Just Like Piecing a Quilt

Healing is like making a quilt. 

A quilt starts off as bolts of different fabric in the store, perfectly content to be on the shelf. The fabric minds its own business until someone comes and cuts off a yard or two or three. Then the fabric is taken home where it is cut again into pieces of various sizes. The fabric may even wonder why it is being cut into smaller pieces.

The fabric doesn't know what pattern the quilter envisions, nor does it know the beautiful masterpiece it will become in the end. Sometimes, the quilt takes a bit of configuring if a piece isn't cut correctly or if the pieces don't fit quite right.

A lot of work, time and patience are required of the quilter as piece after piece is sewn together creating blocks. Assembling the pieces seems never ending. Blocks are remade if a piece was cut incorrectly. Mistakes are made, seams are ripped out and resewn. Blocks are rearranged until the perfect combination is found. Often, the original plan is changed a bit to create an even better masterpiece.

Then there is the intricate work of quilting the quilt, or sewing the quilt top, batting and back together. This can take a long time if done by hand. It's quite amazing to see a flat quilt top come to life as the tiny stitches add texture and compliment the quilt design.

As I chose these quilt pictures, I realized how long it took me to finish. I began piecing it in October 2013. I remember making the flying geese blocks (all the triangles) and cursing them because there were so many and because the sewing had to be perfect for all blocks to be straight. I finished the quilt top in February 2014 in time for my friend's baby shower. But it took me until August 2014 to quilt it by hand and finish the binding- just in time to enter it into the State Fair.  It was a labor of love and my favorite quilt I have made so far.

What does this have to do with healing? It's the same process. I think I'm in the sewing and seam ripping stage, where things feel worse as they are improving and the light seems like it will never return. But all hope is not lost! It is that same labor of love I need to put into myself. Work, time and patience are required for healing. I have faith that working through my depression will ultimately lead to the masterpiece of my life quilt that God has planned. I cannot see the outcome, but I know He can. I just have to hold onto that.

If you or someone you know needs help, visit this suicide prevention resources page.

If you need support right now, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or text “Hello” to 741-741.

Quilting Update

I am happy to report that I finished cutting out all the fabric for my current quilt! Four days and five movies later, I now am the owner of 585 squares!

 I've discovered I prefer movies as background noise as opposed to music. I just haven't found any good "cutting fabric" music.

Let the sewing begin (after making a few triangles)!!!

Tying on the Apron Strings

I was working on a quilt all day on Saturday. As much as I love making quilts, they just take forever to be completed! I was in desperate need to create a small project that could be finished quickly. I remembered an apron tutorial I found online here.

After one trip to the fabric store, two Disney movies, three seams picked out, four improvisations, five pin pricks, six separate fabrics and seven hours of working, I finally had my girlie-girl apron! It really was fun to make and turned out fantastic!

Check out all the colors in this apron!

I just LOVE all the ruffles! I feel so feminine and like a little girl when I wear this apron. I don't think I will wear this when baking, but I could probably wear this every day! It's one of those pieces that makes me happy by just wearing it!

Since I am on the subject of aprons, I want to share another apron I made a few months ago for a friend's birthday. This next apron was super easy to make. The hardest part was threading the ribbon through the holes.

This is me modeling the apron before mailing it to my friend.

This is the picture my friend sent to me with a big "I love this!" Check out those pretty details!

I love, love, love sewing and turning an idea into a beautiful piece of artwork!

Fashion-forward Scriptures

Today, I started and finished a project! Back in October, I made a tote for my church things. I now have a coordinating scripture case! Take a look!

I used the same fabric as my tote but chose to use the other side instead. I'm pretty happy with how my scripture case turned out. It took me about two hours from start to finish, not including the bobbin situation I had. The best thing about sewing is learning new techniques. I had never made a buttonhole before, so I was quite apprehensive about that part. I found the Instruction Manual for my sewing machine online and read how to make buttonholes. After doing three test runs, I decided to make the buttonhole on my case.

I am quite impressed with my little machine's abilities. I hope to explore this summer more of what this baby can do.

So, what do you think?
Pretty good for not using a pattern on either one, huh?

Adventures in Homemaking

I feel that I have grown in my homemaking skills over the last few weeks.

When I learned two of my friends were coming to visit, I decided to try my hand at making refried beans to use for nachos to feed the three of us. I started with some ingredients.


Then, I put the majority of them in a crockpot to cook for a LONG time. (I have learned that I am an impatient cook- even with a crockpot.)


Next, I drained off the water and implored my friend, Smalls, to help me turn soft beans into what is known as Refried Beans. We decided to use a blender, which wasn't the best idea. There wasn't enough liquid with the beans to move them around inside the blender. The beans at the very bottom were quite mushy while the beans on the top were still in tact. The wooden spoon helped, though!


