A Fresh Start

And so it begins.

A new year. I had looked forward to December, hoping to use the time for taking a breath, clearing the way for the new year. One more surprise bruiser of a deadline nixed that idea. Whew. Glad that one is over and done with.

I don't know about you, but the pressure of a deadline forces me to get things done but I certainly don't enjoy it. I get this hopeless feeling of "I can never get it all done" and I want to just curl up under the covers and hide. I used to get an adrenaline rush and be very productive close to a deadline. I wonder if it's age or if it's just much, too much of a good thing. Lack of sleep probably has a lot to do with it.

I'm hoping this year to steer clear of deadlines. My intention is to ramp my children back up the priority ladder. So my goals for this year? I'd say "get more sleep" but know it isn't going to happen. So realistically - here it goes:

GOALS for 2009

Have more fun.

MAKE MORE ART! 

The Best of 2008

New Year's Resolutions 2008

1- Write a book about Basic Design

2- Come back from my Teaching Sabbatical

3- Do not leave my children motherless

4- See ALL of my scattered siblings and even some long-lost extended family.

If I had actually written this list in 2008 I probably would have snorted milk out my nose trying not to laugh. Looking back - I simply can't believe I've survived the year. It wasn't the hardest year I've had. It was certainly the craziest. Two toddlers, a hockey player, and two teenagers who want to go places but can't drive yet. People would ask me how I was and I'd say I was crazy - but it's all good. True.

The book thing has been - shall we say - quite the experience. I feel as though I've just survived another pregnancy and labor/delivery. Long, long, hours working to form the thing - sometimes joyful, sometimes painful. The manuscript was turned in back in October. No word until the week before Christmas when the project editor tells me we have two weeks to get it ready for the layout designers. It was like labor. No rest, painful, intense - but with someone there to help you along the whole way. (Thanks Linda Griepentrog - you're the best!) I feel now the great and overwhelming relief delivery. Done. My baby is off in the hands of capable people who will make it look pretty before bringing it back to me. Eventually. I'll see the proof copy before it goes to press and it's not due out until October. That's a very long time.

One of the lovely homes I visited while teaching this year.

Teaching has been a wonderful experience to pick up again. I adore my students and nothing gives me more pleasure than to see them have fun making beautiful things. The joy of creativity. I worked with the most wonderful people and had an absolutely lovely time. It's almost a crime to get paid to have so much fun. Of course - you can't pay me enough for the pain in the neck it is to do all the preparation. Baggage restrictions are a killer for trying to get all your supplies to your venue. I had a few difficulties with supply orders going astray. I had to enlist the help of Lindy and a talented daughter in order to get all the kits made with a few tight deadlines. I am blessed with wonderful people in my life.

The best students ever!

Speaking of wonderful people. I have the best family ever! My husband has supported me even while his work schedule gets more and more demanding. My children have been very patient with leftovers and food from the freezer much more often than I prefer. I think the best part of the year was a family reunion. I have siblings in Oregon, Montana, Utah, Kansas, and Pennsylvania. Needless to say - we haven't all been together for a number of years. To top it all off many cousins and extended relatives were all able to gather at the paradise my parents call home in Kamiah, Idaho. A solid week of laughter, vehicles large and small (I got to DRIVE a freight train!), zip-lines, and a little - no - a LOT of tie dye. On the way there my daughters and a lovely German foreign exchange student and I drove through much of this big, beautiful country.

The BEST family EVER!!!

Now - ON TO THE NEW YEAR!!!!

My only resolution

MAKE ART

(oh, and cook a nice meal for my family once in a while.)

Digging Out

Today I made my first inroads into the deadline induced mound of chaos that is my studio. Clearing a path to think creatively and with something of an organized mind is an absolute necessity for me. Oh - that and the fact that I can't walk two feet or reach any of my supplies for the piles on the floor. I've been racing to meet one deadline after another and things just (literally) piled up.

After clearing one corner I took a break to sew up some Christmas Bags. Every year I buy a yard or two of a Christmas fabric on clearance and make a few gift-wrap bags of different sizes. Sometimes I get fancy and include drawstrings and linings. This year I just whipped a few rectangles together with serged edges and tied it with a ribbon. I've always disliked gift-wrap. Not really. Actually - I think a beautifully wrapped gift is too beautiful. All that time and expense on something that will be ripped apart and thrown away. These bags are kept year to year or given away. Believe it or not they end up being much cheaper, even initially, than wrapping paper. If I wanted to they could be as elaborate and beautiful as any paper wrapped gift.

