Postcard Swap

I finished these over the weekend. I had to have a bit of help since my sewing machine gave up the ghost. Thanks to Amy and Michele for stitching up the sides for me.

I was really very sick all last week - this strange sort of monster flu that didn't really SEEM like the flu, or like being sick at all - until you attempted to do something strenuous like oh say, look upwards or stand. It was pretty terrible. But! I'm over it now I think and should be more productive soon.

On another note, my baby is maybe having a baby. Folks don't mix her up much with her twin these days. Yes, she's really, really having a baby! Like umm today! She won't look like this much longer and we'll really be able to see Kael in the next photos! I'm trying to focus and be very Zen about this.....Soon...hurry up! Soon, be patient, quiet....soon...NOW...hurry!! This is one of those cool self battles because I can't really affect the outcome anyways so I can stomp my feet as much as feels good and then just have to wait anyway. Hurry! Soon!!

Wellness Wednesday -

"If you change one thing, you change everything." That's the thought that's rumbling round my mind this wellness wednesday. Aha...okay, so if this is so (and I believe it is) that means I don't have to change everything. What a relief! Lynn Andrews called it, all those years ago when I was reading that sort of thing, an act of power. So....one thing. One thing. My brain shifts to the 10,000 things and I cannot think of one thing. I do battle with myself until I observe myself battling and realize that staying in the battle is my way of opting out and not changing even the one thing. And so....with no ado, without fanfare; today, I will choose the one thing. Just one thing; I will be disciplined in this one small thing (someday I may tell you) for one week and next wellness wednesday we shall reconvene (who is "we" I wonder?) and assess the one thing, the small act of power and its potential change.

For now, it is enough to know that I don't have to fix the whole of me. I do not have to be perfect tomorrow - that's not going to be on my list. What a relief! For today, I am going to focus on the simple and effortless change of one thing.

First Attempts

I thought long and hard about posting these photos. I'll confess it right now, I'm a little bit ashamed of these postcards. The colors in some don't quite work, the quilting for sure is not at all nice and man oh man did I struggle with doing the edges! Not only did I pause long and hard about posting the pictures, I almost did not send these cards to my girls! I had to stop and examine myself, and I learned some fine lessons that I'd like to share.

First, it's not very wise of me to compare my beginning work with those of you who have been working on these crafts much longer than I. I have to remind myself that initially, one of the goals was simply to learn how to do this. And, I learned a great deal about how fabrics work together, about how colors change when placed together. I learned how to manage my old and grumpy sewing machine a bit better. And, hopefully, future cards will get better and better. And, I had some fun...which brings me to the next lesson.

I realized at some point, that I was NOT having fun.this refers back to a post I wrote ages ago about being afraid to call myself a knitter because I am such a novice and that I was learning to relax into it. The lesson went a bit deeper this time as I realized this about myself: I am terribly focused on the end product. I think this prevents me from having fun and learning to have a sense of play. Very often, I want someone to show me the exact steps in a process thinking that then, I will follow the recipe and end up with a perfect product. I am afraid to experiment. Somehow, I have this suspicion that this is not what art is about. Art must be playful and fearless - or at least, not fearful.

So, I showed these cards to Daughter #6 and she thought they were adorable. She's very quick to criticise me (there will someday be posts of the trials of living with a teenage daughter, I've got plenty to say about that!), so I don't think she was just being "nice." She thought they were child-like and joyful (Did I mention that she is attending art school?). And, she was shocked that I'd consider not sending them. Uumm.

I followed these postcards with some domino necklaces. I caught myself doing it AGAIN - speed through the process, follow the directions and GET IT DONE. Not too far into it, I just stopped. Instead of rushing to a set of directions, I just tried something. It worked out all right, and I'll post some photos of those too sometime soon. But, I didn't quite like some smudgy parts and then I realized, "OH! I know how I made that smudge, now, I can either not do it again, or, I know how to do it should I sometime in the future wish to create a little bit of a foggy appearance. Cool!" Once I let myself feel some sense of happiness about this, I found it much easier to play a bit - splash some color here, some blending solution there, change colors. I suspect this is a much more, for me, fulfilling way of growing. Following directions is good, of course it is! But, being afraid to try things is surely not.

