Turtle Five | Projects & Musings

Gone Fishin' - Be Back Soon

I'm taking a break from the blog for a bit, if you hadn't already noticed. I haven't been able to keep up and, quite honestly, haven't been touching my sewing machines or paint brushes for some time now. Unfortunately, I haven't felt the desire to and without some creative energy to fuel this blog, I think it's time for another break.

I'll be back soon with a passion, because this energy always comes and goes in waves, but until then I'm going to relax and sleep, read, and enjoy the moment for just a little while. Check back often or sign up to receive an email notice when my next, new post goes up. Until then, live joyfully and follow your bliss. ♥ xoxo

Yay, Scarf Weather!

After a freakish dump of snow, we're back to having actual lovely, autumn weather. I've had to turn my heat on three times already, but the crisp, chilly temps are perfect. Added a second quilt to my bed and pulled out my flannel jammies, even dug out Mokie's jacket to keep my fuzzy friend toasty warm on our walks. All of my scarves are out of storage and hanging ready to wear, and even though I refuse to wear a winter coat until after Thanksgiving, the scarves are out as soon as the weather dips into the 50s.

I'm not quite sure where October went, but I'm settling into my winter nesting habits again and am looking forward to starting a new throw quilt for my living room couch. I'm considering repainting my walls upstairs in the living room and entry way, so a new quilt to pull the colors together would look nice I think. I need to decide on the perfect color shade, although I'm thinking about a gray-lavender color. Hmm, painting is such a big decision, especially since the walls have been green for five years—it's hard for me to embrace change, but I do love new paint.

I also pulled out some jersey knit fabric and hope to make a "snood"—a sort of tubular scarf that can be worn a multitude of ways: neck scarf, shawl, hooded scarf... they were particularly hot back in 2009, but since I seem to be oblivious to fashion, that hardly matters and it's a super-cute look. Oooh, I'm sort of thrilled about this project now. {rubs hands together with a twinkle in the eye}

Autumn Days

It's almost October. October, for crying out loud! And finally, at least, we are forecast to receive a bit of a repreive from the heat and humidity of a lingering summer. If it's going to be autumn already, I'll be happier enjoying it with cooler weather!

This is the time of year when I always feel like the year is starting anew. Forget New Year's resolutions, the autumn is the time of the year when my summer vacations get folded away and my life gets serious and my mind refocuses from months of playing in the sun. Shopping for new, warm sweaters and knee-high boots begins in ernest and I pull out my unfinished knitting from last year, loving the feel of the soft yarn on my lap. It's also the time of year when all sorts of new nesting projects get added to my to-do list. {I absolutely love nesting in the chillier months!}

The fall also reminds me of one of my favorite lines (in addition to the The Great Gatsby quote above) which always makes me smile in agreement:

"Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly-sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address..." from You've Got Mail (1998).

On that thought, happy autumn! Pull out your wool yarn, apple-pickin' wellies, favorite lap quilts, snuggly sweaters and newly-sharpened pencils and embrace the changing season: it will be lovely.

Be Mindful, Be Present

So, lately I've been pouring intensely over spiritual and meditation texts attempting to condition myself to be mindful of every moment and compassionate to everyone—most of all myself. This is something I've been doing half-assed for a while now, but I am determined for it to become my greatest habit.

I'm not attempting to be a saint—please! I will always get irritated at people who have no side-walk etiquette or ask me the same question five times, and the two times a year I actually drive will always come with road rage—that can't be helped. I've also been in a loving relationship for 8 years, so there will be times that I wonder at, worry about, or wish for certain "future" things that are outside of the present moment; I think that's a perfectly natural thing to do on occasion, so I don't want to beat myself up about slips.

I've always been highly sensitive to other people's energies and emotions. It's this hyper-awareness that I think contributes most to my fatigue and depression, but similarly makes me an empathetic listener and a good friend. I am hoping that these mindfulness exercises—deep breathing, yoga and meditation—will be significant in alleviating some of the unnecessary stress that comes from being highly sensitive and clearing away the many negative energies or emotions people tend to (often unconsciously) carry around with them.

