The First 2016 Finish

Muddy Creek is now a finished quilt! My first 2016 finish in fact. It was actually quite difficult to get good pictures of this quilt as the center tends to fade in and out depending on the lighting. Not exactly my specialty! And see how yellow the quilt looks here? I will probably never get the whole lighting thing.

Muddy Creek is finished!

I was thrilled to find the perfect binding lurking right at home in my stash totes. One of the fabrics I used for backing fabric had just the right tones to tie everything together the way the quilt needed. And why didn't I think about that specific fabric while I was stitching the quilt? Luckily there was enough leftover and all was good. Any other color would have pulled attention away from the center of the quilt, which obviously, did not need to happen.*wink

A look at the binding

This was my quilt design, from start to finish, although you can be sure that there was influence from snippets of other quilts hiding out in the depths of my brain. I just figured things out border to border like I do so many times and let the quilt talk it's way through any resulting dilemmas. Working this way often makes for a challenge {trying to get pieced borders to fit especially}, but the end result is, in my mind, more charming and 'real'.

A closer look at the center

When I stitched the cross hatching on the purple check, I just started on one end and worked my way around the quilt in a circle. I used the grid of the fabric as my guide and made slight adjustments where the fabric didn't line up precisely {something I never made any attempt to do}. It makes for an interesting intersection when the circle is complete, but to my astonishment, the cross-hatching was only off by about half a grid. Wowsers, I couldn't have planned it any nicer than that! Very easy to make adjustments and have it all join up neatly in the end. Only a dedicated perfectionist is going to realize that my cross-hatching is not lined up perfectly all the way around the quilt! And who cares if they do notice? This post really resonated with me years ago and I confess to allowing it to directly influence how I approach my hand quilting today.

Love how soft it looks it here...

I had so much fun playing with these fabrics and colors, absolutely loving the old fashioned qualities and feel of this quilt. It feels like 'my version' of an antique quilt and I'm anxious to try my hand at it another time in the future. Perhaps with different colors? No matter where I go with quilting, it's the antique style quilts that continually draw me down the garden path.

So much better looking in this light, but the center sort of fades out...

This was a good finish to start the year out especially with all the challenges I've had of late. It's been oh, so relaxing and comforting to stitch on. Not demanding or finicky in the least.

Is anyone ready for the February Quilty 365? I've lost a bunch of followers lately and thought it might be from not posting so often or having a less than exuberant mood this month. Then I realized Google made some changes that forces people to set up an Google account to properly follow. I sincerely hope it doesn't cause problems with the February linkup as that would be frustrating for all of us.

One Out of the Hoop and Another About to go In

All the hand quilting is done on Muddy Creek now. I love the texture and feel of a freshly stitched quilt so very much. So worthwhile to get to this particular point in a quilt! This one has been giving me a few anxious moments, wondering if my light floral border fabric is maybe too 'light' for the murkier center colors. It always seems to be a roller coaster of emotions for me as I reach each different stage of the quilt making. Hopefully I'll find a good binding fabric to tie it all back together and then of course I'll be delighted once again. That's just the way I roll!

Muddy Creek

Next up in the hoop will be Flowers and Flying Geese. It was a small enough quilt top that the dining room table didn't have to be moved out of the way to sandwich and pin. Funny how that could be the deciding factor, but I was quite desperate to get a quilt ready to go. Don't need any down time with that hoop right at this particular moment in my life!

This is a make-do quilt top started a few years back. The flying geese units were leftovers from an old baby quilt that just sort of jump-started what you see on a quiet fourth of July weekend. I used a lot of odds and ends, leftover applique bits, and little pieces of fabrics etc. Always an interesting, but also fun, creative way for me to work. And sometimes I wonder if my best quilt tops start from this sort of challenge? It really is a huge thrill for me to figure out how to make the random odds and ends 'work'.

Flowers and Flying Geese

I can already see this quilt top is going to be a challenge for me to hand quilt. I'm really not that adventurous with pattern, but I'm thinking Perle Cotton and big stitch quilting for this go-round as far as the thread is concerned. It's a good change from the more muted colors I've been working with and this whimsical style seems to suit my current mood quite well.

A bit closer look

So ironic to see some of the same leftover pieces show up in this little mini quilt at the very same time I'm working with the other. I will never understand the way my brain works. Never, ever, ever.

