He’s Fifteen, Christ is Risen, and the Ham is Frozen

April 21, 2025Leave a comment

We had a birthday this week! Can you believe that this:

Is now this?

Seriously, where did the time go?!?! I’m pretty sure that I just brought this child home from the hospital!

Top priorities this past week:

Celebrate The Boy’s birthday
Easter Sacrament program
Easter dinner
Try to make some progress on the Star Climber scrap quilt

Celebrating

He’s a whopping fifteen years old now. He can start Driver’s Ed and we’re just careening towards independence with this baby of the family. It’s going by so fast.

Creating

The Easter Sacrament program went really, really well! Everyone showed up on time and did the things they said they would do and many ward members remarked that the program helped them feel the Spirit, which is the basic goal of any of these programs. It was a lot of work and I’m trying to focus on some self-care practices this week to release the tension that’s been building in my shoulders and neck for the past three weeks.

Easter dinner did not happened as planned because whomever unloaded the car after my Easter dinner grocery shopping trip, and it very well could have been me despite having no recollection of it, decided to put the Easter ham into the freezer. So when I went to get the ham out of the fridge yesterday to bake it, I discovered that it was not in the fridge, but in the freezer as hard as a rock. Easter dinner has been rescheduled for later this week, and we enjoyed leftover chili and mac & cheese, with a healthy helping of carrot cake.

Didn’t make any progress on the Star Climber quilt because I was too busy with life this week. Here’s the thing—I’ve also been feeling a sense of burnout. I’ve given so much of myself to quilting and this blog over the years, but more and more I’m thinking that I might want to step back and refocus. It’s not an easy decision, but I’m starting to feel like it’s time to make room for something new. As difficult as it would be to walk away, I believe this might be the best decision for me right now. I’m ready to turn the page and embrace new things. This chapter is coming to a close, and I’m excited to see where life takes me from here.

Final Thoughts

So here we are—celebrating a milestone birthday, reflecting on a meaningful Easter, and thinking seriously about where to go next. Life is busy, beautiful, and a little overwhelming sometimes. I’m feeling the pull to slow down, breathe, and make space for what’s ahead. I don’t know exactly what that looks like yet, but I do know this: It’s okay to grow, to shift, and to let go of things that once filled you up but now feel like too much. Thanks for being here, for reading, and for walking this journey with me—even when the ham ends up in the freezer. (I never offered perfection…and I thank you for laughing with me over the many mishaps over the years.)

Spring Break with Teens: Prom Prep, Easter Crafts & a Day Trip

April 13, 2025Leave a comment

Another Spring Break done and dusted. We had a great week of not having to be anywhere and having the freedom to explore and do what we felt like doing on our own schedule. Reminded me of our homeschooling days. Gosh, I miss those.

Top priorities this past week:

HAVE A GREAT SPRING BREAK
Perhaps get some work done in the garden
Hem Rachel’s prom dress

Caring

It matters a lot to me that I do some fun things with the kids during their Spring Breaks. I spent some time researching interesting places to go on our side of the state and asked Rachel and Nathaniel if any of them sounded interesting. Nathaniel chose The Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum, which I had never heard of, and Rachel wanted to do a good old-fashioned trip to the zoo. So, we packed up one morning and did a “Seattle Day Trip,” which also included a trip to the Dick Blick store in Seattle, which Rachel’s wanted to visit since we moved here. (I generally avoid Seattle like the plague these days because it is no longer the beautiful place that it was in my youth—makes me too sad to spend much time there anymore.)

I also wanted to work on hemming Rachel’s prom dress, but never got around to it. Ugh. She ordered a dress that ended up being too long for her, and it has like five skirts, so I’m getting to experience all the worst parts of dressmaking (hemming) without any of the fun parts whatsoever (basically every other part of sewing a dress). Super jazzed. Next week is crazy busy with Easter prep, so I probably won’t get to it until the week after that. It’s a little too close to the deadline for my liking, but it is what it is at this point.

Gardening

Nope. I’m thinking this year is going to be a lean garden year. I just can’t/won’t find the time to get out there and work on it. Which is fine; I just need to wrap my head around the idea of quite possibly letting that slide this year.

Creativity

We’re in the process of painting some wooden Easter eggs for our Easter table centerpiece. We’ve done pysanky and regular egg dyeing in the past and we’re kind of over putting all that effort into making eggs each year only to eat them or have them break later on. Very few of us like hardboiled eggs, so dyeing up a bunch means a lot of them will go bad over the next weeks. I’d rather make our decorating efforts last, hence the experiment with wooden eggs this year.

It’s been fun exploring new ways of expressing my creativity lately. Something I’ve noticed over the last few years is that I tend to rotate through my hobbies, and once spring hits I’m not looking forward to more time in the craft room. As of right now, I’m looking forward to pursuing more painting projects and dedicating my focus where I feel it’s needed most, like in the garden or in physical activity.

