Sometimes I forget we live on an island..

Or that the beach is just 15 minutes away.  Glad I remembered today though because I needed a quiet place for the kid to nap (construction started today-- hopefully we'll have a new driveway by next week!), and the beach was the perfect place for me to relax and have some fun as well.  So I bring you installment #2 of "The quilting I do in parking lots."

I played around with camera placement and think today's shots are better than Sunday's, but I long for a crafty friend to come with me everywhere and take blog-worthy photos of my life.  Wouldn't that be nice?  I swear, the only photos I have of myself are self-portraits like these.  C isn't so good at getting behind the camera when we go out..

I sat in the backseat today because there was too much sun in the front.  It was so nice to have the Atlantic spread out before me as I sewed.  I tried to get a good quilt-with-ocean-in-the-background shot but it was windy and the sun was in the wrong position.  Don't worry, today was fun and I'm sure I'll do naptime at the beach again before it gets cold, so I'll keep trying.

One corner left on the binding and then this one's done!

When he woke up we played on the beach for a lot longer than I had planned.  He loved it, I forgot how much he loves the beach too.  

Making the most of my time

I usually quilt during naptime, which I think is true for most quilters with young kids.  I'm kind of possessive about it.  Naptime = Quilting time.  I have to be in a really relaxed mood already to agree to do something else during naptime (quilting, after all, is what I do to relax).  So when C suggested that we drive an hour out to the outlets for a bit of shopping I didn't think twice about packing not one, but two quilt projects to take with in the car. 
Sure enough, the kid fell asleep about 5 minutes before we pulled into the parking lot. 
Me: "I'll stay with him in the car while you shop, ok?"  
C:  "Ok, I'll be at Polo, call me when he wakes up."
And it was that easy.  I got out of outlet shopping and instead got to stitch down another side of this green binding.  Finding someone to take a picture of me quilting in the outlet parking lot was not so easy, of course, but that's why cameras have timers. :)

(please ignore my bad haircut.  growing out this "new mom 'do" will take longer than I thought)

I went to a meeting for one of the local guilds a few weeks ago and I was sitting with some other moms of young kids.  One of the older women asked, "Do you have... time to quilt during the day?" and I said, "I quilt everyday, or I'll go crazy."