Indulge Your Inner Goonie and Find Time For Your Passions

Have you ever noticed that life has a way of throwing curve balls at you? Just about the time you think you have everything under control, shit hits the fan. You know what I mean. You finally get the credit cards paid off and the car goes KLUNK and dies on the freeway. The Christmas bills are paid and the furnace blows up. You finally free up a four day weekend for relaxing and doing nothing when Great Aunt Bethany calls to say she’s coming to town for a few days. It is easy to get caught up in the little things and lose sight of your passions. A few extra hours at work; a couple dinner invitations; people making demands on your time and asking you to do things for them; it all adds up and eats into your time.

How do you find time for those passions? When do you say no? When do you start to let things slide? When do you shout at the world, “Enough is enough?”  But most importantly, how do you decide which things occupy your time?

Personally I am selfish. I try my best to put myself and my needs first. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean I refuse all requests or tell people to take a flying leap when they ask for a favour or for some help. I just do my very best to make time for the things that I love to do, for the things that nurture my soul. I try to hear what my mind and my soul are telling me.

I am a creative person and I try to be aware when my creative side screams for an outlet. I NEED to do crafty things. I need to write stories. Some are good, some are awful, but they need released from the crowded confines of my mind or my head will explode. My house is littered with the detritus of my creative side. There are piles of partial manuscripts, writing materials and reference manuals. There are balls of yarn, knitting projects, needlepoint canvases and half-finished baby afghans. My studio looks like a fabric truck exploded inside of it. Fabric is stacked and draped on every surface, pattern books stick out of weird places, all higgety piggety.  Generally, I have so many projects on the go that I can’t decide what to work on. My husband says that I have Magpie Syndrome; I get distracted by bright shiny or colorful objects. He may be right. Personally I think it is just my creative side trying to escape and express itself to save my sanity.

The trouble is that sometimes it is hard to fit that creativity, that passion, into my life. But somehow I manage it. It is a very rare day that goes by when I don’t indulge myself. Sometimes it is with quilting or writing (most days); sometimes it is a couple rows of crochet or a bit of applique or needlework. To find the time, I have turned down invitations to coffee, to home clothing parties, dinners, and on occasion, I tell my man that I cannot go with him to Home Depot, or that he has to wait an hour while I stitch this. Recently, I have told my kids I don’t have time to visit. That isn’t as cruel and heartless as it sounds. I see one daughter and her family at least five days a week, so a missed visit isn’t a big thing for any of us. My other daughter is as busy as I am, so I rarely turn down the chance to see her.

For years and years, I cleaned my house from stem-to-stern at least once a week, sometimes more often. Now, I’m doing good to get it done once a month. We don’t live in squalor. I’ve just changed my priorities. Things are clean enough. Nobody who comes over complains, in fact one fellow says, “I like coming here, I feel comfortable, like I was at home. I’m not worried about destroying a show-home.” The first thing he does when he shows up is take his socks off … so the floors can’t be that dirty.

The joke around here is that if I have cleaned up, someone must be coming over. (And usually that is true!) And hubby has taken over the dishes and the laundry. This leaves me more time to play with the things that nurture me and keep me sane and happy. Because we all know that if Cathy isn’t happy, no one is happy!

It’s about balance. It’s about not neglecting your needs to meet the needs of others. It’s about being who you need to be and not feeling guilty when you say no or when the toilet doesn’t get scrubbed exactly on schedule.

Remember the movie Goonies? They were under the wishing well and had to choose between following a dream and searching for One Eyes Willie’s treasure and returning to the world of their parents. Remember Mikey’s passion speech about time and staying a Goonie? “Our parents, they want the bestest stuff for us. But right now they gotta do what's right for them, 'cause it's their time. Their time, up there. Down here it's our time. It's our time down here. That's all over the second we ride up Troy's bucket.” Mikey had it right! Stand up for your time, not what is right for the people in your life. Be strong, be a Goonie and make time for your passion. Make time for you! Stay out of Troy’s bucket!

What is your passion and how are you going to find time to fit it into your schedule?

Hugs
Cath

Fidgets, Tangles and Distractions

As you probably know, I work for myself. This is a mixed blessing. I can set my own hours and take time off whenever I feel like it. However, I am seriously hampered by the fact that, as a general rule, I am fairly lazy. I work best with deadlines; in reality that is the only way I get anything finished. This often means long days and weird hours. Procrastination can lead to some pretty busy days.

While quilting doesn't take much focus, concentration, or brain power; pattern design, instruction writing and novel writing does. I do a lot of plotting and mental revisions while I quilt, which means my brain is quite active. No snide comments please, I'm trying to make a point. The point of this is ... crap I forgot.

Oh yeah ... sometimes, the mind just needs a rest. The trouble with me is, I get twitchy if I have to sit still for too long. I need something to occupy my hands while my mind unwinds. I do hand applique, some crochet, embroidery and knitting, but find that they often require more brain power than I am willing to expend. This is why I took up doodling.

