And two steps back--

One of my volunteer jobs has blown up in my face, and I'm not very happy right now. Obsessing over things I said and did and not sleeping at all. The dust still hasn't settled, and it might be awhile before I get back here.

Foggy day!

No, not the weather, but in my brain. I did get the basics of the meal done,and the kitchen tidied, but then I had to nap. Taking a nap at 11:00 am just doesn't seem right! But I got to my meeting, got home, and took another nap! We enjoyed the children visiting. The little one is now big enough to react to her sister and sibling rivalry is alive and well in that family. Best of all, DD took a lot of the stuff in my garage home with her, for a garage sale she has planned for next month. Earlier in the day, DH had been working inthe garage, when a neighbour came into the yard to talk about a joint fence that is going to be replaced. The neighbour saw the big brass and glass etegere in the garage and bought it immediately. So the little ones went home, and we were both beat (despite the naps), so we spent the rest of the evening playing Internet poker, and both came out ahead. Not a bad day.

Today, I have a lot of book work to do for a couple of the volunteer groups I belong to. There has also been a new quilting challenge issued--to create a smaller piece inspired by Inua: Exploring theSpirit of Life. Inua is an Inuit belief that there is one principle spirit that exists in all things, animate and inanimate--I think. Research need here. I have a lot on my plate right now, and I'm not sure about this one, but I'll be thinking about it.

More red box

Couching this metallic thread is pretty intense work, so I'm having to pace myself carefully. If I work too long I start to get sloppy, and it shows in the finished product. I've got half the naked tree done. I have some dimensional leaves ready, but, looking at how the tree is shaping up, I realize that I'm going to need quite a few done in gold, not just the red I've got so far. Making the leaves is just as painstaking work as the tree, so I can see that this will be a slow project.

At the same time I'm making fabric paper. I decided to make up quite a bit of it, and stockpile it. The paper-making process takes two or three days for each batch, so it isn't anything I could put together at the last minute, if I should need more stock for a sale So far I have 15 pieces, each about 11 x 16, in a bunch of different colours, but I'm going to need some larger ones for different projects, as well.

But a busy day today. I have a meeting out of town this afternoon, so have to get as much of supper ready this morning as I can, as DD and the grandbabies are coming for supper tonight. I had hoped to sleep longer, as I like to be fresh when the children come, but no such luck.

YES!!!

I tried a new (to me) technique yesterday, and it's working! I'm actually couching by machine in a specific pattern. In this case it's oneof my bare trees. I drew it out on paper, made a template and transferred the markings to a piece of fabric. Now I'm laying down a fairly fine metallic thread to fill in the pattern, just as I would if I was hand couching Japanese Gold. This will, hopefully, be a box top for the show I've entered in mid-June. I plan to construct this box in the manner I'll be teaching in 2010, so this could also function as a teaching sample. I plan to make another box using a different method for the juried show in July--the one I just heard about this week.

We were out for dinner last night to celebrate my DGD's 10th birthday. DH and I went early to get our name on the waiting list as the restaurant didn't accept reservations. We were told that there would be a 25-35 minute wait. So DH sat down with a little electronic gadget that would page us, and I went across the parking lot to a clothing store. We weren't expecting the family for at least 20 minutes. Well, I got back in about 10 minutes, and met the family just coming in. DH was standing on the far side of the restaurant holding down a table for six, and worried silly that we wouldn't make it. They had seated him in about 10 minutes. A very nice dinner, and then back to the house for cake. They had a fully chocolate Jeanne's cake. I'ld never seen one before. It was almost too much. My DGD had given up chocolate for Lent, and I guess this was in honour of that sacrifice.

It must be that time of year...

I'm feeling overwhemed by all of my volunteer obligations. Everything seems to come to a head about this time of year, and the responsibillities just make me want "out". I'm also finding that my ideas often are 90 or even 180 degrees from the ideas of others. For a long time I thought this meant that I was an original thinker, but now I wonder if I'm not just weird. Anyway, today is just a private pity party.

I'm not getting my sewing done, and really need to get back to it. So often I procrastinate by doing what I want to do at the moment instead of what needs to be done. Now I have deadlines looming. As well, I found out about another local show that Iwould very much like to enter, although I have nothing to enter at this point.

