What with 5 little rug rats to contend with and extremely limited funds I figured I had better find some super inexpensive creative outlets. So I learned how to quilt and knit. I was completely self taught because, silly, classes cost money! After some practice, I could crank out a baby sweater for under $5. Over those lean years I made dozens upon dozens of them to give as baby gifts because it was really the only thing we could afford that would make for a presentable gift. I would plan quilts and measure the fabric out to the inch so as to not waste a single scrap. I would hand quilt every square inch of them. But now that we have a little extra money the possibilities are endless. I have turned into a designer fabric snob. I mail my quilt tops to Utah to get them machine quilted. In recent years when I've had a baby shower to go to I've found myself at the mall hunting down the perfect matching outfit and spending way too much on something that will be grown out of in about 6 months. Now that the economy isn't all that great and we have college and weddings to pay for, I've sort of come full circle. I guess I've always known that less is more. So I'm back to knitting sweaters (now the yarn costs about $15) and my latest quilt project is old timey and hand pieced. It's nice to save money and it's all so much more personal this way.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Musings on a late winter morning: Full Circle
Back in the day before we barely had 2 cents to rub together Bruce would say that we spent too much over the holidays and that it was time to go into austerity mode. This would last approximately 11 months out of the year. Those days of endless diaper changes (cloth of course!--disposables cost a fortune) seemed to last for quite some time. I remember the first time we ordered pizza was after we'd been married for 15 years. When most of our friends were driving spanking new mini vans we were still diving around in our old dilapidated caprice classic station wagon. Ain't she a beaut? Ours was even this color, except that it was pretty rusty and usually had a missing hub cap. 
What with 5 little rug rats to contend with and extremely limited funds I figured I had better find some super inexpensive creative outlets. So I learned how to quilt and knit. I was completely self taught because, silly, classes cost money! After some practice, I could crank out a baby sweater for under $5. Over those lean years I made dozens upon dozens of them to give as baby gifts because it was really the only thing we could afford that would make for a presentable gift. I would plan quilts and measure the fabric out to the inch so as to not waste a single scrap. I would hand quilt every square inch of them. But now that we have a little extra money the possibilities are endless. I have turned into a designer fabric snob. I mail my quilt tops to Utah to get them machine quilted. In recent years when I've had a baby shower to go to I've found myself at the mall hunting down the perfect matching outfit and spending way too much on something that will be grown out of in about 6 months. Now that the economy isn't all that great and we have college and weddings to pay for, I've sort of come full circle. I guess I've always known that less is more. So I'm back to knitting sweaters (now the yarn costs about $15) and my latest quilt project is old timey and hand pieced. It's nice to save money and it's all so much more personal this way.
What with 5 little rug rats to contend with and extremely limited funds I figured I had better find some super inexpensive creative outlets. So I learned how to quilt and knit. I was completely self taught because, silly, classes cost money! After some practice, I could crank out a baby sweater for under $5. Over those lean years I made dozens upon dozens of them to give as baby gifts because it was really the only thing we could afford that would make for a presentable gift. I would plan quilts and measure the fabric out to the inch so as to not waste a single scrap. I would hand quilt every square inch of them. But now that we have a little extra money the possibilities are endless. I have turned into a designer fabric snob. I mail my quilt tops to Utah to get them machine quilted. In recent years when I've had a baby shower to go to I've found myself at the mall hunting down the perfect matching outfit and spending way too much on something that will be grown out of in about 6 months. Now that the economy isn't all that great and we have college and weddings to pay for, I've sort of come full circle. I guess I've always known that less is more. So I'm back to knitting sweaters (now the yarn costs about $15) and my latest quilt project is old timey and hand pieced. It's nice to save money and it's all so much more personal this way.
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I'm a tad sad and melancholy that my kids never ever got one of your famous sweaters. I guess they were just too old for baby gifts during your first era of knit-craft. Wah!
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