16 years

16 years ago today, at 3.30pm, a tiny company that employed me for over 2 years was purchased by a large, rising, shooting star in its industry. A friend of mine remembered receiving the phone call from the limousine from our CFO telling her to go ahead and cut checks and pay bills; our accounts were now backed by the large corporation.

And then she and I stayed and ran a million dollar check run. Later on, we would run million dollar checks.

Before I left that company 4 and a half years later, it had been purchased again – the guppy had swallowed a whale. And my time was done, as I figured it would be, in my 30th year, and so off I went, riding off into the sunset as the system I supported was decommissioned.

Within 2 years of that, the guppy went bankrupt. And then the guppy went to jail. Within 4 more years, the company was acquired again. The brand name died, never to live again.

So today I touched base with my friend. She has stayed in the industry, even on the same street, doing her thing. I’ve changed industries 4 times, and job functions 10 times in that time span. We talked about how much of our personal history relates back to this one pivotal day. Today at lunch with my husband, we talked of this same day, and its relation to our history. June 30, 1995 was a day for the ages.

Back at it

Well, I am happy to report that since my last post, I feel less worse. While that means I’m not 100% (for example, today I woke up with a sore throat), I am at least functioning better. So I am just going to embrace that and move on with it. I do know that I was consuming a fair amount of soda, and when I figured out that the soda was contributing to my malaise, I went cold turkey. This is not easy, folks. I puffy-heart love soda. I would give my right arm for a Coke. It’s really that hard. And really that necessary for me to give up all carbonation. I told both Ted and Renee that I was giving up soda, as warning all people that are hosting various events I need to attend. I’m going with water only, and milk if I want it. This switch alone has made me feel better, although my coffee consumption is up to replace the lost caffeine.

OK, on to crafty things. I did a cupcake block swap with a yahoo group and I’m waiting for the blocks to return. This was a fusible appliqué only swap; we can sew down using whatever method works for us. I made extra blocks so that I can make a bigger quilt when the come back. I cannot wait!

Otherwise I’m working on yarn gifts for both a birthday and Father’s Day that are coming up here in June. I don’t know what I will work on this weekend, but I’ll figure something out. Believe it or not, I’m in the mood to clean my room this weekend – declutter, switch the wardrobe seasons and prepare the side of my bed with various handwork projects for those few minutes before bed.

What is it about May?

This is the third May in a row that I just feel lousy. I have no idea what is going on! I feel like diverticulitis is coming back, yet again, I'm tired and sluggish all the time and the migraines keep flirting with me. Mentally, I have a great disposition and the switch in assignments at work is a good thing, but man, I am just TOAST.

I have purchased many things to get this garden going and I just can't move. Well, the non-stop rain today is not helping, that is for sure, but still!

Ted is home from his trip and that does help, but I seriously did nothing more than dishes while he was gone and now the laundry has piled up, my room is a disaster because I let Renee hang out in there while Ted was gone, I have sewing to do, I have Girl Scouts to do and I have gardening to do.

Meanwhile, all I want to do is lie around and watch TV!

1 week

What a difference a week makes.

AS I figured, I am much happier in my new role. Not everyone is happy about it, but I will get results and that is what is needed right now. The displaced party isn't very happy either, but neither would I be if the roles were reversed.

Today I ran to Home Depot and bought 3 big pots and 3 bags of soil. I got some starter plants this week from my farmer's sister, and so they need to get going. Renee and I will get some of that done today. There's more gardening to be done, but that will get done over the next 2 weeks. This is all I plan on doing today. I buy only for what I plan to do that day and that is all. That may seem inefficient, but I know myself and that is what I gotta do!

Last night, I did get 10 stars machine appliqued on to their white squares. Today I hope to do the BOM block and some swap blocks. I'm in two different swaps and I need to get these done.

And I'm studying insurance. Don't ask, but on Thursday, it will be done.

Juju

At 2:16pm last Friday, an email went out at my work. It changes my role in a project from one that I struggle with success to one where I can be a success.

This changes everything. Bad juju to good juju. Dreading going to wanting to go. (Caveat: I love my job, but it's project work, and we all don't love every project we're on.)

