Holiday Cheer

Wow... I haven't posted in forever... just been busy I guess... besides, I dont think anyone besides me reads this anyway.  So it doesn't really matter, except that like keeping a journal, it's a matter of personal discipline... not my forte.  But here goes...

Since August I've been going thru a lot of periods of depression.  I'm not sure why I've been on such a rollercoaster of moods - I've been taking my meds.  Was playing a lot of Evony, but I was before August too, so that's not why I haven't posted.  I've been trying to keep myself busy with mah jong, gaming, reading, watching TV (now there's a real mental vacuum if ever there was one), and other time wasters.

I went on one quilt retreat in November and finished one quilt 'Lucy in the Garden' for my friend Janet.  It was a surprise for her birthday, and she loved it.  I need to get a new photo of it however - this one was taken prior to beading and other embellishments.

I made one tablerunner, which I'm in the process of quilting right now.  Don't think it's gonna be done in time for the holidays, so it won't be the present it was intended to be - I will give it as a 12th night gift.

I am working on designing a new quilt (really not designing, more adapting) for my guild's fabric exchange.  Designing something entirely new and different is hard - every time I think I've got something cute and original, I see the same or similar pattern somewhere on the web.  Very frustrating.  This time I am merely adapting, so I know from the outset that it's not original. 

I did manage to get through Chanukah without major upset.  I thought it was very sweet that my son's fiance, who isn't Jewish, followed along with the candle prayers with us.  Since we are a multi-cultural household, we also have a solstice tree for the holidays - and that is finally up and decorated with Star Trek ships for ornaments.  They all light up and make sounds, so it's very festive (and noisy).  The cats are fascinated with all the wires and dangly things.  Lovely. 

On an upnote for me, we are expecting a week or so of rain...  I LOVE rain!  So far we've had a full day of drizzles - tomorrow should bring some real rain coming down.  I am looking forward to it.

Today I am grateful for family and unconditional love.  I suppose even among family, love is conditional, but so far, in our small nuclear family unit, while sometimes we aren't thrilled with each other's actions or decisions, the love remains unconditional... gotta love it!

Kitty Corners

Not a new finish, but I just got this quilt back from the Ventura County Fair, where it took a blue ribbon.  This is my first ever rag quilt and was a lot of fun to make.  I'm not sure I'll ever make another - all that clipping!  I love the kitty and all the paws on this quilt - and with flannel on the back, it is so warm and cuddly, I won't be able to use it til winter - right now we are in triple digits here in so cal! 

I'm grateful for movies and television.  I know people survived for millenia without them, but I don't know what I'd do without the comforts of old movies, tried and true, to enjoy again and again. 

Do What You Love

With all your heart....  I made this wallhanging as an opportunity quilt for my guild.  No quilting room is quite complete without a cat... Cats and quilts just seem a natural pairing.  Both are warm and comforting.  This quilt was a joy to make.  I had so much fun making and embellishing it.  I have to be honest, I didn't want to give it away when it was done.  They had to pry it out of my hands!  I even bought tickets for it, hoping to win it myself!  Sadly, I didn't win... but it was fun trying.

I am grateful today for the freedom to do what I love without having to worry about making a living.  To my wonderful husband who works hard and my parents who left me a small nest egg to subsist on, I thank you.

I've Got Hooters!

This is a quilt I made for a friend's birthday - she loves and collects owly things.  I really had fun sifting through my scraps and fabrics for interesting textures and colors to make the owls.  I've entered this in the 'Pets on Quilts Show' at SewCalGal's blog.  Please visit her blog to see all the wonderful entries and vote there.  Click here to view the Show and see all the pets and quilts!

Today I am grateful for humor.  Life would be pretty miserable if we didnt have the capacity to laugh with or at ourselves and others (not in a mean way though).  Humor makes the worst of circumstances bearable sometimes.  It helps us heal our hurts and forgive ourselves and others for slights, both real and imagined.   There's truth to the old adage "Laugh and the world laughs with you... cry and you cry alone."

Large Quilt Mojo

Sometimes it's really hard to get motivated to finish a really large quilt.  I guess I'm not alone in this, but after making a post about it on the Stashbusters yahoo group, I got a lot of ideas from my fellow quilters on how to get past that mental roadblock.  I have finally finished the king sized quilt I bought fabric (mostly batiks) for on the quilt run.  It is dragonflies (not microphones with wings, as my DH called them).

The pattern came from the book 'Positively Crazy' by Buggy Barn Quilts, though the colors are all my own choices and the border is my own (they didn't do piano keys on theirs).  It was tough to get past the block stage on this one due to its sheer size and bulk, but now I'm glad I did it.  Can't wait to get it to the LAQ (it's too big for my LA, which I'm not using anyway - another long story).

More on that next post...

So Cal Quilt Run Epilogue

I won!  I won!  I won!  lol... I've been on this quilt run many times and never won anything, but I just got a call yesterday that I won one of the Grand Prize drawings - a $500 gift certificate!  I'm can't wait til it arrives in the mail!  I can go on a little spending spree between now and December 31st, when it expires.  I'm so excited!  I usually never win anything, so this is a big deal for me..

Today I am grateful for hope... there's always hope for a better day, a lucky turn of events, a silver lining even on the darkest cloud.   

So Cal Quilt Run

Well, the run is over... for us at least.   Two friends, a 4 month old puppy and I traveled 980 miles in 4 days, hit 38 quilt shops, collected charms and patterns and had a lot of fun.  I bought too much fabric, but it was worth it... I did manage to curtail myself and keep the purchases lower than in previous years, but I still bought more than I wanted to.  I bought 3 books of patterns and just a little of this and a little of that.  I'm looking forward to making the new Buggy Barn Dragonfly quilt with some of the fabric I bought.  I started tracing the pattern tonight... I'll finish tomorrow and start pressing and planning my fabrics.  I got my 'Idiot' pin (it really says 'IDIDIT!' but it's all smooshed together and looks like it says 'IDIOT'.

Thanks to Marlyn and Debbie for going with me, making it a fun trip and keeping me awake when I started to fade while driving.  It was really amazing that we traveled without plans or reservations... managed to get a nice room in nice hotels (that accepted pets!) both nights we stayed out.  I love playing things by ear, something my husband can't deal with at all - he's a planner and a 'stick to the plan' kind of guy.  Sometimes it's nice just to be spontaneous.

On a completely other note, I'm feeling very guilty.  I missed my sister's birthday and didnt send her a card.  I should send out a belated card.  I promise to do that tomorrow.  I didn't get my husband a father's day card either... even tho he's not MY father, he did get me a card on mother's day.  It still makes me sad and wistful on mother's day and father's day - with both my parents gone, those days don't carry the same feeling they used to... sigh.

Today I'm grateful for fun.  Sometimes dealing with life's roller coaster doesn't allow for a lot of day to day fun.  Nice to take a break now and then and have some.