Whew! I can’t believe I actually had time to sit down and write a blog post. This motherhood thing is really zapping all my free time! I’ve been a bit put off blogging for a while because it seems like every blogger out there is a professional photographer and writer. I’m amazed by all the talent out there – such creative folk – only… I do feel a little bit inadequate… I guess I’ll just have to aspire to one day be like that and for now I’ll post the kinds of things that are relevant to my every day looking after a toddler and working from home. This one is a couple of random things I’ve been up to lately: entertaining Audrey with a bit of craftiness and my newest hobby: quilting.
I’ve been finding it more and more difficult to get things done around the house lately – my little girl seems to be increasingly curious and proportionately accident prone. Just recently she ran into a wall and nearly bit her tongue off. Luckily the tongue is probably the quickest thing in the entire body to heal – but my God it looked bad at the time! Audrey’s attention span is also seeming to be a bit shorter so sometimes it is a challenge to find things for her to do while I do the mundane chores like hanging the washing out or cooking dinner. I was about to throw a diaper box out when I had an idea.
Diaper Box Train
We taped scrap paper onto the box and then decorated it as a train. (I know, the artwork isn’t beautiful, but just trust me on this – it IS a train!). Don’t get bogged down in making it beautiful. It’s only going to go in the recycling bin once the little one starts ripping the pages off anyways so let her go nuts with the crayons. I poked a hole in the side so that I could stick a string through it then secured it with a fork (I suppose you could use a straw or a stick, but I just grab whatever is handy). All that’s left to do is find a passenger, in this case it’s Donna the Cabbage Patch Doll, and make “choo choo” sounds as you pull it! This was a really big hit and actually kept Audrey’s attention for long enough for me to hang the laundry out. Win! Alternatively you could attach as many boxes as you like and have several cars to pull dolls and teddies. I think Audrey’s train actually needs an engine. I’ll get to it eventually.
The other thing that I’ve been doing in the few hours between Audrey’s bed time and mine is quilting. I always figured quilting was something my grandma did so it didn’t really appeal to me. But after going to the Stitches and Craft show in Brisbane and seeing all the beautiful quilts I felt inspired (I also had a bit of encouragement from my friend Amanda who has made adorable quilts for her kids). At first I found it oddly relaxing to sew nice straight stitches between blocks of fabric. And then came the borders. After stitching and unpicking my borders TWICE I certainly had a few curse words for Amanda under my breath. Actually it still wasn’t that bad. I found a great YouTube video on how to do perfect borders. It turns out you can’t just sew a really long piece of fabric to your quilt and hope it works out. You actually have to measure and pin your border first. Who would’a thunk it?
This is where I’m at with the quilt so far – the squares are from a charm pack by Kate Spain called ‘Daydreams.’
Are there any quilters out there reading this? I’d love to hear your favourite quilting tip!