But for the past few days every joint in my body hurts, including my hands. Weather? Over use? DS showed me a game on my lap top and I played that for two hours the other night. Intense mouse usage. That may explain the hands. And all that standing at the show last weekend may explain the knees and hips. Even so, I managed to get out and do 2 1/2 k on the bike yesterday. First ride of the year. I also read three pocket books. I bought a huge bag full of crappy novels at the local library, and I'm working my way through them.

I guess others have much worse lives than I do. I should count my blessings, but Iwant to enjoy my pity party first.

Earth day events

We went to a special event that had been set up as a means to dispose of electronic equipment. We got there about 15 minutes before the site was to open, and there was traffic like you wouldn't believe. It was out of the lot and down the street, so we just looked at each other, and turned around and drove home. It was on the other side of town, so I hate to think how much gas we burned, just trying to do a bit for the environment.

Last night was my first class in Photo Shop Elements. This involves 8 -2 1/2 hour classes, and we won't be using computers. I really don't know what to say. He has divided the process into three overall tasks. First you"capture the image". This means how to use a camera. Then you "process" the image--actually manipulate it in the computer. And thirdly, you "output" the image in some way--print, e-mail, whatever. He evidently plans to bring a lap top and projector to demonstrate how to do these things. It would also appear that he is "the only game in town". No-one else, locally, is teaching this. I can still get some of my money back after the second class. So I will go next week and see if I'm anymore comfortable. If nothing else, maybe I can become more comfortable with my camera.

Happy Earth Day

Does anyone notice how the home page of Google is changed according to things like Earth Day? I noticed on St Patrick's Day when there were Shamrocks growing out of the Google name. The image today is particularly nice.

I think I'll be celebrating Earth day by flooding the backyard with tears of joy. Last week our chequing account was suddenly much lower than expected. I've been desperately trying to figure out what withdrawl I had missed recording. We had set ourselves a fairly stringent cash budget, and were determined not to exceed it, but this had left us with very little money to last until the end of the month. We were arguing about how I could have been so sloppy as to miss such a big withdrawl, or more likely several withdrawls. Yesterday we decided to bite the bullet and went into the bank to transfer money from savings, only to be told that there had been a bank error, and our money had been deposited in someone else's account. We're fine, in fact, because we thought we were broke, we had been careful, and actually have more than we budgetted in there. But I learned something important. Once or twice before I have missed an withdrawl, and gone in to find outwhere my money was. It's always been my fault, so this time I assumed that it was again. But banks do make errors. If the other fellow hadn't gone in to find out why there was so much extra in his account, we might never have got our money back. So next time I'll ask

Pinawa was great

unless you worried about towns that close down on Mondays! We had quite a time finding somewhere to eat lunch. We both like the venue and now need to work out the $$$, but it would be a perfect place for our retreat. And I actually drove!

Then it was home and a nap(?) and then a chance --finally--to sort out my stuff and get things put away. I drew up a list( what else?) of the things I believe I need to produce over the next little while, and I attempted to prioritize it. It looks like I'll need to think about that for a little longer. Today DH needs to go back to Ft. Whyte Alive to pick up the piece of wood we left behind. Isn't it odd what things become important to you when you're retired? This afternoon we have to drive DD to the airport as she's off on business for a few days. I just want to get back into the studio. I was away from it for so long,and spent so much energy procrastinating, now that the urge is back, I really want to act on it.

Totally exhausted

Came home last night and vegged out for a couple of hours, then to bed by about 10:00--really early for me. Overall I made out okay. My sales were about 30% less than last year, but this year there was signifiacntly more publicity. The weather was cold and windy, and the closed road didn't help. The organizing charity might have broken even, but this is one of their fundraisers, so I can see problems there. They were trying to raffle a quilt, but sold very few tickets.

While it was mostly small stuff that I sold, I need to review my market strategy. I knew that the small stuff would sell first. I haven't yet had a chance to re-count and figure out exactly how much of what sold, but I have a hunch I'm going to need to make more small stuff forthe next sale. I had thought that I might have enough for two sales or more, but it sure doesn't look like it. I can also see that I need to make more matted collages, and I sold out of fabric paper journal covers. Journalling is a current trend, and the covers will probably only sell this year--so I better be ready.

But today I'm off to Pinawa to take a look at a venue for the retreat in 2010.

