Vacation Time!

Retirement has a lot of advantages. Being able to take a vacation in the dead of winter and head out to warm weather is one of the best. Hopefully the taste of spring will be in the air when we get back.

I’m off to be a tourist and who knows what sights I will see. Maybe just a recliner and a book! I get to teach a workshop, so maybe there will be something about quilting.

I don’t write blog posts weeks or even days in advance. I write about my life as it’s happening. So, blog posts may be few and far between for a couple of weeks, or you may get random pictures of trees or a beach or a special shop I may find…I’m just looking for warm, sandal-wearing weather and total laziness!

Aaaaaah, vacation…

Labor-less Weekend

Yep–lazy, no-real-work holiday weekend around here. Got my special project almost done, but that was playtime, not work.

Played in the mud and in the wading pool with my grandson. Did NOT mow the lawn!

Needed thread and my local quilt shop was sensibly closed for Labor Day, but the big JoAnn’s was open and actually had what I needed…as well as some magazines and a couple of books that looked like fun.

Took a walk and stopped at a garage sale. I bought this vintage beaded pillow.

It’s about 12″ square and the beads are tiny, tiny. It looks well used, but there is not even one bead missing. I don’t know what I’ll do with it, but I just could not pass it up. What would you do with it?

Perfect lazy weekend and we all need those once in a while. Not even going to pretend that it was a planning and thinking time!

Better get some busy going today, though!

 

A Day Off…

Total decadent laziness…did absolutely nothing yesterday but go out for lunch, play on the computer, peruse a couple of magazines…just slug-like living! And why? Because I have all my deadline-driven projects done and ready to hang, deliver or ship.

I kind of welcome days like this. It actually gives my brain a chance to do a final checklist on the deadlines. I can almost feel those responsibilities and details falling out the side of my head to make room for something new. I’m sure I can feel my eyes rolling around inside my skull, opening wider and shifting focus to new colors, new fabrics, new ideas, new goals…

I want to go to a workshop of some kind. I’m not sure what, but I feel the need for some guided study.

There is an idea hovering at the edge of the planning part of my brain. It needs some serious thought and maybe a whole pile of fabric pinned to the design wall.

Quilt National has always been a competition that I thought was forever out of my reach or capabilities. I won’t think negatively like that anymore. I’m going to make a piece to enter in that contest. I’m not likely to make this year’s deadline, but I will have something to enter by next year.

Prioritizing…deciding what I really want to do…recharging the creative battery…that’s what a lazy day is all about. I’m awfully glad I had one.

Day of Decadence

Yesterday was a true day of rest for me. The kids were here for breakfast, which Keith cooked. I finished mowing the lawn, with grandson AJ’s ‘help’. (Yes, that’s quite restful for me!)

After they went home, I spent some time under the shade trees, in the hammock, reading and napping. Keith also cooked at dinner time, so I truly did no work. Lounging on the couch completed my lazy, decadent day and it really refreshed me.

Now it’s time to get back to work and I’m eager. I have to give a trunk show and lecture tomorrow night in Lima, Ohio. I love selecting which quilts I will take with me and planning little variations in my presentations. I love meeting guild members and seeing show and tell. I love talking about quilting as much as I love doing the quilting.

There are some exhibits I’m thinking about entering. Haven’t done that in recent years–perhaps fear of criticism has held me back. But I’m finally at a point where criticism is only another learning tool–or it can be silly at times!

And projects—-whoo! I always have more projects than I can get done and I’m eager to keep going on them also. Lots to do and yet, here I sit, browsing websites and playing games. My day of decadence may have made me too lazy for my own good! One more cup of coffee and I’ll get to work, I promise!

…those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer…

I remember that song and today is one of those days! I worked on mixing beads and getting kits ready this morning and by the time I stopped to think about some lunch it was 2 o’clock! Since we pick up AJ from daycare at 4, I just decided to give myself permission to sit on the deck and enjoy this wonderfully pleasant day. The hammock is looking awfully tempting, though, so a nap may work it’s way in here, too.

