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The other morning I just couldn’t help myself. I had to create. Everywhere I turn there are pumpkins. My emails are filled with fall decor and pumpkin spice lattes. 
I ended up working on this page until moments before I had to leave for work. It just had to be done.
Linking up with Art Journal Journey for POLKA-DOTS, STRIPES, PLAIDs or PATTERNS. I think this qualifies…
The days and weeks are flying by faster each day it seems. My creative energy burst from a few weeks ago has waned. The half-done projects remain just that – half done. Not enough progress to share.
I’m once again struggling with balance in life, work, home, and creativity. It happens every year. I should expect it, but here we are struggling. Questioning if I should take a blog break. Then questioning if I do – will I be more motivated later or less. Questioning if have enough interesting things to share so I’m not boring my audience week after week to the point of losing them.
I have discovered something about myself recently. I am not a multitasker. I have always considered myself good at this…but I am not.
This realization is a good thing. I just now need to figure out how to work with this new mindset. I’m thinking that I need to set certain days aside for certain things. Maybe not particular days such as Tuesday is sewing day and Wednesday is laundry day but penciling in time for the things I love as well as the things I must do.
T stands for Tuesday is one of those things that I do love to do and is time-sensitive. I’ve never been one to pre-schedule posts…honestly, it’s only happened a handful of times over the last decade. I am not saying that there is one single thing wrong with scheduled posts…the most successful bloggers do precisely that. It just has never been my style…mainly because I always had the time. This photo (without preplanning it) demonstrates me being divided between home and work life.
No, I am not quitting blogging. Nor am I quitting creating…or my job. I could really do with the housework but that’s not happening anytime soon. On the bright side, I am getting more help with those pesky household chores.
I am going to prioritize items on my need to/want to list. Figure out how to give time to each. Learn to let some things go. That even means some supplies. I have decided that I’m not making soap anymore. I’ve reached out to a friend who has a friend that makes soap. I’m hoping we can reach a barter of sorts. Finished soap for supplies. Today I glanced and saw all the yarn I have pressed against the wall of the plastic tote in which it resides. I think that just may be my next supply purge.
You know I have a long-standing self-imposed rule about not sharing photos featuring faces of family on my blog. And no I am not breaking that rule…I have strategically blocked out Mini-me’s face because I have to show you her amazing outfit for the Homecoming dance at school.
She was convinced by friends to go two days before the dance. She borrowed the dress which happened to fit her perfectly.
Check out those shoes!!! We went shopping the morning of the dance to a local outlet store that carries high-end clothing and shoes at fabulous prices if you can find your size. Lucky for Mini-me…she has tiny feet. The selection is vast and varied. She first found a pair of rose gold sparkly heels that would have looked lovely…in fact we bought them, Then she found these beauties. Since the two pair together would only cost $42 we went for it. As we were talking accessories I told her that she could totally pull those bold shoes off with the right accessories. She was skeptical at first but then I made her think about the color wheel and that the teal and red-orange are complentary colors. She looked amazing. Have I overused the word amazing?!? Nope. Never.
This week has me keepin’ on, keepin’ on. Working toward that elusive balance.
What a quick week! I have no idea where it went or how it flew by so incredibly fast other than school, school and more school.
Today’s post actually does tie into school. I’m supporting a handful of students in a required Intro to Art class this semester. I’m finding the class very informative. Putting words to the techniques I’ve self-taught over the last decade or so. Such as the elements and principles of art….the actually words and definitions behind drawing technique. The students in the class are creating a Zentangle in which they need to show the 13 elements and principles of art. It made me go back and look at the one larger scale Zentangle I created years ago to see if I could pick out these key components.
I’m not sure I hit all 13 in this Zentangle. It’s funny because I created this in 2006…this page is officially older than the children in that class. :)
Today I was able to play around with watercolor pencils.
Again…so much fun. I was able to work alongside one of my students as they wanted to practice their technique.