Antique block mini quilt

It's been wonderful to have a slight breather from everything going on around here of late, getting more of a schedule together and less of an 'on demand' situation. Not sure what the next couple weeks will hold for me, but I'm making use of my time as I get it. I spent one evening just digging through my stash totes, emptying everything out and refolding everything well enough that the lids will actually stay on.

A stack of interesting fabric

Can you believe that some of the fabric jumped out to stay? I started with that grayed down green that I am so very tired of--challenged myself to try and find something to perk it up. Here it is in a nice little stack awaiting inspiration and motivation for some day in the future. I find that having it sit out in the open helps me to ponder ideas better and then eventually I'll make some sort of decision to go forward. Or maybe even dump it back in the stash totes. Either way, it's never a waste of time to try and generate ideas!

A Little Bit of Stitching

My circles are saving my life. I don't know how it happened that this simple little project has become the one thing I look forward to. Every. Single. Day. And the funny thing is, I think my circles are getting more interesting because of it.

Almost up to date with the January circles!

The light gold circle on the far right bottom was a day where it felt like I might be 'disappearing'. Who am I? Torn betwixt and between, rarely doing the things that 'I' want to do. But apparently a part of me must or this craziness in my life wouldn't be happening, right? Life is about choices and I'm choosing to back burner my quilting right now for the greater good of my extended family. I'm just hoping this is a very temporary thing.

Just a little more hand quilting left to do on this quilt!

There are waaay too many quilts in my head to let this go on forever.*wink Oh well. At least I have another quilt top {or 20} to be hand quilting when I run out of quilt on this one. Two or three hoops and it's done, amazing at that sounds. Then I just have to find time to sandwich and pin the next one.

Keeping the Rhythm Going No Matter What

We had a very white Christmas. So pretty, quiet, and well, wonderful. Except that our oldest son wasn't with us for the first time ever and that almost made me cry. Growing up is hard to do, even for us mothers.

A bit of hand quilting

Although I've been lurking occasionally, mostly I've been taking a short break from social media. At first it was somewhat enforced because of my computer problems and then frankly, all the Christmas preparation and family gatherings got in the way. It's been years and years since I was still out doing Christmas shopping just two days before Christmas Eve. Oh the joys of being self employed! Eventually though, all the presents {and groceries} were acquired and things settled down a bit on the home front. Except for last minute wrapping, baking, and stocking stuffing etc. Normal mom stuff. The kids were very gown up and amazingly helpful this year plus Slacker radio plays some great Christmas music. It all helps!

Always simple stitching around here....

And thankfully I always have my hoop filled and ready for stitching. It's the one rhythm of my life that remains somewhat constant no matter what else is going on around me. That little bit of hand quilting several times a week, late in the evening really helps to calm me down and keep me centered on what's important in life. I just try and let the stress of the day float away as I stitch, stitch, stitch away. And it's always extra special sweet to be doing hand work with the Christmas tree lights twinkling from across the room.

Loving these small tulips

In fact, I've been getting just enough quilting time in to make me want to have oodles more. Honestly I've been feeling a bit whole lot deprived in that department. I'm quite positive my creativity is shriveling up and I'll have to start over from square one. My quilts will go back to old boring brown with absolutely no spark and well..., you get the picture. It's a worrisome thing.

Ready to start stitching the squares down....

But things will no doubt return to normal as soon as New Years arrives and that's soon enough. Time to link up to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching where us slow, plodding quilters hang out every week!

Doing the Things We Love to Do....

Imagine my surprise when I noticed the leaves outside my quilting room door had the same colors as my latest circles! Hmm... I do love fall and all it's gorgeous colors. These circles represent days 27 and 28 for Quilty 365, for a total of four weeks! Yay me! So many people are joining in, being artistic, thoughtful, playful, frugal and/or just plain dedicated. Love it! Quilters really are amazing!

2 more circles for Quilty 365

I'm going back to the smaller needle and regular hand quilting thread for this quilt. At first it was hard to make the transition--that big stitch quilting requires a much larger needle! I started with the very light pink thread, ripped it out, tried every other color in the picture and then went back to the light pink.*sigh  Sometimes it's hard to know what to do. I switched to the soft gold thread for the little half square triangles and finally, finally it's starting to click for me. Some quilts just have to be cajoled and talked into a bit of stitching it seems....

