I Haven't Forgotten

I haven't forgotten you and I haven't forgotten me. Business is picking up and I have three quilts in line for longarming. Very exciting. I love to see what people do with their fabric. I have also been working on my Sashiko. I'll have to get another kit soon. Lots going on right now. I'll do a longer post soon.

Hello

I've been trying to do better with posting but it's not happening. So I shall continue to get better, which means I will have to get better at working on things. So, here we are, and I have pics of doll pins finally stuffed. I also started a new Sashiko piece. I have gotten back to Esperanto and I'm almost done with my short story. I had to hook up my tower again because I can print off my work on an old printer. I won't have to go to Kinko's every time I need to have pages printed off. Now that I have it hooked up again, no excuses. I mean, I'm just about done with the rough draft. Geesh!

The doll pins are about 5 1/2" tall.

And here is my second Sashiko piece. A bit more complicated design but I like doing them. They are very soothing once you get into a rhythm. I still don't know what I will do with them once they're done. I've seen these pieces turned into little purses. That's an idea. Time for breakfast, some coffee, and get busy. Have a good day.

Halloween Cat

I designed a Halloween Cat a couple of months ago and started it. At first I was going to machine applique it but was way too complicated for me so I appliqued it by hand. Then the piece sat. And sat. And sat. Until I got tired of looking at it. So I embroidered some detail on and put on borders. The top is finally done and it was my first piece to be finished for the Trailer Stash Fabrics Finish It Challenge. It feels good to get something done. Now to put it on the frame and attempt to do my first custom stitching.

Once it has been quilted on the longarm, I will bind it in black.

Dreams, Dreams, Dreams

I've been in a creative funk lately, even though I had fun celebrating my birthday month. I was bound and determined to turn this year around and do something, so I straightened up my work space. This type of straightening wasn't procrastinating because when my work area gets to the point where I can't find anything, it needs to be fixed. Once I could see things, my mind felt clearer. I could even breath better. And the following morning, the dreams came.

We all dream. We may not remember them, but we all do it. When I was younger, I studied dreams and all scientific things going on about dreaming. I disagreed with them on some points. Since then some things have changed. They used to say that you only dream after you reach REM, about an hour once you fall asleep. Um... yeah. I can be asleep for ten minutes and have dreams of epic proportions. That's where I get most of my story ideas from. Dreams.

Another thing they used to say was that dreams were only in black and white. I haven't kept up on dream research but for me and others I've met, that was wrong. I had one nightmare in my lifetime that was in black and white. My dreams are in wonderful Technicolor. With sounds and smells. Sometimes my dreams are just fluff, sometimes I'm flying and then I crash and burn. I'm not hurt but it's telling me that I have to work something through. That's usually the case for me. I have gone years without remembering dreams (and I had been totally miserable), I know I've had them but can't remember them. But when something in my life is happening, a big change or little is coming and I need to think things through or just not give up, the dreams come. Fast and furious like.

After I cleared the clutter in my creative work space, it seemed to allow the creative flood gates to open and thoughts in my mind to get going again. But two mornings ago, I couldn't remember the dreams. There were about four or five, one right after the next. Some were long and others short. I try to remember what's going on in my dreams so I can analyze them because they usually tell me something. What to do next, which direction to go in, what to decide but... my alarm went off just when something was going to happen. Gah! Sometimes if I just stay still I can remember bits and pieces. Nope. Not this time. It was crazy too. A whirlwind of 'what the heck' things.

Then things in real life started to change. I became productive again. Got a new longarm job. Got a positive response from a quilt shop owner for her to send some business my way. Got a message that another longarmer is sending business my way. The rough draft of my short story is almost done. The top of a wall hanging I started many moons ago is on its way to be finished. And I'm being consistent with what I do. My down time in between projects is getting shorter. Meaning, when I get to a certain point where I need to think about a project more before continuing or I get tired, I just don't turn on the TV and waste the rest of the day. I take a short break and go onto the next project. That's a good thing. I'm starting to utilize my time better. I will have pictures shortly.

Have a great day!

