L – Day 12

Today I was thinking of words that start with L.  I was blank.  My coworker came up with love.  That’s a good one.  Then after coming back from lunch…  it hit me lunch.   I should have taken a photo of my lunch but it wasn’t that memorable. Then I looked at my mission statement which I have posted on my wall at work.

It made me think of laughter and life.  To enjoy life.   But those weren’t the right words either but reading the statement with a new slant got me thinking.  I still haven’t picked a word to live by this year.   I think I have found it.  Encompass.    I wrote this mission statement my first full year at Portland State.   A good friend helped me but through the bull***t to really figure out what I want to be.  As I have been living life I have really tried to remember who I want to be.   I have tried to live with passion, to  laugh, to be creative especially through my struggles in the last few years – good and bad.  I am finally in a good place I hope and I know that the words above have helped me. Back to my L word.  I think the word for today is lists.  I am not normally a list person, I make a list for special dinners and for trips but I don’t live my life by lists but I am finding I do in one area.    I have made lists of books I read, books I want to read, movies i have watched and ones that look good to view.  A couple of years ago a friend ( the same one who helped me with my mission statement) told me how he keeps track of  the books he has read in a little notebook.  That seemed so intriguing that I decided to do it.  I went to a book store and found a journal that had quotes from Jane Austen and little drawings of the era.  I loved it.  Since then I have kept of all books I have read.  It’s so cool to go back and look at how many I have read in the last 4 years or so.  I have also started an excel spreadsheet of  authors and all the books they have written to help me keep track.  I have many many on there.  I love going through and checking off ones i have read and ones I can search for.  Another L word. Love.  I love it!!!!!!

K – Day 11

Key's

1. keys, 2. Tower of London Keys, 3. The stroke of a key, 4. Key to the Past, 5. Keys, 6. Keys Set 2, 7. key, 8. Key To My Kingdom, 9. key

http://bighugelabs.com/mosaic.php

J – Day 10

I own a blue corduroy jacket.  I have had it for a long time.  It is just heavy enough to wear when it’s cold and light enough when it’s in the 40’s or 50’s.  It is a casual jacket but I love it.  It is like an oversized shirt but is a very comfy corduroy. It has worn very well over the years.
I remember being out shopping with my friend Sherry.  We went to the Dress Barn and I saw  a wall of jacket’s that I fell in love with but I was short on money that month.  She was such a dear friend and bought it for me.  This was at least 15 years ago.
It is very simple in style and I am always wanting to jazz it up a little and add embroidery on to it but I have never figured out what I want.  I wear it to work a lot so I don’t want it to casual but I would like to make it a unique piece.  Also I don’t have an embroidery machine so I would be doing it myself and I don’t know if I could do it as professional as I would like.   Also what would I put on it?   Something  that wouldn’t go out of style would be my first thought.  I would probably put flowers on it.  The next question is which one?

  

I like the 4 above.  The first two could be cool.  The third is so like my own drawings but I think would be too plain.   The fourth one just intrigued me.

What color would  I do it in?  One color or many colors?   This is why I haven’t done it.  Too many choices and afraid I wouldn’t like it once I made a decision.

I – Day 9

Sunday was so busy.  I headed home and took down all of the Christmas decorations and put them in the corner until next weekend.  I then  went out to dinner and a movie with my sweetie.  We had the lightest battered fish and chips and then then went and saw True Grit.  Both of us have seen the original but we don’t remember much but a few scenes.  In watching the new version ( which we both liked) it would seem familiar but then not.  Needless I didn’t get to post so I am posting tonight.
I don’t know what to reflect on for I.  I tried looking up words for I on Google and I found the following which I thought was interesting.

20 Adjectives that Start with "I"

1. Idiotic- selling your friends bogus stocks in an attempt to make money to cover up bad investments.
2. Immoral- see above
3. Indigenous- native to a certain area.
4. Illogical
5. Irrelevant- not pertinent, like mentioning Pokemon during a golf game.
6. Indigo- the color on the electromagnetic spectrum between 420 and 450 degrees in wavelength, placing it between purple and blue.
7. Improper
8. Icy
9. Irreconcilable- differing beliefs that cannot be brought to agreement.
10. Inferior- lower in rank.
11. Impeccable
12. Intelligent
13. Inert- unable to move, like a rock right before it is thrown into a river. Does it begin or end its journey?
14. Incredible
15. Interesting
16. Infernal is like all things that are of the netherworld of the dead, hellish, like small child howling in a nice restaurant.
17. Irate describes someone who is really, really, really, mad.
18. Ironic - meaning the opposite of what is expressed.
19. Integral- something upon which all other components are based.
20. Inconceivable describes something that cannot be imagined by natural means.