Muddy River in the hoop

I also picked out a fabric for the binding on Big Stars. A bold blue was the obvious choice and I was so grateful to find enough lurking in my stash. It's a Peppered Cotton, so quite a different texture from my usual binding fabric. Now the batting needs cut off and then it's all ready for the hand stitching. If I don't get to it tonight then it will be something to work on later. Always nice to have mindless hand work to plug away with during family holidays.

Initial phase of binding on the Big Stars quilt

People keep saying that this quilt was hand quilted very quickly. Hmm.... Maybe, maybe not. I sandwiched and pinned this quilt on October 8th, put it immediately in the hoop and started stitching. The thing is, I hand quilt for an hour or two {sometimes more} almost every day of the week if time is available to me. Plus I had one day I was sitting with my cousin, helping her out and keeping her company. That was probably a five hour quilting day? The stitching pattern is merely an echo style quilting or something extremely simple and it's big stitching done with Perle cotton, something that really does move along at a faster pace compared to regular hand quilting.

Perhaps someone more dedicated to hand quilting would have doubled the stitching done on this particular quilt, but I'm feeling quite satisfied with the amount done. This is not an heirloom style quilt because I for one can see every flaw in the quilt made from my inexperience with sewing curved seams! Not that I don't appreciate the effort and skill building this quilt allowed me to undergo. I am definitely more accomplished and less frightened of this type of sewing now that I've tackled something this adventuresome! However, I am a huge advocate of putting my time into the things that will most appreciate my very intense and personal labors.

Hand quilting is my thing and yes, I do love the results. But not every quilt needs or will even look better with intensive stitching--not to my eyes or thinking. And really, what else would we base our decision making on? Some people make quilt tops just so they have something to hand stitch amazing patterns and designs on. That's not me. I hand quilt because something needs to anchor the quilt together for future use, I adore the look, appreciate the {mostly emotional} benefits, and well, honestly, it suits my lifestyle and pocketbook. Did I say that I adore the look? If I didn't, we wouldn't even be having this conversation.

So glad I have time today to link up with Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching!

Making Time For Hand Work

Sometimes I feel like nothing is ever really getting done around here. All I do is piddle. First on one project and then, on another. Mostly that feeling persists because my life gets very chaotic, but really, trying to keep up with all the demands on my time {by husband, kids, other assorted family members and yes, tending to the maintenance of life} tends to kill my superwoman efficiency powers.

Big Stars

There was a window of opportunity to sandwich and pin a couple quilts the other day. {I'm doing it in pairs these days.} Of course I had to rush to piece together the backs because I don't plan ahead for these things. By the time the quilt backing was taped to the floor, I was a hot, sweaty mess and it was dark outside. Lovely lighting don't you think? It really doesn't do justice to these quilts that were lucky enough to make it to the top of the queue.

Muddy Creek

This Big Stars quilt has been nagging at me for a very long time. I have definitely shied away from this one. So proud of it when I finished, but now a little less than thrilled with the quilt top. Sometimes I experience a great deal of trepidation in my own ability to stitch something that could make a quilt shine--bring it to it's fullest potential. That can make me like my quilt top a little less than it probably deserves. Such defeating thoughts and I actually allow them to cause a bit of paralysis. Grrr....  I'm not making heirloom quilts, nor do I feel that we have to. Quilting is whatever we choose to make it and serves a very individual purpose in all our lives.

So in the hoop it goes so I can start stitching what makes sense to me. I don't need complicated. Right now I don't even have the brain power to worry about the 'best' stitching pattern. Mostly I just need something in the hoop to quiet my mind and relax my body. The end.

In the hoop

In the little bits and pieces of time I gather throughout the day, there is also applique. It never feels very important as I'm doing the actual stitching, but it definitely adds up to something huge to me. Having applique in my quilts gives a little more to love about what I make. Because I connect with it. It feels right and true for me. But if I stop and really think about it, there is never time in my life for that. Never. And that can be overwhelming. So I just get everything prepped and then I fit it into my life however and where-ever I can.

Completed Vintage Red blocks

Like with these latest projects. I have slowly, steadily, persistently, tenaciously stitched until I have all of the Vintage Red blocks completed and now all my basket handles are done too. This is the only way to ever move forward with these sorts of projects because when you're stitching a bit here and stitching a bit there, the time never 'counts'. In fact it feels rather pitiful if you look at it that way and your progress always seems quite pathetic. It's best to change our thinking. Think of this kind of stitching as filling lost time or even taking advantage of little moments.

