#CreativelyInspired

At the start if 2015 I knew I wanted to focus on being creatively inspired. It's not that I haven't been inspired in the past, I just decided that I would live each day open to the chance to be creatively inspired. Whether its the color of the flowers in front of my son's school, the design on the shirt of a random stranger in the grocery store or taking something and using it in a new and different way.

Living life more creatively helps keep the boredom caused by the repetition of daily life at bay. Earlier today I was watching an episode of Heros on Netflix and one of the characters was in the kitchen with a grey, yellow and white dish towel and for some reason the pattern caught my eye and I made a quick note of it in my quilting notebook. I may use it in a quilt one day, I may not, but it caught my attention.

Yesterday, recieved a package from Quiltsmart with some panels I needed for projects in progress. Inside they had included some extra panels from various Quiltsmart patterns or ZigZapps and I spent about an hour this morning sorting through and trying to decide on some quick projects to do.

Inside the scrap pack, was a partial panel of Mary's Flower Garden. It looked like they needed one flower from it for a project or something so I had 5 flowers to work with.

I've really been going through a "French Colonial" phase, or shabby chic, depending on my level of relaxation. When I got home after work, I dug through my fabric and found this beautiful yellow floral by Robyn Pandolph that I had been saving for a "special" project because there wasn't a lot of it.

After getting the Lil Monkey settled into a Lego project and doing some cleaning in the ktichen, I sat down at my sewing machine and whipped up a proejct in no time. Within two hours I had 4 flowers and all the fabric cut that I needed to make a summer-inspired table topper.  I just need to sew it all together. Hopefully, I can get some time one day this week to finish it up. Life has been a little busy lately. 

I love that it is so easy to try different backgrounds. This green was really pretty as well, but I just love the floral fabric.

Well, I'm off to clean up my work space ... a maybe find a little bit of inspiration in that pile of fabric. I hope every day you too look for ways to stay #creativelyinspired.

Until our next cup of tea ...

Monkey's Favorite Spot

So this past summer we went home (Texas) for a month while my husband was out of the country on an assignment. Many of the family members had yet to meet this little guy since the Army deemed it vital to move us to the OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE U.S. when I was 8-months pregnant, but that's Army life!

While we were there, our little Monkey, as we like to call this happy and active little gift of our, spent a lot of time being spoiled. As the first grandchild/great grandchild on both sides, he was quite a commodity, though my brother quickly followed up with the second grandchild, first grand-daughter, 3 months after Monkey was born.

So went a day on Pa Frank and Ma Joyce's ranch (my grandparents). While we were there lil man recieved his first "made with love" quilt ... his response was to promptly fall alseep on it ... in nothing but a diaper! (How's that for breaking it in!?!)




Over the past few months he has become quite attached to it ... to the point I have to make sure he doesn't fall out of the recliner in his room when I pull it out. Let me explain ...

Monkey is very good at sitting in the recliner with a toy while I fold his laundry or change his sheets, however, every day after his lunchtime nap, I lay the quilt on the floor, throw some toys on it and we practice sitting, crawling, and other age appropriate activities. Now he's got a small room and with the quilt on the floor nearly the whole room is covered in furniture or something, so as soon as I pull it off the toy box (beside the recliner) and open it up, he flips over on his tummy and pushes off the back of the chair and slides down the front to get to the quilt. Luckily I am there to catch him as his feet hit the floor ... much to his amusement. It is a fun game for him, but mommy still gets nervous. Maybe this game is why he was standing on his own, long before the crawl or sitting were attempted (on his part.)

He is content to play on the quilt for quite a while, unless the puppy walks by and he tries to follow. He's just happy as can be, playing on his quilt ... and mommy is happy becasue she gets to sit doen and relax for a minute!







Until our next cup of tea ...

Petals in the Storm

When Hurricane Ike, the third most destructive hurricane to make landfall in the U.S., George and I were in Houston caring for his dad who was in no condition to be moved long distances even if he wasn't as stubborn as ever saying no hurricane would run him out of his home!

For 18 days we were without power, living off of generator and scrounging for fuel and food. Amid all the chaos, my husband still found a way to show me how much he appreciated me. He booked a night at one of the local hotels that had power, and this is what greeted me, even though a hot shower was all I had expected ...











I told you he treats me like a princess!

Until our next visit ...