Wednesday Wisdoms

One of the bouquets I got for mothers day

                                  
Good morning my friends. The sun is shining again today and I love that. The past two days have been overcast and that tends to make me feel a little droopy.
 But today I have plans. You see most days I don't have any set tasks to complete, I just let the day take care of itself. This is not good for me. I need direction. I need purpose in my life. As each hour passes and nothing is achieved I can feel quite hopeless and this in turn leads to me feeling depressed. Even medication can't lift it.

So my plan is to write a weekly and daily list of things I want and need to achieve. For over three years now I have just existed and have felt quite disengaged from my greater community. As someone who has spent their working life supporting other people to engage in their lives and connect with others, it is then ironic to be in this same position.
How did I even get here?

I think it was a case of mental and physical burnout. When my youngest went to school I decided to commence a uni course so I could eventually get a job. I chose to study social science and so for the next 6 years I did, part time via distance education. For anyone not familiar with this mode of study it is bloody hard. There were no tutorials to attend, difficult at times to contact tutors and course coordinators. The study was very much self driven and so while caring for five kids mostly on my own due to the bloke working away I stuck this out. Oh I forgot that I was also working part time and then full time toward the end. It was a big ask. Bad enough if you were a healthy specimen but doubly difficult for me due to being excessively fat, and I am talking death fat here folks. So as a matter of course towards June 2008, I was flat out trying to stay upright. Eventually I had to acknowledge that I could no longer ignore the pain and discomfort I felt. With a heavy heart I tended my resignation, feeling like a failure. But in all conscience I felt that I could not give my clients 100% either so I needed to take a break.
Well I never really got better, instead I slid into a decline of mammoth proportions. You know the type-can't get out of bed, everything is crap, bah-humbug sorta stuff!
Gradually my enjoyment for life diminished.
I saw psychologists, a naturopath, purchased self help books by the dozen, had anti depressants prescribed.



Fabric Love



One of my early quilts



And then a funny thing happened. A long term friend of mine, who is a quilter, introduced me to the modern day quilting fabrics. Well, although I had never previously been interested in any of it I was suddenly quite keen. I learnt from books, magazines, YouTube tutorials and a few well guided nudges from my friend. I thank her so very much for it too. Without this fantastic part of my life, who knows where I would be? I am a little scared to thing about it actually.

Tablecloth I made for my daughter who has just moved into her first home

So there you have it, whether you wanted to know or not. :)

I am getting there, I must the road is before me and I am still travelling. I take the little moments and enjoy them. I love hearing from friends and followers who do me the honour of reading my humble little ramblings. It means so much to me.

So to the plan I am going to work on it and then put it into a post so I can remember it and so you can see what I am up to, if you want to.

I hope you find some joy today.

ciao

Sense of achievement

Good morning. My fingers are stiff and cold today as it is very cold here, hovering about 4 degrees, which is pretty chilly. I have the heater on full and it is slowly warming up the room.
I am very happy to report that an applique project that I started late last year is now completed. When I say completed I mean all the parts are ironed on too the twenty blocks and now they all need to be blanket stitched to secure them.
I would not have got this far in the past week had my daughter Nicole not helped me. For a while now I have tried to interest my girls in sewing,quilting without much success. Nicole was here on holiday and when I asked her to look at the work and suggested she have a go she took to it like a duck to water. She was a natural and her work so neat it left mine in the shade. She took art at school and loves painting so applique was a natural progression. Once I complete the blanket stitch I will be able to complete the quilt. I still have the borders to make and then I will post pictures. I really love this design from the Piece O Cake girls. It allowed me to use beautiful bright and pretty fabrics, and who doesn't love that?

                      Daughter Nicole

Once the quilt is completed I will post more pictures. As usual the photos are less than perfect, much to my frustration.
I intend to get straight onto my next project too which is another design from the same designers called Aunt Millies Garden, which only has 12 large blocks, so it will be easy after this one. :)

Be back soon, take care.

Friday on my mind

Hello friends TGIF.

To end a busy week on a lighter moment I have posted some vintage advertisements that were recently sent to me via email. Sorry I can't credit the original owner. Really these are too funny not to be shared.