I met with both Kathy from the Quilt Patch and Jane from the Bead Box the other day to try and finalize what each would like to see in a beading on quilt class. For Kathy, the class will be all day and the students will start from scratch. They will use my templates, create and quilt the piece and then use my bead kits for finishing. They will have the opportunity to check out the bead store for specialty beads or to create their own kits, should they so desire. I’m just thinking that dollar signs will have them opting for my kits.

Now at the Bead Store, it will be a much shorter class. The kit will include a bead packet, but that will be created and provided by the store. My part of the kit will be providing the quilt piece, already quilted and just ready to bead. I guess we really didn’t decide on how that pricing will work or a firm date for the class, so it’s not really finalized, but much closer.

I really believe that there may be room for lots of activity in this area. When I had dinner last night with some of my friends who are non-quilters (even non-sewers!) and non-beaders, a couple of them seemed like they might want to try it just for fun. A little kit, a small investment of time and money, and not a tragedy if they don’t like it!

Since the first class will be just before Halloween, I am going to include a Halloween option…”Carve Your Own Jack-O-Lantern” without getting messy! The hardest part on that will be deciding what your pumpkin face will look like!

I could offer a fall leaf option, too…we’ll see how much time I have before we advertise the options. I have a quilting workshop this weekend and still have to finish my speech and powerpoint and organize my class stuff for AQS. My September is looking like a busy month.

Sept. 2-17-  Greg and Casey will be visiting sometime in there   Sept. 13  Spontaneous Quilting Adventurer–I’m giving a talk at the Tecumseh District Library   Sept. 17  GAAQG Meeting   Sept. 18 Workshop with Patsy Thompson   Sept. 19  Quilt University follow up meeting   Sept. 25 Demo for Canadian group at the quilt store   Sept. 26-Oct. 2  Travel to and from AQS DesMoines and teach there!  Wahoo!

After that it’s hockey season, other family visits, teaching locally, holidays and shopping. It’s not really good to take time to sit around thinking on a lazy summer afternoon. I look at what’s upcoming and I’m getting tired already!!! Maybe I’d better go visit that hammock for a nap and to get rested up…

Leave the Mess!

When I start a project, I like to start with a clean studio and usually I clean up after I finish a project. I’ve been working on several things at once lately and haven’t cleaned up a thing!

Today I wanted to put the finishing touches on my art deco bead project and my leaf bead project, but I knew that everything I had out (not just this pile, but on 2 other tables as well!) was going to be used again in a day or so. I just left the mess! I piled it a little higher and cleared a corner of the table and finished those nagging tasks.

You can’t see it well in the picture, especially since it’s black fabric, but I quilted a simple swirl in this and mounted it on stretcher bars, then attached the beaded piece. That piece had been wrapped and sewn around a piece of foam core for extra strength and now it’s done, done, done! I’m just as happy with it as the day I first started beading, and I don’t always like what I’ve done!

The leaf project that I finished is a double layer quilt now. I quilted the background fabric and then attached the little leaf quilt off center. I don’t know why I agonized over the finishing of this one for so long…it was an easy decision today. Oh, well, different day, different brain!

My picture taking is crooked, not the quilt!

And here's the detail again.

Sunday’s are often totally lazy days for me but I’m feeling good about today. Two projects finished and I know I would not have done that if I had stopped to clean up the mess.

Just pile it higher and deeper and keep on working!

There’s Work and then there’s WORK!

WORK for me is whatever I have to do to keep things cleaned and cooked and mowed and weeded and planted and painted and laundered in my life. None of the fun of the work I do in my studio. I have a tendency to let all that stuff pile up undone and then try to get 15 hours worth of chores done in 2 hours! I procrastinate with that stuff all the time and only do it when I can’t stand the mess anymore.

Today is one of those days. And I AM procrastinating a little bit by spending time on the computer! But those chores absolutely must be done or they will nag at me. I will hear the weeds and grass growing while I sleep. The rose bush sitting in its greenhouse pot out on the rocks will be whispering pleas for planting that only I can hear. The dirty clothes may begin creeping out of the laundry room into my studio so that I will notice them. Thank goodness Keith took care of the dishes or they might start jumping up and down in the sink to attract my attention.

