Ta Da!

This is the culprit I was working on when I hit the wall last week and slumped all over the floor of my sewing room, questioning the meaning of life and speculating upon the futility of quilting. Weird, huh? But once I picked myself up, dusted off all the snipped threads, and got busy making covers for my chair, I put that little episode behind me and moved on. Now I have this one done and I'm ready, I think, to start playing around with some charm packs and a few lengths of fabric. Maybe it's hormonal. Are there quilting hormones, I wonder?

One thing about my quilting that's been bugging me for a long time is the idea that I've lost my focus. When I started quilting, I was very sure about what I liked and didn't like. I knew my quilting time was limited, and I'd darn well better concentrate on making only the things that really appealed to me. I rarely used anyone else's patterns, and if I did, I usually changed them quite a bit. Applique particularly appealed to me because I could design whatever I wanted and my quilts wouldn't look like any others. Somewhere along the line, I lost that focus. I started liking just about everything, and I wanted to make just about everything--and I thought I could, apparently! Instead of being drawn to a narrow color and tonal pallet, my color sensibilities expanded. While particular colors and patterns still appeal to me and others still don't, it's that middle range--the stuff I could live with but didn't LOVE--that seems to have worked its way into my stash and my quilts.

I've had this little talk with myself before and resolved to get back on track but somehow, before I know it, I'm back to drooling all over the pages of quilt magazines and catalogues, wanting to make everything I see. And then when I start a quilt, I'm in a rush to get it finished so I can move onto the next whim. Darn quilting hormones again, I'm sure!

I'm not sure how to change this behavior, but I think that sometime in the next few months, I'm going to have to find a way to do that. My husband asked yesterday whether I was going to put any of my quilts in the State Fair this year, and I told him I wasn't--for the second or third year in a row. The reason? Because I haven't made anything for awhile that I would consider unique and different enough to bother with. As you may imagine, by now I have plenty of "utility quilts" to cover each and every one of my beds a couple layers deep, so why keep making them? I'm starting to feel a little like the girl in high school who sleeps with every guy on the football team! Darn quilting hormones!

Mostly Books and a Little Quilting

First of all, just a little about quilting. For those of you on a fabric diet, please plug your ears, hum a little song, and turn away for a minute or two--you can pick right back up with the next paragraph. Last night I received an e-mail from Keepsake Quilting advising me they have selected wide quilt backings at 30% off. Not a bad deal! So, if you're in need, click here.

Now on to books. The photo above is my bookshelf of books I haven't yet read. Looks a little like my fabric stash! I've added a little box on my sidebar entitled "Current Reads." I know many of us enjoy reading, and from looking at some of your blog profiles, I think many of you have tastes similar to mine, so I thought I'd add this little feature to my blog. Yeah, I know I'm not Oprah any more than I'm Martha Stewart, but I wanted to share my recommendations and reading list with you anyway. If you don't read much, plug your ears, hum a little song, and go order some wide quilt backings. Oh, and check back with me tomorrow--I'm hoping to have a quilt finished and may have a photo to share, thanks to those of you who encouraged me over my slump.

My favorite books tend to be mystery-type fiction with the occasional well-written historical romance thrown in for variety. Sometimes I like to read what I categorize as "fluff books"--usually fast reading, fairly light mysteries. One of my favorite mystery writers, though, was Agatha Christie, and I developed a taste for somewhat more complex, psychologically-driven mysteries, which I think the British writers do so well.

A few days ago, I started reading The Remains of an Altar by Phil Rickman, the seventh and latest book in the Merrily Watkins series. Rickman is one of those British authors whose writing I enjoy. The first book of the series is The Wine of Angels, and the main character, Merrily Watkins, is a newly-ordained minister who is also a widow with a teenaged daughter. Strange things take place in the village to which she's assigned, and she gets caught up in them. The reviews posted on Amazon by the "experts" and "customers" give you a good idea what the series is about. As one reviewer summed up, Rickman's books are filled with "interesting characters with a lot of depth, mystery with a tinge of the supernatural, and charming recreation of English village life."

