Post 2

Wow, I am so surprised by how much I miss my old blog group. Daily, we conversed through comments and shared stories with one another. Now, here I am at this new site and I haven't figured out how to hook up with other quilters yet. Hopefully, over time, I'll be able to find blogs to follow and from there, link in with others. It's very different for me.

My daughter is in "fish camp" today. It's her chance to go to her new middle school to get a chance to look around and familiarize herself with the new building and what they have to offer. Kids are so strange. When I picked her up, I was full of questions about how the day went, and she walked around with her head hanging down like she was carrying the whole school building on her shoulders and gave one or two word answers. But, when my partner got home, she was all bubbly and anxious to tell him all about it. She held back on the parent that wanted to know all about it, but couldn't wait to tell the parent that didn't ask her any questions. Oh, well. I'm sure that's part of that control thing that we're working on.

She's been with us for about 22 months now. It's been a really hard time as we've all adjusted to one another and dealt with our issues about family. We've all had to change. My partner and I have had to change how we thought we should parent, and make room for her to be an individual in our house. But, at the same time, we had to teach her what was expected from living with us and being part of a family that cared and watched over one another. She was not used to that when she came. She was used to being very independent and self sufficient, even earning money throught simple jobs to buy food for herself when her mother didn't. It has taken a long time to convince her that there would always be food for her here and that we would eat at a regular schedule and that she didn't need to hide food in her room. But, we've managed it. We can even keep treats in the house now without fear that she will munch out on them during the night.

Wow, a lot about food, so here's a little about quilting. I'm working on a really cool applique cmas quilt. I really didn't do much applique before this, but am really enjoying this little piece. It's such a combination of country and abstract and each block takes a different set of skills. If you look at my blocks, starting with the first and going through the current one, I can see amazing improvements in my skills.

Here is block one:

And, block two:

I'll post the other two blocks I have pictures of tomorrow. I've made 7 blocks total, just 5 more to go. I love how the sashing and stripping are built into each block. They'll fit together in columns to be joined for the quilt. Have a great day! Lane