Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Stitching and bitching......

It's been a while since my last post.......   Making time for myself and the completion of my newest inspiration comes hard.  Especially since there have been a couple of times I felt like my legs were kicked out from under me. Yup, I'm going back to court again.  The pills that I was happy to wean myself from are back into my daily health regime, and at a higher strength than before.  It makes me feel a little muzzy at times, especially later in the evening.  It may take another week or so for the levels to even out enough to let me function at full capacity.

In the meantime I am reawakening my old joys and living at the  "speed of life" with my friends and family.  I have friends who drop by, days with the ladies heading out to drive just because, dropping in on friends when I can.  For the last month or so I have been having "stitch and bitch" sessions at my house.  My friend "S" has the "know how" to teach my friend "R" the basics on patchwork, and "R" brought her newly tuned up sewing machine - which has taken up semi permanent residence on my dining room table beside my machine.   We have spent hours laughing, sewing, pressing, trimming and just talking about life.  It has been so good for me.  But having the tea and the coffee on, having a few other voices in my kitchen and my sewing room with me, having music playing loud enough to make my feet tap... and having the fabric collection near at hand and ready to go makes me glad.  And "R" is happy to have produced her first quilt top.... a "jelly roll race" made from fabric I had in my stash....  and it is beautiful!

I even went for another "ladies escape" to my favorite Winery in Dewdney with four of my friends from work.  Yes, a good time WAS had by all, especially since lunch was courtesy of a recent lottery win by one of the ladies, and it was extra delicious because we shared our time!  And of course it always involves a good "bitch fest" where we all get a chance to vent about whatever is troubling us or our families... or just commiserate on life...  or laugh at life in general.



Organization is really the key;  keeping up on laundry, floors, dishes, meals. Unfortunately, the "organized" part of me is very medicated and I have a lack of that "urgent" level of anxiety that used to drive my inspiration to fever pitch and create a rather unhealthy focus on the task when it wasn't at hand. Of course taking care of the dogs and our three little puppies makes everything so much more needful when it comes to completion of tasks.  In the meantime I feel happy to sleep while I can, happy to walk in the fresh air with my little troupe of doglets, happy to walk into work every early morning with a smile on my face, happy that Christmas is coming FAST!  And happy that I can sew....   like I used to sew all those years ago, concentrating on making everything come together in a way that I have designed on my own, figured out by myself, creating something special out of a few scraps and bits, and perhaps a button or two from my collection.  My very extensive collection.....  I feel my inspiration reawakening.  The colours, graphics and gradients of colour and form are bouncing around in my brain even when I'm standing quietly at work.  I have been picking up ideas from something as simple as a well constructed handbag on a customer's arm, or a new usage for hardware from the bins in a home improvement big box store. And I'm hoping to someday pull myself along far enough to have the creative part of my life the larger part.  It may be a dream, but it's my dream.  And I don't have to remind myself too often that when I hit my stride and lock into "dream" mode I'm DAMN good at what I do! 

So here's to warm tea in the evening, the heat turned up to ease my aching muscles, a hot iron, a good stockpile of needles and thread, and good friends who want to learn.  Blessings of the Season on you, my friends....   I wish you "Joy"...