This & That

Keeping My Hands Busy As Much As I Can

I finished off another crazy quilt block.

This one didn't go as smoothly for me as the first 2 did. The background block pieces didn't sew together to the measurements I needed, and I had to consult with Eric, who is the math nerd in the family, to try to calculate how to make it work with the angles I was given. It was a slog, and in the end, I'm still a little under, but I think I can make it work. 

I also had to consult with a stitching friend to figure out how to make the loose straw around the neck happen. In the end, we decided I had to have a knot behind every strand. Cute, but laborious.

So while things turned out fine, it wasn't a smooth process and I don't think I'll be touting this block as my favorite, but it's D-O-N-E.

I got a little more catch up done on Project Life pages.

You've seen all these stories.

As I was putting these together, I discovered some weeks didn't have very many pictures.

The various templates in the app will accommodate that, but I'm somewhat out of practice taking lots of pictures.

Some weeks I have to be selective and winnow,

...and some weeks I don't. I've been more in the "don't" category lately.

Keeping My Hands Busy Post Holiday

After being sick at Christmas, 2 weeks tending grandkids, and working our way through Covid, I had a little time to work on projects that have been sitting on the work table for a while, starting with this one.

The pattern was originally to be finished as a pincushion, but I decided to keep it flat and attach it to a small clipboard for display. It's hard to see, but the clusters of white Colonial knots are sheep.

You'll see that I concentrated on projects that just needed a bit of finishing to be complete.

I seem to be in a bit of a sheep stage. 

This penny mat measures about 10"x12".

I'd started this card kit before the holiday, but things got hectic the closer we came to Christmas, as you might imagine.

It had a lot of pre-made die cuts that made embellishing cards very easy.

I had a good time mixing and matching for card fronts. I got a total of 18 cards of varying sizes,

including a few mini-slimline cards,

and some regular slimline cards, this one embossed and filled in with metallic watercolors.

I'm working my way through the last few weeks of the year with the Project Life app.

All of these stories have been told here on the blog, but it's always good to see the year's event unfold as I see the pages come together for the family yearbook.

One more week to put together and then I can place the order for the yearbook.

End of the Year Documenting

In between grandkid tending episodes, I've been trying to get the last few weeks of 2021 documenting in the Project Life app, so I can order my yearly book.

As you can see, I'm not quite there yet, but I'm getting closer.

Will I continue with this format in the coming year?

And I know you're just leaning forward in your chairs waiting for the answer, right?

Yep, I still maintain it's the easiest way I've found to document my family history. I still have a couple of weeks to go, but I'm working on it. Right now though, I need to run be a referee.

Keeping My Hands Busy this Month

Honestly, my hands have mostly been busy taking care of Christmas shopping. I'm close, but not finished. It's a big project, as you might guess from the size of my family.

I have, however, finished off an older Simon Says Stamp card kit. It had a lot of pre-made elements that I used,

and there were others on which I used things that were just a little more involved. I got an even dozen cards from the kit and they were done over a couple of week's time. A bit here and a bit there. It's just the time of year. Not a lot of crafting going on.

I'm pretty current putting pictures into templates for Project Life pages.

What I'm not quite caught up with, is the journaling.

These next few pages show what happens when I have gobs of pictures.

Another plus to using this system is that I can just add a couple of pages to the week's layout.

That was the case for the week of Halloween.

It will slip easily into the year book, as long as I keep things consistent. That is, if I'm doing 2 pages per week and I want to add more, I put in 2 more pages. If I only add 1, then I'd have to turn the page to get to the second half of the week, if that makes sense. That tweaks my ordered brain, so I just keep it the same.

Keeping My Hands Busy This Month

Honestly, it's been a little hard to keep my hands busy for various reasons, mostly because I had a lot of coming and going, and had the surgeries for my melanoma. There will be more on that when my eye is working a little better, and when I can give a more comprehensive story.

Pre-surgery, I did finish up another crazy quilt square. Love the fun stitches I'm able to learn/do on these blocks.

Canning season is winding down. My sister brought me some peppers from her garden and I used them up in a couple of ways.

I did a batch of chili sauce. It's my husband's grandmother's recipe and one of the things I do for love. I finished bottling the as many of the tree peaches we needed as well.

Some spaghetti sauce also happened. Ironically, I don't often use this as sauce for spaghetti. Usually, I add it to some kind of soup, or a pasta sauce I'm making...but not usually spaghetti.

I'm pretty much staying current with Project Life pages.

Pretty sure you've see all these stories.

Again, ad nauseam, I'm going to say this is absolutely the easiest way I've found to actually keep up with my family history.

Adaptable templates to fit the number and spatial orientation of my pictures for the week.

Family History for the Month

There weren't pondered thoughts this month. None of the prompts on my list really spoke to me. 

But I did finish off 2010's blog culling.

And started on 2011's. Wow, only 10 more years to go.

I did find some gems, though, that made me sigh a little.

And roll my eyes a little.

There was a little holiday remembering,

Some tough times, 

And some milestones.

I put this one together, too. It just happened last week, but it's about one of my favorite places. The story will be coming soon.

I'm also current on Project Life pages.

Do I need to expound again about how much I love this system?

Probably not.

But suffice it to say, it just really, really works for me.

If you've been reading along on the blog,

All these stories will be familiar to you.

I honestly do love seeing them all nicely laid out in the weeks.

Stories told. Life documented.