I’m having some ice water while I write this post. The temperature and humidity have ramped back up around here as you can see by the condensation on my glass.
It was much nicer over the weekend when Mini-me and a few choir friends sang the national anthem at the boy’s varsity soccer game on Saturday evening. 
They sang from the booth…not on the field. So proud of those girls!
ME…I’m still sewing when I can…I’m trying to get caught up on some household chores that have been piling up…emhem…laundry.
Since heading back to school I think perhaps I’ve done more crafting than I did all of August. It always works that way. What’s that saying?… “Busy people get things done.” There is whole lot of truth in that statement. Grab a cup of coffee or whatever and stay awhile…I’ve got lots to share.
I think I’ll start with the travel journal I made with ephemera from our trip. It’s still a work in progress but here’s a sneak peek at the journal with some of the goodies tucked inside.
I’m still sewing like there’s no tomorrow.
In fact this photo was taken 10 mins before I had to leave for my first day back to work.
No games will be played at the game table anytime soon. I’ve kind of temporarily taken over. I’m nearly done with the paper foundation stitching on all the blocks…at least I think so. Once I start doing the layout I’ll know for sure.
I also did a bit more cleaning and organizing in my art zone. I wish I could call it a studio but that would be like putting lipstick on a pig. It’s functional…just not pretty. 
Check out my new washi tape organization….
Mini-me has yet to do her color organization on the washi…I know she will though and it will be much prettier.
While I was organizing I decided it would be a good idea to make some more card bases or backgrounds..which ever you prefer.
I picked up the paper pad above at Tuesday Morning (no affiliation) and was itching to use it. So many pretty patterns.
I have a nice stack of cards started now just waiting for the right sentiment or occasion.
I’m heading back to the sewing machine to finish up my blocks. Can’t. Stop. Sewing.
Last Tuesday Mini-me and I decided to go to the MN State Fair. We hadn’t been for 5-6 years. We got up early to take the express bus to the fair which is about a 45 min trip via bus during rush hour.
As you can see by the long shadows, we were there early. In fact so early that most of the things we wanted to do and eat weren’t even open yet. Hmmm…makes me wonder what one does at the fair before 9 am.
Eventually, we had “breakfast”…Sweet Marthas cookies. They are fresh from the oven. This bucket holds an entire tray of cookies…of course you have to eat a bunch to even get the lid on. Challenge accepted. Ok, we failed but did have a baggie with to put the extras. You may not see a drink in frame but trust me …there was lots of water consumed. I wish we had thought about getting milk. Now THAT would have been good.
We toured some of the barns, the education building and checked out the crafts entered in the state fair competition. After the fact, I found out that at least one person I know had entered her knitting and received a ribbon.
By about 11:30, it was starting to get a bit crowded. Not overly so but enough that we began thinking about what exactly we wanted to see before heading for the bus.
I think we left at a good time because I looked up the attendance on the State fair website site and saw that last Tuesday set an all-time attendance record for that day of the fair,
I know that we weren’t the most efficient at seeing the sights of the fair at least according to my Fitbit data for the day.
I know that all those steps hardly made a dent in the calories I actually consumed that day. Oof.
Tuesday means back to school for me and Mini-me. J already has a week of sophomore year college under his belt. Mini-me said the other day…”Do you realize that now I’m an upperclassman and J is a lower classman?” It’s the little things I guess.
I can’t stop sewing!!! Likely because I know I’ll be completely worthless for the next week or so until I acclimate to my new school schedule.
Since I’m currently completely obsessed with paper foundation scrap quilting once again, I thought I’d share the quilt that came before this one.
Take a look…
1/15/2017
Don’t you just love that feeling of satisfaction when you’ve completed a big project!?! I know I do. Not only do I have the finished product in front of me but I get to put a checkmark in the box on my perpetual list. Yes, it’s an actual paper list. It’s never-ending which really is a good thing. What would I do with myself if I didn’t have a project?