I like the examples.

H – Day 8

For some reason I thought that the letter was F today.  So I took a photo of the fireplace.   But I think that House-sitting will suffice.
I am house-sitting for the next 10 days.  Today I sat in front of the fire and watched a repeats of Project Runway. I admit I might have dozed for a bit.  The house-sitting has turned into a nice way to make a little bit of money to pay for getting my hair done or that unexpected bill.

G- Day 7

I am in love with the Glee Soundtracks. I listen to them over and over. I have bought 4 albums off of I-Tunes and the others i have borrowed from the library.

They are

• Glee: The Music, Volume 1
• Glee: The Music, Volume 2
• Glee: The Music, Volume 3 Showstoppers
• Glee: The Music, Volume 4
• Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album
• Glee: The Music, The Rocky Horror Glee Show
• Glee: The Music, Journey to Regional's
• Glee: The Music, The Power of Madonna

Right now I am obsessed with Glee: The Music, Volume 4. I am listening to the songs Valerie, River Deep, Mountain High and I Want to Hold Your Hand. They are my favorite tracks. I listen to them over and over again while at work. Some of the other songs are better than others but I like them all. The get me motivated and give me confidence. It’s old school but at the same time modern. Sometimes I like the Glee version of the song rather than the original artist.

I also love to watch the show but nothing beats the sound of their voices in your ear.

F – Day 6

Freesia – i love them…

E- Day 5

An old English proverb says:
Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.
I am going to take that advice and head to bed early. That is my word of inspiration today. Early.
I did a impromptu survey of my friends at work for a word or subject that starts with E. What is interesting is many people first said excellence. That is is a good word to strive for and I have it in one of my quotes at work but what can you say about that?
Another subject I thought I could talk about is Embroidery. But where to start on that subject. I was listening to Pat Sloan’s podcast of her radio show on TalkNet radio. I They were talking about the old style iron on transfers of embroidery patterns. It made me think of Rodgers – a local 5 and Dime store here in the NW but is now closed. You could find anything and everything there. They had an old wooden cabinet that held old fashioned candy. You could also get the coolest embroidery pieces their. They were the blue ink on white fabric. They also had the black looking sick that my sister made into pillows for my 3 aunts. It was always fun to go look through them as a kid. I wanted t \this one or that one but my mom wasn’t real crafty so we didn’t get to buy them very often.
Today I love to sew pillow cases and even tried my hand in designing the pattern of the thread detail but I haven’t gotten very far.
Getting late. Off to bed.. Night NIght.

Thursday – I guess I didn’t post this but I did write it on Wed night.

D – Day four

 

Darkness – that is what I think of when I think of the letter D.  It seems like I have been surrounded by it.   

        

This fall and now winter I have been going to work in the dark and returning home in the dark due to long hours at the new job.  I only see the sunshine, if it shines, from the window of the office.  Even on the weekends it’s either gray skies or i am doing errands at twilight.  It has made me restless and tired.

Maybe I am looking at it all wrong.

 

A man must dream a long time in order to act with grandeur, and dreaming is nursed in darkness.

Jean Genet

C – Day Three

Cooking is the inspiration for today. I made spaghetti and garlic bread. It was good but could have been better.

B – Day Two

Well today is the second of January. So that brings up the letter B. I have thought about this letter as I was doing chores today. Words that came up were blood, blogs, books, buggers, blue, boyfriends, babies beach and many more crossed my mind. Side note, I confess I started this post at 11 but now when i am posting it’s more than half past 12.

I think I will write about books. I love books. I love the feel of them in my hand. I love to curl up on my bed among all my pillows and get lost in the story. So many times books have kept me company when people have not. I have learned so many things, discovered so many worlds and they have led me on journeys outside of the stories because something I have read has peaked my interest and I want to learn more about it.

When I learned, I learned quickly. I wasn’t a child who learned before school but learned when I was in kindergarten. For my first four months of kindergarten I went to a city school. There kindergarten was more centered around fun. In January we moved and I started at a school in the burbs. There they taught me to read. My classmates started in September but I started in January. By the end of the year I had caught up and by passed a lot of the students. I will always remember the yellow books and taking new ones out of the bins. I don’t remember stumbling over words as I learned them, once the window was opened I grabbed hold and have never let go of such a treasured gift.

One of the books I remember when I was a child was a story on Clara Barton. I remember having to do a book report on her and copying the front cover of the book for the cover page of my report. I was back at the burb school so it was between 4th and 6th grade. Another book I remember from that time was a book on learning to make Ukrainian eggs.  I was captivated by the book that taught me how to put the wax on and then dye the eggs and then put another layer on. The method is called Pysanka. My parents even got me a stylus to use to put the wax on. I have loved the art of it since but have never gotten back into it. Melting the wax was hard. I wonder if I still have my stylus?

