Walking in This World - Check in #1

Late as usual, but I am not going to just throw my hands up in the air and quit! My weekend was busier than I expected, and due to a severed line we had no internet on Monday. Tuesday I had to work, so here I am - better late than never I guess!

This post is my check in for Walking in This World - a book whose sub-title makes it pretty self explanatory ~The Practical Art of Creativity. There are several things we are expected to do regularly throughout this book, a weekly walk, an artist date, and three pages of writing every morning. Plus different exercises each week to make us think a little more. Each week I will be checking in on the weekends about my progress through the book - So for week One:

Morning Pages: I did three pages each morning. This is actually one of my favorite things. Most of my pages are of little importance, just thinking aloud about the day, venting about irritations, plans about what I need to do. I enjoy it a lot, and it's very freeing that I don't have to write about anything of significance. It really helps me get a handle on my day, see more clearly why things are bugging me, and sometimes I think about it and say - oh grow up and get over it already!

Artist Date: I had quite a struggle with this! Planned to do it Tuesday afterenoon - got called in to work. Planned to go Wed. after work, had to work late. Finally got up and out of the house on Thursday and went! I went to a used bookstore that has opened up recently just around the corner from the quilt shop. It was so nice, very clean, everything all nicely arranged alphabetically, and great prices! I bought two books by Madeleine L'Engle, Jane Eyre, and Shardik. After that I went to the library, just browsed around and found a few more books to take home with me, including one that I've thought of a lot. I read House of Stairs as a teen-ager and it's one one those books that really stuck in my head, and I've often thought of re-reading it to see if it was really that good or not. So, I did borrow it and re-read it. Still a very interesting book, somewhat like a twilight zone episode to tell the truth, but I see why it appealed to me so much. Anyway, I had a fine time, and can't wait to try something else this week - Friday is free, so I'm aiming to go to the thrift store and see what cool stuff I can find! Fun!

My weekly walk was also a struggle due to bad weather, but Friday, I bundled up, braved the rain, and went out. It did indeed rain on me for the entire time, but it wasn't unpleasant because I was well prepared. It was wonderful to hear the sound of the water running through the streets - it was very quiet and pleasant. I dressed well so I was comfortable. I usually like to walk with my music, but left if behind for this day so I could listen to my thoughts better. I really enjoyed it, and would like to try to take more walks, even if the weather isn't perfect. I really felt very relaxed and at peace afterwards.

One of the issues that really affected me this week, was a sense of being overwhelmed by a lot of things to do that I really didn't want to do. So I procrastinated, and made myself too busy to do the things I should have been doing and caused myself a lot of stress over the weekend which really was unneccesary. I think some of this issue may actually be hormonal, but as they say, knowledge is power, and I really should not allow myself to get so stressed out over these things. I just need to get busy and do what I need to do and get it over with instead of putting it off and stressing out! I honestly think part of it is a control issue. If I feel out of control, I simply shut down in order to feel like I do have control, but then things get really out of hand. Does that make any sense at all?

Anyway, onwards, I am off to deal with the things on my plate for today! Sorry for being late, and I'll try to do better this week!

Back To Work

Well, today was the first day officially that we were all back to school and work in this house, and it was kind of sad last night! But, on the other hand we all survived our day and are working back into our old routines. Work for me wasn't all that bad, after all I do work in a Quilt Shop! We are getting ready for a big quilt run in February. I cut strips to make a jelly roll for a sample quilt. If it comes out well we plan to cut enough strips for another 8 jelly rolls (that's 40 strips each!) So, that should keep me busy next week.

I mailed out my patterns today, and bought the supplies to mail out the rest. I am soo nervous about this, I really hope I get some orders. I am not much of a risk taker, so this is really out of my league. But it is good for me. At least I keep telling myself this!

I bought the back for a batik Crazy 8 quilt, so will work on quilting that this weekend. I think it will be a nice little quilt - here are the blocks before I sewed them together:

And this is the first quilt I made with this pattern - very different isn't it?

Welcome 2008

I am very happy that on this first day of 2008 I have actually done the things that I most wanted to accomplish today. I got 10 patterns ready to mail out to quilt shops in California, to hopefully sell them. I am going to send out 10 next Monday, and 10 more on the following Monday and see what happens. I am scared and nervous, though I don't really know why. After all, what are they going to do, send me a mean e-mail or laugh in my face? The worst that can happen is that no one orders a pattern. Though I do suppose that would be sad, but at least I will know my pattern is not worth promoting.

I finished up the postcards!

Step 3 would be to zig zag the edges of the cards using white thread for the bottom and a color to complement the top on the top side. I then draw a line down the center of the back and add a little sticker that has my name to the bottom corner:
And I listed the last of the previous batch of postcards and pot holders on my etsy shop! A great day to start off the year - tomorrow won't be as much fun. I have to go to work, and set up eye, dental and dr appointments for the spring. Oh well, not every day is a holiday!