7/7

Okay, I mentioned that I was having a hard time creating in the past month. I don't know why I forget why it happens on occasion and what my remedy is. My work space has been a mess. Couldn't find anything. I knew I should clean up. But the procrastination pixies were running rampant. So instead of sinking into a pit of melted marshmallow mixed with peanut butter and crude oil, I decided to do something. About the mess. With the longarming of my own quilts, I had a pile of batting leftovers. I went through them, separated them, and put them into see through (that's the key) plastic bags and labeled them. The larger pieces I measured each piece, labeled, and nicely folded. They can be used for some nice size wall hangings. The next size pieces were too small for wall hangings but could be used to make some ornaments (I guess I should get going on those because you know what holiday is approaching), those also went into a labeled bag. The pieces that were too small for ornaments but too big to throw away, went into another bag. I will use those pieces to wrap doll bodies. That took about two hours of the morning but was very happy with the results. I continued to rearrange other things. I do have a few stacks of things to go through but they are neat stacks.

I practiced Esperanto, posted a blog, went to the library for more books, watched some paper mache videos, did not go on Facebook for the day (which was a bit difficult but stuck to my guns and was able to get things done), I got back to working on Verity (a pattern by Deana Hogan) and I was enjoying it. It's been awhile since I worked on a doll. I don't know why I'm so down on cloth dolls. Maybe because I've made so many of them that I want to do something different. That's fine, but I don't have to give cloth up forever.

The legs and arms have been stuffed. I now have to stitch the fingers on the hands and stuff the head and body. Her lower legs are out of a striped material to simulate stockings. I picked an olive green fabric for her dress.

I made a trip to Trailer Stash Fabrics this morning. Love that place. Got another Sashiko kit and a dress pattern. And I got into some more trouble. I signed up for a Quilt Top Challenge. We could list up to six quilt tops that we want to finish. The owner of the shop picks one of the numbers for us and that's the quilt we work on. It's not to finish the whole quilt, just the top. And the one she picked for me was my Halloween Cat wall hanging. I guess I'm going to have to get it done. I have a month. And I signed up for an open workshop that starts in the Fall. That one will be like a block-of-the-month. I can't wait to see the designs. I'm off to work on that cat and some other things. See ya later.

July, July!

No pic post today. I do hope everyone had a nice, wonderful, or uneventful 4th of July. Mine was uneventful. I house and pet sat for a friend. Latte stayed by my side through the booming storms and fireworks. She does not like them and at one point, neither did I. They were loud. Like canon fire. But it's all good. Over until next year.

It is July! Half the year is definitely over. The summer solstice has come and gone and the days are getting shorter. Yep, I said it, shorter. Some people are not having a summer yet and with time flying by, they may not get one. I feel sorry for them. Here in North Carolina, we are definitely having summer. And rain. And today, it's humid. My curls have curls and I just give up with the hair thing. Even though I was born in the summer, I've never really cared for it. Except for growing things, When I was younger my aunt had a vegetable garden every year and I helped take care of it. Now that I'm older, I deal with it. I love fall, then spring, then winter, then summer. In winter, you can always put more clothes on. In summer, well, there's only so much you can take off before the risk of being arrested. The other thing that's starting to get on my nerves is the rush for Christmas. Can't they wait until the little ones go back to school? I have seen a couple of commercials hawking Christmas. And a 'buy me' channel was hawking decorations. I have no problem with that holiday but it's still summer.

Last month was okay. I had fun doing things for my birthday celebration but felt it a bit stagnant on the creative front. Don't know why. Nothing seemed to jive and I didn't want to do anything. ANYTHING!!!!! I don't know if it was the planets doing sky bowling or the weird weather patterns we've been having. I wasn't really inspired and felt lost.

I'm still feeling a little lost but getting better. A few hours of Pinterest and watching creative videos on You Tube can help bring back the creative mojo. I have so many ideas running around in my head now, that I need to stop and sketch them out. Plus, Halloween is coming and once again, I'm not prepared and behind schedule. Gah! I have been reorganizing my creative space so I can find things and get busy.

Until next time, have a great day!