Back In Action

Hi folks! It's been a long and unplanned hiatus, but sometimes life does that to you. Since I was last here I made a couple of quilts and blankets, but the big news is that I birthed a 9 lb 8 oz baby girl! Seriously. Here I am seven full days before she finally came out. I'm disappointed I didn't take a picture the day of. There's only one baby in there! I spent 10 days after my due date walking around our neighborhood (hence my outfit) hoping to put myself into labor. Didn't happen.

On November 3rd we helped her out and named her Ellie Anne. We like to joke that she was so big because she was born a week and a half old. She is healthy and joyful and wonderful and hilarious and basically the light of our lives. And about to start crawling at just under 7 months. We're in for it!

Silly me was thinking I would be able to churn out a few projects while on maternity leave. It's hilarious that I'm even using that term since we don't have maternity leave here in the US, but my employer has pretty decent vacation and sick policies so I was able to bank up enough time to take 12 weeks off after her birth. Surely in 12 weeks I could easily fit some sewing in, right?

As those of you with babes of your own might have guessed, every minute of my leave was spent feeding, changing, and loving our little girl and I didn't do any sewing. It was awesome though! But I got the sewing bug again and decided to try to get back in action and do some sewing, even if it's just for 15 minutes here and there. Have you heard of The Fringe Hours? I haven't read the book, but I heard an interview with the author on a podcast and the concept is totally up my alley. Basically, you consciously find pockets of time in your day to do things for you. This week that has been roughly 9:15-10:00 after we put the littles to bed and before I put myself to bed (my 5:00 alarm to exercise before work is non-negotiable). And it's worked out great! Last night I only managed to sew from 9:40-10:00, but I was able to add sashing to two rows of a quilt that I'm working on. The old childless me would have been frustrated by such a short period of time and such little accomplished, but the new mom me is considering it awesome that I was able to find any time to sew. It's all about perspective.

I doubt I'll be posting many finished projects at this pace, so follow me on Instagram at lindsaypindsay33 to check out my progress. Right now I'm working on the City Green quilt from Cherri House's City Quilts. Flick was very excited to see it back on my living room floor.

Full disclosure: this quilt is about 5 years in the making. I bought the quilt kit when the book was released in 2010 and it sat in my stash until last spring when I finally pulled it out and began working on it. Then I got too pregnant to be comfortable sitting at my machine, so away it went until earlier this week. I am determined to finish it this year!

I have a few projects that I finished since I last posted (almost 2 years ago, wow!), so once I dig up those pictures I'll share them.

It's good to be back!