"But there is a special place where good work is done, a place where elegance is spun out of snippets and scraps"

-from a greeting card by Whimble Designs



The work week closes and the weekend is set to begin. I have a new goal. So I must share. It is the kind of goal that perhaps makes no sense. And yet I have never lived my life to make sense. It involves expense, time, and effort, and could realistically have little financial reward. But aren't those always the best goals?

I've decided I'd like to try out the possibility of getting a degree in fiber arts. It's not a matter of can I, I know I can. I suppose it's more a matter of time and chance at this point. Will my local institution of learning have me? Will the department? I start work on building a portfolio up: novel number two is running along nicely, the roses are sprayed and the house is clean, and a mini adventure is planned for tonight.

I feel a period of resurgence on the horizion. Not just because it is Spring, and the sun has finally appeared after all the wet, but because I have delineated my next step. This has been something I have pondered for sometime. I have achieved a lot of the goals I have set for myself (degree, international travel, work, marriage, getting in shape), excepting the challenge of creating new goals, which I think I just attained.

I spoke of this goal to a new friend, and she maintained that, "That would keep you busy". I felt somewhat insulted, as she proclaimed that I was merely doing this to keep busy, when in reality, the one thing that I have never had a problem with was inventing things to do to maintain productivity. Was this out of envy or just plain dissmissal, I wonder? And why the harsh tone? I hope I never reach the point where I bash down a fancy.

So here we go, check back. I much prefered my husband's response to these outlandish dreams,
"I'll support you with what you want to do"

Normal Is Boring

My China, (picture from Lenox)

Good Morning! It is a day in the northwest when you remember why one lives up in these parts. The day that makes up for the grey, and the whispers of sun that visit in the winter time. It is summer, and I should not be posting a picture of a coffee pot. I don't even drink coffee hot. I love my Lenox.
Well in other news, is got so hot yesterday, that I also found some solice in serging, and I was thinking about how I wish my serger could keep track of usage time just like my sewing machine does? Machine companies are you listening? Then I could prove that I use that little hummer more even than the sewing machine(s), since no one really quite seems to fully believe me on that one. I serged some napkins for gifts using a three-thread rolled edge and Wooley Nylon, and some terry for rags using a wide three-thread overlock (I hate consuming wasteful quantities of paper towels), and I actually ran out of thread before I got to some dyed silk chiffon that I wanted to make into scarfs. I like the serger, because I like going fast when I sew. I like it because it is a professional finish, and washing machine proof.
Well I am thinking that the goals for the day include 1 full hour cleaning the studio. I think I will laugh myself if I ever get an "after" picture with a cleared off cutting counter to post. Chuckles, turn away and run, or move the piles strategy - I'm not sure the best approach right now? Sewers are messy? Art quilter's are cluster producing divas? Serging phenoms are irreverent about fuzzballs blasting all over their wardrobe and the weave of their berber?
Normal is boring, I faced that down with a hard stare long ago, muttering to myself that perfection is about getting better at making messes and mistakes, and stepping back long enough to allow perspective on the craziness.