I Suppose I've Done Some Sewing After All

The past few weeks have been a bit of a slog for me. I've been feeling blue and so. very. tired. Picking Levi up from daycare has become a daily battle and an exercise in patience (which I have always lacked).  For whatever reason, he rages against putting on his jacket and getting into the stroller. It's not just when leaving daycare, it's in the morning as well, which is weird because he loves arriving at daycare (breakfast! toys! playmates!). By the time he's in bed, I'm bagged and I just want to sit on the couch and do nothing at all.

Okay, fine. I haven't done absolutely nothing. I've managed to watch the entire season of Call the Midwife, which if you haven't seen you simply must download as soon as you can. I bought the season's pass from iTunes. I've also been working on my Farmer's Wife blocks, because I love to hand sew while watching television.

Okay, and I did begin a baby quilt for a dear friend after learning that my Mom was attending her shower this coming weekend. Since my folks were visiting us, I'd hoped to power through and finish the quilt, but alas, it wasn't meant to be.  I used a panel I bought last year of The Hungry Caterpillar and kept the piecing as simple as can be, but the free motion quilting did me in.  I don't have a lot of experience with FMQ. It took awhile to get my tension right and to find a rhythm. Also, I kept breaking my needle! I think I was sewing too slowly and moving the quilt sandwich too quickly. I was getting terribly frustrated and did I mention I've been oh. so. tired? So I took a break and have yet to return to the machine. 

Luckily, the baby isn't due until the new year, so I'll just ship it to my friend once it's done.  Looking at the quilting now, I realize it actually looks quite nice. I plan to finish the loopy FMQ in the blue border and straight line quilt the red border (with cross-hatching in the corners). For the panel, I'm going to outline the leaf, butterfly and caterpillar and pebble quilt the circles. I haven't decided on a binding fabric yet.  The quilt is backed with the softest flannel and a pattern of ducks.