Emily over at JoyfulAbode.com featured my creative space! Very cool!!! Make sure to keep reading her blog all through Feb. for features of creative spaces all over the blogosphere!

My aunt is getting married this Saturday. The wedding was originally scheduled for Nov., and I was super excited about going, but life happened, and they moved the date to Aug. 4, making it impossible for me to get an affordable ticket and for my husband to take off work. SO, I don’t get to go. My sister is one of the bridesmaids and my nephews are the Bible bearer and ring bearer - I’m so sad to miss the whole thing.

But in addition to going, I had a few jobs - to make the guest book, ring pillow and the programs - obviously on a super-accelerated time table.

So here’s what I made over the last two days. I think everything came out great - I hope she likes this stuff. You’ll notice the Fall colors - no time to change the bridesmaids dresses, so the Summer wedding gets Fall colors. I love brown and orange, so I think they’re great for any season.

My crafting desires ebb and flow. When I started rubber stamping, I would sit at my desk every night for hours (before I had a son) and make cards for any occasion. I was tireless. This went on for months. My interest began to wane as my stamp collection and paper supply grew to colossal proportions.

Then I started making jewelry. Again, I worked tirelessly, creating necklaces, bracelets and matching earrings. I gave away almost every piece I made, and somehow was never smart enough to take a picture of my designs. Now I have bins and bins of semi-precious beads, wire in all sizes, every kind of clasp you can think of, and I haven’t made a piece of jewelry since mid-2006.

When I was 6 months pregnant, I took a beginning quilting class. I quickly completed five quilt tops and one complete quilt. Machine quilted, of course. Otherwise, that amount would be ridiculously unattainable. Towards the last month of my pregnancy, and for a good 8 months after I had my son, my hands were so swollen that I couldn’t do the final hand-stitching for the binding, so I stopped quilting.

My son is now almost 18 months old. With the exception of the odd last-minute gift, I haven’t crafted anything since he was born. This shames me.

Recently, I pulled a half-finished afghan out of the closet and kept it near me as much as possible. I worked on it a few nights a week, and I’m proud to say that I finished it a week ago. It’s not very big, but the basket-weave pattern came out so thick and warm and snuggly. My son loves to lay on it on the floor - and he doesn’t really lay down on the floor, so this is really saying something.

A few days ago, I pulled my big plastic bin of quilt tops out of the garage. Last night, I sat down and quilted one of them - I made it almost all the way through, when my bobbin ran out. Then, as I tried to wind a new bobbin, my bobbin-winder wouldn’t spin! So - I finally get back to sewing, and my machine gives up on me!

But I will not be deterred. I will take my machine to a repair shop this weekend, and hopefully, I’ll be sewing by Sunday. The good news is that the noise doesn’t wake up the baby or my husband, so I’ll be able to quilt at night. I’d like to get all the quilt tops sandwiched, quilted, and the binding sewn on, so I can do the hand-stitching anywhere anytime - like out in the yard while my son swims in the baby pool or whatever. I’m finding that mobility is the key to productivity.

Now, if I could just get motivated about running!