How Did I End Up With a Blog?

Here I sat, minding my own business . . . . Okay, maybe I WASN'T minding my own business, but instead I was checking in on other blogs, doing the blog voyeur thing. I wanted to post a comment to a friend's blog and somehow ended up creating my own. Well, it's something I've been thinking about doing anyway and it's better than cleaning house, which is what I SHOULD be doing. Ask anyone who knows me though--they'll tell you that I'll seize on any excuse to postpone cleaning, even if it means being sucked into blog world.

Why did I title my blog "Kim's Big Quilting Adventure"? Well, that's about what I do--go to work to earn money for fabric, come home and cook dinner (usually whatever's quick and easy), and move along into my sewing room, aka The Sweat Shop. I guess if I'm going to have any adventures, they will have to be quilting related.

I've taken this week off work to quilt--what else is there? Truly, though, this is the first time in awhile that I've taken time off with no plans to go anywhere or spend my time painting and wallpapering or gardening (more like weeding!). I have a class tonight and another class tomorrow with Jo Morton--I have to finish getting everything ready.

I also just finished a quilt top last night. I belong to an online group of quilters, and we were challenged a few weeks ago to actually USE the blocks we've been swapping for the last few years. Now quilt blocks to me are a little like my fabric stash--there to be used if there's a need, but otherwise just there to be taken out occasionally, admired, and petted. A block stash is like money in the bank--not that I'd know much about that, since I spend most of mine on fabric. A few years ago, though, we did a swap called "My Friend's House" and each swapper signed the window of the house block they made. I've been wanting to use those blocks for the longest time, but I wanted to make something really special with them. I finally decided to make a large center house block and set these smaller blocks around the center. The center block turned into a quilt shop. Then the quilt began growing as I added a fence, stars and flying geese, etc.--round after round. Finally I realized it had grown to the point where making it into a king sized quilt was feasible, so I went "shopping" again in my stack of swapped blocks and added some star blocks as a final border. I'm very happy with this quilt top and the memories of the friends who made all those smaller house blocks and the star blocks in the borders. Each time I look at it, I know I'll think about all the friends I've made through this group of ladies from all over the world! Now if that's not an adventure, what is?