All the Summers End basket handles are done!

Stitch when there is opportunity and then put it away when someone or something pulls you away once again. Be willing to stop mid-block. No resentment, no irritation at being pulled away because we're not counting the time. We're making use of opportunity until the day comes when 'ta da!' our blocks {or pieces} are ready for the next phase. And it always comes, no matter how difficult the project or how tedious the process. No matter how simple, repetitive and/or silly it seems. And who cares if it takes an entire week to finish one block? Every stitch counts, not the time because that kind of time can't be recovered anyway.*wink

A Little Bit of Fun in the Quilting Room

I'm always stalking the clearance bin at the {somewhat} local quilt store for backing fabrics. It's much easier to pay $4-6 a yard for the back of our quilts rather than $9-12, right? So when this pretty floral caught my eye, I went ahead and bought the rest of the bolt {not quite 3 yards}.

Muddy Creek

I'm not at all shy about mixing and matching my backing fabrics so I generally buy whatever odd measurements they have left--I'll figure it out later. Anyway, imagine my surprise when I was combing through my completed quilt top drawers and saw how perfectly this floral went with my Muddy Creek quilt! Bingo! Adding this border not only lightened and brightened the quilt but it also brought it up to approximately 60" x 70", a much better size than it was. Oh I am such a sucker for these sweet floral prints and of course there's still a little chunk left for use as backing...

A little bit of prep work...

I've also made a few tentative plans for going forward with my Scrappy Lone Star quilt. For some reason I have it in my mind that this quilt needs to be a rectangle instead of a square. This could be problematic as the lone star is very much the focal point and quite square-ish. Hmm....

Scrappy Lone Star

What to do, what to do. First off, I added the narrow red border, thicker on the vertical length and next I'm going to add a green/blue border to the top and bottom of the quilt. My basic plan is to wing it! Uh huh. That and add some nifty words and maybe a funky vine too. We'll see. I must be fairly committed as I went to the work on preparing all the bias vine already!

Looking at these two quilts, I am just amazed at how diverse my tastes are these days. Both of these completely melt my heart and yet they are very different. Isn't that a beautiful thing? Quilting opens up the doors to so much opportunity to play and go where our curiosity leads us. What about you. Do you feel that your quilting style is expanding with your experience or is it just changing to something else altogether than where you started? I know there are a few things that I've left behind {style-wise} in my journey, but mostly I feel like I'm carrying the very best parts with me, step by step, quilt by quilt.

Measuring For a Coping Border When You Want to Make Pieced Borders Fit Properly

As you know, my Muddy Creek quilt has not been made from a formal pattern. The lack of pre-planned measuring can cause issues when working with pieced border units, forcing me to find creative solutions. One of the best solutions I've found (and used over and over through the years) is adding a coping border.

1. First you need to find some important measurements, starting with the top width of your quilt.

Top width of quilt

 Next will be the measurement for the middle width of the quilt.

Middle width of quilt

And last, measure for the bottom width of the quilt. Make sure your tape is taut and flat when taking all your measurements! You want them to be as accurate as possible. In this case, my three measurements are 27 1/4", 27 1/4", and 27 1/8". Now I need to find the average which means I have to add those three numbers together (27.25 + 27.25 + 27.125 = 81.625) and then divide by 3 (81.625 divided by 3 = 27.208). Rounding up in quilty language, I get the measurement of 27.25".

Bottom width of quilt

2. Repeat that process to get the vertical length of your quilt. This is especially important if your quilt is not square! Measure the length of the left side of the quilt, straight down the middle and also the length of the right side. The three vertical measurements for this quilt are as follows: 32", 31 7/8", and 32". In this particular instance, I don't even need to do the math to come up with an average of 32".

Vertical length of quilt

3. The best way for me to keep track of which number goes where, is to draw a picture. It's a magic diagram that clears away all the confusion and keeps things simple. Trust me and just do it. Draw a rough looking rectangle and mark the numbers where they belong. One number per direction plus some little arrows is really all it takes. From now on, the current quilt will be called the quilt centerpiece.

The magic diagram with a drawing of the
quilt centerpiece

4. Hopefully you've already figured out what you want your pieced border to look like. Most pieced borders are a set of 'repeats' or units that are exactly the same width. These basket blocks with the corner triangles added on are 8 1/2" each which will never sew onto my quilt properly without add-ons or chopping part of a block off. If I sew four of them together, I end up with a horizontal pieced border measurement of 34" plus seams (34 1/2"), definitely larger than the 27 1/4" width of my current quilt centerpiece (see previous magic diagram).