Well, aren't I a fool!

The "poorly maintained back road" turned out to be a better maintained, shorter route into the venue. Given a choice, I think this is how I would travel there in future. (for those of you familiar with the area, I'm talking about McCreary Rd-- aka Shaftesbury Blvd south of Wilkes). We still had problems, and the sale is certainly not what we expected, but I should make enough to cover daily expenses ( gas and food) I was pleased that my fabric paper journal covers are selling well. I'll have to make more of those for the next sale. We even had a bus load of non-English speaking students show up--not that any of them bought anything! Try explaining someone spinning dog hair into yarn that they knit to make tiny stuffed Teddy Bears to three young men who don't speak English! I ended up saying "big white dog" before I got nods of comprehension. So we're back there today. The organizing charity is desperately trying to sell raffle tickets on a quilt. It may be the only way they break even, although they had been counting on the raffle to make money for another project.

New Disaster!

I knew my happiness was too good to be true. This weekend is my first big sale of the season. I was planning to gauge the effect of the economy collapse on the results of this sale, and have spent a lot of time and money getting ready for it. We are packed and ready to go with set up scheduled for this evening. Late yesterday we heard that the road into the venue had washed out because of overland flooding. The city is tryingto fix it up, but the mayor declared a state of emergency yesterday because of flooding, and city crews have worse situations on their hands.. You can access the sale venue from the north rather than from the south ( a long poorly maintained gravel road that no one knows anything about, and is really a "back door" route). Because there is access, no matter how poor, the charity organizing the event is committed to the sale, even if no customers show up. So the charity is going to lose big time, as they have rented the venue for the weekend, and vendors will lose big by spending two days at a sale with no customers. A disaster all round.

I've been pretty well in tears since I heard yesterday. I will still have my stock, and there are two more sales scheduled for July, but I'm still upset.

Don't know what to call it.

Here is a preliminary photo of my latest piece. The circles are strips sewn together vertically. I have couched four different black yarns, including rat tail, along the lightest yellow strips. Now I'm in the process of adding some beads--a very nice mixture of black bead soup--over the yarns. I'll probably trim down the sides to be equal before I start to quilt it, and maybe the bottom too.

I actually got some sewing done today. I can't tell you what it feels like to finally get back into the studio and get some work done. I'll try to take some pictures tomorrow. I've been working on a new wall quilt. I basically have the top done now ready for beading. The quilting will be intense and likely take a fair bit of time. But even more exciting, I have ideas for at least one more piece percolating in my brain. it is such a marvelous feeling, and one I've been missing for at least 3 months. It's good to be back.

Snow is almost gone!

I can see most of the back yard and some of the front yard. The rhubarb is up--was probably starting to come up under all that snow! I got the bulk of my inventory done yesterday and then wasted time playing poker. With the two computers we can both play at the same time. I've been signed up for almost two weeks and was frustrated by losing and having to go through a whole rigamarole to get more chips--even if they are only play money. So DH used the lap top a couple of times and won a bit to get me going. But I won a little bit on Monday and had a good day yesterday, so now I have a stack of around $10,000 in play money dollars. It only costs $320 to get into a tournament, so this should keep me going for a couple of days, or maybe a couple of weeks!

Ran into a little problem with my newest piece and had to spend some time reverse stitching yesterday. I hope to finish the inventory this morning. I'm out this afternoon, at a meeting of the Tuesday Night Stitchers who Meet on Wednesday Afternoon. But then I should have all of this evening and all day tomorrow to work on it. Now I have an idea of another piece to make. This would be just a learning piece and never intended for show or sale. I've been skimming through the Quilt Art Book, and want to try two or three of the techniques described in there. So I'm going to try putting them all in one piece. Usually I shudder at people who try to put every technique they know into the same piece, but this will give me a chance to try these things, and no-one need ever see it.

Read in the paper this morning the Mt Redoubt, in Alaska, has been erupting since late March, and spewing very fine dust into the stratosphere. This is giving us spectacular sunsets, but my allergies have been causing me problems for about the same time. I wonder if there's a connection.

back to the real world

I've had three weeks of adventures, I've managed to get into the studio and actually start a new piece, but now life intervenes. I have paperwork to do for three of the organizations I belong to, and I have to price and tag all of the things I'm taking to the sale next weekend, as well as prepare a very detailed inventory in triplicate.