The summer between 6th and 7th grade ( or somewhere in there) I can remember being crazy about a book where the girl went to camp for the first time. I so wanted to go to camp like she did, do what she did. I just remember reading it over and over again. I was heading in to middle school and it was a huge step and I think I lost myself in the simplicity of the girls life. I wished I remembered more, but all that comes back to me are snippet's of her going to the camp store or of her cabin hiking somewhere and spending the night under the stars. I loved that book and still think about it occasionally remembering the sensation of anticipation to read the book, more so than the story itself.

When I look back at the books I read in High School I can’t believe what I was reading or that my mom even let me. I have a feeling she never knew. I was reading romance books – not even having a clue on what I was reading but loving the “love” stories.

I have always had a book with me. I even buy my purses with the thought in mind… Is it big enough for my book? Sometimes I even have 3 or 4 going at once. I have no problem keeping them straight (at least most of the time) but sometimes I struggle with reading one because I so want to go read the other as it has captivated me.

I have a confession to make. I will read ahead and also will read the last few pages to see who ends up with who or who did the crime. Some say that is a terrible thing, but for me it makes the reading of the book so much enjoyable. Now that I know kinda of what happens I can focus on the story rather than looking for clues for what is going to happen next. In the last few years I have been listening to Books on Cd – let me tell you not knowing how it will turn out just kills me. lol.

I have a hard time reading the classics. I like stories I can releate to. Sometimes when I read classics or even new books if I don’t understand the feelings the characters are having or the “voice” of the book I have a hard time finishing it. I get board easily and can’t finish it. I do try though, and will continue to try because sometimes books capture you and you don’t even know why but it can take a bit to get into it. I am the eternal optimist that I will always like the book and find it very hard to concede defeat and not finish it. So I always give it a chance no matter what book it is.

I don’t think I will ever be a convert to “The Nook” or “Kindle” or any of the other hand held machines. I love going into bookstores. I love the art of picking out a book, do you go with the cover or the description on the back? I love holding it in my hand when I read, the action of turning the pages, the musty smell that can drift up from the pages when you turn them. To me reading a computer screen does not match up to that feeling of a paper based book will give me. Seeing the notes in the margin or the turned over corners set by the people who read the book before me is irreplaceable. Looking at your bookcase and seeing all that you have read, it’s like they are old friends. That is what books are to me. They are my friends. I don’t want to lose that friend.

A New Year

They say that what ever you do on the 1st day of the Year you will do the rest of the Year. If that is true I am going to have a drab year. Today I slept, watched movies and helped my mom who is confined to her bed as she is depilated by back pain. Encouraging her to walk to the bathroom, doing her laundry and fixing her meals.

That is real life. Enough of that.

Let’s live in the life of Tadlafleur.

I have been giving my blog a lot of thought this week. In fact my whole creative life. It has been null since I started my new job at the end of Aug. Working many over 50 hour weeks with a 45 minute commute each way has eaten up the time. I haven't even blogged very much or much of anything other then work, eat, sleep and start the day over again. Hopefully that has calmed down and we are caught up and I actually get hired on as a real employee not a temp. - but that is for another day, another post.

I have seen many blogs that are talking about having a word to inspire you through out the year. I still haven’t sat down to find that word for 2011. I want to find a word that inspires me in creativity, work, life, love and every other way that counts. What it is I don’t know. I have to find some quiet time to come up with what I want this year. This is where I want to start to get my creative flair back on track.

One of the things that I thought would inspire me is to blog everyday this month. I wrote out in my inspiration journal that I take almost every where with me the numbers 1- 31 for the month of January. Then I was stuck. Today I really wanted to blog but I didn’t have a theme to carry out through out the month. I kept putting if off as I didn't know what to blog. Lying here today watching the movies it came to me. Why don’t I use the letters of the alphabet. A-Z that will get me through 26 days. I will come up with a theme for the last 5 days. It shouldn’t be too hard as that will be my birthday week.

So that is the plan – I plan to blog everyday with the letter for the day. Some days it might be inspire me to write a blog , post a photo, post progress on a craft or even just a quote. But do something everyday. I don’t think many people read my blog but it will get me doing something.

Review of the last year..