I wonder if I am the test case for the axiom: If you need something done, give it to a busy person. I envision my productivity going way up in many areas of my life. All because of this change.

And quilting? Watch out!

Today I finished a fashion scarf, crocheted with the half-double crochet stitch using pink satin ribbon. I think the hdc is my most favorite stitch, if there is such a thing.

Still a little impatient

I'm still waiting on that last package. I have to admit that I'm impatient. :-)

I didn't any more sewing done than the hour I did on Thursday's very bad day. I wish I got more in this weekend. It just didn't happen. Oh well. I'm not going to stress about it.

More importantly, I got out and walked both weekend days. My work is hosting a 5k in the community in 5 weeks. I've decided to train (ha ha ha) to walk it. It takes 7 laps around the local park to do 5k. I figured out that if I add a lap every 5 days, I can walk the distance nonstop by the time of the 5k. After walking all over DC (they don't call it Capitol Hill for nothing!!!!), I don't want to lose whatever conditioning I obtained. And believe it or not, I did obtain a wee little bit.

And I sold a baby quilt at our Relay For Life craft fair. And a crocheted towel. $33 total!

So this week, I have no meetings at night. I have an insurance exam to study for, and I of course want to move forward with both spring planting and spring cleaning, but sewing will just need to happen.

Impatient

A watched mailbox never receives packages.

I ordered fabric for my BOM from 3 different quilt shops. I have received notification that all 3 have shipped. I also received notification that my monthly recurring charge from Keepsake Quilting has been assessed. So now I’m waiting for these 4 packages! The anticipation!

Stay tuned.

Yep, I Did It!

I did indeed go downstairs yesterday and clean out my quilting area. DD and I watched an episode of Survivor on the Tivo while she played Wizards 101 on the PC and I cleaned up. She helped me with getting underneath things, as little block pieces had escaped into little nooks and crannies everywhere.

I put the RRCB (Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville fame) in one bag, and put everything else into another bag. Then I made a pile of the stuff that I listed yesterday and I'll just work on that pile.

I forgot one small thing. Judy over at Patchwork Times is doing a monochromatic challenge and I'm doing my own twist on it. For whatever color she pulls for the month, I'm trying to do 10 matchsticks from Bonnie's Bricks and Stepping Stones pattern. Then by year end I'll have 120 matchsticks ready to be set into a quilt, plus I already have a few extra in the storage place. It will make a nice charity/donation quilt of some sort.

I also ordered the KS Troubles fabric I need for my Buck a Block BOM.

I also went ahead and went to the LQS yesterday with DD in tow. I bought 2 FQ for me, 2 for her, 2.5 yards from the sale room and 6 skeins of yarn from the sale room. Here's where everything is going to go:

2 FQ for me will go toward the Sisters Choice pattern (I already have 2 FQ and will buy 2 each month) for the 9 patches.

The 2.5 yards from the sale room is an 1850's pink that will be the corners to make the stars for the Sisters Choice blocks.

(Lest you wonder, I ordered a package of 2.5" CW shirting strips a while back. That's the rest of the Sisters Choice block fabric.)

DD will take her 2 FQ and do whatever. We'll most likely figure out what whatever is this summer.

The blue fuzzy yarn will become a fashion scarf. I think I may knit this one.
The pink satin ribbon will become a fashion scarf. I most likely will knit this one.
The pink/lavender/white matte ribbon will become a fashion scarf and I have started to crochet that with hdc stitches.

And I've spent enough money and now I'm organized. Today I go to the quilt show and then study more insurance. (I know, I just don't stop with the education thing. Even my boss gives me shit about it.)

Clutter

Well, it’s been 2 months since I’ve updated. Whoops. I get mad at other bloggers who don’t u[date and then here I go, not updating. Well, that serves me right.

Not too much has happened in the last 2 months. I have taken and completed a crochet class through the community college. We also took a family vacation to Washington, DC. That was 10 days, 2111.2 miles, 9 states and DC’s worth of togetherness. It was a much-needed vacation. We also sat down and looked at our financial situation and make a plan. Now we’re working the plan. So, life is good.