Here is the finished product! Smalls and I couldn't get the taste just right. We had to add a bunch of salt, salsa and ketchup to get it to taste good.


To make our nachos, we needed a few additional items before we could eat. So, The Quiet One was enlisted as "Cheese Grater" and did a fantastic job.



We also added tomatoes, green onions, chips and sour cream before we ate our delicious nachos!

*Food photography by Smalls*

In addition to increasing my food preparation abilities, I learned how to fill a need I found myself with. I have been called as the Ward Sacrament Meeting Pianist in my ward. I love this opportunity to serve and immerse myself in the hymns again. However, this calling comes with a "price". I get to cart around my big orange hymnal every Sunday. It isn't anything new, yet I have grown tired of carrying my scripture bag, my purse, my Joseph Smith Manual and my large hymnal! It gets bothersome to try to keep everything corralled each Sunday.

I finally decided enough was enough! I determined that I needed a tote to carry it all each week. So, I drove to JoAnn Fabrics in search of a tote pattern. I spent at least two hours in the store deciding between different fabrics and patterns and ideas, made numerous phone calls to my mom and even one of my sisters-in-law for help. Eventually, I was headed home with purchases in hand. I broke open the box my sewing machine is stored in and went to work.

It took me about three hours from the time I got home to the time I sewed the last stitch on my tote. I have learned so much from making this tote. I figured out (after the fact) that sewing handles is easier before the side seams are put in. I learned that it looks better if you fold the top twice before sewing, creating a more finished seam. (I should have known this from all the hems I have made.) I even honed my button sewing abilities.

Ta-da! The finished tote.

My tote is rather beautiful and amazing, if I do say so myself. It will have its debut at church on Sunday!

Quilting Circle

It's official! I am a Quilting B!! It's a great accomplishing feeling to see your work completed! Last week, my finished quilt arrived from my aunt who actually finished it for me. Nonetheless, this was my first big quilt! It's so beautiful, more beautiful than I ever imagined it to be!! It's been a three year process- I picked out the fabrics in June of 2006, my aunt cut all the pieces out and mailed them summer of 2007, and I completed sewing the top June 2008! I doubt my next quilting project will take that long.




The pictures aren't too great, but it's still amazing to see the finished product. Now on to my next quilt... What to choose, what to choose...

On the Cutting Room Floor

I started cutting fabric today for a quilt I am starting. It's my first experience cutting fabric for a quilt- I've only cut fabric for clothing. Boy, is it harder than it seems! Measuring out the correct dimensions is tough without the correct tools. I've been using a yard stick, ruler and a cutting mat to measure out the fabric with my new rotary cutter, and so far, I have cut the wrong dimensions at least three times on the same fabric. Hopefully, I'll get better at measuring or something. I don't have an abundance of fabric to make any huge mistakes for this quilt.

Well, it's time to try another time. This should come out with better results! Hopefully.

A New Quilting B

At the beginning of this month, I headed down the California to visit with my dad's family- grandparents, aunts, and uncle- for about a week. That was a lot of fun! I call our family gatherings "Quilting B's" because that's what they are. (Yes, I do know that the actual term is quilting bee. Just humor me.) All four of my aunts had some kind of quilting project going on that week. Naturally, I needed to be included. So, I finished my first big quilt!!

Quilting, I've learned, is a family tradition! My grandma quilts, her mom quilted, my aunts quilt, and now I quilt! To the best of my knowledge, I am the fourth generation quilter in my family! Quilting is such a neat project that links the past with the future. Not only are quilts useful to stay warm, but they make awesome forts as shown above. This fort has a total of six quilts used to complete it! The purple one was given to me by my grandma; the quilt with the animals was also made by my grandma for my niece. The other quilts' makers are not known to me off the top of my head. A quilt expresses so much. It's made with love, tailored with a specific person in mind a lot of times.

I definitely gained several things from my dad's side of the family- quilting and reading are only two. My aunt introduced me to a book series last Christmas that I have thoroughly enjoyed. I am reading the fourth book right now. It's a series about quilts, no less! The fourth book really paints a good picture of the treasures a quilt really is. The main character finds a quilt in her attic that is supposedly made by her great-grandmother. (I don't know if it actually is or not yet.) She is searching her family history to learn about the quilt. I find it fascinating!

Like the main character, I have been given a quilt that belonged to my great-grandmother. The quilt was made in 1940 as a birthday present for her. One neat thing about this quilt is all the names that have been embroidered on the blocks. To think that I have an actual piece of history right there! It's priceless to me to have that quilt. I certainly have a sparked interest in my family's history.

Now, if I could only find my next quilting project...