The Open Book: Something To Do While We Wait

Even when I was a teenager I found myself thinking about what I could do to prepare to be a really good mother. I looked at the women in my life and what I admired in them and tried to learn how to do the stuff I saw them doing. My Mom is a great cook. Actually, my Mom is great at a lot of things. She makes being a homemaker art. When you think about it, having an organized and beautiful home is art. It's not easy to do. Anyway, I learned how to cook, can fruit, play the piano, organize the house - all from my Mom.

My Mom can also sew. She makes clothes, curtains, pillows, etc. She doesn't quilt, but I still wanted to know how to make heirloom quilts because my Great Grandma Rhoda did. She did everything by hand and would have the quilt frames up in her living room for weeks while she worked on them. I've decided to take a modern approach because I am a chicken and I want to make a lot of quilts (one for every niece and nephew when they get married, for starters). I finished my first major quilt for Brian's parents' Christmas present. I was done early enough that I made a couple of table toppers with scraps. (I have a lot of scraps. Fabric collectors refer to that as their "stash." I make and sell car seat canopies, so I have a stash that is starting to get out of control.) I pieced these things together myself, but I send them to a long-arm quilter for the quilting portion. (My sewing machine can handle really small stuff - like oven mitts or place mats. Ha! Oven mitts - I should make some of those.)

Anyway! Heirloom quilting is something I learned how to do in 2009. It has helped me take my mind off waiting for another baby and given me something worthy and meditative to do during "down" times. We've informed Bridget that she will need to have a lot of kids because Brian and I are going to be AWESOME at the grandparenting stuff. :) Here are some of my Christmas projects: