Day Twenty-one--- a black day

I have discovered recently that I may be allergic to licorice. Sad, sad, me! If I really am, that would be tragic! I may have to go into mourning. Seriously. The only things worse would be if I was allergic to salt or vinegar!

I now turn my woe begone self to the flannel quilt of doom. I'm guessing about 5 hours left.... Think I can get it all done today? Ha.

We'll see. Maybe I should offer myself extra incentives to get it all done today.... Jewelry? :) Reality is I can only quilt so fast, and it's not very fast. I'm naturally slow and meticulous, and the flannel is slowing me down even more....

Thank goodness for Netflix streaming, and l...o...n...g A&E and BBC movies! I may even have to whip out the super old John Wayne movies (early, early on in his career :)

Day Nineteen. Oy.

I took a little break from my quilting to look at some of the blogs that inspire me most. I love looking at other people's work. I should really post more pictures :)

Day Eighteen--life

Today as I lean hunched over the flannel quilt of death :), I am thinking about the baby that was just born (the newest baby of the quilt maker). He is so little and so perfect. It was such a joy to hold him today. I even changed his first diaper. (Mom had a C-section and Dad was out getting himself lunch--poor man was starving!) His little bum and little diapers were so small compared to LC's! Now LC looks huge since he's not the littlest baby around any more.

What a gift to be able to hold such a perfect precious little soul! I so cherish holding my own Little Creature, and holding NB (that's what I'll call the new baby) was so delightful! Even though NB's not our baby, LC's world was still turned a little on end when we went to see the baby. LC was excited to see a baby and his friends (the older siblings), but was a little overwhelmed by all the adults and new surroundings. I tried to make sure I held him and gave him lots of hugs and kisses, so he didn't feel left out. And you should have seen him try and grab the baby to hold him! Haha! Luckily, Momma's got quick and dexterous elbows (I was holding NB in one arm at the time).

Ooo! How I love babies! They are such a gift!

Enough gushing! Back to the quilting. It has to be done by Sunday...... yikes!

Day Sixteen-- brings on early onset arthritis

Day Sixteen--

My hands feel like they want to stay permanently in a claw shape. The quilting is coming along slowly....oh, so slowly.

Actually using the metal things you put around your pants legs while riding bicycles....yeah can't think of the name right now. Anyway, those saved my bacon tonight and sped up the quilting process. They hold the roll of the quilt so my left hand doesn't have to. My left hand thanks you, little metal things!

Next time I help someone with a flannel quilt I'm going to recommend they tie it (gasp!). It's like quilting three layers of batting. Arg. I hope it looks good in the end and that they like it, 'cause I'm about ready to throw it across the room.

Breathe.

Running tomorrow morning will put all to rights again...right?

Day Fifteen--the day of the worms

Day Fifteen...

That's a funny word.  Fifteen...  It just doesn't look right.

The black worms of basting have taken over the flannel landscape

Day Fourteen

Day Fourteen:  I think.....

Today I spent a lot of time threading this:

I didn't feel terribly creative doing that (basting---Ha!), but then later on I was able to come up with a sketch for a summer quilt for LC.  His room gets so hot even with the AC on, but he loves having something to cover him up.  At least until he rolls over or kicks his way out because he's too hot :)  So I'm going to use just my stash and see if I can keep myself to that.  Ha!

When I actually sketch it up I might share :)

Day Twelve

Day Twelve: today I went to my quilt guild meeting. I saw some things that inspired me, but I couldn't stay for long because of other commitments. I'm still up in the air as far as how I feel about belonging to this guild. It's waaaaay out of my comfort zone, belonging to a group and sharing my work in person. And it's not exactly my cup of tea either, different personalities and different ways of doing things ('cause my way is most definitely the right way ;). Perhaps that's why it's good for me... I can learn and grow (fancy that!)

Day Eleven...oops!

Day Eleven: (forgot to post yesterday, so pretend the date is correct :). Today I worked on a couple little ideas for some bad poetry. I am by no means a poet, but I enjoy occasionally trying my hand at it :)

I also spent a few hours basting, which is not really something I enjoy doing, but it's so worth it in the end when I'm quilting. So I baste.

Day Ten

Day Ten: today I basted. First with pins then with thread. I unpicked little spots around the edge of the quilt that puckered while I was sewing and resewed them. I'm still trying to figure out how best to quilt it. (the person I'm finishing the quilt for didn't want a binding, so I'm having to be a little creative with how I handle finishing it.

I attended a wonderful workshop tonight. It was about writing, but there were so many things that I can transfer to sewing. I can't wait to look over my notes tonight and figure out a plan for what I want to do next.

Day Nine

Day Nine: worked on my friend's project again. Do you sew? Do you remember your first project? This quilt is hers, and she's doing an awesome job!

My first project was a skirt for my baby sister. It was the first casualty in a long line of casualties of that same sister and her best friend. A pair of scissors. When that girl is bored or restless and there's a pair of scissors in her vicinity, watch out! Anything that's not flesh could become a little ...altered. Her skills over the years have vastly improved, and now the outcome is usually very cool :) (Are you blushing yet, seester?)

I found my teeny sketchbook tonight that I keep by my bed, and I doodled. Something so relaxing and almost energizing about doodling.

Day Eight

Day Eight: .....creativity....what's that?

Today LC and I went to the fabric store and helped a friend find fabric for a couple of projects she is working on. I also found some fabric for some projects that don't exist yet :) I had hoped to be able to walk out without fabric.... What can I say, it's a disease :)

I'm off to go find my sketchbook so I can at least draw something before I go to bed.

Day Seven

Day Seven: What did I do today that was creative? I'm not sure... I'm training for a half marathon right now so I'm super tired on days when I run (because of the longer distances). Which means we didn't do much today :) When LC slept I slept, too. And that's normally when I get my creative juices flowing. However LC and I did dance and sing today, and we played the air guitar. For dinner tonight I added a hint of nutmeg to our egg salad (Nerd Father's suggestion :). Delectable.

Day Five

Day five: today I creatively found ways to convince myself to keep running. I found creative ways to count the laps as I ran. And I decided if I ever write a romance novel it will be entitled, "A Unprosperous Romance." (I told you I have a thing for titles.)

Day Four

Day Four: helped a friend with a quilt for her daughter. And LC and I danced a lot today (my dancing is nothing if not creative :) nothing like it has ever been seen before).

Day Three

Day three: I sort of decorated a wreath (it needs a little work still). I thought about a poem. I have the title and now need to spend a little time with Mortimer to come up with the actual poem. Or maybe I could write a book of poetry that is nothing but titles..... Hmmmm.... An interesting thought. I actually have quite a fascination with titles.

Day Two

Day two: I worked on a wood carving I haven't worked on in years. It was lovely to be carving again, to hold my chisels again, to remind myself often to watch where I was aiming. (I really should find my gloves :)

(Like that chipping nail polish? Oh, yeah.)

30 Day Create-fest

My creative juices have been running low for the past little while, last week especially, so in order to jump start them I'm going to jump on the 30 day challenge bandwagon (it seems like everywhere I turn someone is starting a new challenge, and probably for similar reasons) after all why not follow the crowd?  Heh.  (the more I talk about this, the more I'm not going to want to do it.  So I'll stop talking about how saturated the challenge market is...Stop.)  'Cept, I'm not challenging my few lonely readers to join me.  I'm doing this for purely selfish reasons ;)  So it's just a little challenge for me.

In fact I'm going to stop calling it a challenge.  I'm going to call it my own little 30-day create-fest.  I'll post at least a picture each day (ha! that will be a challenge in and of itself!) of at least one creative-like thing I've done.  Maybe I'll include an explanation.  Except Sundays.  I'm taking those off from posting.  Those are my parameters.  For myself.  So there you go.  

Commence to begin the Create-fest of one!

Day one:  a little (1.5 x 1.5 inches) drawing from today.  No rhyme, no reason, just what I felt like drawing at the time. 

Dresden Forever

Now I know why more people don't use Dresden plates in their quilts. They are beautiful and fun to put together, but hand appliqueing all those points... !!!!!

My sewing time the last couple of weeks has been few and far between, and when I do get down to sewing I'm spending a lot of time in the mire that is the middle of time consuming projects. I still haven't figured out the curved piecing, so I'm in the middle of that and still running up against walls. And it takes me forever to hand sew anything so I'm mired in the middle of hand appliqué trying to finish this Dresden.

My wonderful in laws came into town last week, which means the sewing room had to put on its guest room face. I actually like the transformation because I have it down to a system and it forces me to organize, clean, and discard. So not only did we have excellent company for a few days (too few), but now I also have a cleaner more organized sewing room. Also my mother in law brought a pile of fabric that I get to turn into curtains for her. I am excited to have a new project to design and work on!

Back to the hand sewing..... (maybe later today I'll sneak up to my sewing machine and sew something that has nothing to do with any of my other projects :)