The Gap

A few days ago I watched "The Gap" by Ira Glass on YouTube. I am a fairly creative person, but I found myself in that video 100%. My taste and my designs do not quite match up yet, and most of the work I produce although technically correct, is pure (s)crap from design point of view. Before watching this video, I would just abandon whatever project I was working on because I did not like it. It looked better in my head, and on the paper. After watching this video I decided to plow through several of these projects, because I agree that an artist, or a writer, or any creator can achieve his or her own taste but before it happens he or she has to produce a great volume of (s)crap, stuff that is substandard to our goals and taste. Here are a few abandoned projects that I decided to finish in the following weeks. Maybe this will get me closer to my goal, a design perfection equaling my taste.

Austin or bust...

A friend posted on the Facebook - Behind every successful woman is a best friend giving her crazy ideas. So true. As a result of one of those ideas, my quilting friend and I decided to go to Quiltcon held in Austin Texas in February 2015. Our motto "Austin or bust".

If you were a normal person still not infected with a quilting bug you would think that we are crazy by making plans for something that was happening a year from now. Don't be so fast to judge us - half the hotel rooms in Austin are already booked and if you do not want to commute from Albuquerque, NM to the conference every day, you better book your hotel ASAP. You can always cancel the room if something cataclysmic happens, if we collide with a meteorite or the Earth stops spinning. All other excuses not to go to the Quiltcon are just that - excuses.

The question remains if one or both of us are going to enter our quilt(s) into the show. Less blogging and more quilting could, maybe, possibly, get us there. Are you planning on going?

Run, and don't look back...

Two weeks ago I came back from a quilt retreat, long awaited annual pilgrimage to Quinipet at Shelter Island where my fellow quilters and I indulged in late night sewing and chocolate, vine and junk food binging. 

The scenery was ahhhh-mazing, but, to be quite honest, the moment I walked into that huge sewing room with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the ocean, my eyes glazed over and I may as well have been in a basement for all I cared. All I saw were miles of fabric, I heard gentle hum of sewing machines and I knew I was in heaven. Most importantly, I did not hear "mooooooommmmmm, Josh pulled my hair, Penny peed on the floor, there is no more milk, toaster is on fire, somebody is at the door, Buddy ate my homework, I am hungry, where is the hair dryer, I am late for cello practice, the phone is ringing...." - all in the same breath. Don't get me wrong, I love my children, but as a stay at home mom I need a break every now and then. 

Afew moments before I left for my retreat, my husband decided to vacuum the wood stove (don't ask) with a shop vac that has no filter and no bag. You get the picture. Thanks God I was fully packed with shoes and jacket on. I ran for the door through the cloud of ashes repeating to myself - run, and don't look back!

The retreat was a success. Lots of sewing, eating and laughing. I am still recuperating, but it was worth it. I slept maybe total of 8 hours for the entire trip but I finished three quilt tops and had a really good time with my quilty palls. All in all, a very successful weekend.