And I can't tell you how often I worry (I'm from a long line of worriers); worrying about everything: will I get a promotion or that new job, will I get pregnant, will I get married, will I buy that sweet, little house on the shore, will my family be safe and happy, will I ever lose those last 15 pounds, will I ever finish my novel. I can completely drive myself insane thrusting my mind into a deep, black, depressing hole thinking about silly things, uncontrollable things, things that rotate almost entirely around my own insecurities. But letting go of that irritation, negativity and unnecessary worry is something I do have control over. Being mindful of the fact that there is no tomorrow yet, only today will go a long way—making my heart and life lighter and free from the pain of worrying about a future that's not even here yet.

Now, if I could only practice and condition myself long enough for this to become a piece of my thought process I will be utterly set. Then the only remaining question—will I ever be content—will be a resounding: yes.

Hootie-Roo Quilt

A dear friend put in a request for a baby (boy) quilt. It took some time for me to decide what to do for her—I mean, I'm all over the little girl fabric patterns, but boys... I'm a tad low on stock. After browsing around for a couple of weeks, I settled on this super sweet cotton panel with owls and various zoo animals like monkeys, kangaroos, elephants and kolas. I particularly liked the argyle; it made me think "little man off to the country club for lunch" for some reason. {wink} 

I  added a bright green cotton fabric with white polk-dots as a partial border and personalized it with an "E" (for Elijah) on the soft, navy flannel backing. I quilted in a basic square pattern, but then also added white "prayer" ties for a little extra flare infused with good karma. She asked for a stuffed elephant to match and I made him in the same soft flannel that I made the "E" out of with some terry cloth for the ears and belly. I also gave her some cute baby tees with a matching "e" and owl.

I think it made a pretty cute gift package and her hug and smiles were proof enough that she was happy with all of the various components. Yay!! {apologies for the photos being so dark}

Summer Lovin'

My vacation on Nantucket was amazing as always. Simply amazing: relaxing and lots of fun—even hanging out on the couch with a 3-year-old watching endless My Little Pony and SpongeBob episodes was pretty fantastic. I couldn't be more thankful for such wonderful and hospitable friends. Also, check out the kick-ass beach/driftwood turtle I was gifted with almost as soon as I stepped through the door! How cool is that? (The bright, striped rug it's chillin' on was a new purchase from one of my favorite stores in town.)

I stayed put on Nantucket through hurricane Irene and we weren't hit as hard as New York City and Connecticut when she finally came—which was a bit of a relief considering I couldn't do anything about the storm if I would have been at home and couldn't have prevented my apartment from flooding anyway. It was a bit of an adventure being with good friends (and very little damage)—I'm not so sure I would have felt the same if I'd been home alone.

But I'm home again and easing slowly back into reality and coping with the withdrawals of relaxing on the beach and being away from work. {sigh} Especially since I've spent the last few days cleaning, disinfecting and airing out my bedroom from the flooding, which isn't exactly the super-fun way I wanted to spend my first days back home. A day trip to Long Beach or Ocean Grove?—Yes! Mopping and more mopping?—Not so much.

I can hardly believe that this is the last weekend of summer. But it was lovely while it lasted... now if I could only win the lottery and live on perpetual vacation... {smiles dreamily}. Maybe we'll get lucky and have a few other nice beach weekends to enjoy before Autumn sets in—here's hoping for a little bit more sun through October at least.

Another Vacay, Suckas!

Well, that's just rude {laughs giddily to herself}. But I actually will be on vacation for the next two-ish weeks, so don't be disappointed that there are no updates (I'm talking to you, Grandma!). I would love to cart around my humongous laptop, but I'm not going to—there will be plenty to carry between my bags and Mokie, the dog. Plus, I don't even want to have access to work-work or work-email.

