Springing Forward or Stumbling Through?

Happy Friday! Ugh, I feel like I haven’t been around for ages—my allergies are atrocious this year, which is slowing me down something awful. But it’s spring, which means the kids are super, super busy with a million different things, so I’m just forcing myself forward with a travel pack of Kleenex and hoping the pollen counts come down soon.

This week was full of kid activities, so when I look at the calendar on a Sunday before a crazy week, I just mentally hunker down and accept that I’ll just be focusing on the top three important categories of domestic life: Cooking, Clothing, and Cleaning. There’s just not time for anything else during the crazy weeks, and if you ignore the top three you end up with more problems.

Cooking

It was a week for soups and crock pot meals and I even allowed myself the luxury of a semi-homemade Costco meal as well so that I could keep up with carpooling, and appointment and event attendance.

Clothing

My allergies have been extremely bad for about three weeks now, so the laundry had piled up and needed some serious attention. I’m getting it back down to manageable levels.

Cleaning

Oh, the call of spring cleaning after long winter months of hibernation! Doesn’t it feel awesome to declutter and wipe away the stagnancy of late winter/the gray months?!?! As I wipe away the cobwebs of cold and gloom, I listen for the songs of the birds returning to the trees and smile as I catch a glimpse of crocuses and daffodils emerging from their frigid slumbers. Thank goodness for spring.

Final Thoughts

After two weeks of uninterrupted down time, due to those pesky allergies, and this last week of ramping up productivity to match the energy of the season, I’ve found myself reflecting on the way I’m managing my time. There’s always so much to juggle, nothing new there, but lately I’ve been thinking about whether or not I’m focusing on what truly matters to me. I didn’t believe people when they told me, during my years of raising babies and toddlers, that I’d only get more busy as the kids got older because I could not wrap my head around the idea of ever being busier than I was during those years of keeping little people alive and well, but it turns out that it is 100% true. There is so much to do right now and I never expected that to be the case. I really thought I’d be downshifting as I approached the empty nest years. With so many responsibilities pulling me in different directions, I’m wondering if it’s time for a change in some areas of my life?

There’s definitely a shift happening in my creative life, and I’m finding it more difficult to feel inspired lately. Maybe it’s the allergy sludge talking, but I just really feel like I might need a break to recharge and reassess what I’m truly passionate about? I don’t know; we’ll see how this feeling plays out in the next little while. As it stands, I had no time to put into creative projects this week, but that’s no cause for alarm. Busy weeks happen. That’s where a beautiful little truth of the fiber arts comes into play—fabric and yarn will wait for you. There’s no need to panic when you have a week or two with no time for creativity because it will all patiently wait for you. I’m looking forward to the reunion…while simultaneously enjoying the tasks that are keeping me too busy to spend time in the craft room! Life is good.

And, because I was feeling nostalgic and had a lot of empty time on my hands, I went in search of my earliest projects on the blog and found baby hats, scarves, and baby quilts. Oh my goodness, the cute! I don’t make as many of those as I used to!

Ewe Beanie for Rachel before she was born

A daffodil in That Crafty Cara's (Cara Brooke's) garden

Hailstorms, Mishaps, and a Birthday Cake Colosseum

Hello, dear friends! This last week has been a mix of progress, moments of “Whoops!”, and unexpected weather!

Caring

  • We dusted off the old tradition of holding Family Home Evening this week! Since Michael’s birthday was this week, this last Monday’s FHE was all about him—sharing favorite memories of him, letting him pick the activity and treat, and just having fun the way he wanted to have fun. He chose to have a fire in the backyard and eat s’mores and we spent one of the last normal-weather days of fake spring jumping around the backyard and stuffing ourselves with marshmallows. It was a low-key evening that was very much enjoyed by all.
  • Michael’s birthday: We did all the things and my guy has been celebrated! We had steak, baked potatoes, Caesar salad, and rustic Italian bread dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dinner. Renaissance also made a really great Roman Colosseum birthday cake for him. We played Yahtzee and it was just a nice, calm evening at home, just the way he likes ‘em.
Roman Colosseum birthday cake decorated by Renaissance Brooke

Creativity

  • The King David’s Crown quilt post went live on Tuesday and you guys went nuts for it! Thank you so much for the comments, emails, and pinning of the post, it got a lot of traffic. That was a fun couple of days where I felt like I was able to put something really beautiful out into the world and people appreciated it. Thank you for the love! Now, to finish quilting the actual quilt so I can use said beautiful thing.
  • Cherry Twilight Socks: I am in the middle of shaping the gusset on the first sock. I wish I could show these to you right now because they look so good! It would be a dead giveaway whose Christmas present they were for if I were to show you, so vague word pictures are all you’re gonna get until after Christmas. Crafters’ lives are weird that way.
  • Midnight Lark Socks: I’m not sure how I feel about these, but they’re coming along. I’m about 2/3 done with the leg of the first sock.
  • I put in a little more time on the Star Climber quilt. I always forget how many little pieces go into a scrap quilt! The cutting for this has been more than I expected, but I sure do love the fabrics that will be used in this project. Scrap quilts are such a great trip down Memory Lane, I love making them so much!
An in-progress Woven Star quilt block being made by That Crafty Cara (Cara Brooke) for her Star Climber scrap quilt.