Even though I'm no longer working, I still see Easter Monday as a holiday. I guess the truth is that every day should be a holiday now that I'm retired.. It's not working that way--what went wrong?

But the snow is melting. Rain last night helped. I can see my Hellebore leaves, but no flowers yet. The street is almost dry, so my bicycle is starting to call. We're sleeping with the windows open again. Easter Monday should be called "Little Thanksgiving". We made it through another Manitoba winter.

Card games

Yesterday was quite an experience. DS and I played cribbage with his two childen, and it was sort of fun. Then he wanted to try to teach them the basic concepts of card games with "tricks" and 'trumps". So we taught them whist, first as a no trump game and then with trump. After we ate, we just wanted to have fun and played a game called "99". I didn't remember playing it before, but the children did. Fortunately it was simple enough, that my 4 yearold DGD was able to participate. She was absolutely thrilled. She couldn't do the math, but she knew when to grab a card off the pile, and the game was fast enough, that nobody got bored. I can see a lot of this game in my future.
Now I have a full day a head of me to spend in the studio. Leftovers for supper, since we cooked a turkey for yesterday. We had been worried as it looked like a tough old bird, and we had bought it from the Hutterites, but it was one of the best turkeys I 've had in awhile.

DH went to the little mall across the street today to buy a lottery ticket. When he got home he casually mentioned that he had been in the Giant Tiger store and had seen blackberries for $0.99/1/2 pint. Blackberries are very hard to find in Manitoba,and I like to use them when I make brambleberry jelly, so I ran over and bought 5 baskets. So "big Whoop" you say, so what? Well I always associate blackberries with my father. He used to pick them on Vancouver island, and once even brought home a milkcarton full of them to me here. So for the past few hours I've been thinking of my father and remembering the times we had with him and the sense of family that these memories always bring to me. A very bittersweet day. Both of my children and all of my grandchildren will be over for supper. Not the formal Easter feast that we might have tomorrow, but probably an informal buffet meal while we play games--a much better plan when there are children involved--and a much better family memory to be making.

Gimli

was fine. We saw two different potential facilities for our 2010 retreat. Both were quite expensive, probably to "ritzy" for our group. The one that offered the best options for minimizing lodging costs smelled bad--literally. While they have done some recent renovations, and the rooms were very nice, the whole facility had an obvious smell of mildew and old tobacco smoke. Worst of all the strongest smell was in the lobby--the first place you walk into. The site was beautiful, and they were willing to offer us some nice incentives. Too bad. When I got home I looked at the numbers for the other option, and still found it pretty pricey for our group. So I got onto the internet and "googled' conference facilities in Manitoba. I found a site for another facility in another town that had been at the back of my mind from the beginning. They had oodles of informaiton on the site and I was able to compare both amenities and costs ( recognizing that the costs will probably be higher a year form now) The food and lodging came in at less than half either of the facilities we had visited. Some costs that would have been covered in the other facilites( such as daily cost of a meeting room) aren't covered there, but still well within our means. So I passed the web site on to the other ladies involved, and we are going to go out to take a look and talk to them about our retreat. We need to have all the arrangements made by this October.

Then yesterday--ta da--I actully got into the studio. I was distressed to find that I just couldn't focus for any period of time--out of practise, Ithink. But I finished one of the quilt tops I found in my sorting, did a bit of difficult hand work that I have to pace myself with, and do just a bit every day. Then I actually got the fabric selected, and made some preliminary sketches for a new piece. I'm so pleased that I finally felt some creative juices flow. During the drive to and from Gimli, a friend and I spent a lot of time talking about creativity and the role of self image and self esteem in the whole creative process. In many ways she is further along this road than I am, and it's a treat to talk to someone at the same stage in the creative life or maybe just a little bit further along.

Books

Yep, went over the site and actually tried to buy some books, but they no longer give a subscriber discount. So I'm going seaching for books locally.

DH spent most of the day with our ISP and we think the e-mail problem is finally sorted out. He took the lap top into the store again to find out what the problem was with the screen saver. It seems that after a set period on the screen saver, the computer itself goes into an energy saving mode, in effect, going to sleep. So they adjusted the set period up to 15 minutes, and I can live with that.

