February 2020

Yes, it's been awhile since my last post. Working on finding some kind of balance in this one life I have has been daunting to say the least. Anyway, lots on the table this year. This decade. My knee is getting better from surgery last year. I'm back at the job and I'm looking for a new one. Which is another job. Wish me luck. Working on more exercising and eating better. That will work out when Lent comes. I will be able to focus on what I put in my body. I have finished up some projects and still working on others from last year. The last decade was full of heartache, turmoil, and frustration. So here's to the new decade and year.

So far:

• Submitted two short stories for possible online publication
• Finally tacked down the binding of my Double Irish Chain quilt that I started in 2016
• I've been doing little sketches on a regular basis, will turn some into better drawings
• I've been writing on a regular basis, working on editing a pile of stories
• Got a pin loom and I'm learning how to weave on it. I have other plans for the finished pieces. Don't know if it will work or not for what I have in mind but I've got to start somewhere
• Learning more ways to applique and embroider, also for future projects
• Participating in the art challenge 29 Faces for the month of February

From last year been working on some Frida Kahlo dolls.

Also from last year, Christmas ornaments for co-workers.

I bought myself a Wattle & Loop (out of Australia) embroidery/applique kit. I have lots of ideas but wanted to see their process.

Yes, it's the Year of the Rat. These two were commissioned after I drew and showed one for the front page of my Bullet Journal for January.

The mending of my favorite pair of pants that I've had since forever. Like almost 30 years. Cotton twill and they don't make pants like this anymore. Mending the holes, then covering them with hexies. I will stitch hexies all over the pants. I'm also going to work on one of my favorite sweaters that has seen better days. Going to try not to buy more clothes but get back to making my own.

First four of my 29 Faces.

And my Double Irish Chain quilt.

I have missed blogging. If only to keep my wits about myself. I don't know if anyone will read this. Or if they get anything useful out of this but I will keep going. Life is truly a journey if not a very wacky trip. Have a good rest of the week.

The Best Laid Plans...

Yes, indeed. The best laid plans don't always get you laid the way you planned. Love that quote. Can't remember the lady's name who said it. But that seems to be the way life goes. Anyhoo...

October, my favorite month is well underway. My creativity is inching along. Last week was spent going back and forth to my mom's. She fell again, and I went with her to her doctor. A few X-rays later and nothing is broken. Thanks goodness. I made a big pot of veggie soup for her so she wouldn't have to stand a cook. Went and picked up some breakfast things for her to eat when she gets up. Yep, she wasn't eating in the morning while she took her medication. Which made her dizzy and why she fell. Ugh! Two doctors got on her case. Thank you doctors. Did six loads of her laundry and we continued to clear out stuff in the house. Two more trash bags.

Today I'm feeling pretty good. Got my exercise in and even went for a walk. A little farther than the previous walk. It was a beautiful morning, a small wind, brisk temps, the sun shining, just great. I will have to pull out my gloves for the next walk. I got in and did a small drawing for National Octopus Day. October 8th, get it?

I also was able to finally, finally finish a doll. My first Frida Kahlo doll. I couldn't believe it. It's been so long since I completed a project.

And I started some larger hexies to mend my favorite pair of pants that I've had for 20 years. I love those pants and they don't make them like that anymore. I was going to just patch them but I don't like store bought patches, they don't always stay put. Then I saw on Facebook where they were talking about mending items of clothing. So that's what I will do. Mend my pants and stitch on lots of hexies to make my pants fancy. Maybe I'll get another couple of years wear out of them.

I'll be making some green ones today. The pants are a khaki green color. That's my update. Yes, still a little behind but I'm feeling so much better and I'm going to just ride with it.

Getting Back

Recovery from any surgery is slow and steady. Especially with joints. You're terrified that you'll do something wrong and re-injure yourself, all the while your physical therapist says you're fine and to trust the joint. I no longer have shooting pain which I enjoy. It will still take time to trust myself but I'm getting there.

I'm also working on getting back to creating things. For about two and a half months, I hadn't created anything because of the pain. Now I feel like I'm coming out of a fog. Also working on not beating myself up because I may miss making Halloween pieces again. Oh well. One day-at-a-time, one thing at a time. So I started with little things begun before surgery. Like my hexie (English Paper Piecing) pincushions. It seems to be a comfort thing making them, plus I'm using up a lot of scraps. And working on getting some sort of consistency with sketching. I would like to do a personal art challenge for the month of October.

