Each and every morning I head out to the garden to check on my plants. Gardening brings me so much joy. Going from seed to harvest is a gift.

This season I did not start my own seeds instead I purchased starts through a coworker. I have learned that sometimes you can’t do it all and there is no shame in that.

The beans are finally starting to produce. I’m hoping to harvest enough to can some spicy beans again this year. If not, I still have a stash of jars from last season.

My neighbor once again allowed me to cut her daylilies before the deer had them for a midnight snack. Aren’t they gorgeous?!?

During my time of forced relaxation, I played around with a bag of scraps I purchased quite some time ago from the thrift store. It was a great challenge to pull together cards from a limited palette.

Using only what I had in front of me gave me the opportunity to combine colors and patterns that I typically would not have tried. I simply love the results! This entire pile it ready to go complete with sentiments.

And a whole other giant pile of cards ready for the right words or time.

I’m still working on my journals….really slowly. I’m spending as much time outdoors or with Mini-me, so crafting definitely takes a back seat. Mini-me leaves for college in about a month. It goes so fast.

I did it again. I went nearly a month without posting. Well folks, I’m going to make up for it with a photo heavy post.

Since I’m not sure where to start I’m just going to jump in with some fun fabric projects I’ve been working on.

The first of which are these microwave bowl holders. I love these things! I use mine a couple times a week. I love that I can throw them in the washing machine when they get messy.

While I had the machine out I did more piecing with my scraps.

I also finally got around to making my mixer cover with the fun fabric I bought over the summer. I can’t believe I waited so long! I love the way it looks.

Now shall we talk about the elephant in the room…or perhaps the golden goose in the gym?

Yup…that’s right. I turned 50 at the beginning of the month. There was lots of advertising at school.

And yes there was cake!

This was really cute. One of my students wrote this on the white board. I love that its spelled wrong. :)

That same student wrote me a little note a week or so before hand.

Enough about other peoples children…let me update you on mine.

Before the end of semester, Mini-me had a project for class that was a pop-up art show in the gallery. They were tasked to use washi tape and washi tape only to create a temporary art installation on the gallery wall. Pretty cool huh. She is back home for the summer after enduring a massive storm which knocked out power and cell phone service for the last day of finals. She took her Latin final in the dark.

J graduated from college with his Chemical Engineering degree this month as well. This is a bit of ChemE humor that went over my head but I’m using it for my drink reference anyway. He is back home as well. The house went from quiet to crowded very quickly.

I think this is the only journal I have played in all month. I’ve been doing a bit more organizing however I stalled out until I am done with work…I really want to sort through stuff with Mini-me since she is using more things in her art as well. I don’t want to get rid of something she will end up wanting shortly.

This was earned longer ago than I had thought until I see the date staring me in the face. It still blows my mind though that I’ve walked that much.

Mr. G and I also celebrated our 28th wedding anniversary in April. He still knows how to make me laugh with his shenanigans with his follow-up to my reminder note to run the dishwasher in the morning.

Speaking of laughter…this gave me a good chuckle. So much so that I had to snap a picture of it at our local coffee shop.

Once again a month has passed. Crazy how that happens.

Since my last post I’ve been dealing with some health issues. The most debilitating of which was a case of cellulitis. I had never even heard of it until a couple years ago. Thankfully I did learn about it so I went in and got checked out. Steroids and antibiotics did the trick. Although I learned that I will never take Prednisone again unless it is a life or death situation. Uff Da. That is some wicked stuff.

Now that I am feeling better I have been inspired to create a bit.

I created a selection of journal covers from leftovers in my stash. The inside is a heavyweight poster that I have recycled to act as book board that was then machine stitched to the fabric covers. This creates a nice folio type booklet for a single signature of around 15 pages. Small books such as these make great gratitude journals, everyday thoughts, lists and so on.

Here’s another stack of them in progress. I do get obsessed and can’t stop once I get going.

Another project I tackled a few weeks ago was creating a pattern for a KitchenAid mixer cover. Yes I could have purchased a pattern but I enjoy the creative process and truth be told… like being able to say that I made it, me, completely from my own brain. The above photo is my mock up cover. A co-worker purchased it from me after I made my pattern templet. Now ask me if I have made the one for myself….umm…no. Soon…very soon.

One of the things on my list for my Spring break is to go through and reorganized my supplies. Yesterday I organized this entire drawer of trims while watching Yellowstone. I am not an organized person but this was oddly satisfyingly.

My list of to-dos for Spring break is lengthy but then again, it always is. The weeks leading up to it were kinda crazy.

My BFF sent me this and it was very relatable. :)

Mini-me was home for her Spring break a couple weeks ago. It was great to see her. She sent me this photo the other day that another friend had snapped as they stopped to pet the horses.

Mini-me said that they often stop by the barn to pet the horses. Pretty cool that they are able to do that right on campus.