Quilt-wise, I was off great guns in January and then it all fell apart. One thing that contributed to it was that all of my crafty time was going toward crochet homework, not like that is a bad thing or anything. The other thing was that my DD’s 10th birthday sleepover was in our basement, which is where the sewing area is as well. So everything was boxed willy-nilly and I have no idea what is where. But lastly, and most importantly, I am overwhelmed by all I want to do.

I have quilter’s ADD; don’t we all? Anyway, my mind is going a million miles a minute and frankly I can’t get anything done. When I was in the crochet class, the instructor Kay was also a quilter. She is in the local guild and also uses a local longarmer. Kay’s logic: there are too many quilts to make to be hung up on the quilting part. I bet I have over 50 quilts stuck at the sandwiching stage because I hate it so much! Kay says that this woman does simple pantos, etc, for a very reasonable price per inch and does not charge a minimum. That sounds wonderful to me.

I am going to go to the quilt show this weekend and check out her work and hopefully talk to her or at least get some contact information. I need to get through the backlog of UFOs so I can create in peace.

The other thing I’m going to do is to pack up all my other projects for now. I’m going to leave out the following:

LCRR scrappy
LCRR yellow
Red Hearts
Sisters Choice
Buck a Block

Everything else will go away. I’m overwhelmed when I go down there to sew, so I avoid going down there. So I need to make it inviting to go in there and that is the only thing I can think of to do. The clutter is weighing me down and it’s not even clutter!

So I may not sew a stitch this weekend but if I can make the space more inviting, I will have achieved the world.

Ready for the Weekend!

Not too much this first week of February. I had 1.5 snow days, so in that time, I worked on killing one scrap bag. I made 14 string blocks. I will keep working on those string blocks as time permits so that I can tame the ziploc bags of scraps. I think I have about 14 of those bags. And no, the string blocks did not empty the bag; I was able to force the remaining contents into an existing bag.

So for this SuperBowl weekend of nothingness (I swear I have no interest in the game), I need to figure out what I am working on. Options include: 600 HSTs for RRCB, quilting the XO quilt and finishing that sucker off, the peach LCRR, and/or Ericka’s baby quilt. The apron is a requirement. So that must be done.

Basically I need to have something ready to hand-bind next week while I keep working on cleaning out my tivo. So I am working on knitting two fashion scarves, hopefully a quilt binding and my homework. I start crochet class on Tuesday!

EOM January 2011

Finishes
Carolyn’s quilt – ready to mail, providing the weather will let me go to the PO
WB quilt – into inventory
Second hand clothes in pink – delivered to co-worker who will surprise recipient
Judy’s monochromatic challenge in yellow – 2 pieces, one for home and one for work
Blue 9-patch – into inventory

Total Stash Busted: 17.80 yards

Not too shabby. I am pleased. I completed 5 things, and there were 4 Fridays in January. I’m at +1.

Now on to February.

I just love to plan and did a fair amount of it yesterday afternoon. We’ll see where I end up.

My goals for finishes:
XO blue quilt
GS banner quilt thing
Apron for exchange
Judy’s monochromatic thing
Ericka’s quilt
Blue D9P
Peach LCRR
St. Pat’s LCRR
St. Pat’s dresser mat

My goals for milestones:
Hugs and Kisses – start quilting in sections
D9P – machine quilt one section
RRCB – completed top
Hidden Spools – started
Kill one scrap bag
LCRRs – remain current

Things in waiting
Christmas BRB
Xmas Lights
Henrietta Whiskers BOM

Stay tuned

Now we’re in Part A of week 4. I’m still plugging away on stuff, but a book report for the child looms over us. So we’ll see where we end up on Monday.

Part A Week 3

Let’s see, we’re in Part A of week 3. I’m falling down on posting, but not on quilting.

Here are my goals and my statuses on them:

My goals for finishes in January include -
Carolyn’s quilt – done, need to label and mail
WB quilt – need to trim threads
XO blue quilt – no better
GS banner quilt thing – no better
Christmas BRB – no better
Second hand clothes in pink – for a co-worker who is having a girl – at hand binding stage

My goals for milestones in January include -
Hugs and Kisses – completed top – blocks done
BOM – months 1 and 2 complete; month 6 started – only month 6 started
D9P – next 20 blocks – no better
D9P – machine quilt one section – no better
RRCB – completed top – no better
Xmas Lights – completed top – no better

Plus to add on for the fun of it:
Judy’s monochromatic challenge in yellow – not started
Apron for exchange – not started
Blue 9-patch – at hand binding stage
Henrietta Whiskers BOM

So how to block and tackle with like 11 days left….