Final Thoughts

I took the week off from quilting so I could focus on the kids and spring break activities—something I’ve finally felt strong enough to enjoy again, and that in itself has felt like a quiet victory. But as I’ve stepped back to breathe a little, it’s becoming clearer that I can’t keep juggling everything I love with the same intensity. Life is gently nudging me to shift focus for a season, and that might mean sharing less online.

That said, this moment of pause also reminded me just how much joy and beauty this space has held over the years. I’ve spent some time revisiting old posts and projects that still make my heart sing, and I’d love to share a few of those with you, too:

Favorite Projects Through the Years:

Quilts

Storybook Hexagon Quilt made by Cara Brooke of That Crafty Cara. A baby quilt with EPP hexagon blossoms set with string blocks. — Storybook Hexagon Quilt

Farmgirl Vintage Quilt made by Cara Brooke of That Crafty Cara — Farm Girl Vintage Quilt

Patchwork Forest Quilt (aka the "Hipster Christmas Tree Quilt") made by Cara Brooke of That Crafty Cara — Patchwork Forest Quilt

Classic & Vintage Double Nine-Patch Quilt made by Cara Brooke of That Crafty Cara — Classic & Vintage: Double Nine-Patch Quilt for Fat Quarter Shop

Rachel Brooke's first quilt, a Trip Around the World pattern. Made with her mother, Cara Brooke, of That Crafty Cara — Rachel’s First Quilt

Other Sewing

Prom dresses made by Cara Brooke of That Crafty Cara — Prom Dresses

Jolly Braid Tote Bag made by Cara Brooke of That Crafty Cara for Fat Quarter Shop — Jolly Braid Tote Bag

Crochet

Three handmade shawls that Cara Brooke of That Crafty Cara made for her daughters when they were young girls. — Three Finished Shawls for the Girls

Knitting

Baking Doodle Cowl knit by Cara Brooke of That Crafty Cara — Baking Doodle Cowl

Rainbow Ombre Mitts knit by Cara Brooke of That Crafty Cara — Rainbow Ombre Heart Mitts

Peacock Feathers Stole knit by Cara Brooke of That Crafty Cara. Knit with Jaggerspun in Juniper. — Peacock Feathers Stole

Purple Fair Isle Sweater designed and knit by Cara Brooke of That Crafty Cara for her daughter. — Amethyst Fair Isle Sweater

Cabled Yoke Cardigan designed & knit by Cara Brooke of That Crafty Cara for her daughter, Rachel out of pink tweed yarn — Raspberry Ropes Cardigan

NOT FAVORITE PROJECTS

Face Masks sewn by Cara Brooke of That Crafty Cara in March 2020 — FACE MASKS. (We’ve been through so much together, friends…)

I wish a you a lovely upcoming week of spring! Isn’t it just the best season ever?!?! Loving this year’s spring. Thank you so much for being a part of my world.

Old Photos, New Thoughts: Looking Back as Spring Marches on…

April 8, 2025Leave a comment

Whew! April is HERE and we are happily enjoying its beauty and all the work that it brings our way. Children prance about in the sunlight, there’s Easter and General Conference preparations to take care of, and there’s beginning to be a bit of “school will be ending” energy in the kids’ activities, despite there being a good two months of attendance left. There’s just something about the beginning of April; it’s peak spring and looking-to-the-future vibes. I love it!

The band was involved in a big bunch of parades over the weekend, so there was a lot of prep work for that. Band Boosters pack lunches for all the kids and chaperones, which requires a bit of logistical tap-dancing, but we got ‘er done. Rachel also got to be in the parade this year—she pushed the wheelchair of one of the band students. As luck would have it, that student plays percussion, just like Nathaniel, and the two of them were placed next to each other in the parade formation so I was able to get photos of both Rachel and Nathaniel together in a parade! I never thought that would happen. (I’m not going to post those photos because there’s a whole bunch of other kids from the school in the shot and I would not like it if other parents posted pictures of my kids in public spaces on the internet.)

I was looking through old photos of the kids doing gardening and Easter prep work throughout the years and feeling all the feels from those days. What a blessing it has been to be able to easily share their childhood moments with family through the blog and through social media. It was not part of my plan to have lived so far away from family while my kids were growing up, but at least there was an easy way to keep in touch. I’m so thankful for blogging and social media in that regard, and more grateful on top of that when I consider all the great opportunities that have come into my life because of the blog, namely, the opportunity to collaborate with Fat Quarter Shop, Blank Quilting, and the other businesses that I’ve teamed up with to promote quilting and knitting projects.

I’ve been on Instagram for over eleven years now. Who would have thought that little free photo-sharing app would turn into what it’s now become? The online world has changed so much over the years, and I’m a little sad to say that I’ve found it increasingly difficult to keep up with the pace. The pressure to stay relevant and adapt to new trends can sometimes overshadow the joy of creating. More and more I find myself wondering if I want to keep participating in a rat race where the rules keep changing without any notification or warning. Somber thoughts for such a beautiful time of year, but there you go…

Happy April!

Springing Forward or Stumbling Through?

March 28, 2025March 28, 2025Leave a comment

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.

Top priorities this past week:

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!