quietly creating

This summer I do not feel like I have a lot new to share.  Part of that is I have been making for my Etsy shop.  Like this project bag.  I really like it!  But it is not the first project bag I have made.  It will not be the last.  It will go into the shop.  Or at least until I decide it has been there long enough and it is mine.  But thinking that, someone will probably buy it.

I have done a lot of creating this summer but it is this type of creating.  Or creating that fails.  There have been some lovely fails!  Like I am trying to find just the right temperature for our favorite pizza currently.  I will share it because it is that good but we have been eating a lot of not quite right pizza.  It does not mean the boyos do not rave.  There is talk about moving the shop and the Boss got asked yesterday, "But what about our bready treats?  I do not think I wish to work in a new shop!"  I laughed so hard.  I had figured it was a perk.  I let them know when bread has come out of the oven, every time.  There is talk about building me a kitchen in the same space so they can continue to have bready treats.

It has been a summer for creation failure.  But then I have done all the easy stuff.  I am now way into the weeds.  For example, looking at my pizza dough recipe and realizing that it is very close to the croissant dough recipe.  Yes, I was craving croissants and made them from pizza dough.  If they are even better next time, I will post.  It is what I do.  Pushing the envelope.  Creating.  And some times creating just does not go as planned.  That is okay.

There is a tropical storm coming close.  There is predictions for much rain and the possibility of power being out.  There is also a boucherrie to go to in South Carolina over Labor Day weekend.  I may be around but not much around in the next couple weeks.  

all put together

As I was putting other things together last week, I got this quilt top stitched.  I am ready to make the back but I am having a bit of problem concentrating on it.  So instead, I keep making bags for my shop.  Or taking silk out of its dye bath.  

I am actually doing a lot but not a lot new.  Or new in old patterns.  But part of that is summer for me.  It gets so warm that I do not wish to cook anything new or anything that needs heat even.  That does not mean I do not bake bread four times a week.  It means it is my go to recipes.  Currently it is oatmeal, walnut cranberry, and cinnamon rolls.  I have been baking cinnamon rolls about once a week this summer.

I could spend all my time making quilts.  Make piles of them and force myself out of my parlor.  But they do not currently sell.  But that is where my head is.  Making things that use little pieces and many of them.  

Or I could be working on that sweater I talked about last time.  I got to where it was ready for sleeves and tried it on.  That was funny!  It was much too long.  So I ripped out half of it and made it smaller.  But I am close to putting sleeves back on it.  I will need buttons and I have ideas but am not sure.  I wish there was a thrift shop or fabric shop around with a bowl of buttons to go through.  That would be the perfect solution currently.  A hodge podge of buttons on my sweater.  Maybe.  Just maybe.  If I want to leave the house, I may go look at buttons.

doing something that makes me happy

I sat in my parlor and laid out a quilt.

So far the quilts have not sold but I need to make them.  The making makes me happy.  It is a good thing.  Especially when events in the United States were what they were this weekend.  I was horrified.  Distressed.  Appalled.  

I listen to a lot of audiobooks when I am working and I have been currently listening to two books about resistance in World War II.  I needed to put them away and listen to something else.  It is much to close to home.  One of the books I was listening to is The Zookeeper's Wife.  It is a biography the Warsaw zookeepers and the choices they made.  Choices that saved lives and resisted.  

I told my Beloved that every time I like something on social media, comment, or post, I wonder now if it will mean someone knocking on my door.  Gestapo like.  I can see it coming.  But I know where I sit.  

a better creative space

I spent most of the weekend pricing storage.  Pondering.  Making decisions.  Twice to IKEA.  But in the end, I have a much better creative space.  I no longer sew in front of the air conditioning so I am hoping that I will get a chance to feel like my lungs heal.

I feel like I have a space of my own even though it is Koda Bear's room when he is here.

I have two bookshelves full of fabric and projects.  I have a lot of fabric though I did not get rid of as much as I expected.  And some of the dresses that were ready to be cut up ended up in the wash so I can wear them again.  It is interesting what time does.

I even got my worktable cleaned off.  I still need to take everything out from the shelves underneath it but I have space on top.  I come from a long line of pilers.  Flat surfaces and piles will be made.  The dining room table has been cleaned off for a week!  It helps to have less stuff but even then I can create piles.  But now I have a place to cut out fabric again.

With a little bit different light.  A little bit different angle.  A place for myself.   I need two lamps.  Some day that will happen but I got to the point yesterday where that is enough.  And it was.

This makes me happy.

I just do not

This is where my sewing takes place.  Whether it is at my sewing machine or by hand in the chair.  I also have very poor fabric storage.

Since I got bitten badly by ants, there has been a lot of congestion in my lungs.  It has not gone away.  It was better during all my desert travels.  Even on our mountain where there is a lot of moisture it was better.  But then I get back to the city, and my lungs hurt.  I had a very bad coughing fit yesterday.

The comment has been made that I should move my sewing machine away from the air condintioner.  I would turn it off completely but I find that is also not comfortable when the temperatures start rising to close to 80 degrees Fahrenheit.  Which means, I need to create better fabric storage and rearrange furniture.

I am known for not moving furniture.  Unless a new piece is purchased or created, everything stays in its place.  If something replaced, the new has to fit into the old spot.  It is who I am.  I accept this about myself.  But it does mean I am going to thrift stores today to look at furniture.  I have ideas for what I am thinking when it comes to fabric storage.

I also have been watching Dr. Blake Mysteries and I would like all the clothes.  I may see if I can find some cardigans in the thrift stores so I can bead and glitter.  There is only about three television series I could wear all the clothes from.  And I have no problems not being in style or fashionable.  

Furniture rearrangement, bleah!  Homes are the same!