Simplify

Shangri-love

I have a problem. Every time I walk into a quilt shop, I always end up being drawn to one line of fabric. I just can't help but buy some, usually the last little bit, for fear that the next time I come it will be gone. I have designed 2 quilts out of it (Mama's Boy and Babydoll), made 2 more, and still have a quite a stash. It is my 2nd favorite line of fabric ever. EVER! (Cotton Blossoms being the first. Bet you didn't see that coming. ;-) What line am I talking about? Shangri La from Moda. Oh how I love it.

Living in a house with 3 boys and many, many girly quilts, I decided it was time to make a few quilts sans flowers, so I started a new side project (I always have to have one. Or ten.) out of, you guessed it, Shangri La. I picked out the wovens, stripes, and leaves, anything that could pass as 'manly', but there was no way I was going to give up the damask. Damask is manly, right??

The oh-so-talented Heather Peterson of Anka's Treasures was featured in the October issue of American Patchwork and Quilting and the moment I saw her project in the magazine, I was sold. That Heather is amazing! One of the very few on my list of most favorite designers, behind my mom, of course! ;-) (Hi Mom!) By the way, Heather has a new blog called Trends & Traditions that you just have to check out.

Anyway, I finally started cutting it out last night and made a little progress on the quilt, and so far so good. Thanks Heather, for such a great project! Oh, and she used some Shangri-la in her quilt too. See, it's that amazing. I can't wait to see it finished!

The only thing I'm worried about:
That it might make a dent in my Shangri-stash.

Don't judge me.

The last one

Our last first day of no school has come and gone. I have read so many posts about sending kids off to school, many for the first time, and even though they weren't my kids, it made me tear up just thinking about it. It also made me realize how grateful I am to have one more year. One more year of sleeping in and snuggling up watching cartoons in my bed in the morning, one more year of not catching buses or packing lunches, one more year of days to do anything we want to do, like spending the day at the park bruising our foreheads (Canon), and thankfully, one more year to prepare for sending my babies off to school. One more year of these sweet little monsters all to myself.

Almost every day I tease Aiden that I'm going to make him 3 on his next birthday. To which he always replies, "Mommy, I have to be 5 and go to school. I have to grow up and get bigger like you."

One more year... I have a feeling it is going to go way too fast.