Dresses and Piggy Tails…



What can be better than two little girls in pretty dresses with their hair in pigtails?  I’m simply loving having these two to myself during the day.  They are such good friends and so delightful to be around.  It’s a precious time.


I’ve got about 40 different posts all jumping around in my head, thoughts I’m trying to sort out, lessons I’m trying to learn, things I’m working on, and no time to just type!  I had this same feeling at the beginning of the summer.  Things were so crazy and there was so much in my brain that I wanted to remember.  The second week of summer vacation I thought to myself, “We’re so blessed.  It feels like we’ve already gathered a summer’s worth of memories in the first 10 days of June.”  I was sure I’d remember it all, sure I’d record it.  And then my husband got hurt and the entire summer was re-written.  The sad part?  I can’t remember that summer’s worth of memories.  Taking care of my husband after his surgery and figuring out how to be a one man show, deal with major problems with the insurance company, and on and on just overloaded my brain, I guess, and now all I can remember is that I felt that way, but no details.  In my mind it’s really just the summer of the knee surgery.  So sad.

So even though blogging (our simply journaling) is rarely urgent, or at the top of our priority list, I’ve also learned the hard way that you’ve got to fit it in somehow, or you’ll lose the finest parts of life.

As I’ve said before, life feels breathless around here right now, and is likely to be that way for years.  Somehow I’ve got to squeeze things in, not only here at Hopeful Homemaker, but in our journals and photo books and so forth.  It’s hard to do, for even when I’m fully present the moment vanishes so quickly, but I can work at it.

Which is why I took those pictures of my little girls.  Dresses and pigtails, arms around each other, ready to greet the day with a smile, my little friends that go everywhere with me.

Wound Up

I realized I was a little too intense about my September projects when I woke up Friday morning feeling stressed that the month was going too fast.

Seriously?  On the 7th?

Yes, on September 7th I was stressed that my month was almost gone.

Yeah.

So… I went on a long walk, hid my list from myself, and made myself do something that wasn’t on “the list.”


I basted a quilt.  Actually, I basted two quilts.  The first is for a birthday I’m afraid I’ll miss, so in a way it dealt directly with some stress.  The second (above) I basted because I plan to try hand quilting on it and if I like it, I’ll use it for some holiday projects.


It really was very therapeutic.  My little girls climbed all over me, played with the safety pins, tippy-toed across the quilts, giggled, and generally had a wonderful time.  I was doing something mindless enough that it was easy to talk myself out of being stressed.  It worked quite well.  The house was no cleaner, of course, but it wasn’t any worse.   Now I have not one, but two quilts to quilt!  I love this because it really is something that can be done in 5 minute spurts, unlike so many other creative activities.

We’ll see when I get to them!

HH

Vintage Holiday Blocks 7-10

I’m rushing out the door to pick up the children from school, which means these are the final moments of the clock ticking as we await the explosion.  Whatever I get done before I pick them up is generally undone before they go to bed, so these last few minutes often have me frantic.

For some reason getting them all out the door felt harder than usual this morning, and the entire day has carried the same feeling with it.  I’ve been working on all the things I should be, only they’re not coming together quite how I pictured and, as usual, are taking more time.  Oh well, such is life.

I did squeeze in a few minutes on Labor Day to get caught up on the Vintage Holiday blocks.  (Yeah, I joined the quilt along, got caught up, and immediately fell behind.)  Thankfully this quilt is coming together so easily that I know I’ll finish without trouble.

So here they are, blocks seven and eight:


And blocks nine and ten:


I went a little heavy on the reds, I think.  I should have laid out all the blocks before I got going, but it will work out.  I’ll get more green in there on the last two, and then I’ll be piecing this together!  Hooray!

And I’m off to three schools….

Life is good!

HH

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