I'm always a little hesitant about reading historical romance unless something's been recommended to me because so much of it's just too darn light and predictable for my tastes. I love the books by Diana Gabaldon and Sara Donati and pick those up as soon as they come out. If you have any historical romance book recommendations, I'd love to hear them.

And, of course, as is the case with most of you quilters, I enjoy well-written fiction involving quilting. I just finished Jennifer Chiaverini's The Quilter's Homecoming and loved it. I also like Emilie Richards' series that began with Wedding Ring.

I doubt that I'll talk about every book I read, but you can keep an eye on my "Current Reads" and feel free to ask me any questions you have about whatever I'm reading and let me know if you read something you think is really outstanding.

If you're not much into reading, then I hope to better entertain you tomorrow when the subject will be: 27 Craft Projects You Can Make Using Belly Button Lint.

So, I Was Thinking . . .

I like to read. I’ll read anything you stick in front of me–it doesn’t really matter what. I think I’ve told you before that I can’t just sit around and watch TV; I have to be doing something else as well, like quilting. It’s the same thing with reading. I can’t just sit and eat a bowl of cereal; I need to have the cereal box to read. Or maybe a newspaper if I’m going to be sitting around for awhile. And if the whole missing-kids-on-milk-cartons thing is any indication, I’m not alone.

So then why, when we visit our dentists and Ob/Gyns, do we have to look up at cute posters on the ceiling? Why not tack something up there of more substance; something to take our minds off what else is really going on? Sure, puppies and daisies are sweet, and once upon a time, when we first saw them, we all probably said, “Awwwww, how cute!,” but I’m not 12 years old anymore. So I have to wonder when I lay back on the exam table and see a poster of a kitten doing chin ups on a tree limb with the words, “Hang in There!”, is this some kind of warning that I can look forward to a cold speculum?

What I’d really like to see are the pages of the Connecting Threads catalogue. Yes, I know that might not interest everyone, so I’d settle for the weekly Macy’s ad. Or even the newspaper inserts of the local grocery store ads–I could plan my week’s menu and grocery list at the same time. Multi-tasking.

And mammograms? What if the radiologist posted a great shoe sale ad on the back wall, printed just small enough so that we actually WANTED to lean into the darn machine to get a better look?

If any of you is a doctor or a dentist, works for a doctor or a dentist, or knows a doctor or dentist, please suggest to them that they give us something better to occupy ourselves with while they do whatever it is they feel they need to do to us. Cute posters just don’t cut it. And dentists who want to ask questions while our mouths are full of fingers and equipment? Well, don’t get me started . . . .

Back to the Mundane

Thank you all for visiting my blog and leaving comments when something strikes you as noteworthy. I enjoy hearing from you, even if you just say "hi"! Some of you don't have an e-mail address attached to your comments, so I can't write back, but I want you to know that I appreciate the comments you leave. And if any of you ever wants to e-mail me directly rather than leave a public comment, you can do so by going to my profile and clicking on "e-mail." Oftentimes, too, I'll read your comments and "follow" you back to your own blog. I love the way we can all communicate with one another through the magic of the internet!

By way of an addendum and in response to some of your comments, my first marriage ended 30 years ago, and sometimes it seems like it all happened to someone else. It's been a long time, and I can shake my head and laugh about it now. I don't know why I seemed to have such odd people around me when I was younger, but maybe that's what attracted me to quilting--it's so traditional! Still, I have a few more stories to tell about the people I've met along the way and the things that I've done, and I will tell them to you eventually. Nothing as surprising as the story of my first husband though, which is probably just as well! I think one of the "lessons" I've learned is that people are all different; sometimes in ways that we can see and sometimes in ways that are hidden from us. Although I'm essentially a "hermit" at heart, I love to meet people and find out about their lives, and I think that's one of the really fun aspects of visiting all your blogs.

