I have been quite lazy in my crafting life lately. The biggest contributor to this was my Bernina being out of commission. It needed a service and I had not yet visited the local Bernina shop. Depending on the shop and what they do in-house, it can sometimes take a week or more to get the machine back so I just didn't rush it. Silly me.

But I finally got off my back side and got it done. Since my divorce (more about that later), I've been on a mission to recover lost time with the past-times I loved the most. I'm not quite ready to kick back into full gear with my knitting yet, so sewing was the best candidate. And I had projects sitting around waiting to be finished. I am happy to say service at

Windmill

was quick (~4 days). Bernina and I are back to together again and there is no love lost in this relationship.

In my pile of unfinished projects was a printed stack of paper piecing blocks from

Whitney Sews

. With my bag of scraps beside me, I knocked out enough to put together this small piece.

Here is a close-up shot of the block detail.

Because of the size, I thought this would be perfect as a baby blanket. I backed it with some white flannel and stitched in a brown ribbon to use as a tie.

I think this is a great option for a changing pad. Soft, cushy, handmade, unique and just all around perfect! I can't wait to find a baby to gift this to.

Didn't I just mention how much I hate and love retail therapy??? I am having an especially tough year so I decided to splurge and really treat myself.

Granted, my idea of a treat is much different than most folks. But when something speaks to you, it just speaks.

This is my new Gillio planner, Italian leather at its best. It's the medium Compagna. This feels perfect and smells perfect.

The color contrast is what really sold me on this particular one. I love it so much that I can't keep my hands off of it. I moved into it immediately. My goal over the next few weeks is to combine my work and personal lives into this one planner.

I currently still have my work life in an A5 Holborn Filofax, but since my work responsibilities are decreasing, I'm going to let me planner usage match. Since the rings on the Gillio are slightly bigger than Filofax, this shouldn't be a problem, but I still need to exercise a bit of restraint.

This makes me so happy, I can almost forget how unhappy I am with some aspects of my life. ALMOST.