Ode to Homemaking

If you have never visited Sugar City Journal, today is the day to head over there. What a great blog post about the sweet, simple joys found in hanging clothes out to dry. I think I might print it out and post it in my laundry room. Its just that sweet.

A "simple act of womanly duty."
There are lots of "womanly duties" that I often find myself grumbling about; the endless piles of laundry, the overflowing sink of dirty dishes, the always hungry family that is ready for something else to snack on before I can take two bites of my own meal, the kitchen floor that is always crumby and the dust and clutter that is everywhere.
But the often monotonous tasks that are required to keep my home and family running do have value. My own negative attitude towards my "womanly duties" don't let me appreciate them as I probably should.

Being a stay at home mom and homemaker is my chosen profession. I wouldn't have it any other way. There are simple joys that come from creating a happy home and raising beautiful children that you can't find anywhere else.

I loved how she said this one simple chore connected her with her own mother, how through its process she felt a sense of peace and order, how this 'pleasant labor' allowed her to escape from her often chaotic life. I can appreciate this as my own life has gotten more chaotic. With two loud and imaginative little kiddos ruling my life I find myself more often feeling the need to escape into some orderly housework.

During the two seconds when the kitchen is clean, I feel a real sense of pride in looking over my domain.
I love the happy, yummy sounds that come from my kids as they devour my freshly baked cookies.
When I faintly hear the hum of both the clothes washer and dish washer over the alternating shrieks and giggles of my little ones either throwing fits on the floor or using me as a jungle gym, I can inwardly smile and congratulate myself on mutitasking.
When I sit at the sewing machine trying to make something for our home or for a child to wear, I don't feel any sense of drudgery whatsoever. Instead I remember sitting on the floor near my mother's sewing machine as a child, playing with her pins, buttons or zippers.
When I go out and work in the yard I am again reminded of happy days spent outside with my family.
When I watch my son dig in the dirt or my daughter play with my fabric stash I smile, thinking of the simple joys they will have in creating homes for themselves someday.

Now, I am definitely not one to brag about my clean house or perfect organization. I'm more for creating a happy home than an immaculate home. But even so, I find that there is a great deal of housework involved in maintaining a happy home environment.

I am grateful for the 'pleasant labors' that I must perform. Everything worth having is worth working for. A happy home, a happy wife, a happy mommy is busy with many pleasant chores. :)


****Edited a few hours later: A little time has passed and I'm realizing how this makes me sound like some sort of clean freak or super homemaker or something like that. And those of you who have ever visited my home know that is far from the truth. What really happens is about once a week I get in a cleaning mood and have a burst of excited cleaning energy. The rest of the week we survive on the just the barest of essential 'womanly duties.' Just thought I should be really honest.

Summer Stash Challenge

I've signed myself up for another Summer quilt challenge. This time its the Summer Stash Challenge hosted by Eileen. Click on the link on my sidebar to read the rules. Basically we've just got to finish a quilt by sometime in August using ONLY SCRAPS. Since I'm a scrap quilter at heart I knew I had to join.

I actually heard about this fun event through Nanette's post on Freda's Hive. Her thoughts on quilting, specifically scrap quilting, are very similar to my own. Except she's much more eloquent than I am.

Since I started the Mosaic Squares quilt at the beginning of June I thought I'd do that one for the challenge. I have only used stuff from my stash and my sister's stash so far so it qualifies.

This quilt is so addicting. I think scrap quilting in general is addicting. Its so exciting to take what you already had and put it together in a new way to create something interesting and beautiful. As soon as I get one block put together I want to start another one because its so fun to play with the colors and patterns and see all the new ways they can go together. Since I'm having so much fun I've been making good progress on this quilt.

Oh, and I wanted to make sure I answered the question of how big these squares are. They are 2 inches finished.

That little color quiz I took the other day really got me thinking about color. I wasn't surprised to learn that I love greens and blues and colors from lush nature scenes.

Blue has long been my decided favorite. I wear it almost everyday. (wow, that sounds pretty dull.) I have a blue and green and yellow and white kitchen. Here is a little teeny scene from the big blue hutch that sits in our kitchen. Sorry I can't show the whole thing. The rest is full of cookbooks, quilt stuff, kids drawings and other unsightly clutter. This picture sure does look like I have a nice clean house, though, huh?
Green is probably the color I use most in quilting. I've made three quilts with green sashing. Hmm.. make that atleast five where I've used green as the sashing or background or main color. I just love the way green works with other colors and can feel either mellow or vibrant. Here is one of those green background quilts. These house blocks were from an exchange a few years ago.

