9patchnurse: Nag, nag, nag.

Whew!!

Sometimes you just need a little kick in the pants. In the last 24 hours, three different people have asked me when I was going to post again on my blog. I'm sure no one will believe this but I had promised myself to post this week. Honest. I have off from work this week and blogging is on my extensive list of things to do. So this is for you Mom, Hannah, and Michele.

I didn't realize until just a few minutes ago that I never really showed finished pictures of my sewing space. For now, here's one shot. My little manx cat, Rosie, sacked out on my table. This is how I've been feeling for most of the summer.............tired. I wish I could say that it was getting easier at work but no such luck. I'm not working as many hours as I was, it's down to 45 per week, but the stress level is still outrageous most days. The good news is that at the end of September I will be cutting back to 32 hours a week, condensed into 3 days. Yippee! I am so grateful to have a boss who understands when someone needs to adjust the work/life balance.

I have gotten some sewing done this summer. Here are some of the highlights. A couple baby quilts for work friends. This cutie is for a gal who is having a girl after having twin boys four years ago. I had to make it very girlie. I can't get over how sweet the pink and yellow are together and I really need to revisit this combo again soon. I found the pattern from Heather. I can't find the actual link, sorry.

Another friend is having a boy in a couple months. I used an Accuquilt die to make the puppies for this.

We had a nice week at the beach in June. This was my favorite spot every day. Sangria anyone?

More recently I got hooked on grannies. Lori Holt from Bee in My Bonnet started a quilt-along that inspired me. Go here to check out the 'Great Granny Quilt-along'.

It's 'great granny' instead of 'granny' because there is an extra round. The center square is the 'baby', the four square round is the 'mommy', then the 'granny', and lastly the 'great granny'. These blocks are seriously addictive. I am close to having 25 finished. Stay tuned for a longer post about them.

To celebrate my first day of vacation, I made this today. I am going on retreat later this week with my Wild Thread friends. We are going to the Double O again where Colleen Tavener will spoil us rotten. She is an awesome cook and I saw her wear more than one different apron while we were there so I thought I would make her one. I found the tutorial here from Maureen Cracknell. It was so quick and fun to make. I have three more cut and ready to sew up. I have not added much to my stockpile of gifts but I plan to add a few of these to the box.