Lowlights

  • My allergies are pretty bad this year and it’s just hard to get through my days with any energy. I feel like such a grump. My eyes itch really bad and I’ve rubbed them so hard I’ve broken a blood vessel in one. Feeling extra pretty right now. And, of course, the ward choir had a performance scheduled for today so I dragged myself into church to conduct it and then left as soon as I could afterwards.
  • All of these low energy days are giving way to a lot of introspection, which generally doesn’t make one feel great about themselves. I’m extra aware of my flaws at the moment and trying to improve. Which is the best I can offer!

Highlights

  • That moment during FHE around the firepit when it’s just gotten dark and everyone just relaxes.
  • Had a cute conversation with a fellow band parent about the Great British Baking Show and the joys that are gingham and Anglophilia.
  • The kids had no school on Friday, so Rachel decided to make brunch that day and she made the most amazing creamy chipotle breakfast burrito sauce I’ve ever tasted.
  • The delight on Michael’s face when he walked into the kitchen and realized that Ren was creating a Roman Colosseum cake for him.
  • Michael really got into directing us as we sang “Happy Birthday” to him.
  • The ward choir performance today went really well. We sang one of the newly-released hymns, #1007 “As Bread is Broken,” which Ren’s flute teacher had written a flute part for and I arranged a few of the verses to be slightly more interesting for the choir. A visitor to our service today came up and asked if she could take a copy of it home with her so her ward choir could sing it, too. High praise!

Final Thoughts

We’re just muddling through the allergies and wet weather as best we can, with more time together, some extra stitching, and good food. What else can you do? Hopefully your fake spring survival tactics are working for you as well, and I’ll talk to you again soon!

A daffodil in That Crafty Cara's (Cara Brooke's) garden
King David’s Crown quilt pattern in Cali & Co. fabric, made by That Crafty Cara (Cara Brooke) for Fat Quarter Shop

King David’s Crown Quilt, a new free pattern from Fat Quarter Shop

It’s pattern release day for the King David’s Crown quilt, so I can finally show you this beautiful project in its entirety!

King David’s Crown quilt pattern in Cali & Co. fabric, made by That Crafty Cara (Cara Brooke) for Fat Quarter Shop

Since this pattern is part of Fat Quarter Shop’s “Classic and Vintage” series, the requirement was to make just one of the blocks, but when I saw this pattern I really liked how unique it was compared to the quilt blocks that I normally make, so I decided to make the entire quilt.

King David’s Crown quilt pattern in Cali & Co. fabric, made by That Crafty Cara (Cara Brooke) for Fat Quarter Shop

TIP: Not gonna lie, I had a hard time with not cutting off my points on this quilt. I realized after a few blocks that you want to prioritize getting the skinny tips to match up and not worry about the wider ends of the tips because those will get trimmed and won’t matter. Prioritze the skinnier tips of the wedges when you’re doing your cutting and piecing on this pattern; it makes a huge difference.

King David’s Crown quilt pattern in Cali & Co. fabric, made by That Crafty Cara (Cara Brooke) for Fat Quarter Shop

Corey Yoder’s fabric “Cali & Co.” had just come out and I decided to use this quilt as an opportunity to indulge my desire to make something with the beautiful multicolored flower print (SKU# 29190-11) in that collection. Unfortunately, when I tried mocking up the pattern with the multicolored flower print, I just couldn’t come up with a fabric combination that worked for me, so I pivoted to using the cherries print (SKU# 29194-11) as my main background and went with the blues and flamingo “reds” in the hopes for a subtly patriotic color scheme that I could display in the summer months.

King David’s Crown quilt pattern in Cali & Co. fabric, made by That Crafty Cara (Cara Brooke) for Fat Quarter Shop

ANOTHER TIP: I did figure out a way to sneak in as much of that multicolored flower print as I could, though—I opted to use it as the backing of the quilt. I realized, years ago, that if you use your most favorite print of a fabric collection for a quilt’s backing, you’ll end up with a ton of it leftover for your scrap bins (to then use in future scrap quilts) because you’ll have to trim off the requisite additional four inches on each side that you need to include for quilting. No more ugly fabrics for quilt backings here! I’m looking forward to sneaking in more of this beautiful print into future quilts! It’s just so pretty.

Cali & Co. fabric used in That Crafty Cara's (Cara Brooke) King David's Crown quilt for the Fat Quarter Shop

My plan is to use one of the darker blue fabrics in the Cali & Co. collection for the binding. I just love the light and airy feel of the fabrics in this quilt!

