Quilt-Life Balance
Just thought I'd show you some peeks of life around here...
I absolutely love this photo. It's an outtake from my Dyed photo session (this photo was too dark), and I think it shows you just a little of what my life looks like: quilting surrounded by little kids and big messes.
Conversation that ensued in our house about this pic:
Hubby: Don't use that photo. It looks like I'm not wearing any pants.
Me: Oh. Ha. I didn't notice that. That's ok, I'll just tell everyone that you most definitely were wearing pants.
Hubby: Well, that's just going to draw attention to it!
So here I go, making things awkward anyway :)
There's a window in my sewing room that overlooks the backyard. I absolutely love being able to see and hear them giggling and playing with my husband while I'm quilting. I also love seeing quilts in our everyday lives, being loved and used as they ought to be.
When people ask me what I do, I usually say I'm a stay-at-home mom. But then they have no concept of all this time I spend working (working?) on quilting and pattern writing. And so they only know that one side of me. And the opposite is true in the quilting world - sometimes I'm like, do these people even know what my life is like? Which is why I've been mentioning my kids more lately.
Not because I'm going to be posting on my kids or turn this into a mommy blog, but because life just isn't that compartmentalized.
My quilting life is pretty well intertwined into my life as a stay-at-home mom.
In fact, I was 37 weeks pregnant when my wedding photographer and beautiful friend took my author photos! This is one of the photos we didn't use, because it shows my pregnancy belly.
At my quilt guild, I'm known as "that girl who's pregnant all the time". Yup. That's me :) And that's why I quilt. I need a balance, I need an outlet, and I need intellectual exercise. I started really quilting soon after I started staying at home. Nowadays, sewing time is a high priority at our home. We don't just squeeze it in, we schedule it ahead of time and sacrifice to make it happen. That's certainly not right for every family, but we've found it's necessary for me.
So I must credit motherhood with starting my quilting journey. And it's been quite the enjoyable journey so far.
What about you? What role does quilting have in your life?