Fits and Starts

I"m noticing that I am not alone in irregular posting in this new year. Like many other mamas out there, I'm getting bogged down in the day-to-day (i.e. laundry) and not really having much to say...or show, for that matter.

My adorable quilt that I worked on last week is giving me fits. Actually, it's my sewing machine. For some reason, free-motion quilting isn't happening. Needles are breaking, f-bombs are being set off...so I'm setting it aside for now.

In the meantime, there's plenty to work on.

For this month's Sew Connected block, Tracy sent all sorts of wonderful shiny fabrics. I decided to let the fabrics speak to me...and I'm not sure that they were speaking English. This is what I came up with. It's not where I was originally going and I'm on the fence about it. Let's just say I'll be making an additional block out of what I have left. (Plus I'm just plain worn out from mixing up my metaphors!)

Birthday parties are starting back up--Caroline has two this month. I started with a long-sleeved t-shirt from Target, a fat quarter of floral fabric, and this butterfly silhouette (plus a few things in my stash).
This is my least favorite part of the process--I'm considering hand-stitching the next one...

And a little while later, you have a cute t-shirt, a matching headband and a coordinating bag to put it all in! Happy Ninth Birthday to our neighbor friend!

Poor Rob is getting on a plane later this afternoon to go to Chicago, of all places. Chicago is between blizzards today, so he's super-excited about this trip! To add insult to injury, this is the annual meeting that for the last three years took place in Naples, Florida. I guess we'll just be thankful he still has a job that sends him on business trips!