Sunday Sew-In

“I hate Sunday, and I don't think I'll ever get over it. But I'm going to try.” 
― Frank D. Gilroy, The Subject Was Roses

I used to hate Sunday. Sunday meant Monday, and Monday meant work. Now Sunday means I get to sew. And Monday means I get to sew some more. Or cut fabric. Or film a tutorial. Or write for upcoming books. In other words, not work.

Today's Sunday was filled with two projects. Actually, four. Two from an upcoming travel crafts book and two cute little black and white foster ones from Simply Cats.

Cutie patooties Cami and Sami.

Sunday Sew-In? Snow-In!

“Snow in April is abominable," said Anne. "Like a slap in the face when you expected a kiss.” 
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Ingleside

Well, it's not quite April but it's close enough. Close enough to April not to be snowing around here. But it is. So while I work on my typical sew-in projects of figuring out patterns, cutting fabrics, filming tutorials I also get to watch the snow fall. And you get to see a couple photos I snapped.

That's a band of snow hanging off my car's roof rack. Weird.

You also get a short video of the baby kitties. They don't weigh four ounces each anymore!

The Friday 15

I'm gonna pop some tags
Only got twenty dollars in my pocket
I - I - I'm hunting, looking for a come-up
This is f****** awesome
~Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Thrift Shop 

I had twenty dollars in my pocket when I went to the thrift store today. I only spent $2.43 of it. Big spender, I am. When you're working on getting rid of things it doesn't make sense spending money on new stuff. But I needed a couple of supplies for some new tutorials and the thrift store is my go-to place for them.

Even though I brought in a couple new supplies (which will be turned around and sent back out after the tutorial) I did get another 15 things to go out the door:
Sold one item on eBay this week.
Donating 14 totally random things.
That makes 15.

But I'd rather post a picture of one of my little kitties instead of my pile of 15. The kitties started with me when they weighed four ounces each and now they are both are weighing in at just over one pound. They are so fun and cute.

Say hello to Cami.

Sew-In Sunday

“A person who is interrupted while performing a task takes 50% more time to complete it and make 50% more errors.” 
― David Brooks

I was thinking about this today. Every day - even on Sundays - I go to "work". I go into the sewing room, shut the door, and put on my headphones. Some days I work on figuring out measurements for patterns. Some days I film tutorials. Some days I get things listed on eBay. Some days I narrate the Cruising with Confidence book. (It's going to be on Audible soon. So exciting!) Some days I write. And sometimes those things all happen on the same day. Yes, it's a 40+ hour a week job.

Hubby is pretty good about leaving me alone. He knows I will leave for work by 9:00 a.m. and will come out for a yogurt around noon. Then I head back to work until Dr. Phil comes on at 3:00. At 4:00 hubby heads for a nap and I head back to work until about 6:30 p.m. Now with the baby kitties my work schedule is all over the place. It seems to take a lot more focus to work on a project. It took me what seemed like forever to figure out measurements for my next projects.

 Even one of the kitties got tired and gave up.

Sunday Sew-In

“How did it get so late so soon?” 
― Dr. Seuss

My Sunday Sew-In became a
sew-in
project organizing
Daytona 500 watching
newborn kitty feeding and snuggling
kind of day.

The Friday 15

“A kitten is, in the animal world, what a rosebud is in the garden.” 
― Robert Sowthey

Sold four items on eBay.
Gave away one item to another quilter.
Donating five projects left over from tutorials and five Christmas things.

That makes 15! But today's Friday 15 includes an additional two items. Two that came into the house.

When the Simply Cats organization contacts you asking for a foster home for some newborn kitties you just have to say yes. I usually foster kittens that are several weeks old. Not this time.

Two kitties, four ounces each, four days old. Sweet bottle babies.

Throwback Thursday

"Take care of all your memories...For you cannot relive them." ~ Bob Dylan

The blog from five years ago today made me a bit sad. Kitty is no longer alive, the Disaster Auction quilt didn't garner as much money as I expected, and we no longer live in that house.

From January 11, 2013:
When I walked in the sewing room today my only thought was, "Seriously?"

Is it really necessary for you to be sleeping on top of the Disaster Auction quilt?! 

Balloo? or is it Baloo?

When my daughter was growing up she watched Disney movies over and over. While Beauty and the Beast was (and still is) her favorite (she's now 28 and just can't wait until the new movie comes out!) she obviously also has found memories of The Jungle Book.

Good ole Baloo the bear. It took me several times of texting before I finally realized it is spelled Baloo, not Balloo.

Why would I be texting the name Baloo over and over? Because she and her husband adopted a puppy at Christmas. A puppy who needs training. One who they don't want in his crate every day while they are at work. A puppy who needs a puppy-sitter. Which is where I come in.

Except I DON'T LIKE DOGS. Dogs jump and lick and bite and bark. No thank you. But in the interest of making the world a better place for people and animals alike, I agreed got roped into puppy sitting a couple days a week. I may be slow moving but I'm tolerant. And patient.

He's the cutest little guy. I keep telling myself he's just a trainable cat because I DON'T LIKE DOGS. But I do like him.

I think he's trying to tell me something.

