Why Block-of-the-month quilts

If it involves fabric and thread, I can usually figure it out. I have sewn a lot of things, from napkins to costumes to quilts. And over the last 6 years, I’ve made a lot of block-of-the-month quilts. Some of the programs are a few months long, some last a year.

And here’s why I do that. It’s almost become a practice for me.

The first time I joined a block-of-the-month program at my local quilt shop, Cosmic Cow, in Lincoln, Nebraska, I hadn’t sewn much for a couple of years. I was homeschooling, building an online business, teaching piano, and making soy candles, plus just living life. And my sewing room sat quiet most of the time, except when I had a costume to make or some specific project needed my attention.

So, I joined the block-of-the-month that the quilt shop was starting. And I loved it. Here are a few benefits that I’ve noticed in the last 6 years.

1. It gives me a project that I don’t have to make decisions for. I only get the pattern and the fabric needed for that month’s block or blocks.

2. I don’t get overwhelmed by complex patterns because of number 1.

3. I’ve completed several quilts that are more complicated than I would have chosen otherwise.

4. Skills. Having a block-of-the-month in the works, helps me work on my piecing skills.

5. Most of the block-of-the-month quilts that I’ve done are more traditional, or have traditional blocks in modern settings. Because I want my modern quilts to be better in technical aspects, sewing traditional quilt blocks helps me work on those skills.

6. Colors. If left to my own devices, I typically choose similar fabrics all the time. The block-of-the-month quilts, have the fabric already chosen, so I end up using fabrics and fabric lines that I might not have chosen, which opens up my mind to other possibilities and combinations.

Those are a few of the benefits I noticed from doing block-of-the-month quilt programs.

Sometimes I do get behind, way behind, and will have months of packets stacked, waiting for me. That happens because sometimes I’m like a pinball in my sewing room, going from making a dress to making a quilt, to quilting a quilt, back to making a bra, and then making bags or dolls. It makes my crazy sewing world interesting and one that inspires and encourages me to always be creating something.

The quilt that I shared on my Instagram feed last night, and have shared for a few days in a row, is one such quilt, that I lagged behind on. Just the cutting of the blocks each month took a long time, and I would put that off and do something more fun. But, I’m determined to get the Bristle Creek Farmhouse quilt block-of-the-month, that I started in 2017, pieced before the end of my 55th birthday month.

Yes, my birthday is over. But, the month isn’t! I’ve made a lot of things this month; several zipper pouches, a couple bags, a quilt, a dress, a shirt, some cloth buckets…I’ve used my extra time at home, creating.

To see that quilt, go to Instagram. If all goes well today, and I’m not in town too long, this quilt top will be finished!

Time to go do my workout, check in on my groups, and make a menu plan of sorts, because I’ve been pretty slack in that department lately!

Your friend,
Anne Dovel

Facebook Fast Guilt

Well, I’m on day 27 of my Facebook fast and doing quite well with it. Then, a friend mentioned that I didn’t even react to their birthday message.

Friends, I did not look at Facebook for the birthday messages on April 21st. And, I did feel some guilt about that. So, last night, I traipsed over to Facebook, and read through the birthday messages.

There were hundreds of the usual fly by happy birthday messages. And there were a few with really touching messages, and it worked on my resolve not to post on facebook.

And, really, it made me feel pretty rude. Which is a good thing to study all on its own and probably further proof that my Facebook fast is a good thing and shining a light on my online activity, purpose for that, and expectations.

I did go and make a post thanking people, because it seemed the right thing to do. It was 6 days after the fact, so they may have seen it and thought…what? Oh yeah, it was Anne’s birthday. Big deal. Or, they may see my post and respond…Oh, I missed your birthday, sorry. Happy Birthday, because now they feel guilty that they missed that notification.

Guilt and more guilt. This is really interesting. And, we haven’t even seen each other.

That’s it for today, friends.

Your friend,
Anne Dovel

I’m a fan of simple weddings

I’ve been married 35 years. My wedding was simple.

Dress - $125, from a shop in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Bridesmaid dresses - dotted Swiss in pastels, that I got from a local shop in York, Nebraska.
Music - friends and my choir director from college
Church - my mom and dad’s, 3 blocks from our house
Minister - my dear friend and English professor from college (also ordained)
Reception - in the church fellowship hall
Cake - A gift from my high school mentor, who made beautiful cakes
Flowers - Flower shop made the wedding party flowers. All the rest that decorated the reception and ceremony were wildflowers from the ditches, gathered by my mom and her friend.
Food - I don’t remember. It was simple.
Silliest thing I did - Try to get the family dog in the wedding pictures.
His name was Fred, and he did NOT want to be there.
Wedding pictures - local photographer.
My wedding photos were the most expensive part of my wedding, and they were less than $500. Total wedding cost, less than $1,000, including my wedding ring.

