In my free time

The girls and I found ourselves at home with some extra free time last night after Jane's volleyball practice was canceled at the last minute.  Dinner had been eaten and homework had been completed so they played and I sewed.  There was no agenda - just a pile of scraps and some found time.  Before I knew it, 2 hours had gone by and I had finished 10 small log cabin squares.

There was no measuring or planning.  I put a small cutting mat on my sewing table and moved the ironing board over so I could reach it from my chair - lazy, but efficient.  Cut, sew, iron, trim, repeat.  Over and over.

My free time at home is extremely limited in the next few weeks.  I'm not complaining, rather just commenting on the true state of my schedule.  I don't anticipate having much time to start new projects or even finish the ones I have begun any time soon.  So when two hours of uninterrupted craft time appear out of nowhere, I'm going to leave the dishes sitting in the sink a little longer and make something.

It felt good.

Comments

[melissa]

those are really nice, erin. I could see a porch swing cushion out of these!

[Tracy]

I love when that happenes. Serendipity. I'm glad you had a couple of hours free to just make something.

[jess]

This is an excellent use of your free time.
I only wish I had your focus. Lately I have been frittering away my free time internetting and standing around looking dazed.
Log cabins are a great alternative to that.

[julia]

these are great! i love "found time"

[Jennie]

Good for you! I love all the bold prints together. And your new banner is fun.

[brandy]

Good for you I say! Love the blocks... I was going to pick a fav, but I can't! Love all the fabrics you're choosing.

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[blair]

Sounds like 2 hours well spent Erin. They look great.

[Kaye Prince]

Absolutely gorgeous! I wish I was so productive in the free time I find - I usually end up on the internet checking blogs ;)

[LollyChops]

These are really lovely. I never thought to make them mini before!

[Sara]

Adore that type of time. Usually for me is when I get called off of work ... I sometimes get overwhelmed and not sure which project to grab first. Fun!

[Lise]

10 at once! That's wonderful. They are beautiful!

[larissa]

love your new banner, and your little log cabins are complete eye candy.

[Sarah]

very nice I cant wait to see what they become. Free time is so rare and wonderful

[anina]

Pretty! I have a cutting mat next to my sewing machine and my little TV tray table next to it. It works great. Getting up to cut and iron wastes a lot of time.
Good luck with your busy schedule.

[Jody]

Oh, they are so pretty!!! Making quilts is so intimating to me because I thought it had to be exacting and I'm not an exacting type of person. I love to make clothes can you have a seam allowance that gives me some wiggle room.

You didn't measure??? Now that sounds like a quilt I can do. Do you have any hints on getting started quilting? Are there any must-have books about quilting to help me get started? Maybe you should write a book :-)

[Dawn in NL]

Not lazy, efficient ;-)

Lovely patches!

[Isa]

I love them!!

[MomChops]

Love the little log cabins - so colorful and inspiring! Thanks for sharing.

[beki]

Oh boy, I'm in touch with this!

[Elizabeth]

Felt good - looks great! I love the fun and freedom of all those jewelled colours playing together.

[Sarah Jackson]

Those are beautiful. I need to tackle scraps again, and that looks like a great way to go about it. Enjoy your busy whirlwind of a few weeks!

[Sue]

Love these.

Can you help a girl out? I love the bold prints too and have a ton of them, if I didn't give them to Goodwill. Better check. Anyway, I find that I love bold prints, but they really don't go well in my house which is more traditional -- kind of Mary Emmerling meets Rachel Ashwell and Oriental rugs. So how do you use these bold lovelies in a more traditional decor. At this point I'm thinking a bold lining to a mattress ticking purse. And then what?

[Audrie]

I love these blocks! The colours are just gorgeous :)

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I know what you mean about not having free time, with kids schedules and just getting their homework done everynight. That's why I love my crafts so much, it's my time, it's all about me.

[Kashoan]

Those turned out great. I have huge guilt issues with crafting when there are messes to pick up. and as Im sure you know, there are always messes. Im trying to learn to get over it. :)

[Katie]

So cute and inspiring!

[Pam - captured by our cameras]

Good for you! There will always be time for doing dishes.

[Modern Crush]

I bet it felt good! And it looks good too:)

[becky]

They turned out beautifully. I love having free craft-time.

[Kristin]

These are so beautiful and lovely. Don't you just love how a couple of hours of doing something creative can be so fulfilling?

[Stacy]

Yay for found time... such pretty little blocks!

[tiennie]

I love that you can just whip something out like this. I plan and I plan and I plan and pretty soon my time is gone.

[pve]

I have to give time to me, or I am one cranky mom and even crankier artist.

[Suzanne]

Right on! In my dream sewing room, my ironing board is reachable by a swivel rolling chair and I don't have to get up.

We are in the trenches with homework these days and it's such a struggle. I'm grateful you were able to take advantage of that found time and do something wonderful with it.

[caroline]

Those are perfect. Perfect perfect perfect. And I'll break fingers over the one on the top/middle.

[ali]

You have free time?! Looks like an awesome use of free time, and efficiency does NOT equal laziness, more like cleverness!

[AJ]

Sounds like an excellent use of time.

[regan]

and you even have something to show for your time! very.well.spent. in my opinion!
those are just darling. log cabins are my favorite!

[regan]

ps. no one really pays attention to clean dishes. if you would've shown us a sink full of clean ones there'd be no oohhing and ahhing. that's for sure!

unless they were pretty dishes.

[Julia]

I have been meaning to do some log cabin squares out of all of the scraps that I have from the markets....this really inspired me.

Found time is a fortune.

[darlene]

those can be the best crafty times..."found times"

[dorie]

I hear ya! It is just so liberating to work on something not planned. These look like fun. :-)