when the work gets in the way

I really like my job. I really like my life. However, there just never seems to be enough time for . . . whatever it is we want the time for!
     Several weeks ago I got an invitation to a baby shower for a former student I'm very proud of and very fond of, but I couldn't go because I already had another  commitment I couldn't get out of - I felt bad but then I thought "okay, there's still time to make a nice gift." As I said, this was weeks ago! One good thing was that I've gotten to know both her siblings (both of them have been my students) and would soon be going to a graduation celebration for her younger sister, another wonderful and extremely talented young woman. So I knew I could just take the baby gift with me to that party.
     And so I did, but even with the extra time I thought I had, wouldn't you know it? I still wound up finishing it that morning - where does the time go? Anyway, I just wanted to share this picture of the completed quilt. I didn't intend to let Cosmo near it, but he jumped up there and looked so darned cute I had to let him stay in the picture.

     The quilt is bigger than some baby quilts, more than 50" x 50", but as a mother I always liked them big enough so that if you spread them out on the floor, the baby would have enough room to roll around and crawl around a bit.

     And yes, it's a boy, due in 6 days (and mama was getting pretty impatient when I saw her at the party a few days ago).

Oh my, it's been a long time since my last posting! Here's one thing I've accomplished in the interim.

This is a gift for a little girl who was born August 8.  I haven't actually seen her yet, not even a picture, but I'm sure she's lovely. Her mother was one of Joe's students several years ago and she and her parents became our dear friends.
     Now their family has added a generation, and I am reminded that in a way this photo also links generations of my family. My mother made the afghan squares some years ago when she was still crocheting and recently gave a box of them to me; I assembled them and added the edging, so in a very real way it's a gift from both of us.
     The oak rocker in the picture dates back to 1919. My maternal grandparents bought it - from the Sears catalogue, I think - when their first child, my aunt, was born, so that my great-grandmother could rock her in it when they came to visit. It wasn't an expensive piece and I don't suppose the experts on Antiques Roadshow would tell me it would make my fortune at auction, but I'm so happy it's still in the family. It gives me a warm feeling of belonging to something that started long before I was born and will continue through our children and grandchildren, generation after generation. I expect our friends in New Mexico are having similar feelings as they embrace the newest member of their family, and I hope that when she is wrapped in this blanket, she feels the love that went into it.