life in the fast lane

Life is streaking by. It's already the end of June. We're making plans to go up North near the Canadian border to go camping with my husband's family. We'll see aunts and uncles and cousins that he hasn't seen for years. I'm busy making lists and trying to figure out what to pack - figuring out what not to pack is probably the most crucial part.

I've almost got the quilting done on my scrappy trip around the world quilt. I'm trying to stay disciplined here, because I cannot wait to start working on my single girl quilt again, but I want to finish one before I start the other.  So far I'm doing good. I'll have to take some knitting camping, because a quilt is too big and I don't want it to smell like campfire smoke.

Hope June is treating you well!

xo Jill

hope

"Hope is one of the most important virtues that can be instilled in our soul. Many people think that hope has to do with the future, when in reality it has to do with the past. We develop hope as we experience pain transformed into comfort. When this happens enough, we begin to have faith that our pain will not do us in and that comfort is on its way." 

Cloud & Townsend

 

 Busy mornings and afternoons run into jamb-packed evenings spent with baby and husband. The kitchen sink is overflowing with pots and pans and weeds are peeking up beneath the straw in the garden - but all is well!

 

 Strawberries are appearing too, and tiny bean sprouts that the bunnies like to nibble on. Ten percent of all my garden plants either get trampled by the dog as she gallops for her frisbee or munched on by rabbits in the wee morning hours. That's a pretty good harvest. 

The peonies have blown, but they were gorgeous and fragrant for a stretch of ten days as May turned into June. Pretty rings of colorful fabric are appearing on bed in my studio. Now I need to find a backing and pick out the binding for this little quilt. 

I started a new little sweater made from my mom's yarn. The pattern is: Little Coffee Bean, so far it's an easy and fun knit. The aqua stripes really pop. 

I read this quote on hope earlier this week and it really struck me. It's so very true. 

xo Jill

sewn together

Another blessed weekend around here. We really don't do much. We sleep in, drink coffee, sit out on the back porch and contemplate the garden. We try to come up with a game plan. We scrap the game plan and do what makes us feel happy.

The baby laughs. He cries. He takes a nap. We take a nap. The grill gets pulled out. We find something to eat between the freezer and the fridge. It feels like a miracle, because we really need to go food shopping, but somehow we pull off (what feels like in our opinion) a gourmet meal.

The moon rises the sun sets. We take a walk at twilight, pushing the baby in the stroller. The dog prances along beside us. She barks at little dogs but keeps her nose down when a big dog strolls past.

In the in between moments I tiptoe up to my attic studio and madly cut out fabric shapes. Sew them together. I'm not much for perfection these days, just production and it feels so good to sew two pretty fabrics together and watch their patterns collide and interact.

The baby squawks from his crib and I cock an ear. It's a one in four chance he'll go back to sleep. The odds are in his favor. I set down my scissors and ramble down the stairs. Baby is awake. The dog wants her frisbee thrown. The neighbors are out digging in their yard. The baby is smiling at my husband. My husband smiles at me. 

Simple things. Miraculous things. Our family.

Hope you are feeling the blessings too.

xo Jill

P.S. Joining Nicole at Frontier Dreams for Keep Calm and Keep Crafting.

strolling

Things I'm grateful for:

• Strolls with Dad and baby.
• All of the flowers that are popping up at the edges of the sidewalk.
• Sunny afternoons and long, lazy evenings.
• Crockpot recipes and coffee to go.
• Friday mornings with the weekend to look forward to.
• The look on my little one's face as he discovers new things.
• A big tilled garden with lots of dirt, and lots of seeds to plant.
• The start of a new quilt. I have my first quilt block complete for my "Single Girl" quilt by Denyse Schmidt. I love it! Especially the little owl print. Love their little owl feet. 

Happy Friday, everyone!

xo Jill

P.S. Joining Amanda for Finish it up Friday - this Single Girl quilt block was a long time coming. I'm glad I'm finally started.

chasing sheep

Here are some images from the end of the week and the weekend. We packed up and went up to the farm on Saturday for a big family gathering to celebrate family being home from out of state and also an upcoming wedding for a cousin. So my parent's house was overflowing with good food, little cousins and bridal shower paraphernalia.

A lot to squeeze in to an afternoon.

The sun was finally out so I pulled out my most recent finished quilt top and asked my sister to snap some photos. We ended up in the front yard under the big trees. I always get a kick out of my quilt pictures. Big quilt - little legs and feet. A quilt monster.

It's only Sunday morning and we're back in the city. I'm hoping if the weather stays mild to get a lot of yard work done today. With the birth of our little guy last November and me being really pregnant all fall we didn't get our leaves racked as usual, so the yard is really suffering. Luckily we have a small lot, so it usually takes a weekend of hard work from my husband and myself to get the place looking nice.

I have some flowers waiting to be put in the ground and a lot of seeds, so I'm excited.

Cheers everyone!

Jill

sharing the sweet

Life has been galloping along around here. Mother's Day weekend passed in a flash of warm baby hugs, drool-filled smiles, sugary frosting, flowers, rhubarb bed raiding and family.

I sat down last Friday night and just cried when I realized what the weekend held in store - that I would be blessed enough to celebrate Mother's Day - what a huge miracle! My husband was away on Friday and Saturday night, so I woke up Sunday morning to Logan's chubby checks and his peaceful sleeping face.

To all of you who are Mother's I want to wish you a happy belated Mother's Day and to all of you who are still only mothers in your hearts, waiting for your little ones, I pray God gives you strength and hope, and that you are holding your babies close soon. If only I could have known on some of my darkest days of infertility how Logan's bright smiles and my husband's happy face would make me feel.

Words can't describe.

My crafting life is still weaving itself together behind the scenes. I finished my scrappy trip around the world quilt top on Sunday afternoon and then sewed together the back. Logan was rolling around on my fabric piecing above.

I also started to knit a small baby cap for a coworkers wife who was due at the end of May, but then she had the baby on Sunday night and the cap is still unfinished. I think I may have run out of steam there, but I will pick it up again for the next baby the stork brings.

My sister gave me her Single Girl quilt pattern. I want to try my hand at piecing together a few blocks. Maybe I can pull enough together for a small lap quilt. We'll see! (I got some new fabric.)

Friday tomorrow! Keep going, everyone!

xo Jill