Quilt wise – I feel very disappointed in my progress last year. I think i only completed one quilt top. You would think with all the time off I had before September I would have made more progress. I think my goals were 2 tops in each half of the year. Didn’t even come close. I have so many UFO’s that it could keep me busy all year. The one quilt top I did do was a UFO. In 2008 I downloaded the BOM Appliqué by SuzGuzDesigns. Read more on my A post. Next year I hope to do better and perhaps join a group somehow that can give me quilters companionship and support.

Craft wise. Finished my cross stitch tablecloth that took 15 years. Yahoo!!! Started to design some embroidery patterns. Stopped when i started this current job but didn’t like the direction it was going any how so will try to get back to it. Made some really cute invitations for a party I had from my group of friends called the Faith Ladies.

Movies- Boy have I taken advantage of my library. I have rented so many movies and have found some really good series. Big love (watching season 2 right now), Joan of Arcadia (both seasons) , Everwood (season one) and Once and Again (season one) . In my own “library” i have all of the series for Avonlea, Gilmore Girls, The West wing and Emily of New Moon. Any other good series I can watch?

Books- I have read a ton of those too. I have found some wonderful series by just searching the library shelves. I listened to all of the Cedar Cove series on CD on my commute. I loved them. I just found a series called Sweetgum Knit Lit Series. She has only written two books but i hope she continues this cast of characters. I need to read her other books.

Work. - Was placed as a temp at a growing company. Have made myself invaluable I hope so that they will hire me on permanently. And who knew I would care about my job again. It’s refreshing and invigorating. The culture at this facility has really boasted my spirits and confidence work wise and has given me some of my happiest work experiences.

Well i didn't know this was going to be such a long post. Once I got started this evening – i haven’t been able to stop and that is why it’s posted on the 2nd not on the 1st. And I can’t leave a post with out a photo – so here is one from the beach in Rockaway in the Summer of 2009. I wish i was sitting in that sunny weather with the sound of the ocean rather than in 20 degree weather with the sound of the heater in the other room. Happy New Year.

A- Day One

There were many ideas I had for A. Aspire, attention, appliqué, apple, application, advise. Even used a word generator website – came up with Atoned, Agreeable. To be truthful I don’t know what word I would want to write about.

Maybe even about. That could be the word. As I sit here in the dark, almost midnight I can think of so many words to describe the state I am in but a word that starts with a is being difficult.

When writing my New Years post – i started writing about appliqué. I haven’t done much of it. The few pieces I have done have not been that great. So let me start my new goal writing about my current appliqué project I completed.

The one quilt top I did do was a UFO of 12 inch square appliqué pieces I had been working on my breaks at my job in 2008 and 2009. In 2008 I downloaded the BOM Appliqué by SuzGuzDesigns. I had 2 fabric charm square packets a friend gave me of Moda fabric. I can’t remember the line’s name but the color ways were soft yellows, blues, pinks and greens. The patterns were flora's, stripes, checks and tone on tones. With some other fabrics from my stash I decided to use it as my project to hand sew at work. I cut out the 12 background pieces I needed and then tackled each month at a time. I think i prepped the first 4 months one Sunday at Jim’s. School was out for the term or I had no homework that day. I just remember him sitting in his chair, snoozing on and off while we watched Nascar and I worked on prepping the pieces. I used the fusible web method on many pieces and then the stitch the wrong sides to the web and turn inside out for the hearts so that they would have a bit more depth.

Above is an example of April. I worked on the pieces when I could during lunch or breaks. I kept the project in a cute photo box on my book shelf. I got the first 6 months done and then completely messed up the 7th and had gotten the appliqué pieces cut out and half way prepped for month 8. To be truthful – on many of the pieces for that month I ironed the wrong side to the fusible.So I was going to have to do it again.

I used the blanked stitch as my appliqué method. I had also found some really cute thread at Joanne’s that melded into the colors of the quilt. You could definitely could see an improvement on each piece but since then I have learned tricks for the fusible that would have made my pieces work so much better. But the goal was to gain experience and that is what I did. Work and school and life got to busy and I never got back to it.

This fall I decided to complete a UFO and this was the one I chose. On Sunday I decided to not finish the other months but just to use the good six one’s i had left – so I put sashing around them and bordered them with a light green and then a piano border of the 5 inch charm squares I had left. The finished look is just what I wanted. Romantic,soft and blending into each other. I have cut out my binding and now will finish it in the new year. I also took the hearts I had made for block 8 and will randomly place them on the borders when i complete the quilt. Maybe even on the back.

I don’t have any current appliqué projects on the back burner or even in my list of things i want to do. I like doing it but i haven’t come across something that has made me “crave” to jump into a project. I would like to try needle turn and will continue to be inspired by projects but I think at this time I am more drown to piecing or other types of needle work.

My squares.

So I have found something for A. Tune in tomorrow for something with B.