From Across The Pond. . .

It's so beautiful!  I just received today a block from Robyn who lives in Australia.  What makes this so cool is that she used Australian print fabrics with boomerangs and aborigine motifs. If I had a better camera, you would be able to see how rich the fabrics really are. But even in this washed out photo, you can see a lot of the detail. I love it so much!

I'm still getting used to the time change, and the adjustment is slow for me this year. For a couple of weeks, I was going to work with the sun bright in the sky.  Now I'm back to peering through dawn's shadows on my morning train ride.

Ted Talk Tuesday: Share Your Goals - Or Not.

I wanted to fill this blog each day with progress reports on my quilt projects and show pictures of my work, hoping to inspire other quilt makers as I have been inspired when I browse through their blogs. But I don’t always have that kind of time during the week. This past weekend was spent working on the final performances of The Wizard of Oz and beginning the spring house cleaning. No quilting was done at all. 

Since I would rather not spend my time writing about washing windows and scrubbing baseboards, I’m going to ask you a question. 

First, a preface: A week or so ago, my 13 year old daughter, an aspiring writer, made a rare emergence from within her room to announce her new book idea. 
     “I have a new plot for my next novel,” she said, her teeth gleaming with happiness. “But the only way I’ll figure out the ending before I give up on the idea is if I don’t tell you what it is about.” Then she withdrew her head back inside her door and shut it. 

So, here’s a question for the audience. 

Do you share your goals, or do you keep them to yourself? Does your decision depend on the goal you have set? Leave a comment and tell me what you think! 

The “Keep ‘Em to Yerself” People 

Share Your Goals? Think Again.

The “Tell the Whole World” Folks 

The Power of Sharing Your Goals 

We Represent the Lollipop Kids

Tomorrow will be the first performance for the Wizard of Oz. Here are 3 of the "Lollipop Kids" aprons I sewed for the play. One of the parents spent the day during dress rehearsal on Sunday taking these fantastic photos.

© Michael Leslie Photography | All Rights Reserved | 610.667.0950

Don't they look adorable?

And here are 3 of the 19 Flying Monkey Vests with Wings I made.

Don't let those impish grins fool you.  They were terrors! I've been afraid of flying monkeys ever since I saw the Wizard of Oz on TV for the first time in the 60's.

And here are the tired and forlorn Talking Trees from the magical forest. You can tell by their eyes it was a very long day.

And finally the costumes are all complete.  Now, back to quilting!

I delayed posting for several days the picture of my design wall.  I was hoping I would have enough self control to keep it a secret until it was sewn and quilted.  But. . . I ain't got it in me.  I've always been a bit impetuous.  So,  here is a picture of my design wall.  The quilt isn't quite done yet.  I haven't decided on the borders.

My Color Therapy

Sometimes when I come home from work, I still have a burst of energy left after I finish the dishes to spend some time in the sewing room. This has been a good week for me as I had extra energy on a couple of nights.  The other night I was finally able to begin the preliminary steps on a quilt I am making for a certain beautiful woman who resides in Dublin.  She loves floral fabrics in vibrant colors!  A perfect opportunity to use Kaffe Fassett fabrics.  I love that guy. How does he sleep at night with all those colors whirling about his brain?

But the first steps to beauty are usually the mundane ones. Preparing the fabric. Ironing and trimming loose ends are the Zen moments in quilting. Not the most exciting, but it is the last time you will see a yard of fabric in its entire pattern before you start slicing into it. For those reasons I enjoy the step of turning this, 

 Into this.

Next, the slicing begins.

Crazy Patchwork

Each month, I participate in the Quilt Block Swap.  This month my swap partner is Robyn in Menai, Australia.  She asked for a crazy patchwork block with a little black. I'll be sending her the block below today.  I've never made any crazy patchwork before, so I really focused on the word crazy, and just ran with it.  This thing looks crazy to me.

Small Changes Ripple Outward

I love Ted Talks.  So many of them make me pause to rethink my views or seek out more information on their spoken topic.  Their subjects span all sorts of categories, and I love most of them.  Today, I found this talk. Please watch it, you’ll love it. Interesting how just a small shift in your perspective can change your future.

So as suggested by Shawn Achor, here Are 3 NEW Things I am grateful for:

 
The sun is rising earlier in the day. Soon, I’ll be waking up to sunlight at 5 am again.  I love those weeks.
 
I met a wonderful lady from France who shares my enthusiasm for Cloth and Bobbin, my favorite quilt store. She is the other sewing volunteer for the Middle School’s Wizard of Oz play.

I think I might be done sewing costumes for my daughter’s play.  No more flying monkey vests, lollipop kid aprons or lion’s tales. I can get back to quilting.

I WISH SOMEONE TOLD ME

Quote on the Creative Process.