Soaking up the Sun

I stepped outside to warm my toes in the last bits of sun before the rain comes. To reflect and be still for just a moment. Right here and now everything is right with the world... There are no dishes to do or laundry fold or toilets to clean, no design work to be done, no teething babes, no bills to pay. It's just me and the sun and my flip flops. Perfect.

Thank you so, very much to everyone who stopped by yesterday to download the new desktop background. Thank you even more for all of your wonderfully kind comments. I can't begin to tell you how much they mean to me. And of course thank you to the lovely Irene from Bloesem who posted about it on her beautiful blog.

I'm going to unplug for the next few days to sew and clean and hunt for Easter eggs. I hope you all have a marvelous weekend!

No Foolin'

Here's a new desktop background for you, my friends to enjoy for the month of April. It's yellow like all of the beautiful daffodils that are springing up all over town. There are three sizes to choose from, just select which one will fit your monitor and click the link to download.

1900x1200

1600x1200

1024x768

Inspired Mondays

So, I put the original post I had for this weeks inspiration on the back burner so that I could share this little gem with you. I'm seriously inspired this week by this insanely awesome wreath by Agnes from Knock Knocking. How stinkin' cute is that hedgehog!? And the mushrooms!? Love it.

A stitch at a time

I may have mentioned awhile ago that I finally broke down and purchased a much coveted walking foot for my Bernina. It was one of those things that I felt so guilty about buying because they're frankly EXPENSIVE and only useful for one specific function. Anyway, I bought one and last weekend got it out of the box for the first time. We went for a little walk together and well, did not get along at all. Our strides didn't match and holding hands was really out of the question. So, with a sigh, I respectfully put the foot back in the box and promptly listed it for sale on Ebay. It was just too much work to learn something new and quite honestly the one row of quilting that I did that didn't look completely whack I didn't really like. It was too perfect. There's just something about hand-quilting that makes me giddy. It's got so much soul. And with the passing of my grandmother it's one more thing that makes me feel connected to her. She was never without a quilt in the hoop. I myself have three that she made us and love running my hands over all those little stitches knowing that she touched every single one. It's like being wrapped up in love, it makes me miss her but thankful I still have that reminder. Hand quilting is slow but I think it will be worth every minute. Every night we sit down as a family and watch an hour of TV before the kids go to bed. So, every night I've had this on my lap quilting away. It'll take time but it's time well spent and hopefully someday my grandchildren will be running their little fingers over my stitches.

Inspired Mondays - On Tuesday

What happened to yesterday? I'm not really sure, the hours seemed to fly by like minutes and the next thing I knew it was time for bed and I hadn't posted my weekly inspiration. Better late than never I suppose.

This week I'm super inspired by Dan Bob Thompson. He's an illustrator that used to work for Disney and I'm loving the bright colors, textures and retro sensibility. Check out his shop here.

I'll be back later today or tomorrow with a peek at my in-progress color wheel quilt... It's looking GOOD.

Rainbow Binding

Last night after the kids were in bed, instead of doing the dishes or the laundry, or working on the multitude of other projects I made this. It's binding for my Color Wheel Quilt, you know, the one that I finished piecing back in oh, January. My goal is to get it basted and quilted this weekend. It really shouldn't take me that long and it'll feel so good to have it done and have one less thing on my "To Do" list. This is just a really simple pieced straight grain binding. I didn't have enough scraps from the quilt to cut on the bias but considering I don't have any curves to go around I think this will work just fine. I was going to go the lazy way and just use a purchased binding but I figured, if I'm taking the time to make an entire quilt from scratch I should take the time to make the binding as well. All of that color in one little place is making me terribly happy today. I love it! It was also just the thing I needed to get motivated. I'm ready to tackle that laundry and the dishes and all of the other sewing on my list. That is after I finish all the work from my full-time job. Ahhh, the art of juggling.

Tiny Signs of Spring

Even though today is cloudy and cold, there are still tiny signs of Spring's approach. In the midwest it seems to come so slowly, teasing us with occasional glorious days of sunshine. In my house however it's in full swing! I've got the heat kicked up, daffodils blooming in a vase and these teeny tiny seedlings have sprouted! I decided this year I'd finally try my hand at growing some edibles. Anyone who knows me will cringe... In the past I've been known to kill a plant or two. I've never successfully kept anything alive. Just the fact that I was able to coax these tiny tomato plants to life from an inert seed has me pretty damn impressed with myself. If they'll actually make it until it's time to move them outside is another matter. But for now I'm babying them, moving their little trays around the house to find the best spots for them to sun themselves and making sure they have plenty to drink, hoping that in July or so they'll reward me with delicious, juicy fruit.