Maybe my willingness to share my early and inept attempts will also encourage others. How often do we hear folks say, "Oh, I'm just not creative at all; I could never do THAT!" Well of course you can. We are creative essence. And we grow. Maybe someday in the future my postcards will reflect my growth. In the meantime, I'm going to have fun!

Lee

In the Mail

This lovely card arrived in the mail last week. Kate, of Kate's Quilting so very generously sent this card. I had asked Kate if she might sent a postcard so that our textiles students could see a a REAL card instead of my own beginner attempts. Kate very kindly obliged and sent two, the second below.

I am so continuously amazed at the generation of bloggers - especially quilters and others of the crafting community that I've met. Never, no, never not once has anyone failed to respond with the most helpful suggestions, contributions of materials and sometimes finished pieces. How delightful you all are!

I am hopeful sometime later this week to be able to post photos of my own fledgling postcards, my first pincushion and photos of the finished quilts mentioned last week. In the meantime, our fiber students were really inspired by Kate's cards and are busy working on their own class projects. Thank you, Kate - and thank you to all the inspiring bloggers out there who urge me on not only in my craft learning, but in my remembering to practice kindness, generosity and loving support.

Cheers!

I found it!

Yup, yup! I found it, here! at Curious Bird! Hooray! I'll be tracking that cookbook down Pronto! Oh I'm so glad!

Don't you just hate when that happens?

I was cruisin blogs a couple of days ago and trying to write down all the wonderful ideas I’d gotten. I found this lovely blanket at Posie Gets Cozy, and I’m going to try to learn to crochet for my newest grandson due at the end of the month. I found some beautiful pincushions and I am going to start on those too. But then, I found the most mouth-watering photograph of a LEMON desert. Oh how I love anything lemony. So, I went and bought some lemons, thinking that while sweetie watched the football game (wasn’t that amazing?!?!?! And I don’t even like football) I’d whip up this lovely lemon desert. Well….ahem…pffttt…I didn’t save the blog link. And now, I can’t find it ...sigh... I don’t think she shared the recipe, but the picture was sooo enticing! I thought I’d for sure be able to get right back to it. So, I’m looking for a lemon something deserty type recipe that caught my eye. If I had something to give away – and join this lovely blog give-away tradition I’d offer it up to anyone else who might have seen that blog, the photo looked at those the lemon cake recipe was made into cupcakes. Did you see it?

So, in the meantime, I’m going to get an I hook and one of my students at Knitting in the Library this Thursday is going to teach me to crochet. Tonight I hope to get a short start on a pin cushion, or at least needle-felting the pieces. And I’ll keep looking for those lemons.

And, all this will be done while waiting to hear the cost of car repairs – I just had it towed and anticipate about $400! Ouch….WHERE ARE THOSE LEMONS!

Catching Up

Well...since I spend copious amounts of time each day reading blogs, and loving it! I thought it might be time to visit my own. The trouble becomes, when failing to blog for so very long, where does one begin? Okay, so to begin with, I was able to move several items from the "what I'm working on now" widget to the "Completed" widget. That feels really good! Even if no one else reads here, I can look for myself to see what I've accomplished. Nia's dress was a little too big, but she'll wear it, I hope, this spring. Madison's blanket wasn't quite as wonderful as I envisioned it - I have hoped to somehow afix little roses's around the perimeter, her middle name is Rose. But, I finally succumbed to the reality that by the time I teach myself how to do such a thing, she'll be having a baby of her own. Having taken nearly two years to finish it up, I'm hopeful that instead of storing it away with all the other lovely baby gifts I'm sure she received, that she drags it around with her dollies and really enjoys it.

But those 3 quilts! oh man what a learning process. The first, a wedding gift for daughter # 4. It's only a year late and I hope she thinks it's worth it. She says she does. She also told me that her son Brad, my third grandchild, calls the dolphins, "Fishes" and that sometimes, she puts the quilt on his bed because he wants to sleep with the "fishies." She's promised me photos of it on her bed which I will post as soon as they arrive. Might serve me right if it takes her a year, eh? Then there's Fran's quilt (daughter #6). It sure looks beautiful for all the mistakes and ripping out. I started it ages ago, inspired by a photo I'd seen on the Prairie Quilts blog. I so love reading that blog - she's so inspiring! And, she so very kindly sent me a kit to make a small quilt when I asked for directions to the dragonfly quilt on her blog. I'd asked because Frannie collects dragonflies. Despite my learning curve, and the oh so many mistakes, it looks beautiful. I can't wait to work on the littler kit, it'll be beautiful on Fran's wall matching the quilt on her bed.

