February is Flying By!

  Well, I am officially another year older.  I had my birthday last week, and celebrated it, as I have most of the past decade at State Wrestling in Omaha.  I enjoy going to state, and I love being in Omaha, so it is a fun way to spend my birthday.  I went to Archiver's with a friend and spent too much on scrapbooking supplies!  At the end of March, I am heading to a scrapbooking retreat, so I have been stocking up on embellishments and papers in anticipation of that weekend.  Today, I finished up a baby quilt, and quilted a small wallhanging and another baby quilt.  I am trying to get as much as I can finished before I go to Kearney this weekend so that I can deliver to my customers there.  Below, I have included a couple of pics from the quilt I finished last week.

Balancing Life

For the past couple of weeks, I have been working on quilts and going about my normal life.  I have spent some time at the quilt shop working with my mom, and last week, I was able to go visit my grandkids for the day.  Their other grandma and I drove out together for the day to see our grandbabies, and it was a lot of fun.  I have attended several wrestling meets, and am heading out tomorrow for two days in Omaha at State Wrestling. I have also spent some time scrapbooking with a friend and with my daughter.  We even made Valentine's for our husband last week.  All these activities keep me busy, but I am still struggling with how to balance real life with a home based business.  Work is always there waiting, and when I choose other activities, there is a nagging sense that I should be working.  I would be interested to know how others who work from their home strike that balance.  After over two years, I still haven't figured out how to achieve it.

Always Room for Improvement!

  For those of you that are not from Nebraska, the picture is of this year's Nebraska State Quilt Guild raffle quilt.  It is the most beautiful quilt that I have ever seen up close.  A committee of several ladies designed and made the quilt, and a young, very talented quilter from Lincoln, NE quilted it.
This quilt reminds me that there is always room for improvement, that excellence sometimes takes collaboration, and that quilts are works of art.  Needless to say, I bought several raffle tickets for this beauty!  If I win, you will hear me scream with excitement from wherever you are!

Finished my workshop quilt from Saturday!

Last Saturday, I went to a quilt retreat for the day with three of my best quilting buddies. 

This 48 X 48 inch wall quilt was the result.  I must admit that when I go to a retreat, I may not be the most fun person there.  I am so task-oriented that I cannot help keeping my nose to the grindstone and trying to get as much done as I can while I am there.  It isn't necessarily that I am anti-social; I just know that if I take it home half done, it will remain that way for some time.  If I take it home "almost done," I will finish it.  That's just me.  Anyway, this only needed the borders sewn on and the decorative stitching around the curves in order to finish it, so I did that on Sunday.  Right now, it is on the longarm.  I decided to throw it on the frame and quilt it so that I can take it to our guild meeting the second week of February.  One more project done and ready for our October quilt show:)

Down, but not Out!

So, I have a little back issue that, once in awhile, rears its ugly head.  This happens to be the case this weekend.  It started back on Thursday feeling a little "twingy" and by Saturday it was in serious..."Don't move around too much or you will be sorry" mode.  Of course, I went and sat at a wrestling meet most of the afternoon and evening on Friday, and then went to a quilter's retreat from 9:00 to 6:00 on Saturday, so today my back is screaming in protest.  I have tried to take it easy today, really, but I did finish sewing together a wallhanging sample for the shop from Kim Shaeffer's Calendar quilts wallhangings pattern.  It is sooo cute!  I also worked on sewing the borders on and adding decorative stitches to  the quilt I made during my retreat workshop yesterday.  Now, I am just laying flat on the couch and working on my blog.  I am also trying to watch Cricut Gypsy tutorials on Youtube for my (on its way, YAY!) new gypsy!  Thank goodness for computers.  Otherwise, I would be stuck watching "Cowboys and Aliens" with my hubby and new son-in-law!  Perish the thought!