Kombucha has been my friend since the round of antibiotics. Trying to rebuild that gut flora. I’ve also got a crockpot full of soup bones simmering for bone broth…another good thing for gut health.

Tuesday has me working on my list….phone calls, bills, taxes…such fun stuff.

Since it’s been a hot minute since I last posted, I thought it would be most efficient to do a month in review.

Work has been tiring of course but when I have had the energy or inspiration; I’ve been mostly obsessed with my sewing machine. Whether its fabric or paper or a combination of the two…I’m running it through my machine with reckless abandon.

I’ve started work on a few new journal covers. This one has me stepping outside my comfort zone with the bold floral print as well as bright colors. Definitely not my usual but perhaps the shake up will act as inspiration or a challenge. I created two more but evidently forgot to snap a picture.

Making cards is always a relaxing activity for me. I had punched a ton of circles one day sitting in front of the TV watching who knows what. I like to have my hands busy so I don’t find myself snacking. But I digress… I sat down at my sewing machine with a couple different piles of scraps. Fabric and paper as well as the afore mentioned circles. I have mentioned lately how much I love circles!! I do, trust me.

Now I have a large stack of cards ready to go when an occasion arises. Just add a sentiment or even just a note on the inside.

The kids came home from college for Thanksgiving break. It was great to see them in person again. Just a couple more weeks and they’ll be home for a month between semesters. Marvin was very excites when Mini-me came through the door. He thought it was me coming home from work but it was his girl. She said that he yelled excitedly. Of course that never lasts too long…the comfort of napping on the “grandma blanket” always wins out.

Mini-me sent me this one day. The thrill of seeing your own work (or your offspring’s) never gets old.

Mini-me helped me make our first batch of lefse of the season. We were definitely a bit out of practice…it had been almost two years since I made any. We made a small batch…just enough for Mini-me to bring some back to share with her friends at college and of course, for us to have a few.

Lastly I’ve been continuing to sew my random scraps together. I decided on 9.5 inch blocks. I just keep stitching and ironing and stitching and ironing…until I have a big enough piece to cut my square. I decided on 9.5 inches mostly because I have a square quilting ruler that size.

I don’t have a plan in particular for these blocks. I assume I’ll put sashing between the blocks to give the eye a place to rest. But for now I’m just creating a very colorful stack of blocks.

I’m certainly not promising that I will be posting more often but it does feel good to get my words on the page.

Happy T day everyone!

Months ago I mentioned working at scrap management for my fabric collection. Yes, I said collection…let’s be honest…buying crafting supplies ends up being collecting sometimes.

I really knocked the scraps down to some key sizes that would work for other projects.

With that in mind I came up with a “pattern” or maybe pattern concept since the pieces really fit together in so many ways.

This is a pile of chain pieced scraps. Its really relaxing to sit and sew…then once I have a really large pile of pieces I go sit in front of the TV and snip them all apart then sort them for ironing. So much ironing but so worth it.

Since I’ve starting making a few more masks I had to buy some more fabric….I had to…I really did. That’s me trying to convince myself too.

My neighbor brought me to a wonderful little quilt shop in a nearby small town. I ended up buying a stack of fabric with a few projects in mind. The two floral fabrics were just because I absolutely fell in love with them.

I’ve also found some fabrics at rummage sales. So fun…but now I have some more scrap management to handle. It really never ends…

The start to the school year has been a bit rocky…stress levels are up. I’m hoping everything is settling down now. My most recent posts seem to have been mostly about gardening. This one will touch on that as well.

Additionally, I have taken a little time to be creative. Some cards and a few journal pages.

I can safely say that my gardening days this season are numbered. I pulled up the shed garden and amended the soil with the compost from the bin. Yay, free! I’ve also started emptying pots and composting the spent plants for future compost.

I pulled up half of my carrots. They are small but mighty good. I’m just impressed that I successfully grew carrots…they were not looking good all summer.

Marvin is in the display case at school for our “pet show”. I wish I had taken a wide shot…there are over half a dozen photos of named chickens as well…makes me smile and giggle a bit.

Blogging seems to be getting harder for me even though I REALLY love it. The problem seems to be that I am not scheduling time for it. I sit down and before I realize it,  I have squandered hours of time on idle pursuits…down the proverbial rabbit hole on Pinterest or YouTube. Or bingeing a series on Netflix. I know I am not the only person who struggles with this…those platforms would not be as successful as they are without the continual audience. 

I know some of my struggle is learning what my new normal feels like. What I have time for, what I should be doing vs what I want to do vs what actually needs to be done. Look at me, verbally processing with you…. 

I literally have pages of notes and ideas of content for the blog. Some are just rough ideas.  Others are plans for projects not yet started or works in progress.  Additional ideas for reworking of old content…so many things. I feel as if I have analysis paralysis. I can’t decide what to do, so I do nothing.

Does that ever happen to you?