Finish goals – Carolyn’s, WB, Second hand clothes, Blue 9-patch, apron, yellow
If I finish all of these things, I would have 6 finishes, 3 of which were UFOs and 3 of which were current year creations.

Everything else I hope to make progress on. If I don’t, I don’t. :-)

Weekend on Progress

I'm working along this weekend, despite sleeping in until 9am this morning. That was luxurious, I assure you.

So I'm working on Second Hand Clothes for a soon-to-arrive baby. The dark pink I had hoped to use in the 9 patches (the fabric that makes the chain) did not want to be found today. So on to plan B I went, which was a yellow with pink flowers on it. AS of this writing I have 12 of the 16 blocks made and 14 of the 25 solid blocks cut.

Meanwhile, I am continuing to work on Hugs and Kisses. I finished Clue 5, which was the remaining 10 O blocks. Then I started on Clue 6, which is a sashing unit. I have 4 more to finish, which I will do while I sew the remaining 4 blocks for the baby quilt.

What I do is alternate which block I'm working on as I sew. So I will sew a seam for the baby quilt, then the mystery, then the baby quilt, etc. It's more intense than leaders and enders, but it does require that I can keep 2 sets of instructions straight. Sometimes I can, and sometimes I can't. Lately, I can!

Last night we watched The Blues Brothers. I bought the DVD for Thanksgiving travels and they never watched it. So Ted and I sat and enjoyed it last night (Renee does not know what she missed!). I finished sewing down the binding on Carolyn's quilt, so I'm moving forward there. It was so fun to watch, it wasn't worth trying to sew on the machine.

Oh and I got a lot of the yellow scraps sorted out of my scrap bags. It's not all of the scraps, but the baggie is full, so I will work with whatever's in there.

Results Part A, Week 1

Well, Part A of the week is over and it did not go as planned. Work, a migraine and Facebook games had an impact in that. I think my games and I will part ways soon. They are really becoming a time-waster, now that I have time to do whatever I want. Something to ponder.

I did finish all the string blocks last night. I thought I didn’t have any neutral strings at all. I still have bits left over! So that went well.

Here’s the status of Part A items:

Clue 5 – O blocks – still incomplete
Yellow scraps – still not sorted
Carolyn’s quilt – still not mailed

This afternoon starts Part B of my week. Because the baby of the co-worker is due to arrive at any minute, that project rotates to the top. So this weekend’s goals:

Second Hand Clothes – as far as I can get it
Clue 5 – O blocks
Yellow scraps
Carolyn’s quilt
WB quilt
XO quilt – mark and quilt white sections

I’m going to take a break from RRCB until Carolyn’s quilt and Second Hand Clothes are done. Since one is nearly done and the other should hopefully go quickly, it shouldn’t be too bad. B needs its threads snipped and then it can go into the inventory pile. I can accomplish that this weekend.

Part A, Week

Well, Happy New Year! I didn’t realize I hadn’t updated. Maybe because I was trying to get some sleep!

Things still going well on the quilty front. Working on the 30 O blocks – 20 are done. Working on string blocks. Working on binding.

Working on cleaning up my house. Oy, that is stressful.

My goals for the Part B of last week were:

Get Carolyn’s quilt to the handwork stage
Finish blue GFG flower
Keep working on Hugs and Kisses
Keep working on RRCB

Everything was accomplished.

Goals for Part A, Week 1:

Mail off Carolyn’s quilt – means it’s done done
Hugs and Kisses – Finish the 30 O blocks
RRCB – Finish the string blocks
Sort out all the yellow scraps

Again, Part A of my week is done on Friday morning. Part B will start on Friday afternoon (when my work week is done).

last day

Last night I did complete clue 4 of APFOM's Hugs and Kisses. CLue 5 is the the 30 O blocks, which I will start shortly. If I ever get off this couch.

I also kept working on those strings blocks. Now that Bonnie has put up Step 7, I know how things are going to look. I may do a bunch of 600 hst's, then do step 4 a set at a time and make a block as I go. Just may work best.