Horizontal pieced border units

Okay, this is where some decisions need to be made about the coping border. For this quilt, I could have easily added four basket blocks together for the vertical pieced border as well, since the quilt centerpiece is only 32" long (see previous magic diagram). But this would make my quilt square. I don't want that, so I'm going to go with five basket block repeats or 42 1/2" plus seams (43").

Vertical pieced border units

At this point you might want to do a quick mock-up on the wall with your quilt centerpiece, the potential coping border fabric and your pieced border. Do you like it? Now's the time to decide.

Auditioning pieced border with Muddy Creek quilt

5. Vertical Coping Borders are next in this crazy, long tutorial. Remember the magic diagram? Draw a rough outline of your pieced borders onto the paper, leaving plenty of room to draw in the lines for coping borders as well. Don't worry about how precise or in proportion things are--this is just for reference. Take the measurements from your horizontal and vertical pieced borders (refer to number 4) and mark it onto your magic diagram. Use little arrows to keep it all straight.

Adding pieced border measurements onto
magic diagram

Time for the math. Take the horizontal width of the pieced border and subtract the width of the quilt centerpiece (34 1/2" minus 27 1/4") OR 34.5 - 27.25 =7.25. Divide this number by 2. That number (7.25 divided by 2 = 3.625) is the measurement of the width of your Vertical Coping Borders. Don't forget to add the seam allowance onto that number as well (3.625 + .5 = 4.125 or 4 1/8"). Okay, that's the width, the hard part! Now for length.

So you don't totally have a panic attack trying to keep track of all these numbers, quickly look at your magic diagram for visual aid. Draw in your Vertical Coping Borders (pictured in orange). Aha! Now you can clearly see that your Vertical Coping Borders need to be 32", the length of the quilt centerpiece. Easy peasy.

Magic Diagram with Vertical Coping Borders

6. Cut out two strips of coping border fabric @ 4 1/8" x 32". Pin thoroughly, matching middle point to middle point and sew onto quilt centerpiece. Iron and measure. Your new quilt centerpiece should be exactly as wide as your horizontal pieced border but don't sew it on yet!

Quilt centerpiece with Vertical Coping Borders

7. Still with me? You're making excellent progress! Go ahead and draw in the lines for your Horizontal Coping Borders (pictured below in green).

Now lets do the math. Take the measurement of the vertical pieced border length (43") and subtract the length of the new quilt centerpiece (still 32"). 43 - 32 = 11. Divide this number by 2. That number is 5 1/2. Don't forget to add seam allowances. 5.5 + .5 = 6. That number is the width of your Horizontal Coping Border. Referring to the magic diagram should quickly remind you that the length of this coping strip will be the same as your horizontal pieced border (34 1/2").

Magic diagram with horizontal coping borders

8. Cut out two strips of coping border fabric @ 6" x 34 1/2". Pin thoroughly, matching middle point to middle point and sew onto quilt centerpiece. Iron and measure. The left and right sides (or the vertical length) of the quilt should now be 43", the exact same length as your vertical pieced borders!

Muddy Creek with all coping borders added

9. Sew vertical pieced borders onto each side of the quilt. Match middle point to middle point as usual and pin thoroughly before sewing.

Muddy Creek with vertical pieced borders added

10. Sew one more repeat or unit onto each end of the horizontal pieced borders. Sew them onto the rest of the quilt, matching points and pinning as usual.

Muddy Creek with borders!

Wallah! Now you have perfectly fitting pieced borders! Feel free to run around the room and do a victory dance.*wink  I have another tutorial about pieced borders that might be helpful as well. You might want to try this first on a smallish quilt, but if your numbers are correct, the size shouldn't ever be an issue. Really, it's just about formulas. Insert the numbers and see your ability to make personalized quilts increase dramatically! I dare you. lol

It Probably Doesn't Look Like Much

I'm very good at driving myself crazy with unrealistic expectations. Take these basket handles. Just because they are little 6" blocks I get to thinking they can be blown out in an evening or two. NOT. Anytime there is more than about four blocks, I should expect my time to be sucked into a big black hole.*wink

Only 3 more handles to sew on my basket blocks

I think I have been a bit despondent over my lack of progress on really, every single project I'm working on lately. Then I realized what the problem was. I'm overloaded on hand work right now. Wow, am I ever. How does this even happen?