Blue fabrics from the Cali & Co. fabric collection by Corey Yoder for Moda Fabrics.
King David’s Crown quilt pattern in Cali & Co. fabric, made by That Crafty Cara (Cara Brooke) for Fat Quarter Shop

So, um, the quilting…isn’t finished. I have quilted in my foundational lines and I really thought about doing fast stipple quilting to just get this done on time, but I happened to see a really perfect quilting stencil design and fell in love with the idea of using it for quilting this up. Problem was, it took forever for the stencil to arrive in the mail and then it became apparent, very quickly, that I was going to have to practice a bit before executing my plan.

Quilting stencil atop the King David’s Crown quilt pattern in Cali & Co. fabric, made by That Crafty Cara (Cara Brooke) for Fat Quarter Shop

I don’t quilt as confidently as I piece, so there’s been a noticeable gap in my skills, and I’ve avoided quilting for a while. Nevertheless, I think it’s time to address this disparity and start legitimately working on upping my quilting skills, so I’m planning to take my time with quilting this beautiful quilt so that I can be proud of it when it’s done.

I really, really like this pattern and have already started mocking it up in other color palettes in the hopes that I can make another one. I think it’d look really great in a red-and-green color palette, don’t you?

King David’s Crown quilt pattern in Cali & Co. fabric, made by That Crafty Cara (Cara Brooke) for Fat Quarter Shop

The pattern is available for free on Fat Quarter Shop’s website, and they’ve also assembled a kit, featuring French General’s “Sacre Bleu” fabric collection, for maximum ease in getting started on this fun little pattern.

Thank you to all the new readers who are popping through to read this post! If you’d like to automatically receive more of my posts about quilty goodness, please subscribe to my blog on WordPress by clicking here, or sign up for my mailing list by clicking on the “Subscribe” button in the sidebar!

Thank you, Fat Quarter Shop, for inviting me to sew along with you on the King David’s Crown quilt! This quilt is going to be a lovely addition to my summer quilt collection! (Quesnel thinks it’s great, too!)

King David’s Crown quilt pattern in Cali & Co. fabric, made by That Crafty Cara (Cara Brooke) for Fat Quarter Shop
King David’s Crown quilt pattern in Cali & Co. fabric, made by That Crafty Cara (Cara Brooke) for Fat Quarter Shop
This post contains affiliate links. Fat Quarter Shop also provided me with some of the fabrics and the Creative Grids Starburst ruler in exchange for me sewing up the pattern.

King David’s Crown quilt pattern in Cali & Co. fabric, made by That Crafty Cara (Cara Brooke) for Fat Quarter Shop

A Final Stitch for February, a Fresh Thread for March

I’m grateful that the end of the grayest month of the year opens the doors for the most hopeful month of the year. We made it, folks! It only gets brighter and greener from here! Whew!

February Finishes & Highlights:

  • Stripey Christmas Socks
  • Piscis Project, which I only just gifted to Rachel over the weekend and still haven’t taken pictures of…
  • Quesnel survived her kidney infection, thanks to our consistent administration of antibiotics twice a day, which is not a task for the faint-hearted
  • Nathaniel received a Superior rating on the xylophone at Solo Competition
  • Rachel celebrated her 17th birthday
  • Nathaniel was awarded the “Rookie of the Year” award for Auto class, which is a CTE award given to freshmen
  • I managed, with help from other band parents (obviously), to distribute, collect, and award both the Band Senior Scholarship Essay competition and the Annual Headphone Fundraiser Raffle.

February Progress:

King David’s Crown quilt pattern in Cali & Co. fabric, made by That Crafty Cara (Cara Brooke) for Fat Quarter Shop
A Woven Star quilt block made by That Crafty Cara (Cara Brooke) for her Star Climber Scrap Quilt.

Plans for March:

  • Quilting the King David’s Crown Quilt, perhaps finishing it altogether
  • Star Climber Scrap Quilt progress
  • Cherry Twilight sock progress
  • Midnight Lark sock progress
  • Garden preparations
  • Track Season
  • Michael’s birthday
  • Prom prep (Rachel is still deciding whether or not she wants me to sew her dress)
  • Easter Sacrament Meeting Program prep
  • Maybe some Easter celebration prep, if time allows

As much as I love to see the door hit February in the butt as it exits the room, I will miss the quieter pace of the last two months of winter hibernation. The sun is shining more and more each day, I actually hear birdsong when I venture outside, and I know that the activities of spring will soon start crowding out my time set aside for crafting. I struggle with this transition every year, trying to figure out how to spend as much time as possible on so many activities that I love for various reasons. Thankfully, I live on the wet side of Washington State, so we are still in for some seriously rainy weather, so darn, I guess I’ll just have to stay inside on those days and catch up on my stitching!

Happy March! Enjoy the return of the sunshine!