Bookworm Wednesday!

Welcome to the first Bookworm Wednesday of the new year!  This is one of my favorite things about this blog.  I really just love sharing what I'm reading and loving with you all!!

This week I thought I would share a book that is a vital part of my 2012 and this blog - Hobo Quilts by Debra Henninger.  When I started planning my monthly quilt block I was thinking about the final product...just 12 quilt blocks?  Really?  Unless you make MASSIVE blocks it is hard to do much with just 12 blocks...so then I started looking at quilt books that have a variety of blocks with a unified theme.  I found The Farmer's Wife, Civil War Diary Quilt, The Civil War Love Letter Quilt, and Hobo Quilts.  I chose Hobo quilts because, well, I feel rather like a hobo at this point...but also because I *love* that the blocks are based off of actual signs and writings that hobos used when traveling in the old days.  Each book tells stories and shares letters from the people that lived during the time periods of the books which just make them more special in my eyes!

Now how does this play into my year and 12in12?  Well, I'm getting my patterns from this book....only instead of doing just one block each month, I will be doing 3!  The patterns are written for only about six inch blocks so I will get to play with borders and grids between the blocks in construction that I haven't done in a quilt yet.  How else did I know this book was perfect?  There are precisely 38 blocks in the book that are made in traditional piecing fashion...and two of them I didn't particularly like, so that left me with 36!  36 divided by 3?  Why, that's 12!  haha, it was meant to be! 

Since I didn't want to buy the book (because, well, I'm broke.) quite yet, I checked it out from the library and I've been drafting the blocks into this journal so I can write entries with each block that I've made.  I love journaling/scrapbooking about my quilts!

See?  I can draft the pattern (using super contrast-y sharpies!) so that I have the measurements right there with layout for the block, and then on the second page I can write away!  :)  I should also add that these are *not* the colors I'm using, just needed contrast so I knew how many fabrics I would need for each block.  I'm really pumped to show the fabrics soon!

Like a willow blowing in the wind....

I've been thinking a lot lately.  Thinking about what is the "right" thing to do, what is what I "want" to do.  How have I been dealing with this?  I ignore it.  I'm pretty good at ignoring my own thoughts most of the time....I ignore ignore ignore until I can't anymore.  Well, I'm going to say something that I haven't uttered out loud to anyone, not even my own face in the mirror.

I am 99% sure I'm going to move back to the farm.  And soon.  Like February or March.

There isn't anything keeping me here in Dayton at this point.  But, there also isn't anything that would keep me there.  I'm feeling very light & breezy in the sense that I could go anywhere at this point.  I've looked at places like Savannah, GA or Ontario or even France.  Could you really see me living there?  Could you see my little 'ol country bumpkin heart moving to some place like that?  While I think there are more job opportunities in Dayton than there are in Ross County, they obviously don't want me or else I would have a job by now.  And moving doesn't mean that I can't move back.  Right?  All it is is moving possessions from place to another....and that can be undone.  The only thing that I would feel like I'm leaving behind would be about 3 friends, and my lovely apartment that is so very much my heart's home.  When I moved here, it felt like I was coming home for the first time since we moved from my childhood home when I was 19.  I moved here thinking that this was where I was supposed to be....but is it where I was supposed to be for just the amount of time I've been here?  How would you think this through? 

(let me add this disclaimer....I've just spent the last couple of weeks supporting my ldb move from her life long home of SC to Jersey so just picking up and moving has been on my mind a lot!)

12 in 12! Month 1, Week 1 - Crochet Square!

HI!  Welcome to my little project!!  This week I did a crochet square from the book "Beyond the Square" by Edie Eckman using Hobby Lobby's I Love This Cotton.

Now, I had planned to do biiiiiiig squares, like 12 or 15 inch square, but I couldn't find any I liked until after I did this little square.  It is about 6-ish inches and I just love how the yarn put a little pattern in it (see how the green worked its way around the edge kinda perfectly? 

Are you doing a 12 in 12?  Leave me a comment letting me know so I can check it out!  :)

Quick little post....

Hello!  I have a general update due tomorrow and then my first 12n12 post!  I made my crochet square yesterday and it came out really cute!  I'm excited to share!!

