The Love Quilt

I dreamed last night about embroidery. What is it about spring that makes me want to sew. I even woke up after the dream, still half asleep and placed the exact embroidery project was under my worktable, not 10 feet from me. My craft year has it's cycles. About September it is time to pull out the knitting needles. Once spring hits I cannot bear to knit. The sewing machine runs hot between April-August. Mostly in the way of piecing quilts. I used to handquilt too. I have made about 6+ large handquilted quilts. I quilt very very slow....its alot of time invested. I live in a teeny weeny town in Kansas but it has a charming active quilt shop with an innovative creative great machine quilter. I just haven't taken the time to get it together and take a top down there. I think the reason I also slowed way down on the quilting process is that I owe my Mom a handquilted top that she pieced out of 2" squares. Tough to quilt. I have 2 other tops finished and two more in the works. I love them all. The last 6-8 years I have collected mostly Kaffe Fassett fabrics. Hot hot spice colors. Makes me dream of India. Shah Rukh Khan (all sigh). Meow. My worktable is 100% Etsy jewelry work-I am going to rework the work space. Wish me luck! Speaking of quilts and sewing. This is the 20th Anniversary of the Love Quilt. My daughter Anna died in 1988 and we moved to Colorado 2 days later. I started a year-long 'learn to quilt' class in 1989 and finished the 'Love quilt' in 1990. It is starting to show some wear and tear. Just like it should from being 'loved'.

Spring Colds

Woke up with a scratchy throat, chest congestion, layers and layers of crud. Drank hot water out of the bathroom tap to help the drainage process. Drank some coffee and ate some pretzels. Checked my Etsy shop and then fell back into a deep dream-filled sleep. Fatigued. Katie had 'bad' allergies last week. So-have to wonder if this is allergy symptoms or a viral cold. I think the later. Usually my allergies are active in the winter-I am a Winter allergy sufferer. I should make a button. I watched 'Julie & Julia' last night. Of course I loved it. But I agreed with Julia-I would not want my personal sex life as content on a blog. I also thought to myself 'I am so glad I started a blog before I saw this.' I blog. I am a blogger. I am a writer. My school culture fostered writers. Didn't all of us have to write papers and essays constantly? Reading and writing-don't they go hand and hand? Is there a reader who is not also a writer and vice versa? I have always kept a journal-the last 7-10 years they are more like a amalgam of 'blog-scrapbook-journal' I am not immune to the cultural trends. One big universal organism. But I do know that 15 years as a nurse changed the way I write. To the point. Just the facts mam. Short and sweet. No long run on and on flowery sentences leading you down the path to some artistic expression of the heart and soul... Nope. The wound is x by x with blah blah blah. This is by neccessity a new chapter in my life. I hope HOPE I like it. Hope is my new discovery.

My Shops

I had a good week Shop-wise. Even last week when I spent alot of time curled up in a fetal position in bed with SAD I posted a new item everyday. A good sign indeed. Even if all else failed (and it didn't) my shop is a source of professional identity for me. This week I have had good sales, I got an inquiry about making wedding necklaces and I had a piece posted on a treasury-also a first for me. Fun! I spend my 'work-day' rearranging, editing, mailing, convoing, (is that a word?) creating, shopping for new ideas and materials, cleaning up. I love to run my hand thru the big bowl of beads. Yesterday I made a fancy necklace and earrings-gold, sky blue and pearl. Gorgeous. The light is poor today due to rain. When I take some pics-I will post them. Here are a few of my favorite things at my shop Gamut currently.

Ides of March

On my way to The Theatre of Pompeii as seer came up to me. Next week will be a truckload of crap she murmured. What? I said. Beware the Ides of March! she wailed. The tides at church? I asked. No! The Ides of March! The Ides of March! Whatever, walking out into a 50ish sunny breezy day. But the SAD stalker was behind awaiting it's chance and soon I would get to dance. This last week was a truckload of CRAP! You know the movie Carrie? or Fellowship of the Ring? Carrie is dead, the horrors are over-little Amy Irving is going to be happy again, it's a beautiful day. She bends down to lay flowers on Carrie's grave and BLAMMO the bloody dirty hand bursts thru the dirt to grab her. Or-Gandalf and gang get past Saruman's avalanche, the squid, the cave-in, the orcs, the falling steps, the balrog...ooops-was that the balrog's whip end that has dragged Gandalf to hell? Well, beware the Ides of March. You will get through the Holidays, the winter doldrums, jonquils will poke their heads out, robins will sing....and then BLAMMO the whip tail end of SAD will sweep around to drag you to hell. Bad depression, melt-down, wursker and wursker. So-for you that didnt go to Cancun or Colorado-I feel your pain. It will pass.