Before I forget, C'tina asked how Sunday breakfast with my husband's family went. Well, I didn't go. I know, I know, you're probably disappointed in me, but I'll tell you why. After I posted and read the comments left for me, and my friend Eileen told me I HAD to go, I decided I would. Someone suggested I just order an English muffin and sample a little of my husband's breakfast, and that sounded like a reasonable compromise. So, Saturday evening I asked my husband what the plan was, and he told me he was supposed to meet his sister at her house at 8 a.m. 8 A.M.! Is the sun even UP at 8 A.M.? Okay, that's just a slight exaggeration--I know the sun's up by 7 a.m. because that's when I get up for work, but to be at my sister-in-law's house by 8 a.m., I would have to get up at about 6 a.m. On a Sunday!

Reading the look of horror on my face, my husband laughed and assured me that no one really expected me to come. And my good friend Eileen suggested that maybe they decided to have breakfast that early so I WOULDN'T come! So, having convinced myself that if these crazy people wanted to have breakfast practically in the middle of the night, they really didn't need to have me there with an IV of coffee in my arm and toothpicks propping my eyes open, did they? No. So I slept until 9 a.m. Good thing too, because you know that idea of sharing my husband's breakfast? He had chorizzo and eggs. I'm sure that would not have set well on my stomach even if I could get past the whole lack of sleep thing.

And speaking of my husband, he puttered around in the garage all day yesterday (after he came home from breakfast) and came up with another of his wacky creations which now graces our patio. He has a plan to attach one of the sprinkler heads to a faucet and position it so it looks like this gal's "bath" is filling with water. This little piece of garden art will go into a flower bed that is now full of weeds and needs to be cleared out.

I worked all weekend--when I wasn't grocery shopping, cooking, or cleaning house--on making covers for my desk chair. I made the covers reversible so I can change the look from spring/summer to fall/winter. Of course, they're removeable and washable. You can see a "before" photo here for comparison.

Spring/Summer:





Fall/Winter:

I'm not totally happy with the lacing/bow in the back but I'm not sure what I'd rather do. It seems like a more flowing ribbon would be pretty, but I don't want Spike (seen just above, lurking) to start attacking the chair. I may just re-lace it similar to the way tennis shoes are laced and leave it for now. Any suggestions?

I have another chair to cover, and my husband suggested using his old Levi's, which was a really great idea! He's been giving them to me for the last several years in case I want to use them in quilts, so I have plenty. I think covering his chair will go much quicker since I won't have to quilt the fabric first or make it reversible. But I think I'm over my quilting slump now and ready to get back to "work," so I think that chair will have to wait a bit.

Seventh Thing, Continued

This is a continuation of yesterday's post, so if you haven't read it yet, you might want to scroll down and read it through first.

The hardest thing for me after learning that Mike was a transvestite was not being able to talk to anyone about it. I couldn't talk to family or friends because this was Mike's "secret," although now it was mine too, and I didn't like keeping it. But everyone I knew also knew Mike, so who could I tell? The only person I could talk to was Mike himself.

The whole transvestite issue confused me. Was Mike attracted to men? No, he told me, he definitely wasn't. I asked him to explain to me what the attraction or compulsion was for him to dress like a woman. This was much harder for him to explain, but as best as I could understand it, by dressing like a woman, he could be both a woman and a man. I still didn't understand. Because Mike recognized it as socially unacceptable behavior, he suggested he obtain counseling, and I agreed.

After he attended several sessions, he asked me to accompany him. I certainly felt in need of some counseling myself, so I readily agreed. During the session, however, it became clear that the counselor was working with Mike to help him deal with his feelings and accept himself for who he was, not to try to somehow "cure" him. I know now that people who have gender issues can't be "cured," but back in the mid 1970s and at the age of 18, I believed that counseling would help to make Mike "normal." As far as I was concerned, then, the counseling was a failure. Mike, on the other hand, seemed to think he could suppress his urges and our marriage could continue on as it had.

Unfortunately, our relationship continued to deteriorate in other ways as it became clear we had very little in common. Around that time, Mike turned 21 and started going out to bars with friends in the evenings while I stayed home, and we began drifting even further apart as we spent less and less time together.

