Six years ago today I became a mother for the first time. It seems like just yesterday. Yet, I cannot remember not having you in my life. 
We celebrated with your friends at the local bowling alley. And being the "kid friendly" place that it is, they placed our table right in front of that pretty & very child appropriate red shiny sign.
You have been a sweet and sensitive little monkey since the day you were born. Your first three months you put Daddy & me through hell. We used to joke that you were hazing us to test our loyalty to you. There were nights where I hid in the closet and cried because I didn't know how to comfort you. I thought I was a bad mommy because I couldn't stop your crying. Then one day, you just stopped. And you've been smiling that dashing smile at me ever since.
You can be quite discriminate with your emotions and who you let see them, but once you love someone you love them fiercely. You are such your Father's son. The two of you were cut from the same mold and I'm honored to have you both in my life. You are so much alike and I can't think of anyone else in this world that I'd have chosen for your role model. For the good and the bad......
Like I said...your father's son.
You are my big boy now. I love you more than you will ever comprehend. Each day you grow bigger and stronger (even though you won't touch a vegetable) and I'm so proud of the man you are becoming. You are the best big brother, the best son and the best friend. I love you Benji - Bear. Happy Birthday.
Have I shown you this tote bag yet? I don't think so. I made this one for my friend, Amy. But they just weren't her colors. So I decided to keep this one for myself. I didn't do a flat bottom on this one and it works great as sort of a file bag to hold a book and a few magazines to take in the car while I'm sitting waiting at school or for various appts. 
You know, the fact that it doesn't snow here. However, this year that doesn't seem to be the case.
Yesterday I worked on these blocks for the Sunshine Quilters group I'm in on the HGTV Quilter's Board. I may make some more today or tomorrow. It depends on how I'm doing on time.
You may have noticed that this WIP Challenge has kind of stalled out. I think its because all of the projects are in the final stages. You know, where you have to sit for a while and work (either putting rows together, or basting, quilting, etc....) and lately I've only had little snippets of time that lend well to piecing, not the "big stuff". So, yes, I've gone against my word and started another project (see Mom's quilt above). I've come to realize, also that these projects aren't really WIPS, they are UFO's. They've been sitting around forever. And I'll get to them, but in the meantime I need something going that I can piece a little here and there when I get a few random minutes throughout the day.
I do really need to finish Barney's Blocks. There is a sentimental story attached to this one, so I'm going to try to carve out some time today to piece the back and baste it together. And I'll share the story later.
~Cheers for now!
Wanna see another expample of how to enter?
Hi, my name is Jessica and I've been quilting for a little over two years. I don't prewash my fabric and I tend to not pin while piecing, but notice I'm a lot more accurate if I do (maybe this should be a lesson to me?). I dont' change my needle nearly as often as I should ~ whenever it finally breaks...bad, bad me! And I have two many WIPs to count. YIKES!
See there...easy peasy!
I moved an old coffee table into my closet. All of those tubs & baskets are stacked on it. There is also a box of patterns/books/magazines Next to the coffee table I have a set of drawers:
The top drawer is my novelty & children's prints. The second drawer (which wasn't pictured) is quilt tops and some backings. The third drawer is my yarn stash. I'm trying to be very good and making it all fit in that drawer ~ its trying to bust out as we speak. The tubs, shoe boxes & baskets on top of the drawers are my scraps. I'll show you those another time, another day. So, while it looks fairly cluttered ~ its way better than how it used to be and in reality its pretty organized....
This is where I used to sew. In the spring and summer it is so bright and full of light and its tucked away in a back corner of the house (thus the name of my blog). Its the corner of our bedroom. Lately, though I'd been having a hard time staying motivated feeling so far removed from the rest of the house and the family. I rarely walked past my machine so I didn't just sit down and sew randomly for a moment here and there. Then, just after the beginning of the year I had my sewing machine on the kitchen table and I was all sorts of productive. Sewing up a storm. It was great. And the the leaf came out of the table and I no longer fit.....so I moved my whole desk and machine. It doesn't really match the living room, but this house is only temporary for us (well, once the market turns around....) so I'm stressing too much over how it looks. At least its out in the open and I can sew anytime I have a few spare moments (because, you know...that happens so often around here!!)
There are my holiday fabrics, recognize that top fabric on there? UGH...still haven't figured out what I'm going to do with that one.
Here is my flannel collection. Its not huge, but it seems to be growing as well. Anyone ever heard that fabric is a lot like rabbits?
This little basket is holding current WIPs. I think they're multiplying, too.
This guy is holding fabric for my "next up" projects. I'm keeping a very close eye on this one so it doesn't start multiplying!
Here we have fabric "sets". You know, groups of fabric that I'd like to keep together and not just thrown into the rest of my stash. I have patriotics, repros, cherry prints, etc....
This is a full drawer or novelty & children's prints. I'm not quite sure how I manged to have such a collection of these....?? I guess they multiply, too.
This bag has more novelty prints, smaller pieces though. At one point in my life I considered doing an I-spy quilt for each of the boys....then I came to my senses. Maybe someday ~ for college, maybe?
And when my husband suggested that maybe I should just get rid of some of my fabric, this is where he ended up.....(just kidding, he was playing hide and seek with the boys)
And my next post will be showing you where all of this fabric is now living. Because I'm not sure if I've mentioned this or not ~ but we live in a two bedroom house EEK!!!!!
So, I'm off to sew something!
My Blues, Purples, Oranges & Yellows ~ I'm surprising low on orange & yellows, go figure?? 
Over the weekend Ben drew this and said "Look Mommy, I designed a quilt for you".....
...it just so happens that I already had these squares cut and in my scraps bin. I guess we'll be making Ben a small quilt sometime soon.