I blame Jill Buckley for this. I was reading blogs in late 2010. (Yes, I was procrastinating.) Anyway, I stumbled upon The Quilt Rat Blog. This is Jill's blog. She is an artist extraordinaire. At the time, she was having a contest to win one of her doodles. I entered and I won, and I was completely inspired. I rushed out, got myself some books, pens and card stock and started doodling.

Pardon the flash spots.
I have them behind plastic in an album
to protect them from coffee!



Ya, I sign and number them. Some day I might be
famous, er infamous, or something. LOL

I will never have a steady hand at this...because I am twitchy, and impatient. Another important fact is that I cannot draw. I took a drawing class once, but the instructor told me to give it up, I would never be able to draw. I was young, I listened to her. Today, I might just give her a cuff upside the head for being nasty.

These days, my creativity is geared more to quilt designs and writing, but I do love to doodle. If you want to see some really impressive work, check out Jill's blog or pick up a Zen Doodle Book like this one.

Hugs
Cath

Vacation is Over: Let the Work Begin

It seems like forever since I touched a computer. We spent the last 22 days on vacation and the most technical thing I touched during that time was my camera. I'm not saying that I am addicted to the camera, but we have almost 3000 vacation pictures plus about 1000 pictures of the lacrosse tournament we attended.

But, lets begin at the beginning... vacation started with five days in London. We've been before, but went back for the chance to absorb more history. We walked for hours soaking up the architecture and marvelling at the sights. Our hotel was just off Trafalgar Square (The Grand on Trafalgar.) There is always something happening in the square. It ranges from demonstrations to concerts to impromptu dancing and everything in between. We started and ended each day there. Coffee every morning and tea every night before returning to our hotel. Frequently we watches a man there with a falcon chasing away the pigeons. He didn't harm them, but his presence scared them off which made for a much more pleasant visit.

After London came Prague and lacrosse. We watched the World Indoor Lacrosse Championships and my husband participated in the Grand Masters (Over 45) division.Their team won their division and beat every team in the Masters division (Over 30.)  The tournament organizers also hosted a beer drinking competition which we won quite handily. We arrived about an hour late and still manged to clean up. Never challenge a Canadian to a beer drinking competition!



Mmmm, vats and vats of Scotch Whiskey.



Next Up: Scotland. Yup, we were there last year too. This year we drove up the east coast, across the top and down the west coast. We took in Edinburgh and the Isle of Sky as well. Scotland has some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. Its kind of like Canada with its prairies, mountains, forests and rocky plains all squished up together.  Every turn in the road and every crest of a hill gives you something new to look at. We also visited the Glen Morangie Distillery and had a tour. Scotch making is at once much simpler and much more complex than I ever imagined.



Celtic Quilting
by
Gail Lawther



I found a book on Celtic Quilting while I was there and took a ton of pictures of Celtic designs and carpets for quilting inspiration. I probably have the strangest holiday pictures ever. Last year I took pictures at the Louvre, mostly of the intricate tile floors and ceilings.



Now, its back to the old grindstone. First off, into the studio and back at the longarm. I've got a stack of client quilts to finish by the end of next week. After the studio maybe some time catching up on pattern writing.





The Ocean near Thurso, Scotland.



Thanksgiving

Ostensibly this blog is about quilting. But how can you write about quilting when you haven’t set foot inside your studio for three weeks? (Okay I snuck in there yesterday for a black licorice and some Mike and Ikes.)

Hit a couple of local quilt shops yesterday with my friend Deb. We hit Needleworks in the north. Allison has a great new store. I can’t wait until she finishes hanging all those quilts and unpacks all those new fabrics. Then, we hit My Sewing Room in the south. Anne has a great staff and a huge selection of fabric. Can you believe I didn’t buy anything? Not even a coffee. I hate being on a tight budget, but until my machine is up and running again disposable income is nil.

On the plus side of having one’s machine down is that you get to spend more time outside in the lovely fall air. It’s been warm here. Hot enough for shorts and a sleeveless top. I’ve got a TAN. Yup its true. I have a lovely tan now, and I didn’t have even a hint of one all year. Gotta love Indian Summer. (Or whatever those of you who are politically correct call it now.) And, the fencing is getting close to completion.

It is Thanksgiving Weekend here in Canada. Spent last night at home with hubby. Tonight the girls come over with their men. For those of you who don’t know I have 23 year old twin daughters. Tomorrow is drinks with friends and Monday is Thanksgiving dinner. We’re going to be radical this year and not have turkey. Yup, I said it. NO TURKEY! Superstore has prime rib on sale. So, Dave shall barbeque a prime rib roast. Mmmmm. I’m drooling already.

I have to tell you I am indeed thankful this year. I have a great life, a wonderful family, a terrific extended family, and am happy and healthy. To the universe I say "thanks for all you have given me."