Anyway, I just wanted to post these two songs that have been on repeat in my head for days now!  They each have some lyrics that hit me hard this week for whatever reason....

"Sadness has me at the end of the line, 

Helpless watched you break this heart of mine, 

And loneliness only wants you back here with me, 

Common sense knows you're not good enough for me...."

"Trying to live and love,

With a heart that can't be broken, 

Is like trying to see the light with eyes that can't be opened,

Yeah, we both carry baggage, 

We picked up on our way, so if you love me do it gently,

And I will do the same..."

Let's talk about monogomy.

Alright guys & gals.  I had a rather interesting, and if we're being honest partly humorous, conversation with my best friend at lunch the other day.  We were discussing my relationship status and the lack of committed relationships in my life. 

I know that I've posted before about my non-existent relationships and how I tend to find guys that are not good for me but when you're talking to a best friend about it you tend to realize how odd it may seem to others.  I mean, she gives me a totally honest and open opinion on things that I may not see.  Every single guy I have liked for years, like since high school, has either been in a relationship already or definitely did not want a relationship.  Well, the random statement of me not being "not a monogamous kind of girl" was said.  And, really, that's kinda true.  I rather like not having to deal with allllllll the bullshit that comes from a relationship.  I kinda appreciate the fact that I can just be like, I don't want to deal with you whining about something, you can go talk to your girlfriend about that.  I kinda like being the fun one, the one that gets to do the random car trips, the one that just gets to watch movies and hang out, the one that doesn't have to deal with the teeeeeny tinnnny details of life.  I'm rather good at being the other girl in the picture.  I hate it because, well, I'm the other girl and I don't want to run around ruining relationships, but I'm good at it. 

Now, while I'm not a person that totally understands polygamy and all that it entails, I do respect the fact that someone has chosen that lifestyle.  I respect the fact that gay man can be a gay man in this world.  I respect the fact that people will love how they choose, so how am I different in how I've chosen, these last few years, to be a little different?  Do I want a relationship?  Do I want someone that will be there with me through thick and thin?  Do I want someone to be there during all the family functions?  Sure.  But, what if I can get all the things that I want with someone that maybe has another relationship or with someone that doesn't want to be committed?  Does that set me back a million years in the women's movement?  Does that make me a horrible person?  If I have a comfortable situation going on where I'm happy, he is happy, and we are happy together, then why change that? 

Now, all of this wouldn't be on my mind as much as it has been except that a guy that I used to be with (who had a girlfriend and was my ex's best friend...it was a tiny bit complicated...) just left his girlfriend of years a few days ago.  And he emailed me today.  He wants to hang out.  I'm scared that now that the situation is different (he's single and is no longer friends with my ex), we will be different.  I mean, we are going to be different because it has been years since we hung out, but how will our interactions will be different.  What's funny is that when I saw his relationship status change on Facebook the other day, it was the day before I met my bestie for lunch to chat.  I even said to her that if he and I did get together, I would almost expect him to cheat just based off his past actions; I mean, he did cheat on his girlfriend with me after all.  Isn't that horrible to say?  That you would expect someone to cheat?  But, that's where the "am I monogamous" thing came up.  I just question how monogamous people, as animals/creatures, supposed to be.  Aren't we meant to breed?  Aren't we meant to create offspring so that our lineage continues on?  I just wonder how much of that is just in our DNA as animals.  Please tell me I'm not the only one that thinks about these things....haha

Ruhhhh roooooh

I totally spent like all of yesterday thinking it was Monday & blanked on posting my first 12n12!  Sooooo, let's just start this Sunday, deal?  I will also be taking a week's break with Bookworm Wednesday this week to work on Scarlett Key stuff :)
To make up for this, I'm going to share the page from New Years Eve that I put in my journal....enjoy <3

Hi!

Hey guys, take a peek over at Susannah's blog and you might see a familiar name there for the month!!!

She's a lovely girl that has what I think each blogger needs...a love for supporting others that blog and have small handmade stores!!  I can't wait for the day when I'm in a position that I can help others in a similar fashion :)