Spring

I just checked the date of the Vernal equinox this year and it is earlier-March 20th. Just a couple of days! It was a perfect winter. Which means it was cold, it was long and it was snowy. Just the right kind of winter to help you be ready and truly enjoy the warmth and beauty of Spring. Not that the cold and wet is over mind you. My husband was telling me that we have a chance of snow on Saturday. And 30ish degree temps for a few days. Fine! I throw down the glove at winter. Just like a bully to get the last word, show us who is boss. I watched the Weather channel long enough to see that by Monday it will be in the high 40's again. Which means all the college students will be wearing shorts and pretending they are not cold. Good for them. This morning I was remembering The Uffizi Gallery in Florence. 2 paintings really stick out in my mind. One was a circular Madonna by DaVinci and the other was Primavera by Botticelli. It was so beautiful to me. Shame on me for not remembering more.
Spring is the fastest season. Once you have passed by spring break-April and May whip by incredibly fast. I will notice Spring, enjoy Spring more this year. Get it into my bones. Go to the early Farmer's Markets, take walks, buy flowers-eat new peas and potatoes. Dream in pastels. Somehow get it to slow down and take it's time. Because -talk about bullies. Summer is coming.

Just Daily Stuff

I love to read the 'Quit Your Day Job' interviews/blogs at Etsy. I love my shop-I find it absolutely the most comprehensive and fascinating work I have ever done. I dream of being able to make a real living from searching for materials, design, presentation etc...In the meantime I have filled out an application for our local library to be the Friends of The Library Coordinator. Returning to a place where I had my very first job when I was 14. Part-time, flexible and in a great environment-I would love to do this while maintaining and extending my shop Gamut. This weekend was laid back-I spent Friday night watching Caprica re-runs and stringing some great bead ropes. When I make the bead ropes-the beads bring back memories. Now...I have a terrible memory. But for things like this-my beads-I can remember where and when I bought them. Not 100%-but most. So when I string them I remember alot of things. Maybe a necklace that was given to me, or belonged to a relative. Memories of myself or my children. Places I have lived in. So-that was cool. Saturday I helped my daughter by watching my 2 young grandsons (Boston 1, Clark 3) They are amazing! No lie-Clark can read at age 3. I love being with them. We had my 2 younger kids over dinner Saturday and Sunday nights. In the meantime I kept up on my shop, worked on lockets. My work table is in a corner with windows on both walls. Good sunshine to ward off SAD and excellent for taking pictures. It is a happy place.

Night

My favorite time. Right before I go to sleep. Call it twilight. The room is dark. The house is quiet. I think in 3-4 word sentences. Lol. No one needs me. It's me and the universe. We are a quiet pair. I nightdream-different than sleep dreaming. More like daydreaming with deeper richer hues. Life and death. I feel safe and centered. Content. Maybe because I am surrounded. Butch snores. The grandbabies are tucked in. Kim is in her room while Dan works. No one is sick today, there is no imminent danger. Night words..moon, darkness, dream, quiet, shhhh. sleep.

Jobs

I woke up as Butch was getting ready for work. He is Mr. Dependable and I hope that the hospital knows what a treasure he is. "Would you bring me some coffee with the new creamer in it?" I mumble. "Of course" he answers quietly. Coffee is generally the first thought in my mornings-a physically addictive stimulant indeed. I must have dozed-when I drank it was tepid but not quite room temp yet. Gulp. It was gone. Yummy. My next thought-my shop. Every morning like Christmas morning. Did I sell something? Did anyone pick me as a favorite? The thrill of a new adventure-but so much more personal than my other careers. Not more important. My first jobs were as a page in libraries-starting when I was 14? Thru high school, college and a young adult. During the summers I worked as a packer for North American Van Lines with my sister. That was wild. Hot long days packing other people's things. But I liked working with the girls-it felt like being a grown up, certainly different than putting books away. I worked in a bakery briefly. Yuk. When I had my first baby I started baby-sitting. Nephew Ryan was a darling. I did that off and on until Katie started kindergarten. Then I went back to college and became an RN. I liked nursing-it is hard work. But profitable. For others and your own soul. A challenge, the stakes are very high sometimes. When a Nurse makes an oops-it is not funny at all. I was a 'nurse' for 13-15 in some capacity-an RN for 12-13. I may again. But not today. Today I make and sell my handmade wares at Gamut.