Sometime in the fall of 1975, Mike sustained a concussion in a company baseball game and stayed home, under doctor's orders, for a few days. I was working for Mike's dad, and as we were all concerned about the concussion, his dad gave me the afternoon off to go home and take care of Mike. When I arrived home, I found the door locked and chained, and when I called out to Mike, I realized he had chained the door so no one would walk in on him. As I sat on our front stairs, waiting to be let into my home, I realized that nothing had changed and nothing would ever change. I think that was really the end of the marriage. Within a few months, we talked it over and decided to call it quits. We bought a car for me, and I found a job and an apartment and moved out.

Mike and I continued to keep in touch for several months, but our contacts with each other tapered off as we each built new lives. A few years later, I got a call from him about having our marriage annulled through the Catholic Church. He had met another woman and wanted to get married again. I couldn't help but wonder whether he had been honest with her, but I didn't think that was really any of my business. I wasn't even sure if he'd tell me the truth if I asked, so I didn't ask. That was the last time I talked to Mike.

A few years ago, my brother-in-law told me he had run into Mike at their 30-year high school reunion. He said that Mike was no longer "Mike" but had had a sex change operation and was now a woman. It took my brother-in-law a few months to figure out how to break the news to me, but he never knew the background of my marriage to Mike. As you may expect, the news did not come as a complete surprise to me!

I hope "Mike" is happy in his new life. I'm sure the path he followed was a hard one with many obstacles and heartache along the way. I found that "she" has a website and appears to be doing quite well, having gone on to obtain several degrees and establish an engineering business in another state. I briefly considered trying to get in touch but decided that part of my life is long behind me and best left there.

As to me and how I feel about Mike and our marriage, I'm happy to say that my sense of humor is such that I can look back and laugh. It was a traumatic time in my life, and I'm sure it affected me in some ways I don't even realize, but I moved on, as we all do, and eventually met and married my current husband and built a different life.

So, now I've told you seven things you didn't know about me. I won't tag anyone with this meme since it's been going around awhile, but I'd welcome hearing about you. If you read my blog and have any comments or decide to take up the "seven things" meme, let me know so I can learn about you!

The Seventh Thing

I bet you were wondering if I'd ever get around to telling you the seventh--and final--thing about me that you didn't know. What's that you say? You forgot all about the fact that I hadn't finished my list? Well, I didn't forget--I was just saving it until I had a little more time to write. So here it is:

7. My first husband is now a woman.

Pretty weird, huh? Yeah, I thought so too, but I wasn't as shocked to find out as my brother-in-law expected me to be.

I met my first husband--we'll call him Mike, since that's not his name anymore anyway--when I was 16 and in my junior year in high school. I had gone with a friend and her boyfriend to a party at someone's house. None of us really knew the person having the party, but back in those days, if someone was having a party, half the kids in the city would hear about it and half of those would show up. And it was a pretty big city. During the course of the party, I met Mike and we started dating.

Mike was a fairly big guy at 6 feet tall and weighing 170 pounds. He graduated from high school the year before and had been working for his father, doing drafting work and helping to collect statistical data for environmental impact reports. He was renting an apartment with his cousin, and his motorcycle was his main form of transportation. I thought the motorcycle was pretty cool, and we took long rides into the Santa Cruz mountains and along the highways and byways of the Bay Area. Mike also loved to play his guitar and would occasionally serenade me with his music.

Sometime around the beginning of my senior year, Mike and I got engaged. As an engagement present, Mike bought me my first sewing machine. We set a June wedding date, and we were married two weeks after I graduated from high school; about a month before I turned 18. The marriage was to last just less than two years.

During that time, Mike got a job with a company that built custom conveyor systems for food manufacturers; for instance, Nabisco was one of his clients. His job involved designing and drawing up specifications for the production of those systems--something that seems quite complicated given the fact that Mike learned all his drafting and engineering skills in high school and in working for his father, but he was very good at what he did. Before we divorced, he had gotten interested in electronics and was taking a correspondence course. I had taken a job with a law firm before graduating from high school, but that only lasted about eight months before I decided it wasn't the job for me. After that, I worked on and off for my father-in-law.

