Well, I apologise for not keeping up my blog. It's been more effort to paint my life in a positive light that I could handle for a while. Yes, it's true. Life has been bad...and not-so-good.
One to of the "bad" spots is the death of my Aunt Madge. She was who I always wished I could grow up to be. Smart, compassionate, full of faith and energy, world-traveller. She was who my family always turned to when we felt overwhelmed with medical stuff since she had been a career Navy nurse. She died of cancer last month.
Towards the end I was trying to write her every week since the cancer was pressing on her diaphragm and it made talking on the phone difficult. So even though *I* wanted to hear *her*, it was all I could do to make sure she had something not depressing to think about come in the mail every week or so. I felt helpless, and in the end, I knew that was all I could do, so I kept writing.
There, not here.
I lost hours on my PCA job, so even though the PCAs in MA got a raise, it translated to a wage cut for me. I've had a hard time cutting my living expenses (there's literally nothing left to cut), so I tried to throw myself into cutting other stuff from my life.
The good part of that is that I've been able to finish a bunch of quilting projects, like the Jane Stickle quilt with the double sized blocks called "Bright New Day" (at the top of the post), the Arrowhead Quilt (which ended up as a surprise gift for my brother, and Pasta e Faglioli (below, which went to my mother.)
Oh course, more bad news is that now Blue Cross/Blue Shield has raised my monthly premium, I have to apply to the state to get coverage...I simply cannot find $60 more per month to pay them.
This means, of course, officially admitting that I am poor, a blow to my ego. However, the bright spot is that my memory is so bad that I suspect I will soon forget that I am poor again and go on as before, scrimping and saving and thinking fond thoughts of solidarity with people living through the Great Depression.
Just so you don't think I have been one huge quivering mass of pitiful these past six months, one of the good things that has happened is that I have taken over my guild's web site (a good challenge always makes me feel less pathetic...or should I say apathetic.) I spent the summer redesigning and recoding it, and it's been up at full tilt for the past month or so. I moved it from its old host to one with more "bells and whistles" so, I hope I can implement some of those starting in the new year.
As for the jewelry, we did well on our Spring Sale, but I haven't been able to put my mind and hands together to create much new stuff. I am hoping to photograph some of the pieces I made just before and after the Spring Sale and put them on our site and on etsy, but my creativity in photographing the pieces has been languishing. I have a couple of nice copper kumihimo bracelets, and a new assortment of silk and ribbon kumihimo necklaces, but nothing earth-shattering.
So, that's my last half-year. I will try and update my blog more often, but the problem with Depression is that Prozac really only takes the edges off, and sometimes you find yourself just hiding under the covers for the day.
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