When Life Gives You Scraps....

...add a happy stripe and make a quilt!

Ever have one of those days? nothing wrong, but nothing right, just sorta bummed out, moody for no reason? welcome to my world...

can't pin point where it started...maybe coming back to reality after our cruise...but somewhere in the past week the little stresses started to sneak up on me....the time killers...the distractions...the small problems that want to stick to each other like glue to make you feel like there are big problems in your life when you know better...but the mood just sorta sneaks in unawares...

maybe it was the phone call at 11 PM Friday night from Son #2 wanting to know if his car insurance would cover flooding....5 inches in two hours (after last week's 11 inches and flash flooding) left him with water in his car...not a nice bedtime story that's for sure...(for the record, no, his insurance does not cover it because he only had liability, and yes, his car is going to be okay since it only ruined the carpet)..

maybe it was all the interruptions over the weekend when I was trying desperately to quilt....of course they were good interruptions like Son #1 having the day off and wanting to join hubby and I for lunch out at Subway (where I discovered today through my online banking that they were so proud of their sandwiches that they charged my debit card twice, and no I can't talk to the owner, didn't I know it was their lunch rush and he wasn't there anyway!)...and of course the interruptions by two new customers couldn't be considered a bad thing...just that it was time away from my customer quilt on the frame and the fact that in the middle of all my moodiness I was in the mood to quilt and therefore couldn't due to taking care of the other side of my business...

no...nothing wrong...just didn't feel right...didn't help that hubby has a cold and was vegging on the couch watching NASCAR....oh I don't mind him enjoying his hobby, I just needed him to vent with and he wasn't feeling well enough to try to balance my emotions....

So. I quilt.

I found a pattern by Terri Attinkson in her book called Spring Cleaning...the pattern is Lasagna...it's just a bunch of 4 inch strips in a build a brick fashion and I thought I could whip it out rather quickly and get out of my funky mood. So Saturday night I did just that. I used some 5 1/2 inch strips I had from a previous project, cut them down to size and away I went. Got the rows all done before bedtime and decided that I wanted to do a little pattern adapting -- instead of continuing with a border made from contrasting bricks I would do a fun bright border (which I hoped would help the look of the quilt, I didn't like the way the scraps were playing together -- even though there were some fun ones in there like the whales and fishes there were too many duds for my liking, take a second look at the photo up top and I think you'll agree.)

Saturday night right before I went to sleep I had an 'ah-ha' moment. It was funny because I must have made a little noise since my hubby asked if I'd just discovered something! I had, I decided that this little quilt in the making needed to be punched up a notch by having a pieced back and that way I could use up the rest of the scraps that weren't playing together nicely in this same quilt never to have to worry with them again. A guilt release for using my stash that's for sure!

Okay, Sunday comes and I have the afternoon to myself as hubby is now feeling somewhat better and really enjoying the Talladega race (did I mention that we celebrated our 20th anniversary selling Ben & Jerry's at that track? another story, but good memories). hum..okay.

Since I wasn't real thrilled with the bricks I decided to use a happy stripe to brighten up the quilt and I decided that it was a good time to practice my mitered borders. I'd learned from Winnie Flemming how to cut the border to fit as well as how to put two borders together and make one miter. That part worked out okay...what I wasn't pleased with was the way I joined my strips to make the piece longer...generally I use a diagonal to splice...I think I should have used a straight seam...it looks a little catty-wompus...I may go back and redo it...

I then pieced the back and hope when it's all said and done that it will be a fun little cuddle quilt.

My hubby decided that Pixxie needed to be dressed up to match the quilt....

So you'd think after a day off to quilt I'd be out of the doldrums ... well, I thought so too. maybe it's because it's overcast and rainy looking again....hubby had the day off and I really didn't want to work so suggested an afternoon movie....he asked if I could afford it! I told him it was the matinee and he said he meant 'time off' .... away we went....only to sit in a darken theater for over 35 minutes while they tried to repair the projector before asking for a refund...so much for trying to cheer me up!

Guess I just need to shake it off and realize that sometimes life does give you scraps...I hope I remember to add a happy stripe and just make a quilt. (And hope for a sunny tomorrow!)