Mike was also interested in hiking and camping and would drag me along on camping trips every so often. Backpacking, which was just becoming popular at the time, was something he enjoyed and I did not, but we would occasionally backpack into someplace and camp. Mike really enjoyed the outdoors and wanted to get into surveying work, although most of the jobs were through the State, and the State wasn't hiring.

I mentioned before that I first met my current husband at church when I went to mass where Mike played guitar with the "other Mike," who is now my brother-in-law. For the most part, playing at mass was the extent of Mike's musical outlet, although every now and then, he would get together with other musicians and "jam." A short time into our marriage, I began to hate that guitar! As a wedding gift, Mike's parents had given us money, presumably to start building a savings account to buy a house eventually. Mike used that money to buy an electric guitar and amp. I think that's where the resentment started, but it was fueled by the fact that his attention to his music meant less attention to me. On one memorable occasion, I was in bed, sick with the flu. And I mean the "real" flu--not just a stomach bug. Every part of me hurt, including my skin. I was running a high fever. That afternoon, Mike brought a friend home, and they hooked up their guitars to the amp and started jamming. That was pretty much the last straw for me with Mike's music.

We lived in a two bedroom apartment, and the second bedroom was set up with a drafting table and other equipment that Mike used in his work. Oftentimes, he would bring projects home which he would work on in the spare bedroom in the evenings or on weekends. About a year after we married, I woke up in the night to use the bathroom. As I walked down the hallway, I passed by the other bedroom, where I expected Mike to be working. Instead, I saw what appeared to be a woman in the room. I continued down the hall, attempting to process what I had just seen and make some sense of it. I remember thinking that it might be best if I just stayed in the locked bathroom the rest of the night, in denial. Maybe it had just been a bad dream? Before long, though, Mike came knocking at the door, and I had to come out.

We talked that night, and I learned Mike was a transvestite. What I saw on my trip down the hallway was Mike dressed in a wig, a mini skirt, and platform heels. That explained a few things--like why I would sometimes find buttons missing from my clothes and things moved around in my drawers! I'm not sure how he hid it from me so well for so long, although he said he fought his urge to "dress up" much of the time. Although I was only 18, I don't think I was naive for my age, but I also don't think I realized then the wide variety of sexual behaviors in the world. Looking back, I think it was at this point in my life that I realized I was a grown-up with grown-up problems, and I needed to make some decisions about my future.

TO BE CONTINUED TOMORROW . . . .

Bacon, Eggs, and Whales

Me and breakfast don't get along very well. I usually have to sneak up behind it on tiptoe. First I have to lull it into a false sense of security, waiting until it thinks the time for danger has long passed. Even then, I can only grab onto a bit of it, allowing the rest to escape.

What am I talking about? For many years now, my stomach has rebelled at eating much in the morning. I'm not one to believe it's a good idea to skip breakfast altogether, but I usually try to eat something light--an English muffin; a bowl of cereal; or maybe, at most, a slice of toast and a scrambled egg. Even then, I don't usually eat until I've been up for a couple hours. I've been told that this happens to a lot of people who have had their gallbladders removed; I don't know for a fact that my missing gallbladder's the culprit, but it sure makes it difficult sometimes.

My husband, on the other hand, absolutely LOVES to go out to breakfast and rarely has the chance. About once or twice a year, I'll make the effort to go out to breakfast with him, and then suffer the consequences the rest of the morning. Now, I understand that a reasonable person with even a pinch of self-restraint would just go out and order something like an English muffin. That's all well and good except for two things: I have absolutely no self-restraint (just look at my fabric stash if you don't believe me!) and I really DO like breakfast foods. A lot. Potatoes with bacon, onions, and green peppers are one of our favorite simple dinners. We have omelets for dinner about once a month. Pancakes or waffles may appear on the dinner table from time to time. And for some perverse reason, I have no problem eating these foods at dinner time. Breakfast is another matter.

