Stopping to Smell the Lilacs

Photo by London Tepsick

Today was absolutely perfect. This past week was really rough on me, and by the time Friday rolled around I was over-stressed and half-crazy. So on Saturday I forced myself to lie around and do nothing. Even when I had the overwhelming urge to get up and clean or sew I didn't do it. I snuggled on the couch with my kids, watched movies, and even took a nap. This morning I woke up completely revived, and when I stepped outside everything was perfect--the sun was shining, the birds were chirping and the smell of lilac was in the air. I know this is cheesy, but I'm not even kidding.

Photo by London Tepsick

I had been meaning to take some pictures of my finished Exploding Lone Star quilt and today was the perfect day for it. I grabbed my camera and started out he door and my daughter asked if she could go with me. We drove around for awhile, then parked the car and just started walking. Everything was so pretty, the flowers were in bloom, and I felt like we were in the pages of  "The Secret Garden".

Photo by London Tepsick

We walked around for a long time, both snapping photos and taking in the scenery. I was pleased by how much she liked taking the photos and was seriously impressed by how well she did--her pictures are all the ones above!!! 

When we got home, we were both tired and covered in the dust we had stirred up on our walk, but we were completely content and happy.

There are some moments in life that are so stressful you wonder how you are ever going to make it through it, and then there are other moments that are so beautiful that you wonder how you could've ever been anything but happy. I hope you all have recently experienced the beautiful moments, and that you get to experience them often. 

Linking up to Needle and Thread Thursday at my Quilt Infatuation

and Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts

Mommy-Daughter Quilt Blocks #2

First I would like to thank everyone for their amazing support last week. Your comments kept me smiling, and in case you're wondering, my finger is fine:) 

This week has been so busy that I can't believe I finished that quilt only a week ago--it feels like it's been a month already. I wasn't able to get a lot of sewing done, but I wanted to show you the progress my daughter and I have made on our blocks. Her block is the one above. She decided to do the diamond shape, and we just rearranged the blocks until we found something we liked. Here's my block:

I am loving how these are turning out. They are both so colorful and it's really a lot of fun to have an enthusiastic little sidekick. I told her when her quilt was done she could do anything she wanted with it--keep it for herself or give it away to whoever she wants. She hasn't decided yet, but secretly I'm hoping she gives it to me;)

I have something I want to show you next week that I'm really excited about!! So until next time...

Have a great week everyone!

Mother-Daughter Quilting

My daughter's heart was broken for the first time this week. Fortunately, it was not because of a boy, but it was because her best friend, Cora,  moved halfway across the world. For the past year, the two girls were inseparable and got in all kinds of trouble together:) 

Here is a crazy example...my 14-year-old son discovered that some of his money was missing. I asked my daughter and Cora what happened to the money, and innocently they told me they "had no idea". Then we discovered their to-do list...look at #5 and #6!!!

Crazy right?!! I didn't even know what to do!

But anyway, I have wanted to get my daughter back to the sewing machine with me for awhile (you can read a little bit about another time here)--normally she never "has time" and is always busy, but this week seemed like a good opportunity--all she's done this week has been just sitting in front of the TV trying to Skype Cora 15,000 times. So I asked her if she wanted to sew with me. She was reluctant to move off the couch, but I showed her some patterns and let her pick any fabric she wanted from my stash. 

We decided to each make identical quilts, but using the fabrics of our choice. She decided she wanted the quilts to be made from Camille Roskelley's "25 Half Square Triangle Blocks". She chose Lecien's Flower Sugar and I used mostly Pam Kitty Picnic, but I really wanted some aqua so I went a little out of my comfort zone and added a few other fabrics into the bundle.  

I thought making 16 HSTs for one block was a little ambitious, but I was surprised to find that she stayed focused the whole time and didn't quit until her block was done. I helped with the cutting, some ironing, and squaring-up the blocks, but she did all the rest. 

Isn't her block the sweetest?

When I was squaring up her HSTs they were a little wonky (but for some reason that always happens with Flower Sugar!!) so I made them each 4". I squared mine to 4 1/2". You can't tell from these photos, but my block is 16 1/2" and hers is 14". 

And just a tip for sewing with kids...if you stick a stack of post-it notes on the machine at the 1/4" mark they can easily keep a 1/4" seam!!!

 When they blocks were done, I think my daughter had snapped out of her depression. She said, "Can I go play outside now?".