Well, I don’t feel as bad about missing two days of posting as I usually would. I was out enjoying a three-day weekend with my family, as I’m sure many of you were. I did have some craft time planned into my weekend, but that ended up getting worked around a few unpleasant surprises.
The first surprise was a food one. Our kitchen was already overflowing with produce from a Bountiful Baskets purchase, so I knew I had some preserves and salsa to make before everything rotted. My husband and I were enjoying being lazy, until he went into the garage and realized the stand-up freezer door seal had given up after 20 plus years of service. So we had some fun rearranging the main fridge and freezer to save everything. I am pretty firmly in the camp of only freezing raw meat once, so I spent Saturday making a TON of meatballs. It was worth the work, because now we have nearly 20 packs of meatballs ready for an emergency dinner. Oh, we also made a pretty yummy batch of jerky. So I guess the takeaway here is, if something like this happens, don’t panic. Stay calm, and you can usually think of a good solution to a problem.
The second surprise was even more icky — an afternoon migraine. Soon after I was finishing meatballs, it hit me like a horrible crushing wave. I will spare you the grosser details, but it knocked me out for a bit. But my awesome husband brought me pain killers, Mountain Dew and an ice pack. That combo led the to the one and only time I have had a migraine leave without a full night’s sleep.
But I should probably tell you about the crafting. Since I flat-out refused to do one bit of housework Monday, I actually managed to get crafting AND reading done. Both have not happened in the same day in a loooong time. I did not get my Start Small for last week done, but I should get through it this week. Then I need to take a different look at my crafting mentaility…but more on that later. I did take the fabrics I pressed on Friday and sewed them together for the start of one of the two baby quilts I have to make. I am still wrestling with deciding on a finished layout. But I do know these long strips will have long strips of one fabric between them. I will also be adding some applique on top as an accent. But that will have to wait a few weeks until I get back to the fabric store. I promise that I will present a step-by-step photo post of both baby quilts.
The whole family spent a great deal of time outside this weekend, so I had to bring some of the outside back in. After the little lady went to bed last night, I snuck outside to cut a few flowers. In my pansy post, I talked about the previous owner’s attention to color. It makes it so easy to create a casual, yet cohesive arrangement when the colors already go together well.
Finally, an update in reference to my Friday post (which also related to my comment above about rethinking my craft mentality). Thanks in large part to this blog, I have been able to take a better look at what my habits in creating things are, and what factors contribute to that. I am keeping pace with my goal of getting rid of one thing every day for all of July. With two sweet books as my motivation, how could I not stay on track? My hope is that as the physical clutter clears, I can also work on some mental clutter as well. My hopes of selling my work can’t just be backed up by hopes and dreams — I need to make some clear, concrete goals and decisions. As I work through this process, I will take you, my lovely readers, through the process as well.
I have an awesome art friend coming to visit me tonight on her way back to Minnesota, so there will be no Up Late post tonight. However, if her past visits are any indicator, there will be a SUPER sweet Firestarter post to look forward to. See you all then!
daydreamhouse 