We're having some weird weather. We are under a complete tornado watch and have already had 2 warnings this afternoon. Despite all of that, I have run out and gone grocery shopping. So we're set, all snug as bugs in rugs.

Penultimate

Hi! It’s the penultimate day of the year! (I don’t get to use penultimate very often, so let me revel in it a bit.)

Last night was another successfully quilting night. Not so much on other fronts. (Oh well.)

I did finish Clue 3 of the Hugs and Kisses mystery and I made 5 more string blocks for step 3 of RRCB. Slowly but surely I am trudging through.

Tonight I hope to get through Clue 4, which is only 22 flying geese. I’m calling them flying doves, because I am reversing the color schemes, which means that the goose part of the unit is white and the sky is scrappy. That’s how I roll.

My other goal for today is to grocery shop. I’m pretty firmly committed to not going out at all on Friday if possible. I’m pretty certain I don’t want to be the driver, that is for sure.

The Year of Simplicity

Ann Voskamp writes from her farm in Canada about faith, farming and life. Ann’s words are amazing. I sit in my cube at work and cry tears of joy reading about how wonderful faith is and how she gropes for it, lost like me (and a lot of others, no doubt). (If there are any readers out there, despite being a city girl from Chicago , I am adapting to those rural ways of central IL, and so I can appreciate Ann’s farming posts.)

Anyway, Ann made 2010 the year of yes. The year of not saying no to her children’s adventures and ideas, not saying no to new adventures of her own. I took this to heart and strove hard to say yes more in the moment, despite term papers and case analyses and presentations. I tried to say yes more even if it meant I stayed home with utter exhaustion, just so that Renee could experience more. My mother said no a lot and I’m not sure why. I try to say yes more.

So Ann has tasked us for the word or theme (or both) for this year. For Ann, it will be the year of here. Being present, being here.

For me, it is the year of simplicity. As I mentioned a few posts ago, I shed many outside obligations on my time. It may be a bit selfish to be so introspective, but I am tired – utterly exhausted, if I permit myself to think about it. I mean, I am TIRED. It has been a while since I have been this tired.

And when I look around my house, which we have lived in for nearly 4 years now, I see improvements that need to be made, pictures to be hung, walls to be painted, clutter to be repurposed. I look at my sewing area and it’s an avalanche of ideas, thoughts, and projects to complete. My mind goes into overdrive. I love to make lists; lists give me strength according to my husband, who probably knows me the best out of anyone on this earth. So I make lists, and then make myself tired just reading them. I need to stop.

So I dedicate this year to the diligent practice of simplicity. No more overextending. No more being away from home 2 or 3 nights per week. No more quilting on a schedule. No more quilting ADD (if you have to ask, never mind) (if you know, can I get an amen?). I commit to volunteering for the Girl Scouts, which is something I can do with my child. I commit to my weight and health. I commit to saying yes. I commit to simplicity.

And that is my 2011. There before the grace of God go I.

12/28 accomplishments

After learning some stressful news yesterday, I decided that sewing was the best thing I could do. There’s nothing I can do about the stressful news; it’s water under the bridge now, so all I focused on was how to alleviate the stress. So I sewed.

While watching the last 2 episodes of the Amazing Race, I sewed 25 more hourglass units for Clue 3, 14 more half-units for Clue 3 and more string blocks for Step 3. (Yes, it’s 2 mysteries at once.) It’s good to have forward progress on both quilts. I’m making the lap size for Hugs and Kisses, so I’m not quite so overwhelmed.

I decided against working on the Second Hand Clothes baby quilt because that would be feeding my quilter’s ADD! I’m going to continue to work on the 2 projects I have going so that I can at least get to the completed top stage. Once one top is done, I will then slot the baby quilt in next. Should the child arrive before I can get to that point, then I will drop everything and sew. But with no school any more and tons of free time, I bet my timing will be fine.

I do still need to get Carolyn’s quilt to the hand binding stage. I will most likely do that on Friday, since I have it off. We need to drive north on Saturday, so I can bind in the car as we drive, but I will most likely rest my back during Friday with some hand binding.

Tonight’s goal if I sew: Finish Clue 3 and more string blocks.