I made a small quilt for the BDAR auction in November, but at that time I hadn’t really looked into the skills and such required for quilting. So back in December when I was making a list of things I wanted to do in the new year… I joined a block of the month (or “BOM” as it’s called) club to help myself create a full size quilt this year. It’s the Sugar Block Club from Amy Gibson. Along with the directions for each monthly quilt square, she goes “beyond the block” and sends out a recipe and a personal challenge.

January’s personal challenge: “Be…Intentional”.

I really like this challenge. Although I can’t relate to the strong underlying religious/spiritual aspects of it based on her email, I do respect that is where she’s coming from and plan to take my own spin on it. My goal/intention list is an ongoing process, but I’ve been trying to add very specific and realistic aspects to each goal on my list so that I can accomplish them with intention. For example, Danny and I plan to sign up both pups for individualized lessons (Zoe for socialization and aggression issues; Finn for barking, jumping and socialization) in order to reach our goal of being able to go to the dog park without worry, and to have new people come into our home without Finn freaking out. Oh, mini funny story… a few months back, Danny’s dad came to visit. Finn was scared and barked at him as per usual with visitors. But that didn’t stop him from sneaking into the guest room in the middle of the night to steal cookies out of his suitcase… and then sneak back out. His dad woke up to the door creaking open slightly… then heard a wrapper crinkling in his bag. :)

So anyway… back to the Sugar Block Club… January’s recipe was hearty pumpkin pancakes. Danny wouldn’t let me make them (he hates pumpkin anything… unfortunate, I know). But maybe one of these days I’ll make them for myself and the pups! And here is my January “Intention” quilt block. The neutral cream color that I’m using as my background fabric is from a sheet that I used to decorate our dwarf mine for Halloween, the orange is leftover from Happy’s dwarf costume, the green is from a pillowcase from Goodwill I had earmarked for a Halloween project that I didn’t end up making, and the two patterned pieces were new from Joann’s. I’m trying to use as much as possible from scraps that I already have… but I know I won’t have enough for the whole quilt that way. (SP20)