Quilt-a-rific!!!

I am lucky that I have a pretty good excuse to be crafty sometimes. Britney signed us up for a machine quilting class the end of last year. Darn, I cant remember her name but she was great. I would go as far as saying that my SIL Heidi actually got me into quilting....she may not know that. I always loved all the CUTE quilts she seemed to whip up all the time. I remember she made her son a "reading quilt" when he was very young. I am not sure if I'm describing it very well...but I thought that was a very cleaver idea. I of course asked her to come along for the ride....since it was up in Brigham City with Britney.

Well if you will remember with me, Heidi had a bit of a spill last October and we were not sure where she would be in her recovery. She was hesitant to sign up. Luckily there was a spot in the class still and she ended up coming anyway (and is I guess pretty much fully recovered!).

We had a blast! We learned a lot of techniques for machine quilting. There are patterns you can use or you can go it freehand. Pretty much all you need is a darning foot for your sewing machine. And MAN do I wish I would have had one of these on the last quilt I finished!!!! It's so weird to have free reign to go anywhere you want to go and not be limited by a presser foot! Really go get one and see what you come up with. I still have a lot of practicing to do but I am glad I had the exposure to that. Cant wait to see what I come up with!

Totally fun, and kind of scary....I am writing the rules now!

Heidi found out she may have a good excuse to get a new machine. She got a really great machine quilting frame for Christmas and found out that her machine wont work with it! Oh darn :)

Strike a pose there's nothing to it! Britney is posing with the quilting gloves we got to try. Britney actually made me some that I am excited to try!!!! (thanks for the pictures Brit..I totally forgot my camera!)

I will leave you with my last sewing project...the one I wish I knew all this stuff for! I got the chance to make a quilt for my cousins shower. I was also able to make a diaper case and some burp clothes too, with my scraps. I love a good excuse to have something to sew! This is a variation on the quilt I made Katy....it's amazing how different something can look depending on what materials you choose to use!

Happy quilting! Another good excuse to CREATE!

3 X 12//January 2011

January 2011.

I find inspiration in a lot of things. I love a lot of things. I love new things. I love new ideas.

I am going to take on a personal project that a very inspirational photographer took on herself last year. Tara Whitney is that photographer I am talking about. Check her out because I love her work and her personal philosophy....perfectly imperfect. Last year she started a project she called six people twelve times, where she took or had taken a family picture every month for the whole year. Of course I am just taking on the challenge so I am not up to speed. Katy had to help me for the month of January because we don't have a picture of the three of us.

I honestly cant remember what we did in January. Oh and I love this picture that we drew above. Do you like how Chucks head is HUGE! Ha, I started drawing him and realized that I couldn't really draw us all in proportion so he just ended up with a huge head. It made Katy laugh. I guess January was cold, hence the snowflakes.

January was a month of starting fresh, starting new. I decided to take on a personal word or mantra for the year. I was having a hard time narrowing it down to just one word. So I came up with two. Do you want to know what they are? Well folks I will tell you, in no particular order....

Word one: COURAGE. What a strong word. I decided that I say that I am sorry a lot. I don't really give myself credit, when it's due sometime. I guess I sell myself short sometimes. I guess I am afraid sometimes to fail. You get what I'm getting at? Also on a side note when I went through my Substance Abuse Treatment Training with the Social Work department at the U we did a class all day on a Saturday. It was group work, so we had our own group. We were split up and we were all involved in a group. I found when it was my turn to go (and we were digging up some pretty deep stuff here) and I was crying....it was made known to me, by the teacher, that I was smiling as I was crying. He told me that it was okay to be sad sometimes...especially when we have good reason. I guess where I'm going with this is that sometimes I am just afraid. I am afraid to be sad, I am afraid to fail, I am afraid that people wont like me.....just afraid. Courage is a word that is so liberating to me because it will help me live my life in a way that I can just be. I am who I am, so let's embrace that. We will see what COURAGE shows to me this year.

Word two: CREATE. I like to think that this world could use a lot more of this. I remember when I was little I was always making things. I would make clothes for all my animals. I would make paper crafts. I would make costumes. Whatever. I guess I would like that opportunity to make more time to create. Draw a random stick figure picture of my family. Sew more. Craft more.

I also want to say that the month of January was a good time for me to reflect on the fact that I have an amazing family. We are not perfect by any means....but we are perfectly imperfect. Do you find truth in that statement? I do. Katy is learning and growing so much every day. Today she was convinced that she didn't need to go to bed because we needed to do jumping jacks! Chuck makes me laugh my head off when he freaks out because he wants to come with us, wherever we are going. Steve is incredible. I love him more today that I did when I first knew I loved him. I love that we are probably annoying to people because we talk all the time when we are not together. I love that my house is messy now because Katy and I were in fact doing jumping jacks and dancing before bed. Everything in it's place. Love!

Yes January was a great month and a great start to a new year!

Hello 2011.