A snail's pace

It's a wonder I can get anything done.  Ever.  I must be the slowest person on the planet.

And honestly, I don't know what happens to the time.  Why does it take me *forever* to finish something?  Daily examples: taking a shower; washing the dinner dishes; vacuuming the rugs; making my lunch.

The latest how-can-it-take-so-darn-long?  Curtains.

Nothing fancy, nothing complicated, just simple pocket-rod curtains.  From a larger curtain purchased in the "as-is" section of Ikea.  Just remove the top portion, cut it in half horizontally, hem all the sides, and add a rod pocket to the 2 new pieces.  Voila!

Ok, six hours later... Voila!

I am so happy to be done.  But six hours ?!?!  I can't explain it.  (I had breakfast and lunch, did 3 loads of laundry, and idly watched a movie as I was sewing.)  But I was at the ironing board or sewing machine the whole day.  I could not speed up or take even the tiniest shortcut: had to pin every hem every two inches.  No one is going to look that closely at my stitching, or my hem accuracy.  Why do I do it?  Is this some classic ADD symptom? 

Definitely why I don't enjoy sewing on a deadline--most of the time I don't pay attention to how long things take me.  I just plod along at my pace and enjoy the journey.  After all, I genuinely *like* sewing.

Finished: the curtains are done in the guest room just in time for sweetie's mom to visit.  Yay!

Buck-a-block: month 2

BOTM update:  The new block has been given out.  Still not excited about the fabrics...

"Americana" colorway - not my favorite

The block pattern is again from The Farmer's Wife book of quilt blocks.  It's called "Wild Geese".  I received the fabrics shown here, along with cutting directions and a diagram of the block.

I knew I wouldn't be using everything I got.  It was my intention to make all the blocks in blue--so I tried to match the blue here with various blues in my stash.  Alas... I just wasn't feeling it.  So I played a bit with the red.

Ended up using the red and cream provided; adding black (can you see the tiny stars in the black fabric?  It's from Moda) with pink accent fabric.  The directions said to use different fabrics on the North-South vs. East-West pink triangles.  Also, those were probably meant to be more neutral/pastel.  Oh well--I like it just fine.

Who knows what this will go with.  Or where it will eventually end up.  I can't really imagine it with last month's blue block.

Is the point of a BOTM to have a quilt top done at the end of a year?  Oh dear, I'm in trouble already...

BOTM: 1 down, 11 to go...

This is a slightly-delayed post... the date for showing off this month's quilt block happened during the major moving upheaval...

Finished buck-a-block number 1.  I'm pretty happy with the results.

The pattern & provided fabrics

My fabrics (audition stage)

Finally decided on the brighter turquoise blue.  I think it was the stars that lured me in.  I have a difficult time imagining what a finished block (or quilt) will look like in the fabrics I choose--it's something of a delightful surprise to see how things turn out.

Ooh... pretty!

Perspective: not-so-messy desk

A friend came to my classroom last night to pick me up.  She had not seen my room this school year, since I have been trying so valiantly to keep on top of the endless crashing waves of paperwork. 

(Why does there have to be daily homework in math class?  Oh yeah, that's what I wrote my master's thesis on for the college of ed.  OK, I guess I'll keep assigning daily homework for my students.  And fight the current of daily papers for me to grade.)

"Wow, you moved your desk." 
"Oh wait, is this the same desk you had last year?"

"It's so clean!  I hardly recognized this as your desk."

Oh, that was so good to hear.  No, it's not perfect.

I am annoyed with how messy it seems.

I spend valuable energy fretting over the height of the stacks, and whether they are getting "too tall"

(Actual height of stack today: 3-1/2", including a 2-5/8" three-ring binder)





What a great thing a little perspective is!  Thank you, dear friend, for reminding me how far I've come in my efforts to be visually uncluttered.

Sign in the girls' bathroom

Don't I need this message.  And how lovely that a message meant for high school girls can also apply to me.

Thank you to whoever put up this poster.

Mantras to motivate cleaning/decluttering

Moved my bed, my clothes, and my body to the new place.  It was not cleaned by the previous owner.  Nor was it left empty.  It is my task to clean, declutter, and get the space ready by the weekend for the U-Haul full of furniture and boxes.

I spent 30 minutes buzzing around from area to area, not getting anything accomplished.  Time to take a breath and regroup.

My new favorite mantras:

I can do anything, I just can't do everything.

I can do everything, just not all at once.

 Blather. Cleanse. Repeat.

(Talk through the frustration.  Take a breath or walk away for a minute.  Get back at it.)

Perfection is a myth.  Stop at good enough and move on.

Enjoying the clean

Oct 2nd and counting...

Thirteen days left until we have to be OUT of our place.  The organized roommate is keeping us on track with this schedule.  Me and Mr. Disorganized are following along obediently.  It's going well; our last day should be all about final detail cleaning, nothing frantic or panicked.  Everything is being taken care of, day by day.


I stepped back for a moment today to enjoy all the things that are getting clean.

Yummy laundry: rugs

Clean stuff, boxed up!

 

 The Laundry Fairy has been busy.  Everything gets washed: curtains, throw pillows, dog beds, dust ruffles, comforters, wall hangings, pillow shams, throw rugs.  It's all so clean!  And all the nooks and crannies are getting cleaned to a sparkling shininess.  It makes me feel a sense of new beginnings.  The idea that anything is possible.  Every shelf in the bookcase got dusted; so did all the curtain rods and hardware; ditto with the wine bottles, the wine glasses, and the vases and glass candle-holders: isn't that worth celebrating?

Making progress, and creating clean and order in the world of boxes.  The car is loaded up and ready to go with yet another run to the storage facility.