Here's what I've been up to so far. Another mushroom. I used Derwent Ink Tense paints, Derwent Watercolor Pencils, and Micron Pen.

This is my Frida Kahlo doll I started when the sun formed. Her skirt and top were done last month. She'll get dressed and hair on soon.

Here are some finished and unfinished pincushions. I may make some different shapes too. Square, rectangle. Why not? Believe it or not, this is a project that calms me down and helps me to think of bigger projects.

Things are perfect. They never will be but I'm working on being comfortable being me and being creative again. Have a great weekend.

September

It's been awhile. I have been recuperating from knee surgery. Four weeks now and PT (physical therapy is going well. Right now I'm about 75% functional. My PT therapist says I'm doing better than most who have had my procedure. Of course, I'm not a patient person and I'm working on not being hard on myself for not being further along. But I can walk without shooting pain and my flexibility is improving everyday. I even got more types of exercises to do. I'm planning on another tow weeks to see how things go and then I'll be ready to look for a new job. I don't know if I want to be on my feet all the time at the old job or deal with people this holiday season.

It's been rough trying to get creative again. Lots of starts and stops. Lots of tears. Lots of being mad at myself. I tell myself, one-day-at-a-time. Do a few things and rest. Think of all the cool and wonderful things I've done and celebrate. Put fear in the backseat and keep moving. It's hard. After being in constant pain for so many months, having the surgery, and not working, it is very hard. My self esteem is in the toilet and I just have little faith in creating right now. Once again I have missed out on several creative opportunities.

It's my favorite time of year and I'm working on enjoying it. The leaves are starting to change colors. I love that. The temps were cooler but we seem to be getting a late summer right now. All the fall and Halloween decorations are out in full force. I have to just look. Look at how people decorate their homes, both inside and out. I keep telling myself that one day, one day I will have my own home to decorate. Right now, that's kind of hard to hold on to.

I tell myself that each day is a new day. I've been trying to just get back to creating something. After surgery, all I could do was knit. So I made dish cloths.

I finally got a front page done for my Bullet Journal.

I started drawing mushrooms for a project I've been wanting to work on for over a year.

And I finally got back to my EPP (English Paper Piecing) using hexies. The mini ones below in the first pic will turn into something. I can see what I want in my mind but I don't know if it will happen.

The larger hexies have backings and will be appliqued down and eventually turned into pincushions. One can never have enough pincushions. Plus I'm trying to use up some of the fabric and other materials I have.

It's a start. I now have to finish them. Another big problem. Finishing things.

One Day At A Time. After all, I'm still healing. And I need to cut myself some slack.

Working

Like many, I have wanted to start more positive habits. Which I didn't a week ago today. It's difficult to try something that is good for you. I have fallen off the creative truck a few times but I tell myself that's okay. It didn't take overnight to create bad habits and it not going to be overnight to create new better habits. In other words, cut myself some slack, get back on the truck when I fall off and keep going. Our brain is one thing we really don't use much. So when I'm working on the new habits or a new schedule my brain just wants to quit. Um... no. I push on. If I'm tired, I take a break. So I've been creating. Working on things started months, years ago, and some new projects.

More work on my gourd heads out of Creative Paperclay. Still making things suck and just seeing what happens.

The clay heads I started. Some are starting to take on personalities.

Bloomers for three dolls.

And stitch work on my pumpkin applique started last year. I haven't appliqued in so long, I didn't know exactly what I was doing. Common thread here. So I worked on it anyway and it's not bad. Now I've got to find a backing for it and finish it. I know now what not to do the next time.

Have a good week.

The Best Laid Plans...

Don't always turn out the way you want. Actually, that's not the exact quote but part of it will work for now. Seeing that my list didn't work out, I decided Bailey Magoo Bear needed a scarf. So I knitted him one with some sock yarn I had and now it's being blocked. He'll have to get more clothes later on and will probably have a better wardrobe than I do.

I told myself that just because the day didn't go as planned that I could still do something creative. The scarf was fun and relaxing and I decided to take the first steps to do an applique/embroidery piece. Haven't done that in a month of Sundays. And I got to use my light tablet again. Second time since I got it for me last Christmas. Gotta work on that too.