It’s just a sad fact of my life today that WORK must be done. Alas, I go now to attend to the mundane while I dream of beads and thread and fabric…

Sleeves and Hugs

This weekend was about getting stuff ready for two shows and getting hugs and kisses from the grandson. Guess what I was more excited about?!

Mr. Little Man, one year ago

Mother’s Day and spending time with the family….most important people in the world. Spa pedicure with my daughter, hubby treated us both like princesses! It would only have been better if my son and his wife lived close enough to be with us, too. But…Mr. Little Man learned how to blow bubbles. And when the little bubble wand didn’t produce bubbles, he said “Oh, not so good.” in his cute little baby voice. Wonderful time!

However, there was work to be done. I had to have quilts, old and new, ready for a local show and as I sorted through them, I realized that many of them did not have a sleeve for hanging. When I had them hanging in my home, I used a rack from my dad that did not need a sleeve, so I never made one for the quilts. Bad idea. Since I have a studio now, I have tried to complete the process on all my new work, but I still hate making and attaching sleeves!

I am also doing a trunk show this week for the Lorain County Piecemakers Guild, in the Cleveland area. I knew I needed quilts from my book for that one, so that was easy. But I never know how much to bring from my traditional years, to show how much I’ve changed. And I am not a techie girl…I don’t do a slide show. I bring the actual quilts, so it becomes a matter of how much I care to tote around. Until I can’t fit it into my big suitcase, with the wheels, I will try to avoid the slide show route.

I suppose I should start working on that slide show now, though, because what I am doing only really works for small groups. Aaaaah, one more project and spending money on more techie equipment….yuck!

And it’s the start of gardening season. I have big plans for the garden this year. And I love gardening, but I feel like I’m on a creative roll right now and don’t want to leave the studio…being retired doesn’t really mean I have time to do everything I want, but if I had to try to work in 8 hours a day of a job, I’d never make it!

Sitting here at the computer, still in my pj’s, sipping coffee and reading blogs isn’t getting any of those projects done, though. I may have to skip a day or two of blog writing for garden and quilt show and Cleveland this week…or maybe I’ll just pour another cup of coffee and sit here a little longer!

Down Under

Nothing quilt related at all today…just laziness and relaxation!

No visit to my mom would be complete without a visit to the Main Street Grill. I cannot resist the scallop and spinach salad………yummy delicious! We call it Down Under, because it is located below street level. But it’s certainly NOT a basement atmosphere. It’s reached by stairways at either end of a little plaza and even on a rainy day it’s filled with light.

The plaza walls are all made of fountains! The main fountain has a mosaic mural of underwater life that is just beautiful.

Both side walls have similar fountains, but without mosaics.

Dining there is good–food and service keep us coming back–but I enjoy the fountains almost as much. It was music with our lunch today and very enjoyable. And now, back to laziness. I think it’s nap time!

I Spy…..

Warm weather………! Here’s a picture of our dirty car when we pulled into Mom’s driveway…so gray and salt and dirt covered. We washed it and it’s actually stayed that way without any slushy snow to navigate through. Nice!

It’s so nice to walk around the neighborhood and see spring happening right before my eyes. This azalea was a bud a couple of days ago.

Palm leaves everywhere. I want to use these wonderful spiky shapes in my work, but it’s hard to remember that they even exist when you are stuck in the middle of a Michigan winter!

This moss covered tree is in the front yard of my mom’s house. I have always loved the beautiful colors and the texture. I would like to capture it in another medium, either paint or fabric-or maybe both-but right now that seems like it might be a big challenge. Or maybe I’m just fearing disappointment. I need to get over that and try…I have paints with me, so I have no excuse. That might just be the project of the day tomorrow.

There are a couple of quilt shops nearby that I want to visit. Mom is a trooper and will go along with me, even though she has no real interest in the fabrics. She does, of course, have an interest in what her daughter is doing, so she goes along with me for support and I appreciate that! We may just drop Keith off at the golf course and visit those shops while he enjoys his hobby, too.

I’m beginning to think that I am too restless for a long vacation, though. I can be extremely lazy on occasion, but only a week into vacation and I’m ready to start a project, or several.