And this for Catherine in New Zealand. The view out my studio window. Blue skies, colorful autumn leaves, green pines. Here in NC there are trees grow like weeds everywhere that you don't mow or pave. Most lawns stay green year round. I love it here weather-wise. Mostly. Talk to me again in August about humidity. I think I'm definitely a cold weather girl. I love my woolen sweaters and socks.

Giving Thanks

Hmmm. Beautiful rainy day outside. Not too frigid but certainly cold enough to make one wish to stay indoors with a good book and a a warm quilt. Don't forget the hot chocolate. On Sundays the TV and radio stay off. Music is usually classical or from our own instruments. Once in a while we'll invite people over for dinner but mostly it's a day just for family and church. 

After reading many books together the little ones are now all piled on daddy. Sort of a low key wrestling match but it seems they are all enjoying it. I really, really, love taking a day off to slow down once a week. No errands or shopping, no running here and there.

This week has been absolutely lovely. No lessons or sports or activities to run around to. No homework to hound. Visiting family and lots of great food and time together. Maybe I appreciate the peace and simplicity more than ever this year in contrast to the pressure of my every day life and events.

Time to Breathe

I look back on my earlier life and often wonder how I could have ever thought I was busy. I was stressed out and overwhelmed with two toddlers. Now I have two toddlers at home, plus two talented teenagers and a sports nut boy who all want to go places and do things but can't drive themselves there. 

I have a career that is part-time if you average it out but in reality it's more like these overwhelming crunches of time just before a trip then back to almost nothing. Or it would be if things weren't going as wonderfully well as they are. It seems I've always got a deadline waiting for me as soon as I finish something up.

I used to whine about my husband working long hours when I needed help with the kids. Now his job has an exponentially greater amount of responsibility involved. He still works long hours. Plus he and I both have church responsibilities that take up a good 6-8 hours every week.

When do we take time to breathe!?! 

We make time. Today we made time. We climbed trees. We rolled in leaves. We ate junk food.

We let go of things that aren't important. Like matching socks. We remember what's important.

PLAY TIME!!!

I've decided that instead of rushing from one deadline to another - I'll give myself a day to play as a reward for each deadline met. Actually - once I turned in all of my book work I gave myself several days. I sewed up a blouse I've had cut out for a while, turned a couple of dresses into skirts, pants into capris, and made several long overdue repairs. I haven't done any garment sewing in ages and I miss it. 

The best project? Almost a year ago I purchased a box of scraps from Carter Smith's cutting room floor. He is an absolutely amazing artist using shibori as his main technique, and a gracious person too. I spent a couple of days piecing together my favorite scraps and now I have an absolutely lovely jacket. You really have to feel it. Pure luxury. If you see me at the International Quilt Festival in Houston this year, feel free to touch it. Yummy.

Now back to the next deadline. I need to photograph a new class for Quilt University. Screen Printing this time. I think I'll do double duty and call that "play time" too!

Quilting Arts Gifts

Fun stuff again! I just received advance copies of Quilting Arts GIFTS, a fun issue full of quick and easy projects that are perfect for Christmas. It should be on the stands by the end on September.

It's been years since I've had time to make hand-made gifts for people so I don't usually pay attention to projects like this. If I were to do something from this issue however, it would most definitely by Lois Jarvis' Travel Scarf. You'll have to look it up. Here's a sneak peak at my project.

As sort of an "aside" I thought I'd share my Christmas gift philosophy. We have lots of kids in our family. We live in an affluent area of the United States. We love Christmas. I do, however, try my level best to raise my children without that sense of entitlement that seems so prevalent among children today. I think they get tired of my telling them that we are put on the earth to make it a better place, not to be entertained.

The kids get one gift from "Santa" and a small something in their stockings. They love to make or buy gifts for each other. We don't put presents under our tree until Christmas Eve. After they go to bed each child is allowed to sneak up, pull out the gifts for the family that they have hidden, and put on the elf hat and arrange it under the tree. Then we put the rest of the gifts there. 

We give family portraits to our parents every year and among my siblings we have traded names in the past. Lately we have written down our different memories of a common experience instead of buying things. Eventually we will have a family history book that will be a treasure for generations.

We try each year to choose a service project, such as sponsoring another family, and go all out spending a day shopping and wrapping and when possible, anonymously delivering gifts for them. The kids know Christmas is not their birthday - it is Christs'.