Hope you can have a laugh.

On another note this week I have been busy which is good for me. I decided that I must make a new quilt for my third Daughter who we are visiting after Easter.This will be her second bed sized quilt, but my first attempt was less than pretty. So with this in mind I pulled out my lovely Amy Butler Soul Blossoms fabric and looked for a pattern in which to follow. After flicking through numerous magazines, books, conducting Internet searches looking for that one special "this is the one" moment I remained underwhelmed. I admit to having perfectionist tendencies and this can cause me great distress at times and actually prevents me from doing what I want. However, the sense of urgency motivated me into action and I was just itching to get stitching. And I also like slicing up the fabrics. So of I went. Yesterday I happily completed the quilt top, but don't have any photos as yet, but they will be taken over the weekend. Now for the backing fabric, which I will make this arvo, after my friends go home. Yes, I have visitors coming over after lunch-yippee.

Well just a short post today, but will be back soon.
Keep well.

On a sunny Saturday afternoon

Hello friends

I finally have some new pictures for you to see what I have been up to recently, if your even interested that is? :)
I have a real mix here today, a quilt finish, yes that quilt that I have been going on about for some time. Finally finished!
The bloke took it outside to photograph early this morning before I had even got out of bed, how great is he?



            Love the circle sun spots on quilt

The beautiful fabric is by Australian designer Saffron Craig and the pattern is also by her and is called Fairy Tree Quilt. Loved making it despite the tedium of all that applique, and a slight fabric fraying issue. This quilt is going to be put away to await the arrival of a grandchild, should any of my daughters decide to start a family. :)

Mum passed away in August last year and her home is still unsold so some of the family take it in turns of checking on it and watering the rose garden, which had been mum's pride and joy. The roses were so fragrant and pretty that the bloke who goes out there, for me cut some and bought them home to me.

We also took some out to the cemetery and placed them on  mum and dad's grave, I like to think that they would have liked that.

A bucket of blooms...

Well that's your bloomin'lot (with thanks to ABC Australia's retired gardener Peter Cundill).


Hope you enjoy the photos, let me know what you think, some time.

Monday's Musings

Hello friends. Well I am back and feeling so much better than last time. I felt so crook and all because of a virus, so the doctor said.

So that means there has been some sewing going on and some reading and some perusing of magazines and referring to the sewing books.




I was intending to FMQ the above fairy tree quilt, but alas it was not to be due to lack of skill on my part. I know I have blogged about this before but it is starting to get me down now. I have watched the YouTube videos, read copious magazines, followed blogs, read textbooks but still I have not got the groove. The harder I try the more I stuff it up. I am in need of face to face teaching, but even then I have no guarantee that it is something I will pick up. There seems to be some things beyond my capabilities.


On a happier note I am at the stage of hand sewing the binding on my smaller heart quilt-yahoo.This quilt is a little beauty and I am pleased with how it has turned out. I was also thinking of FMQ little hearts in the blocks but see above for the reasons I didn't!
None the less, I am thinking this little darling may grace the wall of our boudoir. Once the new coat of paint is applied of course, but that's a whole other story.

So what's next you or even I may ask? Mmmm, well there are the pillows I was intending to make for some family members, the cushions for sisters and so on. There is never a lack of inspiration, it is a case of turning that inspiration into motivation to act. *sigh*.

Things like this beautiful applique from the Secret Sewing Sisterhood Blog. This is everything I love about applique. The colours, the design the freshness of it all.

On the home front I am pleased to write that we have produced out first home grown vegetable for the year. And by the way it tasted delicious.

Yep 1 small tomato. There is another one, yes one on the bush still and it is very green. When gardening skills were handed out I must have been asleep. So sad isn't it. With the current price of a lettuce at $5 for a scrawny head, we need to be able to grow our own stuff.

Well because I am yet to download the photos from the big camera that is the lot for today. If I am doing well tomorrow I will be back for another chat and to share some pics. I have the gorgeous doctor visiting me at home in the morning so will post after that.

Keep well and be as happy as you can.