My only bridal shower happened on the last day that I was working in the fields, detasseling corn. I got home, covered in mud, got into the shower, got dressed and went to my shower with my mom.

The whole wedding industry now, drives me crazy. And I hope my sons find girls who aren’t tied to a fancy wedding, because I don’t believe in throwing a party that costs thousands or tens of thousands of dollars, like so many do these days.

Now, if you are reading this during the “shelter at home” orders of the Covid-19 days, and you are a bride, I know this is an upset and I’m not callous to your feelings! I have several young friends and a niece, who had to change their weddings, due to covid-19 restrictions. So, this is not for you…but I do hope you know, it’ll be okay. You can still get married and start your life together.

My wedding was a simple thing. And yet, when we pulled away to go on our honeymoon, I was totally exhausted. I can’t imagine the exhaustion now days, that a bride feels after their dream wedding day. So much pressure to have the perfect dress, nails, hair, shoes, wedding party, showers, …list goes on and on.

My hope for the brides marrying my sons some day, is that they decide to spend more time planning for their marriage and less time planning the party before the marriage. I hope they invite the people to the wedding that will stand by them during good and bad times, during the difficulties that lie ahead, instead of bloating the guest list with people who come for the food. My hope is that after 25 years, people will say about them, “now that is a beautiful marriage,” instead of just remembering the beautiful wedding ceremony.

What if brides and grooms started thinking about that? Are there Pinterest boards for marriage dreams and plans? Do you know who to go to when you start to find out that your new spouse doesn’t roll the toilet paper the right way, or doesn’t throw away the empty tube? And do you realize that that could become very annoying?

What? No. I love him sooooooooo much, it’ll never bother me to throw away an empty toilet paper tube that he leaves sitting next to the trash can. Impossible.

Trust me. The dumbest things get on my nerves that if you had told me 35 years ago, I would have said, “you don’t understand, I love him. That won’t bother me!” Ha! You just wait!

I just believe that the wedding industry has created this monster that says parents must throw a huge party, of second-mortgage proportions, and a child should expect it, in order to get married. And I feel like it’s gotten a little bit ridiculous. The amount of money thrown into a wedding could buy the couple a car or sometimes a new house, or pay off college debt, instead of throwing it into a venue, food, napkins, invitations, candles, drapes, tablecloths, decorations, wedding party clothes, disposable flowers and dishes and a dress that never gets worn again. It boggles my mind. And is all of that really the bride and groom’s wishes or so the parents can impress their friends and family?

I like the old model of the couple getting engaged, and grabbing a few friends and relatives, a handful of flowers, a pretty dress that could be worn again, and someone to say the words, “do you?” And bless them with prayer and intention to be there as support.

My timer is up for the “stream of consciousness” blog post. And it may be my poor timing to post this now, but it’s what was on my mind, and that’s what I’m writing about each day in lieu of posting on facebook.

My hope and prayer for couples getting married during Covid-19, that you’ll look back, and appreciate the closest and most special people in your lives, that were there. And realize that 35 years from now, even if 300 had been at your wedding, you really would still only remember the few and the closest to you, your A-list.

Your friend,
Anne Dovel

Dear Diary, I’m really just a silly girl

Dear Diary.
It’s Friday!

Every day I sit to write down my morning “stream of consciousness,” I think about my diary writing days, when I was young. Actually, I kept a diary on and off until I got married. Every once in awhile, I get my diaries out and read.

Here’s what I learned about myself:

1. I had dreams.

2. I was not as mature in high school as I thought I was, or, I just faked maturity better than some of my peers.

3. I wrote about my first kiss.

4. I wanted to grow up and be a mom.
   
   That last one. The maternal instinct was so strong, I knew that’s what I wanted to be. A mom. And to be honest, now that I’m quasi-empty nest, I’ve looked back and motherhood is a difficult job.
   (And sorry, editor reading this…which is only me…I can’t figure out how to get out of automatic numbering mode.)

   
   No one told me it would be as hard as it was. And is. You think when your baby starts sleeping all night, it will get easier. You do feel a little more human, with more sleep, but so does the child. They grow and develop, challenging you every day with something new. Some new behavior they picked up at the playground or home, a new word, a new way of thinking. Sometimes it’s exciting and sometimes it makes a mom scratch her head and wonder, what do I do now?

   There really is no manual. There are books with ideas, blogs with ideas, experts that agree and disagree. What works for one parent/child combo might not work for the next.
   
   I thought I had it made when we had son number 2. Son number 1 was three years old, and I thought I was on the downside of new things I could learn as a mom of a baby.

