I had a quiet house this last week.
With three kids at TeenPact Iowa, Buddy at Grandma’s, and Matt working every day – it was just me. All day. In a big quiet house.
For a stay-at-home home school mom – it is a rare event. It was also wonderful! 🙂
So what did I do with my week of alone time? Well – I started the week with a big list of things to accomplish – but I got a little sidetracked.
On day two of my week of quiet I was still on target. My job for that day was to sort through all of the material we had stashed – fold it all neatly and put it in Rubbermaid tubs. After all the crafting the girls have been doing – and all the costumes they had made – it was a huge mess!
Matt carried the tubs upstairs before he left for the day and I got busy right after breakfast.
I was all business at first – but didn’t take long for the material to start speaking to me.
I’m not exactly sure how it happened – but I found myself putting pieces together to see how they would look. Little pieces of calico would call out “look at me! Wouldn’t I look pretty beside the dark blue over there?”
A quilt was forming in my mind.
By the time I had discovered 2 bias square plastic quilt forms that I had gotten at a garage sale – and forgotten I owned – I was a goner.
I mean honestly – who wants to sort insulated coveralls and clean the attic when you can quilt!
Jan came home that night to a mess. I was sitting on the floor of the living room surrounded by fabric scraps and wearing a silly grin.
He helped me carry the sewing machine up to the sun room when the light was better and got out of my way.
I was on a roll!
By the time he came home the next night – the material was still spread out all over the living room, and threads and scraps had seeped into the entire downstairs.
But there was also piles of 9 patch quilt squares on both the dining room and sun room floor.
He took me to the Amish store for more material and batting.
By the end of the week I had enough squares to piece together 2 twin size quilts, a back ache from sewing, and a major mess in my house.
But boy was it fun!
I haven’t patched a quilt together for 19 years. Yes – 19!
I’m a little out of practice – but it’s all coming back to me.
The next step is backing, batting and basting. Then I have a whole lot of hand quilting to do.
Wonder if I can get them done and on the girl’s beds before Dagmar’s graduation in May?
Anybody up for a quilting bee? 🙂