Playtime

Do you remember being a little one at school or camp,and it was time to play a game? Maybe the teacher chose two kids to be team leaders, and they had to pick their teammates from the group. There always seemed to be that one, maybe it was me, screaming, hands waving up in the air, yelling, "Pick me! Pick me!"

Sometimes, when I really want to play, a fabric will scream, "Play with me! Pick me!"

Sounds crazy, I know, but it's true.

First of all, I love Westminster fabrics. This new line designed by Dan Bennett is called Frondescence.

This piece in the collection is called Pragmatic, defined by Merriam-Webster 

"as relating to matters of fact or practical affairs often to the 

exclusion of intellectual or artistic matters."

Interesting. 

Back story: You know that my computer crashed....bam boom! It has taken me a week to get my laptop to a place where I can do all my work. Installed Photoshop, a printer/scanner, and  Office 365. All relatively painless but time consuming. Like all day type time consuming. So, time to prep for a class on Sunday, opened up a Word document, and I got an error message that the program had stopped working. Happened multiple times. Waiting on hold for Microsoft tech-support......waiting......waiting.

Me:  Yes, I would love for you to help me!

India: May I control your computer remotely?

Me: Sure.

Me: (hitting "yes" for a series of permission screens.Then, my mouse starts moving, screens start opening, things are being clicked, deleted, etc. Done.)

India: Everything is working fine now. Anything else I can help you with today?

(Ok, so that was amazing. You take control of my computer because you know what you're doing and I don't....and...it would take three times as long to explain to me what to do.)

Needless to say, after that kind of day, I was ready to play. Ready to get those "intellectual and artistic matters" rolling. 

I chose one more piece from Dan Bennett's line and a few others.

Then I went into my stash drawers for a few other polka dots and solids and went to work play.

I have a large 24" pillow on my bed. When I want to curl up and read a book, this is what I use. The previous cover was probably 6 years old and had seriously faded from the sun. The fabric was almost thread bare. 

I had so much fun. A much needed relief from the stress. Now, I can relax on my new pillow with a good book.

Enjoy your day :)

Off to a good start!

I am a chronic list maker. I believe my mother taught me from the beginning that almost everything can be solved with a list, every dilemma can be better understood, and every task more quickly accomplished if you first write it down. She taught me well. One list a day is never sufficient. It is always several. Of course, I started my New Year with a list.

I teach quilting at a "small but mighty" fabric store in Narberth, PA, called The Cloth and Bobbin. I am presently teaching a "block-of-the-month" for a quilt that I call "What Star Are You From?" Each month I make a sample block from another fabric combination so that at the end of the classes, I will have another quilt :) Yesterday I cut out all the pieces for the next block. Next class is on the 21rst.

I was also able to finish a quilt top yesterday. This is from Weeks Ringle's new book Transparency Quilts: 10 Modern Projects. My friend, Carol, www.loracdesignsclh.com, does all my machine quilting. She's having a 15% off sale until the end of January, so I am working hard to get a few quilts finished to take to her. Now all I need is the backing and batting for this one.

My other commitment for January is a PaintStik demonstration at the shop on the 14th. I want to have a few samples available. One of my quilts currently hanging in the shop has random red and blue squares embellished with gold PaintStiks,

but I want to finish this pillow. The center square was done with gold, silver, and bronze PaintStiks.

I wish everyday could be this productive, but it was, after all, a Sunday. Now the week has begun and will be full of overseeing the kids' schooling, dishes, cooking, laundry, etc. Oh, and the cat litter, my least favorite job, that I didn't clean yesterday :( Gotta go get that one off my list.