Mental Health Day

I had a really rough week (all work stuff--Peanut is fine), and so yesterday when I found myself already in tears by 9:30 I decided that I was declaring it a mental health day and taking the day off. Otherwise I was worried I wouldn't make it through next week's insanity (which starts on Sunday, as an added bonus). And so I ran some errands that were essential, and then spent the rest of the day immersed in Peanut-related fun.

I had errands to run in a shopping center with a Marshalls and so stopped by to check out their baby clothes. And next thing I knew it was two hours later and I was sitting on the floor in an aisle trying to weed down the $200 worth of clothes I had picked out down to a reasonable amount. I've never been able to understand how people find shopping therapeutic. In fact, I usually hate shopping. Apparently I've just never shopped for the right thing.

I then had the urge to find some sort of crafty project to do for Peanut, so went to the fabric store in search of fabric to make curtains for the nursery. And, much to my surprise, our stupid little fabric store that never has any selection had so many great fabrics that I couldn't choose. The nursery will be animal themed with green as a main color and I found at least 4 good green prints with animals of some sort or another and was paralyzed by indecision. But I still had the crafty bug so I called Joe and asked "what can I make using lots of different fabrics that we can use for the baby?" He, the smart man that he is, sent me to my mother instead. So I called Mom with a slightly more refined question: "can I make a quilt without doing any quilting?" (I have learned some sewing over the years from Mom, but never anything fancy like quilting or embroidery.) My mom is making an animal quilt for the nursery wall using piecing to create each animal. I can't explain (but will post pictures later), but basically it is amazing and lots of work so I plan to keep it away from spitup and juice. So I concocted a plan to make an everyday "quilt" that can get thrown on the floor for the baby to play on, go with us places, and then get tossed in the wash.

And so, after a couple hours in the fabric store picking out just the right combination of fabrics, and then a couple hours of work last night, this is what I have so far:

This morning I plan to put together the 3 other blocks of 4 squares (to make it square). Then I may have to stop for a bit and go back to actual work. The striped fabric on the side is what I plan to use for the border (although I have to ask my mom for suggestions on the actual construction of that part), and then I have a big piece of Noah's Ark fleece that will be the back layer, instead of adding batting inside to make it softer.

There is something so satisfying about actually having something to show for your work at the end of the day. I really needed a day like that.