My husband told me today that his sister, his brother, and his brother's new wife want us to join them for breakfast on Sunday. Don't cha just hate that? So do I go and suffer? Not go? Go and pretend that I can just order an English muffin when everyone around me is eating good stuff? Why do people want to get out of the house that early anyway? As far as I'm concerned, leaving the house before noon on any day that's not a work day is just absolutely asking for trouble. What's wrong with people?!

I'd kind of like to see my brother-in-law and his new wife. My brother in law--a real man's man who's spent most of his 50 years hunting and fishing--finally met his match. This gal snagged him and reeled him up to the altar as easily as he'd reel in a trout. Naida--and I'm not sure I'm even spelling her name right--is originally from somewhere in South America. They met at a bar where she liked to go watch karaoke so she could read the words and learn English. True story. Turns out she'd never been fishing before, but now she's taken to it like a duck to water, so they're coming up here to do some fishing this weekend with my father-in-law.

And what does this have to do with whales? Not a whole lot unless my brother-in-law and his lovely bride end up catching one, but the possibility is there, since we have a mom and her baby swimming around one of our local rivers. Rumors are that they came to talk to AH-nold about the environment, little realizing that he spends most of his time in Los Angeles. It's kind of odd to know we have a couple whales swimming around the city, 70 miles away from where they're supposed to be. Remember my post about bridges and that one I really, really hate that goes up about a mile into the sky before coming down on the other side of the river? I guess maybe the engineer who designed that baby knew we'd be accommodating whales. Scientists are gathering here in Sacramento to help return the whales to the ocean, serenading them with recordings of other whales. And if that fails, there's talk about mustering up a flotilla of watercraft to herd them back to the sea. Personally, though, I kind of suspect that if we got my brother-in-law and my new sister-in-law out to the river to sing karaoke, those whales would head back home, away from the crazy early-rising, breakfast-eating, singing humans without a backward glance!

Want to Make a Great Sandwich?

Does that look good? It's one of our favorites--my own chicken salad sandwich concoction. My husband LOVES them--in fact, he had to have two when I made them for dinner last night and then complained all night about how full he was. Men!

A month or so ago, I wrote about my Chicken Caesar Salad. I love the convenience of buying already roasted whole chickens. Quite often when I have leftover chicken from either the whole roasted chickens or from something else, I'll make chicken salad. You really have to try it. Really. They're the best!

KIM'S CHICKEN SALAD SANDWICHES

Ingredients (this will be enough for three sandwiches):

1 chicken breast
2 - 3 green onions
1/2 apple
1/4 cup cashews (or other favorite nuts)
1 avocado (preferred but if you have no avocados, you can do without)
2 - 3 tablespoons grated or shredded parmesan cheese
1/4 cup mayonnaise (I use regular but you can substitute one lower in fat)

Bread, lettuce, tomato, if desired; or you can just serve it on a bed of lettuce with diced tomato as a dinner salad.

Slice, cube, and dice the chicken breast, apple, green onion, cashews, and avocado. Other than the onion, which should be finely sliced, the rest of the ingredients should be about the same size/dice (see photo). No need to peel the apple. I just happened to have my sliced tomato on the cutting board but my lettuce was crisping in the fridge.

Combine cut up ingredients in a medium bowl with parmesan and mayo; add a dash of pepper if desired and check to decide whether to add salt. (Generally the parmesan and nuts provide enough salt.) If you don't have avocado in your area, you can substitute packaged guacamole--just spread it on one side of the bread or mix it in with the rest of the chicken mixture, depending on the consistency of the guacamole. Pile the chicken salad mix on your bread (I like the nutty/grainy varieties best but any will do) and top with lettuce and tomatoes. Sometimes I toast the bread, but I prefer it fresh and soft; of course, it's up to you!

I hope you try this sometime and enjoy it as much as we do!

