survived the day

I am breathing.

It was a difficult day at work and by the end of it, all I wished to do was sit at my sewing machine.  So, that is what I did.  I finished cutting out a shirt and made some nine squares.  There is a quilt in my head that is trying to come out.  These squares are actually for the quilt that will end up in my chair or bed at some point.  I make one unique nine square and put it aside for the quilt that will stay in this house.  Not like we need another quilt but I do not turn down quilts.

The time at the machine was good.  Today was a tiring day at work and my cough is coming back.  But a shirt is started and more quilt blocks are being put together.  It is not really much in the grand scheme of things but with a short evening ramble that included frozen custard, it is a nice break from the madhouse.  Now, if I can survive the rest of the week.  I have to keep reminding myself that it is a nice paycheck.

More nine squares tomorrow!  Or spinning?  Or dough under my hands?  I need more people who need bread and it will get to them before it gets bad.  But that is just life.

things I do to destress

Layoffs are happening at work.  Whether the situation is handled well or poorly, there is a lot of stress.  This is not the first time that I have been through a layoff situation but this is the most drown out.  Actual bits of information are coming out this week but they are only bits.  There is not truly enough bits of real information except to cause more speculation which causes more stress.

I am clenching my jaw.  Which causes my head to hurt.  And the stress makes me tired.

I have come home this week, put the kettle on for hot tea even though the afternoon temperatures are over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and worked with my hands.  Usually with an audible book playing.

There was a quilt that needed binding.  There is yarn to be made.  There is dough to shape and bake.  There is yogurt to start.  There is another quilt top to start to stitch.

I have shirts to cut out.  I am plotting on putting embroidery on some of the shirts I am making so I am researching designs.

I do feel better. The stress is less.  I am better prepared for tomorrow.  I am glad I do not have much planned for this weekend yet.  I will enjoy the quiet.

a pop decision that was fifteen years in the making (another tool)

I have to laugh at myself.  I am one of those people who looks and looks, usually not finding anything.  The stools and chairs in my house have always been a bit tall for my sewing machine.  I make do but I have to lean over and after awhile, my back starts to hurt.  Not good posture.  I have sat on every bench or chair that I though might work for about the last fifteen years.  I do the same with rocking chairs.

I found a bench in Bellingham.  It is 18 inches high and wide enough for Koda Bear to join me.  Or there is room enough for him to sit on my lap.  I am so enjoying the sewing, even though I am very tired.  I came back to work with people out.  The sewing, the spinning, the gardening are helping to relax me after a hellish day.  And now my back does not hurt.  That is just work a smile.

dresses and quilts

I finished all the dresses I had officially planned with the new fabric.  I am really enjoying the a-line and simple sheath shapes.  With everything with a bit of grey in the tones, I am feeling very elegant even though my body is swollen in interesting places due to infection.  I keep hoping that I will heal faster but that just does not happen.

After each dress was done, I cut all the scraps up into squares.  As I put together the quilts I have already laid out, I am making more quilt blocks.  I am finding these very exciting and calming.  This will be the first quilt that will have cashmere and wool in it with linen and cotton.  Also, it will be the first quilt that is all solid.  

It is going to be hard to be away from it for almost two weeks.  We are going to the mountain and I am not taking my "portable" sewing machine.  I will have one spinning project and one crochet project with me, and my sewing kit.  If I really want to sew, I will hand sew.  It will not be the first time. 

I am rather tired and with the chaos happening at work, I am looking forward to being on the mountain.  It will not be long enough.  Maybe I will take a few squares to hand sew.  I have many.  It would work.

liking the same tones

After the last fairly shapeless linen sheath I made, I went to back to the fabric store to pick up another piece of linen.  I did but then I walked past the wools.  The nice wools.  The wools that were actually cashmeres.  The wools that were all in the tones that I wished the linens were in.  And then I got carried away.

I actually have two done.  One cut out that Koda Bear helped with.  And one more piece of wool and the piece of linen waiting.  I have a tendency to wander around in these just like the A-line dresses I make.  The wool is incredibly light and I am cool.  What more can you ask for in Houston?  I am also not wearing black. 

But I do say that having a treadle sewing machine is nice when the storms blow through.  I do not have to worry about power. 

My Beloved also asked what I was doing with the scraps.  Because even if you get the yardage pretty close there are scraps.  I am making nine squares and there will be cashmere in quilts.  The squares are so pretty!