Don't forget to visit my website and check out my patterns. Sign up for my website mailing list and recieve two entries to the Fall into Fall Blog Hop prize draw. http://www.pinefreckleforest.com/

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What are you thankful for?

Still need pickets, headers and
footers on our side.



The hideous slope in our back yard.
It drops about six feet in about 30 feet.




The final two sections are still to
be finished, but we are almost
done. All the pickets are on this part.
Just headers and footers left.



Fall into Fall

So the blog hop continues. It is great to have you all popping in, and wonderful to hear from new visitors and from old subscribers alike.

Check out the last two postings for September for details on how to enter to win! Fat quarter bundles, patterns and …

Love those fall colors.

Fish Creek Park

Hubby and I try to walk in the local park a couple times every week. I love the fall. I find the pretty colors, the crunching of leaves and the rustle of dry tree branches very peaceful. I’m busy blanket stitching a fall table runner. It is fairly small, but then my coffee table is small. And, I don’t want anything too large on the kitchen table as that just encourages the cats to sleep there.

I finally heard from APQS. The computer boards from my longarm are finally back in the mail. It is only two weeks late. I guess there was some trouble with the servicing of them. But I am glad they are coming back. I’ve got stacks of customer quilts to get finished. The Christmas quilting rush is due to start any day and I want to fit in the projects I finished while the machine was down. I might be putting in some long days in the studio. But, that’s okay. I love my work. It is time consuming, occasionally frustrating, the pay isn’t all that I would like it to be, but I love it. It allows me to be creative, to set my own hours. I can work early or late as I choose. Really, it doesn’t get much better than this.

Tonight I shall hit the studio (after a day of fence building) and work on my fall table runner.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Do you like applique? What is your favorite technique? Hand? Machine? What is your favorite edge stitch method? If you had to choose a season, what season would you choose and what types of things would you applique onto a table runner to celebrate that time of year?

A Pressing Matter

Today I’m going to nag you about pressing. Not ironing, pressing.

A lot of new quilters are unaware that there is a difference ironing and pressing. But there is, and it is huge. Ironing involves sliding the iron about the fabric in any random direction. You just keep sliding until the fabric is smooth. This is great for hubby’s shirts, but not so good for quilt blocks. Pressing on the other hand involves setting the iron down on the quilt block, lifting it up, repositioning it and pressing it back down. There is no sliding! Sliding causes distortion of your blocks, especially any that might have bias edges. Lift and set, lift and set. Sliding is for the playground.

Check your seams after you PRESS them. I always press from the back first, then flip the block or quilt right side up and ensure that the seam is indeed open all the way. Recently I taught a beginner class. I watched one student iron her first block, then complain that the seams did not line up as well as she had hoped. When I checked it, all the seams had tiny folds. We measured to be 6.25 inches. I walked her through proper pressing and when she was finished, it was a full (and correct) 6.5 inches. That’s quarter of an inch in one six-inch block. After the pressing, her seams did indeed line up correctly, the folds had disguised her accurate piecing. Over the course of a full quilt quarter of an inch in every block makes a huge difference. When you check your seams they should have no folds or overlaps. They also shouldn’t be stretched out of shape.

I’m also a huge fan of Mary Ellen’s Best Press spray starch. I give each block a light spray during the final pressing to give it a little extra firmness. This helps keep the blocks from distorting while being handled in later parts of the piecing process. I use it now at all stages of the pressing process. I even give the completed top a quick spray during the final pressing. As a bonus it comes unscented and in a variety of scents to make your studio smell lovely.

When piecing rows of blocks together its always a good idea to press the seams in even numbered rows to the right. Then press odd numbered rows to the left. This allows your seams to nest and catch together when sewing your rows to each other. It helps keeps blocks aligned properly. Don’t cheat and neglect to use pins. Yes in know: PINS is a four-letter word. That said, as I progressed on my own quilting journey, I learned that pinning actually saves time (less un-sewing) and that says nothing about those perfectly aligned corners.

Pine Freckle Forest has 15 new Designs. Okay, they really aren’t all that new. I previewed them at Quilt Canada. You’ve already seen Sundreams in a previous posting.

Next came Radiant Sky, a New York Beauty style quilt. Foundation piecing gives this quilt perfect points every time.

But my favorite are the Long Fellas, thirteen small wall hangings. Thirteen is my lucky number! Each is only 4 by 12 inches. Perfect for that tiny space in the hall! Each and everyone has a dimensional aspect from the fuzzy sheep of Lamby Long to the spiky leaves of Flora Long. And let us not forget the perfect Christmas gifts, Santa, Reindeer, Frosty and Penny (the Penguin) Long. Oh yeah, Holiday Long and Long Pine. They all whip up quickly and use up batting and fabric scraps. If you like the size, but not the dimensional aspect, simply trim the extra parts off before adding your binding. Need a hostess gift in a hurry, whip up something Long.

You can find these patterns and many more on my website at www.pinefreckleforest.com.


Happy Quilting!