Pondering & Family History Stuff for June

The deeper thoughts/blog posts to save/project life post for the month. In truth, I haven't worked on this project for a while, so I was madly working earlier in the week to get some content other than the Project Life pages. I stay pretty current with those. 

Keep in mind that the deeper thought pages are usually prompts from the @mymodernstory IG account. I thought this particular one was interesting. It was....."How do you want to be remembered?" I've had this one percolating in my head for several weeks. 

This one was also a prompt that really hit me at this stage of my life. They asked, "What are you currently juggling in your life?" I hate to break it to busy moms who are in the throes of raising a family. It doesn't get any less busy. In fact, it might get more so.

On to blog posts I want to remember.

I've made it to 2010.

Some of them were things I needed to visit again.

And some required more pictures than are allowed in the Project Life app's editorial templates.

The solution for me was to use the collage templates I use in a regular Project Life page week, then they'll just be printed out as a page to put in these albums I'm curating for blog posts, prompts, and whatever I'm thinking about at the moment. Super easy, and it's really great that the processes are interchangeable.

As I said, I keep pretty current on my family history Project Life pages.

I've definitely had the opportunity lately to use different templates as I've experimented with number and orientation of pictures available to me any given week.

Sometimes the default one works,

and sometimes it doesn't, and I have to make adjustments.

It's part of what makes the system work for me.

Moment of honesty here, I've given away documenting my children and grandkids' lives to them. BUT....

I think we've discussed that I lead a fairly boring life on my own,

and my kids are really good at sharing snippets of their lives with me by texting me photos.

So I can easily do double duty and save a glimpse of what goes on in my extended family,

While documenting my kind of boring every day. It's the best of both worlds, and the best of family history, in my humble opinion.

Keeping My Hands Busy, the May Edition

I'd like to say I got huge quantities of creative things done in the past month, and I suppose I can't complain because things did happen. It's just that I keep telling myself there should be more to show for it.

This was a long unfinished project that is finally completed. It was supposed to be a little pillow, but I chose to make it flat to put on a little clipboard.

It was a kit from Midway Wool, and the pattern itself is from Sunflower Patterns. I can't seem to locate them in a Google search.

This is a small project from a recent Primitive Gatherings wool box. I'm really grateful when these small projects come through. This one whipped up in an afternoon and gave me that instant gratification feeling of accomplishing something start to finish.

In case you're wondering what it is....it's a thread catcher. All the little tail ends of threads go in there so they don't end up all over the floor. Cute and utilitarian.

Then there was this. Angelic choruses literally sang when I put the last binding stitch in these quilts.

These are the quilts for Jack and Leo. Jack's is stitched in grey....

and has the grey back and binding.

Leo's is stitched in navy and backed/bound in navy.

I had enough hourglass squares left over that I was able to put a little decorative element on the back side, which was kind of fun and adds some interest, I think. That makes me current with all my grandchild baby quilts. I know of no others I need to be working on at present.....right kids? Right?

Deeper Thoughts and Family History for May

Doing a little shifting around for blog topics, but honestly so few people read and comment I wonder if blogs will eventually go the way of the dinosaur. It’s also my only son-in-law’s birthday today, so happy birthday to him!

Here are the last few weeks of Project Life pages.

You've seen most of these stories, although there are some coming from this week.

I posted these with a specific purpose....

....and that was to show that I do occasionally use different templates, to make them work with the photos I have for the week.

Like here, for example, when I have a smaller number, but they're a grouping of related pictures.

Or here, when I needed more room for both stories and pictures. It's a very flexible system. While it's true that I'm very habit and routine-oriented, there is occasional room for flexibility, especially if it's not being crammed down my throat. On to memory pages...

This is a family history story worth documenting. It's about how I got the name Gramma Honey.

This one is a prompt from the @mymodernstory IG account about my favorite spot in the house right now.

This was a prompt to document how you date your spouse, which actually made me laugh right out loud. Yeah.....

I have also been going through 2010 blog posts and pulling off some that I feel need to have a concrete home. This one is about a conversation my teenage daughter and I had.

Ah, memories. The ongoing conflict my daughter and I had about putting something on her legs in the wintertime when she wore a skirt.

This one definitely needed a home.

And every once in a while I feel it's important to document historical stuff.

I Have Thoughts....

I really do. And not just random, drive-by thoughts. I am occasionally capable of deeper thinking. Most of these lately have been inspired by prompts from the @mymodernstory IG account. Sometime I get into the habit of just giving a laundry list of happenings in my week or daily life, but every once in a while I have to remind myself that part of documenting is making sure there's some feeling included.

The prompt for the above page was to expound on something you love about where you live. Maybe it's just me, but I'm not sure there's a perfect place to live. One that ticks all the boxes on a laundry list like, for example, summer wouldn't get above 70°.  Where I live is like that, but what I love about it, is that there are 4 definite seasons. I didn't grow up with that, and I appreciate it.

How I view the roles in my life at this very particular moment in time. This one had hard parts and easy parts to write about.

This page was about a moment I want to remember right now. This one also took some pondering since it made me think about regrets I had as a parent.

And lastly, this one talked about something I do just for me and touches on the need I have for control in my life....and how I usually don't have it. To me, it's important that some of these thoughts are preserved. Maybe someone will read them and I'm not just talking to the ether. Maybe they'll make someone think about their own situation. Maybe they'll help someone in some way, but it fills some need in me.