get it out of my house to recycle it for someone else use. The rooms are nicer to look at now too.

Two years ago I went to visit my good friend, Allie in Indiana. She's moved to North Carolina since then, but since I was prego with Jade she taught me how to make these adorable bows. I FINALLY FINISHED THEM! I stayed up late one night with my glue gun and determination to get er done. Since Jade hasn't had enough hair to do anything with until just a few months ago I didn't really see the need, but now I'm having fun decorating her with all these new accessories :) Thanks to my friend, Jana's advice I also got help putting Jade in her high chair to actually be able to get them in her hair. I also started felt clips (courtesy of friends, Jana and Lacey) at a Relief Society Super Saturday last year and got those done as well. I love being able to see my little girl with all these cute hair things.





On a roll and glue gun still hot, I also finished the bottle cap name magnets for our Family Home Evening Board. It's another project I started at that Super Saturday LAST YEAR. I love it and it's so much easier to keep track of who does what to rotate it out. It also helps James see that we need to take turns since he usually wants to do treat or activity every Monday night.



While the kids are getting to sleep for a nap or when we take trips to Dallas or where ever I work on ABC blocks I started just 4 years ago. I'm really close to finished (finally) and as long as I get them done BEFORE my new baby cousin, Kylie is born in September I'll feel good. They're not for her, but for her big sister, Olivia. Every older sibling needs a little gift when the new baby arrives to help them know they're still loved too. Since Olivia is only 2 it's obvious I didn't start this project with them in mind. I originally thought I would make 3 sets for each of my aunts and uncles to keep at their houses for their grand kids to play with when they visited. Realizing how long just one box of blocks was taking me, that idea flew out the window. I put Olivia's name on the box over two years ago thinking the blocks wouldn't take me long - HA! Oh well. I know she's still enjoy playing with them with her new baby sister and they're great for learning the alphabet and spelling anyway.

The projects I have left now are Jade's cross-stitch for her room, a t-shirt quilt, my young women's quilt (started 12 years ago), crayon rolls, memory books and sooooooooooo much more. The list never seems to end, but of course, I do it all by choice. Although it's taken me WAY TOO LONG to complete these projects, I still feel the awesome satisfaction that I FINISHED! Now I just can't get anymore ideas along the way :)