Quilting Slump Update

First of all, I'd like to thank all of you who took the time to offer me some suggestions for getting over the slump I'm in. I'm really not able to sit around and do nothing--it just makes me crazy to feel like I'm wasting time! The last few evenings, my husband's been watching me watch TV, and every time he catches my eye, he asks, "Are you okay?" or "Is everything alright?" Obviously I'm driving him crazy too! So I started thinking along the lines some of you suggested about doing something different. I know you'll probably think my idea of "different" is pretty funny, but it occurred to me there was a little "home dec" project I had wanted to get to but had put off, and maybe that would be the solution.

Some months back, my office replaced our older secretarial chairs because the upholstery had worn through. Just about all of the chairs were still in great shape otherwise. Not long ago, we were told that if we wanted any of the chairs, we could have them free of charge. I brought two home; one for my husband to sit on in the garage when he's creating his weird craft projects and one for me for quilting. Everything adjusts--the height of the seat back, the arms, the height of the chair itself; you can set it to rock or remain stationary; and you can tilt the seat. I'm sure there are other adjustments I've forgotten. Here's one of them--yes, I know it's still pretty dusty, but I'll fix that:

My idea is to make quilted, reversible covers for the seat and chair back. So, it's still quilting, which is the part that's funny, but it's kind of a no-brainer and I think I'll have some fun with it. And I don't even have to switch machines since the Juki is still set up for quilting the Jo Morton quilt. I've pulled out the fabric I bought for this project and I also pulled more from my stash for the reversible side. I decided I should probably prewash the fabrics since the final fit will be important. I'll make the seat cover similar to an ironing board cover with a drawstring to tighten it under the cushion. I think I'll just make the chair back to be pulled down to cover the front and back, and I'll have an opening in the back that can be adjusted somehow--I'm playing with the idea of having it lace up--I thought that might be kind of pretty.

So that little project is begun, and in the meantime, I managed to work up a little enthusiasm for appliqueing my last two baskets of the quilt top I showed you in my last post. I still want to add something in the setting squares and triangles, but I'm fresh out of ideas, so I've put that back on my quilt rack for some other time.

Quilter's Block

No deep thoughts today--at least not from me. I welcome any deep thoughts or ideas from you though because I have a problem. I'm in a slump. I'm not sure if it's just a quilting slump or a life slump, but it's feeling more like a quilting slump. After my dad died a few weeks back, I know I was experiencing a life slump for a week or so, but after this past weekend, I'm feeling a little better about things, but darn it! I just can't seem to get very enthusiastic about quilting!

Here are the two projects I'm actively working on now--or maybe "actively working" isn't quite right; "actively ignoring" would be more accurate. Or maybe "actively staring at." Hummm. One is the Jo Morton quilt and it really just needs the border quilted and some quilting inside the appliqued parts. After that, just trimming and binding. I think I want a feather in the border, but can I manage to sit my rear end down and just DO it? No! I've just been looking at the darn thing for two days now.

My other project is adding applique to this basket quilt. I have two more baskets to "fill" and then I need to decide if I want applique in the setting squares and if so, what. Last night I sat on the couch and watched TV. Could I be bothered to pick this thing up and do anything to it? No! Two feet away from me and I just ignored it.

Once I get the Jo Morton quilt done, I can change out my sewing machines and get the Bernina back up on the table where she belongs and do a little piecing. I wondered whether maybe a little retail therapy would jolt me back into quilting mode--kind of like the paddles they zap you with when you're having a heart attack. Nah, not even the thought of shopping excited me. Besides, I have these little goodies waiting for me--an array of squares, strips, and fat eighths of the Chelsea Boutique fabric and charm packs and yardage from the newest Thimbleberries line, Sangria Sunset.

So what do you think? Will this slump just pass on its own? Should I not even think about quilting and take a couple days "off"? Or should I just have at it and hope the enthusiasm comes back? Has this happened to you? It's driving me nuts! I think I'll have a lot of time to quilt this coming weekend; maybe if I can just get myself to finish quilting the Jo Morton quilt, I can tempt myself with the promise of starting something new with one of my little piles of gems. What do you think? Help!