Then there's Charlie's quilt. I wish I could find a way to add the very deep sigh that bursts each time I think of this quilt. I'd seen a television show (much more dangerous than photos on a blog!). That drunkard's path curved block looked sooooooooooo easy! Now I'm laughing. Not one of those squares came out a perfect nine and a half inches. No, not one of them! And, I even asked some of the experts at my design school, where sewing is taught! to comlete some of them. There were so many times I almost chucked it (heh! A quilt for Charlie almost got chucked, I'll have to tell him that some day!). But, I persisted and then, there were how many rip-outs during the putting together of the top. Do you ladies who are real quilters have a word for that part of the process? I'd ask everyone around me to stand back and examine the layout as each strip was put together and confirm for me that I was faithfully following the pattern. Usually I was assured that I was, until sometime about 8 strips into it, I wasn't. I lost count of how many times we ripped and started again and how many times I wondered if Charlie might really rather prefer a CD for Christmas. My partner oh so patiently ripped (which I thought a bit fair since he was one of the crew assuring me that the pattern was being followed...hmm?). I mean, even so, isn't that pretty wonderful for a man to help rip out sewing? And, too bad for him, he's a much more efficient ripper than I am! He might be sorry someday that I know that.

Now, these three quilts lead me to my next blog topic. Referring back to another topic when I wondered if it's even fair to call myself a knitter when I've really knit so very little. Some might argue that it's not quite fair to say I've finished three quilts, either. Why? Because I took them to someone else to be quilted. Is that cheating? Someday I hope I can actually quilt a whole quilt by myself, but for now, I needed that leg up and took the quilts to a long-arm quilter. I'll be offering her massages for the rest of my life I think in return.

But! I need to speak a word or two about this lovely woman. She's delightfully funny, dry and quite pragmatic which is unusual for such an artist. When I arrived at her home with each quilt, I apologized for the poor workmanship and hung my head. OH! She was so encouraging and lovely about the whole thing. We sat, she showed me how to properly make and attach the bindings, and a whole host of other little tricks. I pointed out all my errors to her and she explained them away....some she said were just a matter of time and experience, others, she showed me little tips. Well, except for the curved piecing - she just smiled about that and said that, I'd chosen such lovely colors that perfection didn't really matter. I had to laugh; she glossed over this and implied so very sweetly that it's nearly impossible to get those squares to match up. It took several visits before I noticed that she had many curved block pieces hanging on her walls, and let me tell you, all her squares match up just right fine! Maybe I'll try this one again someday; I hope so. Even those the squares don't meet, it's still a really pretty quilt. I forgot a photo of this one too and will ask Charlie so that I can post it.

Then there's the trip to Indiana after Christmas. I met my newest grandson, Thomas. He looks just like his father and is the juiciest baby I can recall (I'm sure I said that about all my grandchildren in turn). Maggie (daughter #5 but only by 7 minutes) is going to have a baby at the end of February. I spent time in the cold with all my girls and grandchildren. I DO have some pics of that which I can post. Let's see if I can remember how to do this. Hmm, that's it, up at the top, I guess I'll practice next time getting it in the body of the post. Daughter #2 is missing in this photo - I sure miss her! Her middle name is also Rose and I thought of her constantly while working on Madison Rose' blanket.

I suppose, since I've called this blog, "Librarian Lee" that I should speak a word or two about my library. I've currently no assistant and so I've spent a great deal of time at the beginning of this quarter, covering books and shelving. I find these activities somehow quite comforting. What is it about covering a book with mylar that is so fulfilling? It's neat, it's orderly and it's simple! And shelving books gives me this sense of order and perfection. For my school's library, I've also begun adding the new books I acquire onto "Library Thing." I hope any who read here will explore this little 2.0 gem. That's another post though.

Of course, I'm not nearly caught up. But, I suppose that's enough for now. Off to Saturday chores and then maybe some fabric postcards which I am raring to try. Perhaps I won't get so lost in the process that I forget to post the results.

Lee