Studio time--nope. Starting to look like a lost cause. But I did get rid of the last of the donation fabric last night.

Overload! I'm on Overload!

Too much is happening. I'm probably overcommitted, and I'm committing to more. I want to get working in the studio, but life keeps getting in the way. We managed to get a company in to shampoo the livingroom and hallway on Monday. We still haven't got any of the furniture back in place, and should be tackling that today. I have some basic cleaning to get done, ( kitchen& bathroom), and then a meeting tonight. At least at the meeting tonight, I'll get rid of the last of the boxes of fabric--these to a charity project. Then tomorrow I'm off to Gimli to evaluate venues for the 2010 FAN retreat. How do I get into these things?

All of the extra money we had two weeks ago is gone, but most of it had been spoken for when we got it. Other than our mortgage, we have no debts, which is a great feeling, but when I finish this I have a little bit of internet shopping to do, so that feeling won't last long. I've found it so much easier to renew magazine subscriptions that way, especially American ones. I no longer subscribe to many, but those I have are important to me. I also want to buy a couple of quilting books. I have one on loan right now, that I want to take a good look at before I buy it, but so far it looks good--The Quilting Arts Book. Yes, it is a lot of techniques that have appeared in the magazine, but in the book, the information is expanded, and there is even some new information.
I'm also going to take a good look at the books for sale on the Quilting Arts site, and may buy more than one of them. I know that Amazon or Abe Books are better sites. and may be worth a look as well, but you pretty well need to know what you want before you go there.

Today was garbage and recycling day, but for some reason DH forgot. He heard the truck while we were still sleeping, roared outof bed, and ended up chasing the garbage truck over a block away. I didn't know he had it in him. Mind you, he's still splayed out in his chair breathing heavily. Hope he recovers, I need him to help put all the furniture back today.

Gotta love kids!

My two youngest grandchildren were over for supper last night, with their Mom. The older one was whine-y and cling-y from the get-go, and her Mom said she had been that way for most of the day. She didn't want to eat, which was fine. Then once we had finished eating and cleaned up, She started to throw up. What a mess! After, her Mom put her in the bathtub, while Grandpa cleaned up ( shampooed a part of the living room rug, and totally washed the kitchen floor) Then the smaller one decided that she wanted to climb in the tub, too. So what the heck, off with the clothes and into the tub, where after a couple of minutes she defecated. DD managed to get everyone cleaned up, the tub cleaned up, and both little girls into clean clothes--some of which belonged to Grandma. I still have to sterilize the toys that were in the tub, but my sympathy is all with my daghter, who announced as they were going out the door that it was a good thing the licquor store wasn't open. This really was one of those days that made you glad that younger women have kids.

Still sorting things out

Tried to play poker in the kitchen last night--no way. I kept disconnecting, but once I moved back into the office--no more problem. Then I tried down in the studio, which is directly below the office--no problem ( I didn't win, and that is a problem--but not pertinent to the discussion). Then this morning we just couldn't access the Internet from the laptop in the basement, but did okay from the office. Then DH decided to help--jury is still out on that one. We are legal with Shaw Cable and now can access our regular e-mail from either machine. We have upgraded to Hi-Speed, which should help. But we still pretty well have to have both machines in the office for them to function.

The studio sorting and clean-up is pretty well done. I have two tubs, out in the garage, of flea market stuff, all packaged and priced, and waiting for June. Three big boxes of stuff are ready to take to my Ravenesque group tomorrow, and two more big boxes are ready to take to a quilting charity on Wednesday. So today I tried to make up a couple of totes from fabric I had separated out for the purpose, but DH needs me with him, so that didn't fly. Then I tried to get a jump start on supper while I was "standing by", and discovered that I needed stuff from the store, but since my coat was in the wash, he was the one who had to go to the store. So I have 15 minutes all to myself to drink a cup of Tension Tamer tea, and get ready to be a fun Grnadma when the little ones come over.

all set up

Both computers appear to be working. There is an awful lot I'll have to get used to, but I notice in typing this that my spelling doesn't seem to be any better. Gosh, I had hoped---but maybe not. DH usually stands over my shoulder to point out my spelling mistakes, as I'm typing, but he's out to buy a wireless mouse for the new laptop. I now have my own account with Poker Stars, where I will forever be known as "Fibre Diva".