But the quiz results also that said I like Pop Art colors: orange, aqua, bright pink. Think: parrots, cartoons and jelly beans. I was a little surprised by that. I never think of decorating like that. I don't generally dress like that.

So then I started thinking about how I like different colors in different settings. I like my home peaceful and serene, and I like to dress in a conservative manner: blues and greens.

But I like my garden to be a little more vibrant. I generally pick bright flowers in red, purple, orange and yellow to add to my landscape.

And those pop art colors? Hmm... well, I guess I have found a place for them in my life. My little girlie (seen here rearranging my cupboards) has strawberry blond hair and looks beautiful in orange, aqua and pink.

And I'm in the midst of trying to add to some color to the kids bathroom. This starfish display came to be this week after a trip to Hobby Lobby. This set me back about $14 (on sale) for the shadowbox, $.50 for the paper and $1.75 ish (with coupon) for the starfish. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the aqua paper in the background against the orange starfish. Soon I will add another shadowbox filled with small shells we found along the Galveston Island, TX beach and some new bright, sherbert colored towels.

Last but not least, here's a picture of one of my most favoritey-est quilts. This might in fact be my one, true favorite, to date. I love the colors. I love the crisp white. I love the whirly gigs. This is probaly more Pop Art than Nature inspired, huh?

So, in the end, I'm realizing that I have lots of favorite colors. It just depends on where I use them. I may lean more towards lush, green, serene landscapes. But I'd like to have a bright, clean, crisp quilt strewn over my lap while I look at that landscape.

Color

Here's a fun quiz to find out what your colors are according to your tastes and personality. http://www.voiceofcolor.com/en/colorsensegame/index.asp.

I found this link on Stephanie's blog, Loft Creations.

I'm Al Fresco and surprisingly Pop Art. I'm not at all surprised by Al Fresco but I would not have picked Pop Art for myself.

I made four more mosaics yesterday. I especially like the one on the top right. The icy blue polka dot is leftover from my snowflake quilt and I love it.

I thought that since I'm making a mosaic quilt I should try to post pictures of the blocks in a mosaic. Unfortunately, I am photoshop challenged. Its a crying shame. I've got this great program and don't have a clue how to use it. This is the best I could do.

Proof of Progress

Here are the first two blocks for my Mosaic Quilt. I'm loving it already. I love primary colors.

*********Edited to answer a question that a few people had in the comments. The squares are 2 inches finished. ***********

Quilting with ADHD

I think I may have quilters OCD or maybe ADD or ADHD or some other sort of Disorder. I just can't seem to stay with one project and get it done in any sort of timely manner. Every other week I get excited about a new project. I feel like I haven't been able to buckle down and really make progress on anything lately because all I want to do is look at fabric, look at patterns, drool over other people's quilts, and dream about the quilts I could make. But settle down and get serious about making them, one by one? Well, that's harder to do. That involves time, concentration, energy and maybe a babysitter.

And so what do I do? I went and started another project yesterday. I think that makes three official quilts that I've either started or need to start or am planning to start or something like that in the past few weeks.

First, I've got to get going on the Two Color Challenge quilt! That one has a deadline of August 1, and I originally thought that wasn't going to be a big deal. But now, a month later, I haven't cut anything yet. Shh! Don't tell the other two color quilters or Nicole! (If you haven't checked out her blog- Sister's Choice Quilts, head over there now. She's got style. And I'm not just saying that so she won't kick me out of the Two Color Challenge!) What's my hold up? Well, I'm trying to exercise a little frugality. I need to buy 6 1/2 yards of cream, and I'm holding out for a sale of some sort. Lame. I know.

Second, I've just barely mentioned that I'm also participating in a non-blog exchange with some girls up in Utah. We all lived in the same neighborhood in Saratoga Springs for about 5 years and started quilting together as we were having our first babies, making our first homes and basically just starting out in life. I love this group of girls and am thrilled that they are letting me participate long distance now that I live down here in Houston. This block exchange will be in September. I decided on my block and bought my fabric for this last week. I'll post more about this later.

And now, I've gone and started another quilt with my sister. I was so inspired by Nanette's Mosiac Squares that she posted about almost two months ago. My sister came over, soon after, I showed it to her, and we both drooled and pledged to make that quilt (similar to my reaction last Tuesday to the Carpenter Stars quilt in the Quilt Sampler Magazine). Yesterday, as our children ran around, destroying her home by means of hotwheels, legos, and whatever else they could get their hands on, she and I started cutting into our scraps. This picture is the original quilt from McCalls Quilting Vintage Quilts Spring 2004. Have I ever mentioned how much I love scrap quilts? I know I have. But I'm saying it again.

Here's my start.