Do want to know a secret? If I complete a task, chore or project that failed to make it on the list…I write down, draw a little box and proceed to “X” through it. So satisfying!!!
This quilt started as a stash busting project. Just a loose idea of what I wanted or hoped it would look like in the end. Over the course of sewing, my idea evolved a bit which I personally think is a good thing. We need to be able to be flexible and learn from our mistakes. Or even just adapt when the moment presents itself instead of being so set on one path that we can’t change. This is true in life as well. Adapt or be flexible when needed as long as your end goal remains it’s ok to change little things along the way.
One of the changes I made as I neared completion was the type of binding I wanted to use. I was originally going to do a sort of “cheater” binding where you wrap the backing around to the front and stitch down. I’ve used this method before with Mini-me’s quilt. I decided I wanted to do a scrappy binding as well continuing to use up my stash. The quilt really needed a quiet place in between the busy central pattern and a scrappy binding so I added a white sashing all the way around.
The scrappy binding went together quicker than I thought it would. Of course, I didn’t follow the “rules” and cut everything on the bias. I’m not much a rule follower. 
Isn’t it pretty a rolled up like that? Like a colorful flower.
After much agonizing about how to label my quilt (for the very first time), I decided I’d use wing it and hand embroider the info. Let me first say that I suck at embroidery. I think embroidery was the first craft I ever learned…and I never liked it. I’m always sticking myself with the needle, its tedious and boring. I know there are plenty of people who enjoy it and find it relaxing…have at it. It’s a means to an end for me. I do have a decent size stash of embroidery thread though in the same tin my mom used half a century ago or more ago.
After a few pinpricks I finished the job and was able to stitch it onto the quilt back. I am glad I took the time now that it’s finished. I can never remember when I made most of the other quilts except for the two I made while J was napping as an infant. Those I do remember.
This turned out to be more than a stash busting quilt. It became a labor of love with a bit of frustration mixed in. But what love doesn’t have some frustrating times.
I had originally planned to heavily quilt in a funky random pattern but as I began I realized it would end up a bit stiff. I went back and pulled out every stitch…hence the frustration. I ultimately ended up stitching random wavy lines only along the white sashing. My thought is that I can always go back and do some more quilting if I feel it needs it.
I’ve been snuggling under it every free moment I have. It definitely helps with the extreme cold we’ve been having. I did hear we have a warm-up in store….hooray! I’ve about had it with below zero temps.
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Thanks for stopping by for Second on the 2nd!
I’m not going to lie…this post might just give you motion sickness from how all over the place it will be.
I guess we’ll go with chronological. Mr. G was tasked with creating some trophies that he’d 3D print at work for the company go-kart racing day. He said I could paint them up so we got to go shopping at the craft store!
These were printed on a resin printer so they are quite smooth and would take spray paint really well.
They turned out pretty darn cool if you ask me.
I got this in the mail from my friend, Sandy. When we were at the cabin in Idaho, we had a few drinks and she said…gosh I better quit cause I’m slurring. To which I said…You’re not slurring, you’re speaking in cursive!
On Friday we loaded up the van to bring J to college for his second year. Mr. G picked up the horrible virus mini-me and I brought back from our trip…likely from the airplane. He was completely out of commission for nearly 4 days so Mini-me came with to help out and be my home travel companion.
Since we were in Duluth with no boys after setting J up at his apartment…we did what we love…look for seaglass.
We found a very small amount of very tiny glass. It was still fun but bigger pieces are definitely more fun.
I sat down to do a bit of art journaling yesterday. I was really feeling the need to play with paper, paint, and glue. I’m not in love with this page but it certainly felt good to play.
Today was yet another step back to the reality that summer is nearly done. I had a work meeting. It was nice to see all those faces again. After my meeting I ran to the grocery store…
Had my name tag on the whole time…duh. No wonder people kept looking at me somewhat oddly.
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