Life - Swimming Lessons - Another Crutch Gone

Yesterday was my first real swim lesson.  It was rather scary, frustrating, exciting, and exhilarating.  There was so much to learn and remember all at the same time.  But, I was able to keep my head in the water and breathe properly even though I found myself holding my breath as long as possible so I didn’t have to go through the process of thinking about blowing out air before it was time to lift my head.  As I said there was so much to learn, and I kept repeating it all in my head as I swam.  Along with learning freestyle, I also learned the breast stroke, though I do need a lot of practice in it.   But, I think I could learn to like that one.

Way back, when I was still a kid, at some point I was given a nose plug to wear in the pool and all of a sudden I wasn’t afraid of putting my head under water.  Well, it became a crutch for me.  I wouldn’t put my head underwater without either the nose plug or a full snorkel mask.   Fast forward to 2012.  I’m taking my swimming lessons very seriously.  So Kate and I went to the gym so I could get some practice in before tomorrow’s class.  I purposely did not bring my nose plug to the pool, even though I did wear it at the lesson yesterday.  For some reason I really wanted to give it up.   It’s amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it.  I was so surprised that I didn’t drown, or even get water up my nose.  Sure, I did swallow some pool water in my attempt to not inhale it.  But that was OK.  I was swimming without a nose plug.  It may not seem like a big deal to you.  But it’s impeded me from getting into pools and especially from getting into the deep end.  Of course it is going to take a lot more practice before I’m truly comfortable with it.  But I know I can do it now.  I’ve just not been willing to try before.

Writing this makes it all sound so silly.  But believe me, it wasn’t silly to me. 

And, I’m so glad my honey listens to me and finds ways for me to reach my goal even when I’m not even looking for ways.  This whole “learning to swim” is really a big deal to me.  I used to love the water when I was younger, and I’d like to enjoy it again. 

Quilting - Boys-4, Girls-0

Well, it’s about time I got back to blogging. 

I’ve been sewing a lot of baby quilts this year.  So far it’s Boys – 4 and Girls – 0, but there are still 3 more to go, and at least one of them is going to be a girl. 

So I thought it was time to post some pictures.  I was very surprised to discover I didn’t even take any pictures of two of them once they were completed, and had to go back to the Mom’s who received them to ask for a picture. 

Nowadays I tend to design my own quilts, and play with fabric placement.  It’s amazing what fabric placement can do to change a quilt.   I made this 1st quilt for my sister’s third grandchild.  I started with the focus fabric and designed around it.  

Then, when I needed to create a quilt for a coworker, I found another great focus fabric and started playing with the same pattern, and ended up with a completely different look.  

Interestingly enough, we bought the fabric (yes, Kate helps pick out fabric) without knowing the colors my co-worker had picked for the baby’s room, and it turns out yellow green and brown were exactly what she had selected.

I have also been creating my own pantographs for about two years now.  A pantograph is a pattern I follow when I put a quilt top, batting, and backing together on the quilting frame and sew a design into the quilt.  Here’s a picture of the back of this quilt showing one of my quilting patterns.  I call this one “puzzle pieces”.

More quilts to follow.