"I think I like you"

I'm so happy that I'm finally making a quilt for my husband.  He puts up with a lot of nonsense from me and he's extremely supportive of my quilting habit.  I tend to hog my summer blanket, so it is about time I made him one of his own. 

Each block is 10" and the finished quilt is seven blocks wide and nine blocks long, so it is roughly twin size. 

I'll use bamboo batting again to make it a nice, lightweight quilt.

In case I forgot to mention earlier, the pattern is Boy's Nonsense, a tutorial by Leila of Where the Orchids Grow.  It is a really striking pattern and I love how much she taught me about value in the process of picking out fabrics for these blocks.

My parents are visiting this week.  My dad is 6'1" and he still had to stand on a stool for the photography session.  He was just as patient as Ben is when holding quilts up for the proper photography :)

This quilt is called "I think I like you" and is named for a song that we both like.  The quote, "I'd watch C-SPAN with you if you asked me to," always cracks me up.  Isn't that what like/love is all about?

Oh, Hi!

I feel a little lost with blogging ever since joining instagram.  It is easier to post a quick picture and a few words than come up with a whole blog post.  So, I'll just jump right back in.

We went on a short camping trip with the best little camper!  Henry is finally understanding what we mean when we say, "Stay close to Momma!" (or Daddy).  It was so great to not be running three campsites away every few minutes or trying to touch the fire over and over. 

And the state park had the biggest, coolest playground I've ever seen. The kids were using so much imaginative play and there were some adults (besides Ben and I) playing on the tires, too. 

And another reason that I'm a proud momma:  Henry is doing well with potty training for pee!  Well enough that we packed his travel potty seat and set it up at the campsite.  That is a pretty great view for potty time, don't you think?

Starting and finishing

This quilt started as a first attempt at a quilt tutorial.  It was my very first jelly roll I ever bought and my first precut quilt.   It also was planned to be a throw quilt for my mom.  (This picture is from February of last year at our old house in Wisconsin.)

Now we live in Maryland.  I made a much better tutorial for the Four Corners Quilt and it looked even better after it was quilted.  (Both posts have more photos in our old backyard.)  And, after discussing it with my mom, we both decided that this quilt was meant to go live with my aunt instead. 

I did simple diagonal lines quilting and marked the lines with my Hera marker (I love that tool). 

I used a thrifted sheet for the backing so it has a nice smooth hand.

And, I have another UFO from last year done!  Four finished projects since the beginning of the year is a pretty good start (but I did start with a goal of 19 old projects from the last two years...)

Not my strong point

Despite having a blog for a number of years and despite sharing lots of photos and quilt talk and Henry talk here frequently....I have a secret.  I'm actually very, very shy.  I manage to post because I picture one, single, super-supportive friend and I write my post to her.  Really, she was the only reader and commenter that I had for so long that it became a habit.  I could try to think of more of my lovely readers and commenters (I appreciate each and every one of you--really.) but then I get all tongue-twisted and awkward and silly.

So, now that I've spilled that secret, I think you can see how self-promotion is not a strength of mine.  But, here I am, in a new state and a new city and I'm trying to make some new habits and some new friends.  Today I'm not going to shrink back into my shell and I'm not going to write to just one person.  I'm writing to all that visit my little sewing and family bubble here and I'm going to be brave and say, "Here I am!"

Here I am on flickr.

Here I am on pinterest.

Here I am on bloglovin'.

And now, here I am on instagram.

(I'm also going to totally fess up and say that I'm not sure the links to bloglovin' or instagram work correctly.  I'm new to this and I'll take feedback and suggestions.)

I'll close with my first few attempts at instagram.  Both Ben and I were back to feeling quite sick on Sunday.  But the weather was so gorgeous and we didn't want to miss spring in DC.  So we sucked it up and drove into the city in the afternoon to catch some of the spring air.

I can't believe I live this close to the White House!

After hours and hours (and hours) of handstitching while watching episodes of the West Wing, I was quite pleased to identify the OEOB building by myself.

Henry was not the biggest fan of having his picture taken in DC.  He's a shy one, too :)

Thanks to all of you for letting me share my secret.  I'm trying to get a little bit better.

Pulling it back together

After Henry got better, then Ben got sick and then I got a lesser virus...but we are finally all well in the Granola household. Thank goodness!

Since I've been spending so much time on the couch, I've been making good progress on my Mommy Neighborhood quilt.  Here is part of the back.  The large print houses are an IKEA fabric.

And here is a peek at one house on the front.  I have to find more fabric to finish the binding and then decide if there is any more quilting that I want to put in or take out.  I definitely put in too much in some places so I'm walking a fine line. 

Tonight everyone was well enough that my husband and I went on a date! It is our first once since November. A new and already dear friend watched Henry. Henry was already having a rough, rough day, and she did not get to see his best side. As we left the house, Ben paid my friend the highest compliment: "Wow. She's pretty fearless." She got on Henry's good side by feeding him bunny cookies on a wagon ride and playing in the park sandbox for hours.   And Ben and I got to go walk by the lake and eat sushi.  It sure is nice to feel like myself again.

Thank you all for the cheerful comments and birthday wishes.  We hope to go in to DC to see the cherry blossoms blooming tomorrow.  I hope to post some cheery cherry flower pictures here.

Flitting like a butterfly

Henry has recently fallen in love with The Very Hungry Caterpillar all over again.  And now we play "cocoon" twenty times a day.  I ask him to "lay down like a caterpillar" on the couch, cover him completely in a quilt and then flip the quilt back as we declare the he is a "beautiful butterfly!!"  We are still working on the graceful sweep of the arms to mimic wings flapping.  I think (at nearly four years old) that this is his first pretend play and I am so proud.

Anyway, I was thinking about that as I flitted between sewing projects today.  I was trying to decide what I should work on next.  I could continue my progress on my rose star blocks.

Or I could finish Charise's Paris-themed bee block for the Ringo Pie Bee (those darned y-seams have me procrastinating).

Or I could decide what solid to use to put a border on this long-overdue quilt top.  (You'd think I could be bothered to iron this quilt top before taking a picture and sharing it here, but no.) 

Or I could work on piecing some blocks for my husband's quilt.  (It sure was fun to come up with the new fabric combinations.)

Well, this butterfly will settle on something soon. Maybe some more hand piecing tonight and continue to procrastinate on the bee block? Hmmm...

 How do you decide what to work on next?