   Nope. His personality was different than my first son. So, I kept learning. I probably don’t have to tell you that son number 3, also different.

   That’s only one thing that makes motherhood difficult. It’s not like replicating a cookie recipe and getting the same results.

   It’s exhausting work. And yet, there were days, when the boys would help out a stranger at the grocery store, or help another little human at the park, or talk to a lonely elderly person, and I’d get a glimpse, a hope, that all the time outs, all milk spilled, all the words said, all the fights mitigated, all the bedding washed, all the scratched knees, all the mountains of diapers, all the weary trips to Walmart where a screaming toddler would result in exiting the store, all the tears and weary nights falling into bed, hoping to sleep all night, were somehow worth it.

   That’s it. My time is up. Being a mom is a tough job, and no matter how great my diary says I was going to be at it, that writer had no idea what was in store!

   Well, the hubs and dogs have arisen. The quiet morning blogging time is done.

   And did I mention, this is day 25 of my Facebook fast? I’m not going to lie…(because I just don’t do that, so why is that even a saying?) Being free of feeling like I need to post on Facebook, has been amazing. When/if I return, I’m going to have a better strategy so it doesn’t consume precious hours of my time.

   Your friend,
   Anne Dovel

Sunshine and dirt

Sunshine and dirt makes every day better.

Yesterday, I spent a considerable amount of the afternoon hours outside, cleaning out one beehive to make way for new bees. I have a third hive box ready, in case we find a swarm again. I hope for that every spring now, because our most vigorous honeybees who produced the most honey, were a swarm that stopped in my evergreen and we cut the branch and moved them into a hive.

The hive I cleaned out died. From the looks of it, when I did the hive autopsy, the queen may have died. I can’t tell for sure, but there were 3 queen cells. Everything I observed, pointed to a queen-less hive. This is the very hive that I re-queened last June before our trip to France. They were pretty weak before I realized the queen was dead or gone. In hindsight, I should have cut my losses, and let that hive go. It ended up being too late in the season for that small hive to completely rebuild.

I’m a beginner beekeeper. I love it, and I learn something new all the time. I would love to have a beekeeping mentor, but I’m learning everything from books, hand-on practice, online videos and trial and error.

The good news, in my hive autopsy, was that I didn’t see any sign of mites or the wax moths that decimated my weak hive the year before. And, I’m sitting here this morning trying to remember, what I might have done, because I didn’t use any of the chemical mite controls last year. Maybe I should get my beekeeping journal out and actually keep better records.

That’s my stream of consciousness blog writing for today! It’s Thursday, which means I take a complete break from Beachbody coaching. I rarely schedule any calls on a Thursday, unless it’s the only day a team member or client can chat, or if we have a product launch. Then, I schedule my day off, another day. Which I’m going to talk more about in future blog posts, because one thing that leads to burn out for people who work from home, is not setting work hours and thinking if they have a charged phone or computer, they should be on it.

Working from home’s biggest challenge, I think, is boundary setting.

If you want to see what I’m up to today, in my sewing room and then, garden, I’ll be posting pictures in my Instagram story!

Your friend,
Anne Dovel

55 came and went

It was the loveliest of birthdays. The day was sunny and warm. I went to see my parents and spent the afternoon on the porch.

Mom made a cake with broiled coconut frosting.

Dad made me a rolling pin out of hawthorn wood.

I got to see my sister, a nephew and his family, draw with chalk on the sidewalk, read books to a great niece, and untangle a Corgi from under a yew bush.

My 3 sons acknowledged my birthday with a text, a call, and flowers and chocolate.

It was a good, relaxing day, with humans that I love. No masks. Good simple food, laughter, love.

I could ask for nothing more.

Your friend,
Anne Dovel

Birthday number 55

5:30am

Rise and shine! I woke up to the dawn chorus. Grabbed my white fluffy robe and even brushed my hair before swooping it up into my stay-at-home hair clip!

It’s my birthday. Number 55. I used to think people in their fifties were so old.

I won’t be spending much time online today. I’m going to do my work, learn my new groups platform then, check in with my sewing/quilting buddies, and make something. My plan is to knock out the rest of the Bristle Creek Farmhouse block-of-the-month this morning.

I always think I’ll do some amazing birthday challenge associated with my age. And, maybe I will, and I’ll write about it later or in my Instagram stories.

But, for now, I have sourdough started so I can take a loaf to my mom and dad today. I haven’t seen them since this whole self-quarantine thing started. And, it’s going to be a lovely, warm, non-windy day…perfect to go sit on their porch and visit.

Well, I know I’m talking to myself here, since I haven’t posted anywhere about my blog, so have a wonderful day of making, art, sitting, breathing, eating, exercising, and loving the day, no matter what it brings.

Your friend,
Anne Dovel