DS phoned today to tell us that he has bought a new car. He's been driving the same car for over 11 years, and was quite pleased that they gave him $1000 for a trade in. He must have liked it, because he bought what is basically the same thing, but a much newer model.

I fel like such a "geek". While I'm sitting here typing, the laptop is going through its paces. I just sit and swivel back and forth between the two of them. What a hoot!!

The Lone Ranger

for some reason, DH decided that it was time to help me with my sorting. It was great to have him available to help with the heavier things. However, when he helps, he is incharge and I fetch and carry. I also tend to sort into piles, so that my work looks much messier than it really is. He had many suggestions about how I could work more efficiently and how much neater my work space would be if it was arranged differently. Hard to remember that I was the one who spent four years at university learning about things like work simplification, task analysis, and ergonomics. Anyway, my storeroom is now neatly arranged with two new rolling drawer units, where things can be hidden out of sight so that I'll never remember where I put them. The center of the floor is clear and I can actually get in there and walk around.
One good thing came out of this. When he had placed my sewing machine against a wall with my body completely blocking off any light, I mentioned that maybe this might be a problem. So he spent some time yesterday out pricing lights and then on the phone widening the search. The only light he found was $249.95, so he decided that we just couldn''t afford it. Then in this morning's paper I found a coupon for the same light for 50% off . So guess where we were at store opening.

He has also upgraded our computer, and we have the Geek 'Squad coming this morning to set us up. That should be an interesting experience.

Still sorting

This is turning out to be quite a process. Last time it did it, about 4 years ago, thee were manythings I couldn't part with. One in particular was all of my supplies for French Hand Sewing. This time I packaged them up into plastic bags and am planning to take them to a needlework flea market. If they don't sell, then I'll still have them, but I won't give them away as I paid too much for them in the first place. The one exception is a couple of pieces of Swiss Batiste. This just can't be bought in North America. I bought it from a private source about 25 years ago, and paid $15/yard then. I also found a yard of 100% virgin Cashmere wool made in Italy. I had bought it for a special commission, and while I got a fantastic deal, it was priced at $100/m at the time. It's the most gorgeous red colour--and I can't bear to part with it. so most of the stuff inthe sotreroomis sorted, and packaged for ultimate sale. I can now get tinto the storeroom. It sure looks empty without those huge tubs inthe middle of the floor.

I also found four partially made quilt tops and a box full of pre-cut triangles, as well as my usual box of 2 1/2" squares. These are traditional quilt tops, and I'm not sure where I might go with them. One is a "Storm at Sea" pattern. It is completely cut out, and partially sewn, but there is still a lot of work to do on it. One is mostly cut out, but here is still cutting to do and all of the sewing. Both of these may be bundled up and taken to the flea market. I doubt I could get much for them. The third is almost together. It is a very striking piece in black white and red, and has large areas that would be good to showcase quilting--maybe a feather wreath. I think I'm going to finish it. The fourth is a hand applique piece, an original design, that I've worked on, off and on, over several years. I'll keep that one.

The hardest decision I had to make was over a box of forgotten painted and printed fabric done in a class many years ago, that I've kept to use in embroidery. I've pretty well decided that embroidery is no longer part of my life--my wrists and hands just can't do it anymore. I still have to work up samples for the class I've been hired to teach next May, and these samples could have been part of that, but I "bit the bullet", and they're gone.

I have yet to go through the smaller tubs I have on the industrial shelving unit in my main studio. A charity has spoken for most of the cotton I plan to give away, and these tubs are full of cotton. But these tubs are the source of most of the fabric I use these days. While I may get rid of a chunk of the stuff in them, I think it's going to be more a matter of sorting them into different categories than they are at present, and putting them all back on the shelf. lol

I don't even want to think about tackling the big corner cupboard full of beads. I'm in there regularly, so there isn't much to get rid of in there, but in the bottom I know there is a pile of picture frames that will have to be dealt with some day.

So today we woke up to a pristine white world. First of April and we're dealing with a heavy overnight snow fall. And that's no April fools joke! Just two days ago we spoke of getting gas for the snow blower and decided that we wouldn't be needing it, and that we would wait until we needed gas for the lawn mower. Maybe it is an April Fools joke.