A weekend of Selfishness?

I get a whole weekend to myself this coming up weekend. Peg is going to visit friends in New Hampshire and I get to stay at home with the cat. Yay, me!

Every once in a while, I think I just need to take time off and cloister myself away. This seems to recharge my creative batteries... as long as I ignore that "should be working on" list (which, also for me, is very, VERY long.)

My should list includes: Images/Lowell Quilt Festival. I love going to the show and seeing other people's work. I love shopping. I even have a list of things I should get for the class I'm taking at A Quilter's Gathering in November (never too early to start prep!) Am I going? Probably not, because the times that I can hang out by myself in my apartment (with just Ed, who sleeps a lot) are rare and precious.

I should be marking and quilting three quilt tops: The mini Amish that my mother pieced (above), "Don't Worry, Be Scrappy" (to the right), and "Omiyage" (to be photographed.) Will I get them marked and/or started? Probably not.

I should cut out fabric to replace my pink Tencel jumper. I bought a sage green tencel at the same time, intending to have two dresses. (I wore the pink one as sleeveless dres, but I never got the green cut out, so now I can use the fabric to replace the pink one which got to be too worn and stained to be worn in public.

Of course, there's the ongoing struggle to update my jewelry web site and etsy store... maybe the less said about that the better!

...And the Chelmsford Quilter's Guild page....

I have a ton of research to be done for a variety of project, one of which is a Quest to find an ophthalmologist or even just a place which will sell me a new pair of glasses and takes my insurance. (Insurance supposedly pays for a free pair every two years, but the problem has been finding someone who takes it. My soon-to-be-former guy takes the insurance but not my particular policy. *sigh*)

What I will end up doing? If I want to be rested and refreshed after this weekend I'll probably go out for "supplies" (Diet Barq's, Uno's Potato Skins, KFC, Wheaties), and hunker down to watch Nero Wolfe episodes or "Pride and Prejudice" (with Colin Firth!) with breaks to do a bit of weeding outdoors, and maybe peek at email and Facebook (hoping not to get sucked in). If I get to any of the other projects, maybe I'll count that as a plus.

But I really should find a place to get a new pair of glasses...

In or Out of Focus?

I have too many irons in the fire. Too many things going on. Too many projects in too many areas of my life.

Every time I (finally) inch forward in on front, another bright, shiny project distracts me. I'm like a cat sitting under

a Christmas tree. Which ornament should I bat around first?

Well, I can report progress in a couple of areas. The vintage textile pendants I was making using resin are cured. There's some light clean up and polishing to do and only about 60% of them I feel are saleable, but, hey, I've been talking about this project since last FALL!

Not sure what I'll price them at. They were more work than the flying pigs, but I don't know that they will sell at a much higher price than that. Of course, the pigs had kumihimo necklaces and I'm only planning on using leather or satin cord for these, so maybe they should be priced the same. Hmm.

Ed had his thyroid levels taken last week and

we reduced the dosage of his Tapazole. He seems much less frantic, so I have good feelings about this dosage, but I'm not sure I could call him "stable" just yet. He's become a bit of a furry slug, so he may still be below normal (which is much better than way, way, WAY above normal.)

In quilting news, I put away the "Fan Dance" red and white quilt and started using my japanese fabrics to make a cat quilt. All cat blocks are done. All mice blocks are done. All that is left are snowball blocks and fish blocks. It's fun to work with this fabric, but I do feel guilty about putting away the other. (It just became "less than fun.") Additionally, the "Creepy/Cute Cat Quilt" is tied and I'm stitching the binding on.

I'm trying to clean my drafting board off so I can photograph the newest jewelry and put it on etsy. I also need to totally revamp the Piece by Piece web site. Poor thing has languished for almost 2 years and I'm not exactly sure where the images have gone.

And once I hunt down the various bits of info, photos and whatnot, I hope to have the Chelmsford Quilters' Guild site up to date. It's going to be a squeeze to get the pages ready for the September meeting, let alone the 2-3 new quilting project instructions I've been trying to add (*ahem* WRITE) in the past few years.

So, that's it for the projects at the "top of my pile." I'm not sure I won't find something even more fun and shiny if I dig down a bit, but I guess I just have to tell myself very firmly: "Focus, Lindsay. Focus!"

In The Way

Since Peggy's stroke, I have slowly become somewhat of a zealot about handicap accessibility. I grumble at the "heavy" public restroom door (which Peg can't open with her one good hand.) I mutter when people park in the handicapped parking "just for a minute" while they wait for someone to do a "quick trip" into the store. I have even been known to *gasp* swear at people blocking the wheelchair ramps with their cars (totally oblivious, but still annoying.)

Usually, however, I keep this obsession with handicap accessibility to myself and sigh and work around these unwary, uninformed people.

Today, however, I am annoyed. And I am siting in front of my computer. And I noticed it's been some time since my last blog post.

I think my biggest gripe about accessibility is when the staff of a restaurant (or whatever) puts things in the way. I know putting more stuff out on the floor seems like it would result in more sales, but if you can't get between the display racks, who's going to buy it?

Restaurants are particularly bad when stacking unused high chairs or excess regular chairs in a hallway that's wide enough for a wheelchair but not much of anything else (yes, I'm talking about Uno's, but we have also had this problem in Chili's, On the Border, and many other places.)

And, much as I like their coffee, about half of the Starbucks in this area (eastern Mass, north of Boston) seem to "tuck" their new shipments or old pallets in the hallway blocking access to the restroom. I have problems getting in there, let alone Peggy in her wheelchair. This has happened so often, I suspect this behavior is rife within the entire chain.

Sometimes I manage to shove the offending stuff a bit to the side so Peg can get to the bathroom, but shouldn't these people be more aware of what they are doing? Shouldn't their parent companies be aware of this storage problem so that when they design new restaurants they KNOW this is a problem and can plan for it?

I know, I'm dreaming.

And I know that this will not change. We go to restaurants, etc. so infrequently that even if we complain (and in writing), the best we will get is an apology (and possibly a coupon) but things will not change.

Reboot

Hi, I'm back. I know it's been a while since I've blogged, but I thought I'd try it again.

I've been doing less jewelry these days and more quilting and other textiles, but I'm looking at trying to combine the two (like the spool earrings to the left, which will be up on Etsy as soon as I can get my act together to finish photographing them and writing ad copy!)

I also have a very interesting project "on the docket" involving vintage textiles and resin jewelry. Keep your fingers crossed, it could turn out very cool! (...or not at all...)

Last week I went to the Vermont Quilt Festival (not as a vendor OR an exhibitor) and took some classes. One was awesome, one was great, and one "did not float my boat." However, I learn

ed a few interesting things, one of which will enable me to incorporate my Kumihimo braids into my quilts.

So, I've decided to restart this blog with not only jewelry info, Peggy's status, and my quilting obsession (which seems to take over everything), but with pretty much anything that goes on around here.

So I'll just leave this current note with a picture of the awesome Libby Lehman's quilt (or at least a part of it since I couldn't photograph the whole thing since someone else was standing in front of it drooling, too.)