Goal #20: Blog

Technically, my goal was to make a book of my blog from the beginning. I totally didn't do that. The thought exhausted me and I saw dollar signs everywhere which overwhelmed me. So I simplified the task. Remember, I'm being flexible with myself? That's how you stay sane, people.

Many of you few readers who are still with me know my Grandma Durham died in October. And most of you readers know I've chronicled my visits with her the past few years. I decided to make this goal more meaningful and make a book from my blog about my time with Grandma.

So I went to Blurb.com and I uploaded all my blog posts about Grandma. And in the back I put my talk that I gave at her funeral. My sister took some pictures which I ripped off to round out some of the blank pages. I think it turned out to be a 34 page book. I was able to include comments on my posts from all my family and friends so that was nice. I think it's more meaningful this way anyway. A book of my entire blog would be huge. Book arrives December 4th. I think it will be nice to have all those memories about Grandma in one place. I'm satisfied with this goal.

12 Goals to go! Do you think I can do it? 

Goal #5: Squares

Finally! I started this rag quilt project a couple months ago. I know what took me so long to start it (I’m indecisive) but I don’t know what took me so long to finish it. It’s a fairly simple process.

It's also a messy process: it made the inside of my house look like a snow globe that hadn’t been picked up for hours.

When I was picking out the fabric I realized I was on a wild animal kick with the bunnies and birds and foxes and horses. And then mushrooms.

A big thanks goes to Lisa for showing me how to do it and letting me use her rotary cutter and her apartment building’s washing machine so mine wouldn’t get clogged up with all the stuff that comes off when you wash it. And thanks to my Aunt Susan who posted somewhere about Pink Chalk Fabrics which is finally what motivated me to buy fabric to get the whole thing started.

I had several people ask me "Who are you making if for?" Uh...me! I felt kind of selfish every time I answered.

Did you know that making a quilt is more expensive than buying a quilt? Well, it is. And it takes about 100x as long to do it. BUT it is satisfying. And I like doing projects and working with my hands. 

The last time I made a quilt it was an easy fleece quilt where you cut fringe and tie the ends together. That one now hangs out in my car trunk in case of a disaster. I knitted an afghan before that. THAT took a long time. And that was also expensive, but I still have it and use it a lot.

This is the most imperfect quilt I’ve ever made (if you look closely those squares are NOT all the same size and it doesn’t line up and it doesn’t fold perfectly because the final project is not a perfectly framed rectangle. But it’s cute and it’s warm. And I bet Lucy is sleeping on it right now because I forgot to shut my bedroom door when I left the house.