I am so ready for fall. It was 80 degrees today and still a bit humid. Ugh! I am waiting patiently for cooler temps.

Yee Haw!

Moving right along.

I am a list maker. Some people think it's a waste of time. Good for them. As for me, I make lists. Always. Daily, weekly, I used to do monthly, and sometimes things I really should get done for the year. And then there's that wishful thinking list that used to be a 'Bucket List' is now called a 'Life List'. I may or may not get to everything on the list but I need a guideline of what needs to be done and get done. What I have been doing is writing everything to do on a particular day. Then at the end of the day, I only see that I've ticked off maybe three things, I get frustrated and I don't want to do anything because I didn't see any progress. Still thinking things through, I decided two days ago to do a short list. Instead of filling up a whole page (one of those yellow Junior Legal Pads), I try to do half. I have small things to do for a couple of projects. I can work as long as I want on each project as long as I do something. It's kind of working. Still need a little tweaking, like maybe the things that didn't get done or a lot worked on, go on the next day's list. I also have a master list to pull things from. I tell you, I've been able to get back to projects started some time ago.

Such as Hank Frank. I had an idea, started the piece and then stopped. Call it a little fear because I didn't have a clue as to what to do next. He sat. In a spot where I could see him. And I put 'find plastic mug' on the list. I found it and then started his arm and hand.

I made binding for the two preemie quilts I've been working on and got it attached to them yesterday.

More work on mug rugs. The first group with batting and quilting done. Then I shored up the edges, ready for binding.

The lone mug rug. I only had enough of this fabric for one.

And I finally started a new applique project. After having several not-so-good starts, I decided to give it a go again. I will figure this out. This is of a Kokeshi doll. Love those dolls.

I painted the pants on my little creepy ornaments. Oh, and more writing. That's what's been going on this week so far.

May - Day 2, Not Bad

Yep, they keep ending faster and faster. Last month wasn't that bad. Each month gets better than the previous one, so I'm grateful for that. I'm really going to push the envelope for May. There is this saying hanging up in the break room where my studio is. I'm going to read it a lot.

It was a good day today. I got all April receipts together and tallied up, loaded an appliqued wall hanging onto the longarm for some custom work, made a doll dress, made a pattern for a cloth ornament, and started nine mug rugs. Not a bad start for the first day of a new month. More pics are coming.

End of the Month

Here we are again. The end of another month. This year is going by way too fast. But there's nothing I can do about that. Except that I've decided to try and have more fun. I did rally this last week to get some projects done and new ones started. I feel very good about that. So, here we go for April:

• one book read
• 11 writing days
• 4 business quilts longarmed
• 2 applique projects started
• 3 day trips/entertainment (Hoots Flea Market, Walnut Cove Craft Fair, Keep It Local art fair in Oak Ridge)
• 3 Wendy B Quilts blog posts
• 12 World of Wendy Lu blog posts
• 2 Netflix movies
• one project done (mug rugs)
• 3 workshops/talks (applique workshop, White Collar Crime writing seminar, Mary's Mavens meeting)

I went to the two art/craft fairs today. The first one was at the Chateau La Fontaine Inn in Walnut Cove.

The second show was the Keep it Local Art Fair in Oak Ridge. On a farm and they had donkeys. A mom and her six month old son. The owners got them to keep the coyotes away from the chickens. I didn't know donkeys did that. There was also a llama, but I guess he didn't like the crowds.

It was a pretty good adventure and the GPS worked.

I started my own applique design. I took a pic of a magnolia when I first moved down here. Then I had it enlarged to the size I wanted.

Next I traced the photo on the light box using tracing paper, went over the design with marker, put it back on the box and traced it again.

Then I numbered all the parts of the flower and leaves.

I've got some fabric choices already pulled and next I will make the pattern pieces from that fabric. I also sketched some ornaments and started three.

My messy worktable.

My three little ornaments.

Moving Right Along

I finally got all the pieces in place on my wall hanging. I envision so many possibilities but right now I will finish this one.

Removing paper pieces.

All pieces of paper pattern removed. Ready for stitching.

More mug rugs.

Applique Workshop

I took an applique workshop from Ann Holmes yesterday. I'm always on the look out for new ways to applique. Something that will do what I want and be a little easier. I'm still working on my pieces but here is the first part.