Water - at last!

Water, beautiful, glorious water. A shower never felt so good. The water was restored around 9:00 pm last night and fully functional this morning when we woke up. I haven't enjoyed a shower like that in a long time. Curious what we have come to take for granted. When you turn the faucet, something is supposed to come out of it (and hopefully, that stuff is clear and sparkly).


The quilt wall is finished - here is a rough photo without any props.






I started and finished a sewing machine dust cover yesterday. It felt good to go from beginning to a finished project in one day. I used pieces of lavendars and purples (my favorite color) to add a little brightness and color to my new home studio. Now the big decision is - do I use it or post it on Etsy (or both??)?

And here is the 'out of white thread' project. It is so close to being finished.

Hugs to all of you who care to read my ramblings as I discover a completely different side of me.

Marie

Christmas Decorations

Bah humbug! I hate taking down Christmas decorations and this time I waited as long as possible before tackling the hated job. Big T helped pack them all up and they are stored in their little secure corner of the attic. It makes me so sad that I usually end up shedding a tear or so before it’s over.

The question of the day – when you buy new Christmas decorations, do you get rid of the old ones? Or at least quit using them? When I make new placemats, do I pass some old ones on to someone? No?? I thought not. How can you throw Christmas decorations away? I’m sure there must be a law against it somewhere. I feel guilty when I throw used Christmas cards away. I’m sure the Christmas card police are waiting to go through my trash.

The house looks so empty and sterile now. All my Christmas quilts are put away and I don’t have anything out now. (I have to dust first. After all I couldn’t dust while the decorations were out, now could I?) And to top it all off, Big T has found an “oldies but goodies” radio station and listening to music from the 60’s makes me even sadder. These are the same songs we listened to while we were dating – boy that was a long time ago.

My new home studio (aka sewing room) is coming along beautifully. I broke down and made something yesterday before it is 100% finished and I loved working in it. I have to hurry and take a picture to post. The last part of the make-over is my quilt wall. Hopefully, we get that finished before too much longer.

My first project in my new room was a mini-quilt with a patchwork heart on it. I think I will use this as my “valentine swap item”. It’s so cute, I may make several to post on my Etsy shop.

We talked to Little Miss on the phone last night (which means we talked and she just made adorable sounds and giggled). She has learned to say Grandma even if it does sound like “Bob”. After all, The Dude called me “Adam” for several years.

The homemade potato soup was absolutely fantastic (and the second bowl was too much). I love hot soup on a cold night. Actually, I love soups in general. I would rather eat soup than a salad. My grandmother always had a pot of soup simmering on the back burner of her stove. Many years later, we discovered that she simply opened a can and poured it in the pan. She was a terrible cook - I should have known something was up when we could eat the soup.

Hooray - I'm starting to get proof that someone is reading this. I'm so excited. Thank you! I'm no longer just talking to myself.

From me to you, lots of hugs and thanks for joining me in my new adventures of learning to be creative and artistic.

Marie

Wednesday Ramblings

The consolidation of two closets into one is almost finished and I have another large stack of clothing to go to the consignment store which supports battered women and children. It is becoming quite obvious that my professional business attire is not getting any use at all. My jeans are just fine (and a lot more comfortable). My newly expanded home studio is getting closer and closer.

I have not sat at a sewing machine since we arrived back from San Diego. I think I may be having withdrawal symptoms but I am trying to hold off until we are through with the room. I have several major projects I want to get started on soon. (More than several if the truth be known.)

I have been busy with blog changes but now it is time to look at www.hummingbirdtreasures.etsy.com. This is a good time to revisit and update the store policies and the shipping information.

Since I am not sewing yet (intentionally), I have spent a lot of time this week looking at other blogs. As in everything else, they run the entire gamut from ‘okay’ to ‘wow’. These have been blogs written by women, for the most part, with a common goal – to sell handmade items over the net. But the one thing that really jumps out at me is that there are no geographical, political, or philosophical boundaries. I wonder if there aren’t some lessons here that could be shared with “big business” or even our political leaders?? Food for thought.

From me to you, lots of hugs and thanks for joining me in my new adventures of learning to be creative and artistic.

Marie

Organization and USP's

I am so excited! We bought the shelving units for my sewing room (home studio) today and agreed where things will be going. I can actually begin work up there tomorrow. I have to do some major closet reorganizing before Big T can put up my shelving units. I have been dreaming about arranging and displaying my fabric collection (and making it much easier to work with). I am eager to get the physical, organizational work finished so I can return to my projects (which are stacking up). I think in addition to UFO’s (unfinished objects) and WIP’s (works in progress) I need a category of USP’s (unstarted projects). Am I the only one who feels this way?

Speaking of which, I just read a blog from a fellow quilter who kept track of every project she completed in 2009. I was so impressed with her tally, but when I started counting my projects (the last 8 months of 2009) I was amazed at what I had accomplished. I think we are all that way. Someone else’s accomplishments always sound bigger or better than our own.

I met a new friend from Bulgaria yesterday, Nevita. Audrey from Audreys Country Crafts highlighted Nevita’s shop over the weekend. Nevita has beautiful hand knit items. Please check out her blog site and her online store to learn more about her. I personally would like to learn more about ‘gobelin tapestry’ – just the name fascinates me.

My books on ‘easy stained glass quilts’ arrived while we were in San Diego. I sat down to peruse them as soon as I opened the package. I’m really not sure that they looked all that easy though – the jury is still out. Two of the three books looked very good; the third one did not grab my interest as much but I will give it another read to be sure.

I am having so much fun learning new and different ways to be creative. One of the projects swimming in the back of my mind is a way to show the ‘financial crash of 2009’ through contemporary quilt art. I visualize this in a black and white strip quilting technique. This one, of course, would be dedicated to Big T. I don’t know how many hours I have put in at night working on that one in my subconscious state. I have it almost finished in my sleep, while I have yet to put rotary to cloth in consciousness.

January is always quiet and a good time for thinking and organizing. I would rather think than organize, but I need to take advantage of the latter. My immediate target is the sewing room (also known as home studio). I will post pictures when it is finished. I will also remove the vacation status from my online store, Hummingbird Treasures, tomorrow and see what improvements (or changes) are needed there. There is now a 'subscription box' in the sidebar which will notify you by e-mail when a new posting is added to this blog. I look forward to seeing all of you there.

From me to you, lots of hugs and thanks for joining me in my new adventures of learning to be creative and artistic.

Marie