Big obstacles, both hurdled and yet to come...

I've been quilting now for about a year and a half.  I counted the other day.  Nineteen completed.  Two that are close.  Eight in queue.   That's about one quilt a month if you just look at the numbers.  But there's something you should know:

I started my fourth quilt for my great friend, Jael Beamon Hastings, in May 2009.  It was a beast of a quilt.  Queen size.  Log cabin.  Lots of cutting, piecing, ironing, and frustration.  I worked on it through the end of July (three months) before I set it aside and moved on.  I finally finished all the blocks and pieced the top in about October.  But I didn't like it.  So I got rid of some blocks and added a border (one week).  I couldn't bring myself to quilt it quite yet, so it sat in the closet for another long while.  I tackled that task this May (another week).  But I still couldn't make myself work on it long enough to get it all finished.  This time, it chilled out in a laundry basket with some beach towels before I finally got the guts to sew on the border (one day) and count this egg as hatched.  I don't know if you've been doing the math, but that's a grand total of three and a half months out of the last eighteen that were consumed by this blasted quilt!  With that in mind, my quilts per month average goes up significantly.

I gave Jael Beamon Hastings her finished quilt when I passed through Little Rock last weekend.  I don't know who was more excited: me, to finally be rid of it, or Jael, to finally get her hands on it.  Either way, seeing it laying awesomely on Jael's bed made it worth every stitch of frustration.

Another obstacle was hurdled on my Arkansas trip.  My little VW Bug reached 100,000 miles!  It happened on my way home, at about midnight.  I spent the next few minutes driving in the dark and reminiscing about all the roads we had traveled together (corny moments demand corny sentiments... forgive me).

Four of us, along with all of our luggage, crammed inside for eighteen hours round-trip on the way to Atlanta for Natalie's wedding.  The passenger side mirror getting knocked off by a falling kayaking, then jimmy-rigged back on with lots of duct tape.  Losing my keys in the lake... twice.  The second time, I went back the next morning and found them.  The keyless entry still worked.  Miraculously.  Another time, I was real close to losing three kayaks on Highway 30 when my roof rack came loose.  It was a huge fiasco.

I'll be getting rid of my car when I make the Big Move.  I'll miss it.

Jes and Rob's wedding is one week from today.  In seven days, they will say "I do" and life will change forever.  In less than 165 hours, my middle sister will change her last name to Mason.  That's one big obstacle!!!