This is something I look forward to all (and I do mean all) year: visit my friend + her family, become reacquainted with some lobster rolls, enjoy the beach, drinks, and no worries. I'm almost blissed-out just thinking about it. The last fling of the summer—here I come!

I did {finally} post to the Sketchpad after an insanely-long hiatus, so if you'd like to check it out while you wait expectantly for my return, you can find it here. XOXO

Blackbird

My first personal quilt in a long time includes this fantastic cotton with gorgeous purples, teals and pink tones which I bought from an on-line Japanese fabric shop. I matched it with some gray, plum/maroon and lavender solids and a turquoise calico print as borders and backing.

I am just so pleased with the final result, although my first attempt at free-hand quilting certainly gave fruit to an interesting result—thank goodness I only decided to do the top borders. I don't mind admitting that I had an absolute crap first run and spent nearly an hour snipping and pulling out threads to do it over, because I wasn't happy with it (although, ironically, the scrap I used for practice was lovely). The loose, loopy pattern on the second try was much better and less chaotic-looking.

I still have the border trim to do, but I'm just so excited! I felt the same way when this fabric came in the mail too—so pretty. It's going to be a great, little lap quilt and will look fantastic over the back of my couch. It sort of makes me want to repaint the walls in my apartment...

 

"Blackbird singing in the dead of night / take these broken wings and learn to fly. / All your life / you were only waiting for this moment to arise." — The Beatles

The Sock Monkey Quilt

Today I made a quilt on my lunch hour.

Mokie and I are about to make our annual trek up to Massachusetts to visit my bf from college on Nantucket Island. I was thinking that I usually take a normal-sized quilt for him to lay on in the car, as well as at her house—but that's a lot of quilt to carry around and I don't want to pack a huge suitcase to stuff it in; because I'm becoming much more adept at packing light! she says patting herself on the back.

Well, even if I don't feel like packing Mokie's regular quilt, I still don't want to not have something or ask to borrow a blanket from Cara (of course, she wouldn't care, but washing it when we leave and taking forever for it to dry just seems too much of an inconvenience to me. I mean I drop my laundry off—so it all sounds pretty annoying anymore).

So, hence the lunch-hour craft session. I'm usually fairly pleased with the outcomes of most of my projects, but I'm sort of in love with this one—even if it is a tad hastily done and the borders aren't exactly the correct width all the way around. It's small (42" x 48") and light—and also matches a blue ticking stripe cover which I made for Mokie's bed a while ago—but it's also the monkeys and the browns and blues that make me happy. I used up some of a "Pure" by Sweetwater layer cake (approx. 20 or so 10" fabric squares) tucked away in my stash months ago and half-a-yard of a cream fabric covered in sock monkeys called "Funky Monkey".

Summer Vacation

  

There is something nostalgic about vacations during the summer—reminding me of four months off from school when I was a child or even thirteen years ago while in college—this one especially did. I went down to see James in Florida and it was amazing. Like being a kid again—only better. It was a vacation we both deserved, an opportunity to be thankful for our life, joy and love together; celebrate the many obstacles we've hurtled, with a strength and grace I never would have believed existed within us before, this last year.

My new, healthy habits also paid off. I've lost a number of inches from my hips and stomach and actually felt comfortable in a bathing suit. Even though being in a swim suit around James is nearly identical to being in a swim suit around my best friends, it was still excellent to feel healthy and good. The cute tankini was just an added bonus. I wasn't worrying about how I looked in my clothes either or whether or not I looked OK in a jersey-knit dress—I just felt strong and pretty. I know that part of that is from just being near James, his love and his energy, but I know the other part was because of all the hard work and decisions I've made recently to eat better, cut out processed sugars and exercise more.

It's funny what a simple vacation can do for the spirit, especially when that vacation includes someone you care deeply for. I spent six days not only feeling happy and healthy, but also intensely grateful for the pure bliss that I find just being with James and feeling comfortable in my own skin—especially by the ocean with face tilted to the sun.