These Cactus Basket blocks were hand pieced which takes a boat load of of my time and makes my finger feel like it's been mistaken for a pin cushion. The stems and flowers are all prepped and ready to go now which is serious PROGRESS people! I even had to scrape the bottom of my scrap bin to find the rest of the stem fabric after I decided it was the only fabric that would do. Now I feel all virtuous and frugal though--just saying.

Ready to start stitching the top of the Cactus Baskets

The good thing about slow stitching; ie, hand work, is that it takes my mind hither and yon and makes me dream up all kinds of scenarios for other open ended projects too. I found myself jumping ahead with my Flock of Geese quilt, the big sashing idea and thinking about applique blocks with birds for the areas where they join together. I've found that it's really important to take these ideas and run with them the minute they frolic through our minds even if it distracts from the current project. They are like gold, but usually quite fleeting and hard to pin down to an absolute.

Auditioning a sashing/applique idea for Flock of Geese

I doodled a notebook page or two of possible birds, checked out Pinterest and then remembered a bird I drew out and used in my Vintage Reproduction quilt. I really like the smooth lines of this bird and since I will probably be using a busy fabric for this? It seems like a go as of right now. Still checking it out on the wall though till I am 100 percent sure!

Playing with size

The bird I used in the other quilt was larger than what I wanted here, so I ran it through the copier a couple times to reduce the size. Easy peasy. Just like in the three bears story, I had a baby one, a medium one and a large one to choose from. Oh yeah. And about that hand work overload I mentioned? I still have the applique work for my Pickle Dish to get going on and the next phase for the Geese Tracks quilt is an applique border as well. I obviously need to get better about pacing myself. lol

Just Can't Stay Away From the Baskets

Some weeks are just so filled up that quilting has to take a backseat. I did manage to squeeze in a little bit of time to get another border for Muddy Creek worked out though, at least on paper. Fingers crossed that it will all fit together once my blocks are done!

Basket blocks for Muddy Creek border

I've got all the prep work done for these 6" simple baskets. And yes, I know. I might possibly be addicted to baskets. They just keep reoccurring in project after project with no end in sight. The pink prints are brighter than I originally thought I would use, but these fabrics were the ones that spoke to me the loudest. You know what they say about the vocal minority!* 

After I get these blocks sewn together and know exactly how long the border lengths will be, then I will cut out the plaid coping border. Better to know for sure than to cut and sew and then have a error from mis-measuring. Not that I've ever done that before. Who, me?

In the office

Too much time in the little, teeny, tiny office lately. So glad I got it cleaned and organized earlier this spring! What I would give for a window so I could see some SUNLIGHT while I work. Oh well. There's always more paperwork when we're busy and I am so very thankful for the work. More jobs equal more money which means more spending money for the paperwork gal which translates into fabric and well....., you get the picture.*wink

More Decisions for Muddy Creek

I sewed the next border onto Muddy Creek, adding some strips of lighter fabric in. I'm really trying to give this quilt a primitive look--not sure how successful I've been thus far. I'm leaning heavily towards using the plaid for the next border, keeping it simple, and maybe basic basket blocks for the one after.

Muddy Creek

Yep. More baskets. Me and baskets. Baskets and me. I just can't stop.*wink  Right now it looks a bit of a mess, but my design wall is super cramped and I didn't feel like taking everything off just to get a better picture.

I am slowly plugging away on my Cactus Basket blocks too. Hand sewing is oddly relaxing in it's own way and that's just what I need. So many interruptions these days that I don't feel like I'm focusing very well on any one project.

A little hand sewing

I have a kid in college getting antsy about coming home for semester break--calling home just to chat, a senior in high school counting down the days until all her projects are done and trying to qualify for state in track, a 16 yr. old who just moved up to varsity doubles in tennis and is also trying to learn how to drive (can I just say how terrified I am to teach my kids how to drive?), plus a restless 13 yr. old who doesn't have a baseball team this year so is having to settle for 'managing' the boys high school team and rambles around the house dropping crumbs everywhere and leaving every cupboard door open. My short term memory is getting completely overloaded these days and if it wasn't for the whiteboard calendar in our dining room, I'd never even know where I was supposed to be. On the couch quilting? lol