Stop the Insanity

The craziness in this country is just too much for this person to bear. While I can't stop all this insanity I can stop my exposure to it. Time for me to keep away from the Internet and the television. Blog included. Hope I can be back when the negative nastiness is gone. I'd rather spend time with the foster kitties anyway.

 

Stay or Go?

I love traveling. I love seeing new places, doing new things, and pushing myself beyond my limits. I love airports, people watching, hotel breakfast buffets, watching movies on a big screen by the cruise ship pool, snorkeling, and rum punch made by island locals. If I had my way I would be doing one of those things every single day of the year. But after a few weeks I begin to miss my daughter. And my sewing machine. (Now if I could have my daughter, a kitty, and a sewing machine with me on a long trip life would be just about perfect.)

Then when I get home I want to stay home. I don't want to leave. I don't want to travel. I don't want another pat down at the airport (thanks a lot, knee replacements) and I don't want to be around another person on a tour. I don't want to get sticky from the salt water and I don't want to walk in the heat and humidity or the cold rain. I don't want to do anything but stay in my pajamas all day. (I'll keep the pool time and rum punch.)

How I feel about wanting to travel but then not wanting to travel is somewhat like the picture I took of the foster kitties. One is excited to get moving and the other decided to just hang in the recliner and take a nap.

What to do? Stay home for now.

Now if I could just get some really good rum punch.

All for the Kid

The things we do for kids and pets.

Babysit dog and kitty.
Make a toaster cover.
Make a cover for a KitchenAid mixer.
Make six coasters.
Repair the puppy's cape - the one I just made last week.
Pull weeds.
Play fetch with Superman.

A busy two days spent at kiddo's house.

Bucket or F*** It?

Not too long ago we heard Scott Jones, a TV host and writer, do a Ted Talk. Scott had a stroke. After the stroke his friends encouraged him to make a bucket list. But Scott wasn't interested. Instead he decided to make a list of things he didn't have to do anymore. Things he didn't want to do anymore. So he created a F*** It list. (You can see his presentation here.)

After listening to his anti-bucket list, hubby and I are finding a F*** It list fits us well, too. We have just a few things on our list.
*No early mornings.
*No buying stuff we don't need.
*No engaging in stupid conversations we don't really care about.
*No need changing clothes every day if we don't want to. (Who cares if we wear the same clothes two or three days in a row?)
*No going anywhere we don't want to go.

It's liberating. Knowing our time is limited, why spend it doing things we don't want to do?

Not on our F*** It list? Hanging with our daughter's growing boy.

The Indecisiveness Continues

At the time of my last blog post (several months ago) I was deep into indecisiveness. Unfortunately things haven't become much clearer. Conflicting thoughts keep popping up in my head.

I want to start the blog again. I don't want to start the blog again.

I want to write my next book. I don't want to write my next book.

I want to make tutorial videos again. I don't want to make tutorial videos again.

Which leads me to the bigger question.

Now what?

With me not working anymore and spending my days at home with a hubby who does nothing but sit in his chair and watch television all day long, what comes next? Until I know what to do, I guess I'll at least post a picture today. And hopefully will be back tomorrow to post another.

I have done one thing this month. I'm fostering some baby kittens again. This is Axel. You'll meet Vinny tomorrow.

My Boy Vinny

Temporarily, that is. Just until he hits neuter weight.

Productivity

Yesterday I was thinking the last month wasn't all that productive for me. I take that back.

I taught a dog to fetch. To sit. To stay. To walk on a leash. To shake his paw. Not bad for someone who doesn't like dogs. (Except for this one. He's a keeper.)

The Friday Five

With February here I was thinking about how I've spent my 2017 so far and have boiled it down to five photos.

#1 Snow, snow, and more snow. Thankfully after 54 straight days with snow on the ground it is finally starting to melt.

#2 Charity quilt making.

#3 Puppy dog and kitty cat babysitting.

#4 Ebay sell-off of some of my fabrics.
Dozens of boxes are now down to just a few packages.

#5 Protein shakes. I'm not sure how many cases we've been through in the past month but it has been more than one.

A sort of productive year so far.

Yep, a Big Help

Yep, he sure is a big help.

A Big Helper

This week's project? A Valentine heart wall quilt for my daughter.  This week's helper? A dog named Baloo.

An Adventure Soft as a Baby’s Bum

I imagine there aren't many adventures that could be described as soft as a baby’s bum. But there are such adventures and I had two of them in one day.

What could they be? One was on my 50 by 50 list; the other wasn’t but it was such an amazing experience I just have to count it.

Clue #1: They both happened in the Cayman Islands.
Clue #2: The first adventure happened when I jumped into water that looked like this:

Clue #3: I wore my snorkel for this first adventure.

Clue #4: I touched an animal. (Here’s the picture to prove it.)

Clue #5: That animal’s underside looks like this:

The first adventure? How about snorkeling with stingrays? Their skin was so soft, just like a baby’s bum.

The second adventure also included an animal and swimming but no snorkel. It did include kissing.

Soft as a baby bum’s dolphin swim and kiss.

What a day. What a life.

Creepy Crawlies

I'm not sure what I did to get all these creepy crawlies around me, but every time I turned around in Florida something was close by. From a multitude of lizards to a dragonfly on my iced tea outside Cracker Barrel to the love bugs, it was clear I was not alone. Thank goodness I'm not fearful of lizards anymore!